Power also in the hands of directors

When most people envision the people in government, they think of their elected officials – the president, the governor, and the senators and representatives at the state level in Jefferson City and federal level in Washington D.C.

These are the people who make the laws we live under by representing the opinions of their constituents. And periodically they are either re-confirmed or ousted from office by election of the people they represent.

But what many do not realize is elected officials are just a small minority of the people who have governmental power. Special interest groups will influence issues and elections through social media and advertising.

Lobbyists try to influence lawmakers and policy developers, and some (not all, but some) in the press will try to influence public opinion by the way they write their articles or air their stories.

But some of the most influential people in government that have immense rule-making power that go largely unknown are department directors. Missouri Government has 16 departments, each with their own director who has the power under the law to create rules that have the same effect as law.

The Department of Natural Resources makes rules about clean water. The Department of Health & Senior Services makes rules about medical clinics. The Department of Agriculture makes rules about farming. All of these rules define what the government allows or disallows the public to do every bit as much as a law passed by the legislature.

A key difference, though, is that workers in these departments are largely unknown to the public, and have none of the term limits or campaign finance rules that apply to the people who voters choose to represent them.

The directors of Administration, Agriculture, Corrections, Economic Development, Health, Insurance, Labor, Natural Resources, Public Safety, Revenue, and Social Services are all governor appointed. Usually these people will be replaced whenever a new governor is elected.

The directors of Conservation, K-12 Education, Higher Education, Mental Health, and Transportation are appointed by a board or commission, whose members are appointed by a governor. Once put in charge, the directors then hire their lieutenants and other staff, and a bureaucracy is born. Each of them is in charge of hundreds of government workers that create and execute the rules that affect the lives of all Missourians.

A great summary of who each of these directors and other executive branch leaders are, their backgrounds, and who appointed them can be found at https://tinyurl.com/y4mpjefm.