Gutsy leader could nix lieutenant governor job
Six Democrats are running for lieutenant governor of New Mexico, and at least one more is making noises about entering the race.
How can any one of them stand out from the pack?
It would be easy. Somebody could run on the platform of abolishing the office of lieutenant governor because it’s pretentious, unnecessary and expensive.
The lieutenant governor annually makes $85,000, and his office this year received another $447,000 for operations.
In return for his paycheck, the lieutenant governor sits on various state commissions. He also bangs his gavel while presiding during sessions of the state Senate. And every few years, the lieutenant governor might cast a vote to break a tie in the Senate. I remember only one time when anybody missed the sitting lieutenant governor, Republican John Sanchez.
Sanchez was away from the Senate chamber one busy day in 2011. At the same time, a bill to prohibit employees of public schools from spanking students came before the Senate.
Thirty-six of New Mexico’s 89 school districts still had Depression-era policies permitting staff members to paddle kids. This led to a spirited debate. Senators deadlocked 18-18 on outlawing corporal punishment. Sanchez wasn’t around, so the bill to ban paddling of students failed on the tie vote.
Fortunately for New Mexico families, a mirror bill cleared the House of Representatives. This gave the Senate a second chance to consider the issue. Senators then voted 22-17 to prohibit school employees from spanking kids. Gov. Susana Martinez signed the measure into law.
Tie votes are rare in the 42-member Senate. Even when they occur, there’s no guarantee the lieutenant governor will be available to break them. If the lieutenant governor steps away to rest his vocal cords, a senator moderates debates.
Before laptops and convenient air travel, the lieutenant governor might have performed a useful function in filling in while the governor was out of state. Now the lieutenant governor is a costly appendage of state government.
Even so, the candidates running for lieutenant governor will tell you they have big plans for the office.
Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales is one of the candidates promising to turn the job of lieutenant governor into something meaningful.
“I’m looking forward to open and honest conversations across the state about what it really takes to create jobs and opportunity, and how a new approach can help to close the gaps that separate us,” Gonzales said last week when he joined the race.
His candidacy is peculiar. Gonzales announced in September that he would not seek re-election as mayor so he could spend more time with his two daughters. Now, instead of running a campaign confined to the city, Gonzales will have to travel all over the state as he tries for lieutenant governor.
As for the honest conversations Gonzales says
he wants, I’m all for them. Truth is, a top-flight mayor of Santa Fe could make a difference in people’s lives. Not so with the lieutenant governor. It’s a job for a show horse, not a workhorse.
State Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City, also is running for lieutenant governor. An accomplished senator, Morales would be taking 10 steps backward in terms of public service if he won the race for lieutenant governor.
Morales’ job at a hospital was eliminated this year, so finding full-time employment is on his mind.
Legislators in New Mexico don’t receive a base salary, no matter how hard they work. The lieutenant governor gets a paycheck, no matter how little he does.
I’m holding out for a transcendent candidate, one who says the position of lieutenant governor has no value to anyone except the person in the office. He would spend his four-year term as lieutenant governor getting his own job abolished.
A constitutional amendment would be drafted to eliminate the office of lieutenant governor. It would include a new line of succession if a governor died or resigned.
The speaker of the House of Representatives or the secretary of state could become governor until the seat was filled in an election.
Legislators, well aware that the lieutenant governor’s office is a waste of money, would place the proposed amendment on the ballot.
Then we the people would vote the lieutenant governor out of existence.
The politician who initiated this change would be unemployed, but with statesman status.
His exit speech would sound something like this: “I stand before you, bleeding profusely, because I fell on my sword. I eliminated unneeded government jobs — mine and my staff ’s — to give taxpayers a break. I did this even as many people said nobody with an ounce of ambition would become lieutenant governor.” Is any candidate so brave? Let’s just say New Mexico has a better shot at landing the second Amazon headquarters and its 50,000 jobs than of the lieutenant governor getting rid of himself.