If the lovely Sarah P. and her sidekick, Sean Parnell, are snatched up by aliens some dark night, Alaskans need not panic. The governor has tapped Joe Schmidt to take over. That's right. Joe Schmidt.
Some of you may be asking, "Who's Joe Schmidt?"
It turns out that he is the chief turnkey at the Department of Corrections and a veteran prison system officer. By most accounts -- discounting inmates or the Alaska Correctional Officers Association, which handed Schmidt a "no confidence" vote last year -- the DOC commissioner is a good guy. Smart. Dedicated. At the top of his game. More important, he went to high school with Palin.
We can only hope that is enough. If Schmidt somehow were to escape being kidnapped by the Xebulons and became governor, Alaska would find itself without one elected official in its executive branch, at least for a period of time until a special election could be held. That is bothersome. Count me among those who believe we desperately need more elected officials in Alaska, not fewer.
Alaska's constitutional framers left to the Legislature the task of penciling in the line of succession for the top executive posts and determining when the top office can been deemed vacant by absence or disability. The Legislature in 1959 set the mechanism for succession, but has yet to address the vacancy determination issue, which may come back to haunt us someday.
Lawmakers decided the best thing was to allow governors -- back then, they wanted the strongest chief executive possible -- to "appoint, from among the officers who head the principal departments of the state government or otherwise, a person to succeed to the office of lieutenant governor if the office of lieutenant governor becomes vacant." (What exactly, do you think, does "or otherwise" mean? Could it allow a governor to select from outside the Cabinet?) The appointment requires a majority confirmation vote of a joint session of the Legislature and the appointee serves at the "pleasure of the governor."
There is a lot of mumbo-jumbo, but, essentially, the law says that if a person appointed third in line of succession, like Schmidt, makes it to the big office, there must be a special election. Allowing governors to tap a replacement for a lieutenant governor, and perhaps themselves, presupposes they always have their wits about them and will make a good choice for an acting governor. Some clearly do not and there have been Cabinet officers in the past who should not be running a hot dog stand, much less standing in line to take the helm of the U.S.S. Alaska.
Palin in 2007 appointed then-Attorney General Talis Colberg as third in line to succeed Parnell, should the lieutenant governor's office became vacant, and then Palin, if it became necessary.
Then came a nasty series of imbroglios involving Palin's administration. Troopergate. Subpoena problems. Tax difficulties. Hiding e-mails. Flouting public records laws. Hiring an obnoxious press secretary. Trotting out an equally obnoxious campaign attack dog. A legislative report concluding Palin had abused her office. A Personnel Board whitewash investigation. Spending months away on her campaign for the vice presidency. And on and on and on.
Colberg, by all accounts a man of integrity, bailed out of the administration recently, saying it was best for the state. Who could blame him? The Palin administration is a clown car.
Schmidt replaces Colberg as Numero Three-o.
Without a doubt, it would be much better for Alaska if lawmakers made some effort to come up with a clear line of succession that does not involve the friendships or whims of a governor, any governor: a line that would, instead, rely on elected officials of some experience -- not executive branch appointees.
It works at the federal level. It would work nicely here. Succession could descend in some fashion through lieutenant governor, Senate president, House speaker, and majority and minority leaders. If aliens get them all in one fell swoop, two things will be immediately clear. Succession will be the least of our worries, and, second, Alaska may be better off.
A line of succession that depends upon people of experience, people who actually have been elected and are known to Alaskans, it seems to me, would give a transition of power at the top level of government some larger measure of legitimacy, and it would give citizens added confidence during what likely would be a confusing time.
Besides, face it, there are only so many Wasilla High School graduates to go around.
Paul Jenkins is a former editor of The Voice of The Times.
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