Editorial: Guinn’s changes are well reasoned

Thursday, May 25, 2000 | 9:13 a.m.

Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn, who has been in office almost 1 1/2 years, has kept most of the agency chiefs from the previous Democratic administration of Gov. Bob Miller. But on Tuesday Guinn started to leave his mark in the first real shakeup of department directors in his administration. The governor appointed Jackie Crawford to be the new director for the Department of Prisons, named longtime Welfare Administrator Myla Florence to take over as the chief of the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation and selected Mike Willden to take Florence's place to lead the Welfare Division.

There is a natural tendency, when a political party has been out of office for a long time, to replace department heads with either cronies or those who are active in party politics -- in this case there hasn't been a Republican governor since 1983, making it all the more tempting. But Guinn resisted the urge Tuesday, and there weren't indications that party politics motivated these decisions. A common thread in these appointments is that the three have excellent qualifications and reputations for being sound administrators.

Sometimes the influence of department heads is overstated, but if the wrong people are appointed, poor management can result in ill-advised decisions that can impair the efficient delivery of services for constituents and taxpayers. This likely won't be the last of the administrative changes sought by Guinn, so it is hoped that Tuesday's selections were a sign that the governor will continue to tap the best people for these high-profile jobs.

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