Americans don’t like it when members of government take part in backroom deals. While they’re sometimes a necessary evil, we still don’t like them shoved in our face.

And though we sometimes struggle using the words “government” and “Associated Students of Madison” in the same sentence, members of this board know that even on that micro of a level of governance, backroom deals still probably happen.

For this reason, the appointment of former ASM Vice Chair Tom Templeton to the position of chief of staff is disappointing. It’s not that we have any real problem with Templeton, or Chair Brandon Williams, who appointed Templeton to the position, which is new this year and is charged with managing communication between the chair’s office and the rest of ASM. Both Williams and Templeton seem relatively committed to improving ASM’s image and relevancy on this campus, something that’s moderately refreshing, however futile it may be.

We’re also not saying Templeton’s appointment was a backroom deal, since officially, it isn’t. But we’ll allow the reader to decide for himself if this set of events sounds fishy.

Tom Templeton, Brandon Williams and Adam Johnson run for Student Council. Templeton says he wants to run for chair if he’s elected to Student Council. Templeton and Williams win seats and Johnson ends up a few votes out of a seat. Templeton gives up his seat, allowing Johnson to get on Student Council. Williams gets elected chair, Johnson gets elected Vice Chair, and Williams appoints Templeton as chief of staff.

It strikes us as suspect in the extreme that Templeton, who created the impetus for the position, was the first person to hold it. This is further disturbing because the chief of staff can make up to $8,000 a year, not much less than the chair himself makes.

The legitimacy of the chief of staff job is debatable. We understand the chair is busy. We understand he may be overworked. But any time you take on a major leadership role, you should expect to be busy. Maybe the chief of staff position will prove to make the chair a better leader. Maybe it will just be another abuse of segregated fees.

Regardless, if ASM continues insisting on having a chief of staff, we urge them to change it so the Nominations Board appoints the position, not the chair. We simply don’t like the idea of giving that unchecked power to the chair of an organization that is notorious for wasting time and money.

In the meantime, we wish Templeton, Williams and Johnson the best of luck in doing something that dozens have tried to do and dozens more have failed at: making ASM care about the average student.