That's because the new statewide nominating committee that says who Gov. Olene Walker can consider for the state school board ballot arbitrarily decided that Anderson, who was elected with 68 percent of his district's vote, should be eliminated. Neither the governor nor the voters will have any say in whether he retains his seat.

That wrongheaded decision is a result of another wrongheaded decision made by the Utah Legislature last winter when it failed to return the business of nominating to the 15 regional school board districts where it logically belongs. Instead, legislators retained a statewide committee appointed by the governor and, at least in theory, one that equally represents business and education.

In practice, though, the 12-member committee was heavily weighted toward business interests on the day it decided to drop Anderson, as three of its members - all representing education - were absent. Voting without a full committee casts doubt on the three men chosen, who may be the best qualifed of the five who filed as candidates, or who may only best represent the interests of most of the members who voted.

The committee selects three candidates from the field in each district where a seat is up for election. The governor chooses two of those for the November ballot.

Senate Bill 185, passed in the waning days of the 2004 legislative session, created the current nominating committee to replace a troublesome 2003 version comprised of special-interest groups. Many House members were leery of SB185 and wanted to restore individual district committees, but its sponsor, Sen. Tom Hatch, R-Panguitch, bullied it through.

The right way to nominate candidates for the 15-member school board that oversees and sets policy for the state's 40 public-school districts is the one eschewed by the Legislature. Each district should have its own nominating committee, so there is more local representation and thus better recruitment of candidates. This year the statewide committee did little recruiting: A total of 21 candidates filing for seven open seats isn't enough, as some districts fielded only one or two hopefuls.

Walker has hinted that the committee made a mistake in not including Anderson on its list. She called it "quite remarkable" and "without apparent cause." But she is partly to blame for the debacle because she had a chance to veto SB185 and didn't.

Anderson and those who live in his district are victims of an unfair nominating process created by a poorly conceived law that replaced a system in no need of fixing.