Pundits and pols live to buzz about who will be the next big political thing, so a possible vacancy in the Lieutenant Governor’s office would excite endless speculation
But rather than feeding this frenzy, Governor Schwarzenegger can drive some of the politics out of Sacramento – and drive home his budget and policy priorities – by appointing … nobody. He should then propose to abolish the office altogether.
Nobody knows better than the Governor what a waste of resources (and in rare cases, talent) is the office of Lieutenant Governor. After all, last February the Governor’s only memorable exercise of his blue pencil was to reduce the Lt. Governor’s budget by 62 percent because he wanted “to ensure that sufficient resources are reserved for key programs within state government.”
The Lieutenant Governor has approximately five known duties, each of which can be ably carried out by other officials – or eliminated altogether:
· The Lt. Gov. serves as a UC Regent and California State University Trustee, and could be easily (and probably enthusiastically) replaced by the Senate President Pro Tempore.
· The Lt. Gov. serves as a member of the State Lands Commission, but could be replaced by the Secretary for Resources.
· The Lt. Gov. serves as chair of the Commission for Economic Development. I doubt any living person could recall a substantive accomplishment by this Commission.
· The Lt. Gov. may preside over the Senate and may cast a tie-breaking vote. I call upon scholars to unearth the most recent examples of this procedure being used. After all, if a tie need not be resolved in the Assembly, why should this be the case for the Senate?
· As for gubernatorial absence or succession, in the modern era, the Governor should retain his or her powers even when outside the state’s boundaries, and many states have succession plans where officials other than the Lieutenant Governor ascend to the chief executive position. In fact, seven states have survived and prospered without the office of Lieutenant Governor.