Big shoes to fill by the General Assembly

Treasurer Dale Sims and Comptroller John Morgan likely will not apply to keep their posts next legislative session. Matthew Williams/The City Paper

The turnover of the Tennessee General Assembly to Republican control in this month’s elections will mean more than a change of faces and agenda in the legislature.

The historic change will most likely result in the replacement of some key state employees appointed by the legislature under Tennessee Constitutional law — the State Treasurer, State Comptroller, and Secretary of State.

While many Tennessee voters may not know what role these positions fill in state government, the jobs are big and sometimes so is the scrutiny that goes with the post.

After two years of controversy and now the GOP storming to a majority in the General Assembly, Treasurer Dale Sims and Comptroller John Morgan likely will not apply for their posts in a new public application process crafted by the GOP leadership.

They also cautioned applicants for their posts during an interview with The City Paper that the jobs were more than political appointments.

“Most people don’t understand that taxpayers spend less supporting the legislative process than any other state except New Hampshire,” said Morgan, who has served in his job since 1976. “We augment their staff in developing policy. There is no statutory provision but over time that is a role that has developed.”

A hot seat

A joint, majority vote of both houses of the state legislature, appoints Tennessee’s three constitutional offices. Democrats have held a majority in the General Assembly since The Civil War until this month’s elections. The GOP, which already controlled the State Senate, swam against national political currents and took over the State House as well.

Republicans in recent years have been highly critical of the Democrat appointed constitutional officers, noting the appointees have in some cases helped campaign for Democrats against Republican members of the legislature.

Sims said that when called upon by any legislator, from either party, that he and Morgan have consistently traveled to members’ districts to speak with city councils and civic groups to discuss issues of interest to the legislator.

However, Republican lawmakers boycotted the officers’ re-election to office two years ago. The specific issue that raised this concern was when they attended a campaign event for a Democratic candidate that was challenging Republican incumbent Rep. William Baird.

Morgan responded that he, Sims, and Darnell felt that the GOP had a valid criticism and refrained from attending functions this year where there was a Republican incumbent on the ballot. However, where there was a Democratic or Independent incumbent on the ballot, or an open seat, they went where they were asked by legislators to attend.

Both men said that they felt that they were honoring the GOP request and that trust is paramount in doing their jobs.

“We don’t shape our work on a partisan political agenda,” Morgan said, “These offices are here for the legislators, the complaints have nothing to do with the operation of the office.”

Asked if they planned on taking advantage of the application process that the GOP has put in place for their jobs, both men said that it isn’t anticipated that they would apply.

“I don’t know if it’s in my interest, or the state’s interest,” Morgan said, “I hope that everyone will do what is in the states interest.”

Neither man would elaborate on what they will do when they leave their posts but both had some advice for their successors, whoever that is — “Fiercely protect the objectivity and independence” of the offices and understand that “the offices have not been operated as political enterprises, there is a strong and professional staff in place that work hard everyday for the people of Tennessee.”

Beyond politics

Sims and Morgan also explained that while the politics of their positions has been the focus of coverage recently, their roles are more about watching the state’s money and representing their offices on dozens of boards and in hundreds of meetings.

According to Sims, only a portion of his time is spent dealing with treasury department issues such as investments and risk management and a lot more time is spent dealing with the over 30 state boards that he sits on, and dealing with the legislature. In addition to that, he and his staff work to ensure that that state is meeting financial obligations.

“We have significant role in the states financial management,” Sims said, “We are the state’s bank. For example, this office processed over $50 billion of state money in transactions in the year 2007 alone. That is a pretty significant responsibility that floats under the water for many people. That money affects your daily life by ensuring that roads are paid for, payments to cities and counties are processed, and higher education financial responsibilities are met to name a few.”

Morgan said that like Sims much of his work is dealing with pension and retirement boards, as well as the day to day responsibilities of the comptroller’s office.

“Condensing down what the comptroller’s office does takes a while,” Morgan said, “We are the auditors for the state government and see that local governments are audited, we perform investigations, financial audits, and performance audits just to name a few. We audit 88 counties annually and for those counties we don’t audit, like Davidson County, we have to approve the CPA firm they use and then approve of the quality of the audit. We also audit utility districts and not-for-profits that do significant business with the state. That is a total of about 1500 audits a year, not counting the work we do with law enforcement on cases of theft and fraud.”

Both men said that politics should not play into the roles their offices play in state government once the appointments are made.

“The biggest business we are in is information, it has to be sound and accurate and not ‘shaped.’ If the information we provide can’t be viewed as objective then our information is worthless,” Morgan noted.