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We need a nonpartisan secretary of state

Forty days before the 2004 election, Fort Lauderdale congressman E. Clay Shaw's Democratic opponent, James R. Stork, dropped out. But although Secretary of State Glenda Hood had the discretion to let the Democrats substitute a candidate, she refused to let them do it. Too much trouble so late, she said. Too much confusion.

It wasn't the first time Floridians had reason to wonder whether Hood, a Republican appointee of a Republican governor, let partisanship taint a decision.

That time, however, justice intervened. Circuit Judge Janet Ferris reiterated what Florida's chief elections official should not have needed to be told: "the strong public policy . . . of providing voters with greater choice and ensuring ballot access." Ferris declared the law unconstitutional, under the separation of powers doctrine, for giving unguided discretion to Hood. The 1st District Court of Appeal agreed, and so did the Florida Supreme Court, which ruled last week.

Ferris allowed the Democrats to select a replacement candidate, Robin Rorapaugh, but Stork's name remained on the ballot. Shaw won easily with nearly 63 percent of the vote.

Though the Legislature changed the law to correspond to how the case came out, the Supreme Court did not consider it moot. Its unanimous decision, nominally about separation of powers, implicitly underscored the importance of nonpartisan evenhandedness in the conduct of elections.

It is to be hoped that Gov. Jeb Bush keeps that more in mind when he selects Hood's successor than when he chose her.

[Last modified November 12, 2005, 00:54:17]