NASHVILLE (AP) — Former state Rep. Randy Stamps has been named executive director of the Tennessee State Employees Association.

Stamps had served as the group's lobbyists before being selected to replace interim Executive Director LaTanya McAdo.

Stamps was a state lawmaker from 1988 to 1998 and was later the political director of the Tennessee Republican Party and staffer for the state House of Representatives. He joined the TSEA in 2014.

Since taking office in 2011, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has taken steps to change state civil service rules that make it easier for executive branch employees to be hired and fired, and allow merit raises for high-performing workers and pay decreases for poor ones.

The TSEA was founded in 1974 to represent the interests of state workers.