Arizona republican., 1899-03-23
LEGISLATURE DOES IT ALL
This II Is Asserted, Is in ConfraVen- lion of Sfafe Constitution. and Maffer Will Be Brought fo an Issue in Court = Nearly Every Democratic OfficchoIder in the State in Jeopardy.

l0i0Cuie t, WHICH duJOuIneQ on the SJh of this month to meet again in June of next year, took every appointment to office away from the governor except the directors of the asylum for the in sane, and to these offices they virtually forced the governor to appoint the men whom they selected.
 Instead of the governor appointing to the various offices, the legislature proceeded to elect the officers of the pen1tentiary, of the agricultural de- partment, of the bureau of statistics, of the two asylums for the deaf, dumb and blind; the board of internal i'm provements, the state librarian, the keeper of the capitol, the shellfish com missioner, the surveyor of state lands, and created the office of insurance com missioner. They repealed the railroad commission act and enacted a law es- 1 tablishing corporate commission, winch has all the powers which the railroad commission had.
 The constitution framed at the time the state was received back into the Union gave the governor the power to appoint all officers whose offices were established by that constitution, oT. whose appointments were not other wise provided for, and no such officer was permitted to be appointed or elect ed by the general assembly. In 1875 the constitution was amended by strIk- ing out the words, Cor which might be created by law, and no such officer shall be appointed or elected by the general assembly,
 Since this amendment was made the general assembly has appointed and elected all officers except such as are mentioned in the constitution, and are known as constitutional officers, and wherever they have created a new of- flee the legislature has elected the person to fill the new office. By this means the governor of the state has been dwarfed into a mere clerk. All the power he now has is the pardoning power.
 The power of appointment by the legislature was exercised by the demo- crats through ten legislatures, and by the republicans and populists through
 
 der to get control and possession of the penitentiary, the recent legislature repealed the former law and enacted q new one which abolished all the of- fees and legislated all the officers out before their terms expired and created a new board. Then the legislature elected the new board
 r;,,Io ,1. H. Day, the superintendent appointed by Governor Russell, and he has brought suit to reccVer his office. In this suit the qEestion is raised under the decision of the supreme court in the case of Nichols against Mackee and Bledsoe against Walker, that the gen eral assembly has no power to elect or appoint to any office, whether consti- tutional or created by statute passed by the legislature; that the amendment to the constiuion hereinbefore set out d0es not confer on the general assem- bly, the power to elect CT appoint any officer whatever.
 The case of Day is set down for ar gument on Saturday next. If the su preme court SustainS the contention herein stated to the extent of deciding that the general assembly has no power to elect or to appoint to any office, it will produce a political revo- lution thscughout the state. It wiI strip the democrats of all the state offices except few judges and district prosecuting officers The new election law pro- vides for a board of seven election commissioners who were elected by the general assembly. These seven places would be made vacant. and Governor Russell would have to ap point to fill vacancies. All the other offices filled by the election of the gen. eral assembly would become vacant. and the governor would fill the va cancies. The result would be almost as disastrous to the democrats as was the last election to the republicans and populists.
 The supreme court is composed of one chief justice and four associate justices William T. Faircloth is chief justice and is republican, as is D. M. Furches and Robert M. Douglas, Wal ter Clark is a democrat, and Walter q populist. Should the de cision be with the republicans it will put the party on it's feet, and enable 1t to make an even fight next ye4n for he state and make the defeat of the proposed constitutional amendment al- most certain.