Via Dan Weintraub, BoifromTroy and commenters are debating whether the California Constitution would allow Gov. Schwarzenegger to appoint Bill Jones to succeed Kevin Shelley if Shelley retires. Article V, Section 5(b) gives the Governor the power to appoint, subject to confirmation by both houses of the state legislature. Because Jones appears to be termed out (see Article V, Section 11 [“No … Secretary of State… may serve in the same office for more than 2 terms.”]), the answer may hinge on an exception to term limits contained in Article XX, Section 7 (“Those [term] limitations shall not apply to any unexpired term to which a person is elected or appointed if the remainder of the term is less than half of the full term.”).
I don’t know anything about the legislative history of this provision, but it does appear to apply as a textual matter to the Jones case. Perhaps a bigger obstacle is the appearance of a conflict of interest: As reported in this San Jose Mercury News article from June 2004, shortly after leaving office Jones became a paid consultant for Sequoia Voting Systems, and has lobbied local governments to adopt Sequoia’s electronic voting systems. It seems to me any person to replace Shelley must be above even the appearance of a conflict of interest—trust and nonpartisanship should be the key toward restoring public faith in California’s process.