ELECTED OFFICIALS RESPONSIBLE TO VOTERS

The notion that circuit clerks should be appointed rather than elected isn't new, but when the chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court comes to town calling for clerks' appointments, most people take notice.

That is what Duane Benton did in Cape Girardeau recently. In an address to the Lions Club, the chief justice said he and the other six members of the high court along with many circuit judges favor appointment of circuit clerks, who are elected every four years in each Missouri county and the city of St. Louis.

Benton and all the judges who favor appointment of clerks do so for good reason. They undoubtedly have had to deal with what they considered inept circuit clerks either in their home circuits or in circuits they have visited. There have been scattered instances of lost court records and mishandling of money. And every judge in Missouri has heard of the poor management and mishandling of funds that have gone on in the circuit clerks' offices in the city of St. Louis.

Under Missouri law, circuit clerks aren't required to have any expertise in court administration. In fact, there are no qualifications other than residency and age. All one must do to become a circuit clerk is get enough votes in his or her home county to win election to the office.

The same holds true for all other elected county office positions. To name a few: County commissioners aren't required to have experience in county administration, county treasurers don't have to have experience in finance, sheriffs don't need to know anything about law enforcement, and county clerks aren't required to have experience in running elections and administrative procedures of county government.

Benton said some day Missouri should go to a single court administrator for each of its 45 judicial circuits, eliminating a circuit clerk in each county. That, he said, could save money. And with the state's move to computerized records, a single court administrator for each circuit makes sense, the chief justice said.

Benton's points are well taken and were made with a sincere desire to improve efficiency in operations and costs of Missouri's judicial system. No one can argue with that.

But a circuit clerk, like all elected officials, must earn the confidence of voters by doing a good job. With good performance, re-election is usually assured. With poor performance, someone else is elected to the office.

That is the way the election process works, and it has worked well throughout history.