State Senator Bill Tallman, D-Albuquerque, wasted no time filing his biennial bill to keep secret the names of people applying for public jobs.
Tallman’s bill calls for applicants for “executive appointive positions” to be kept from public scrutiny, allowing the final three to be made public.
The past few 60-day legislative sessions Tallman beats that same tired drum of “you can’t get qualified applicants to apply,” because an applicant doesn’t want his or her current boss to know they’re looking for a new job.
Tallman’s obsession with the open process comes from his being fired from a job in Connecticut because his employer discovered he had applied for a job elsewhere. The boss probably read it in a good newspaper.
He must have suffered a deep emotional scar when this happened because he’s like a dog with a bone and refuses to see reason.
Petty employers should not be a reason to close the selection process from those who pay the salary of the person eventually hired. Those same people have to live with that person’s decisions, decision-making process, choices and style of management for an extended period.
And Tallman’s argument that we don’t attract highly qualified applicants should sting anyone currently holding any of these key positions around the state. He’s stating they’re not highly qualified or we just got lucky that one good one slipped through.
Of course taxpayers should know who is applying for positions such as school superintendent, police chief, city manager, city clerk and most department heads throughout all our public entities.
If Rio Arriba County ever actually performed a search for a county manager we’d all like to review those applicants’ qualities also. Instead the County just keeps moving the assistant county manager into the top slot. Talk about poor management.
Keeping applicants to all public jobs, but especially key positions open to the public keeps everybody honest, above board and forced to select the best candidate or look either incompetent or grossly biased in the decision.