Bill aims to give gov power to fill vacant No. 2 spot

Goal to fix problem before it happens again

When a beleaguered Tim Murray resigned as lieutenant governor in May 2013, the state’s No. 2 post sat vacant until voters elected Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito and she took office in January 2015.

Nearly eight years later, there’s still no constitutional mechanism for replacing a lieutenant governor. But a bill brought back for another round on Beacon Hill could change that.

State Reps. Paul Mark and Susannah Whipps have proposed a constitutional amendment that would finally allow a governor to appoint a lieutenant if the No. 2 dies, resigns, becomes permanently incapacitated or is removed from office.

“I don’t think most people in Massachusetts are aware that the problem exists,” Mark, a Peru Democrat, told the Herald.

Massachusetts has had several lieutenant-governor vacancies over the decades. The role went unfilled when Lt. Gov. Jane Swift took over the top job after Gov. Paul Cellucci resigned to become the U.S. ambassador to Canada. And the post sat empty for two years when Lt. Gov. John Kerry resigned to join the U.S. Senate in 1985.

Mark said it was Murray’s abrupt exit in 2013 that inspired the bill seeking to define a succession plan.

The 25th Amendment fixed that problem at the federal level, giving the president power to nominate a vice president to be confirmed by majority vote of both houses of Congress, and Mark believed it was “time we did the same in Massachusetts.”

Mark knows the bill faces a “steep hill,” because amending the Constitution is “appropriately difficult” and requires both legislative and voter approval. His and Whipps’ prior attempts at getting their legislation passed were unsuccessful, as were similar bills from former state Rep. Jay Kaufman.

“I’m hopeful that as more people learn about it and think about it that it will gain support,” Mark said. “It is a nonpartisan issue and really shouldn’t be controversial at all.”

Rhode Island is poised to get a new lieutenant governor next week, after former Lt. Gov. Daniel McKee took over the top job when former Gov. Gina Raimondo left to become President Biden’s Commerce secretary.

Mark said his renewed push in Massachusetts isn’t tied to any worries about vacancies in the current administration, “just a general concern that a situation could arise where we are left without multiple constitutional officers, and if (COVID-19) has taught us anything it is that we need to be ready to fire on all cylinders at a moment’s notice.”

Whipps, an Athol independent, echoed that sentiment, saying in an email that the legislation is a “purely procedural” way to “provide for seamless operation of government functions.”