AZ still doesn’t need a lt. governor

The Arizona Legislature is fast-tracking proposals to ask voters, once again, to establish a new state officer, the lieutenant governor.

Voters have already turned down the idea twice, in 1994 and in 2010, by overwhelming margins. There has never been much interest in the idea outside the Legislature. But there has been enduring interest within the Legislature, and the interest, and support, is widely bipartisan.

I suspect there is a subconscious reason for that, and perhaps overt ambition among some. Many legislators may see the governor’s chair as too far a reach, but think they just might be lieutenant governor material. And from there, the governor’s seat would no longer be that far of a grasp.

There are reasons for politicians to like there being more rungs on the political ladder.

The ostensible rationale for creating the lieutenant governor position is to remedy a perceived flaw in the current succession regimen.

When the governor’s chair is vacant, the secretary of state, if holding office by election, steps up. If the secretary of state is, for whatever reason, appointed rather than elected, the position falls to the attorney general, again if elected. The succession cascades through the row state officers, landing on the highest ranked, elected official.

The perceived problem arises when the departing governor is from a different political party than the elected row officer who succeeds to the position. Arizona governors seem to vacate the position rather frequently, and this has happened twice.

When Evan Mecham, a Republican, was impeached, he was succeeded by Rose Mofford, the secretary of state and a Democrat. When Democrat Janet Napolitano vacated the office in happier circumstances, to join the Barack Obama administration, she was succeeded by Jan Brewer, the secretary of state and a Republican.

To the extent this is a problem, there’s a way to fix it without creating another political office. Have succession occur not down the line of row elected officials, but among the governor’s cabinet.

Having the succession occur from within the departing governor’s cabinet would ensure greater fealty to the policies voters had endorsed than turning the reins over to another politician, however selected. The state could manage fine with an interim technocratic government until the next general election, when voters could choose the next governor directly, rather than getting the default of a prepackaged deal.

The Achilles heel of lieutenant governor proposals has been: What will the person do, other than wait around to see if the present governor croaks, is indicted, or takes off for some plum post in Washington? The public has understandably not been too excited at creating a sinecure for a B-list politician.

The proposal (Senate Concurrent Resolution 1024) that seems headed to the November ballot would create the position of lieutenant governor and make it the successor to the governor in the event of a vacancy. Each general election gubernatorial candidate would name a lieutenant governor running mate and they would be on the ballot as a team. The lieutenant governor would not be separately elected.

A companion bill (Senate Bill 1255) would give the lieutenant governor something to do, if voters decide to create the position. The governor would appoint the lieutenant governor “to serve as the director of the Arizona Department of Administration or to fill any position for which the governor is otherwise authorized by law to make an appointment.”

This is a terrible idea. A lieutenant governor candidate will be chosen based on the ability to help the political prospects of the head of the ticket, not on having the policy or administrative chops to run a state agency.

Having the lieutenant governor serve as head of the department of administration would be a particularly bad idea. This director is basically the business manager for the whole of state government, including handling procurement, human resources, plant facilities and insurance.

Gov. Doug Ducey currently has a politician running the joint, former House Speaker Andy Tobin. But that’s not best practices. This is a job for the best technocrat available.

So, a lieutenant governor would either be a superfluous politician or an inferior choice to head up a state agency.

Don’t be surprised if voters again fail to have the same enthusiasm for that prospect as the legislators proposing it.