Arizona does not need a Lieutenant Governor

Voters in Arizona have twice rejected ballot measures to create the position of lieutenant governor.

In 1994, 65.3 percent of voters rejected Proposition 100, which would have created the position of lieutenant governor and required the joint election of the governor and lieutenant governor.

In 2010, 59.2 percent of voters rejected Proposition 111, which would have replaced the secretary of state with the lieutenant governor and required the joint election of the governor and lieutenant governor. (h/t Ballotpedia).

Republican Sen. J.D. Mesnard somehow believes the third time is the charm. Senators advance ballot question to adopt Arizona lieutenant governor:

Arizona senators approved a bill to give the state’s voters a chance to shake up the line of succession for the governor’s office.

The ballot referral, which advanced on a bipartisan 23-7 vote, calls for gubernatorial candidates to choose a lieutenant governor to serve as their backup. If approved by the House of Representatives, the question would appear on 2020 ballot, allowing voters a final say on the proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution.

Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler secured the support of most Republicans and some colleagues across the aisle even though a Democrat, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, is the first in line to succeed if Gov. Doug Ducey, for any reason, leaves office in the next four years.

The amendment ensures the next-in-line to the governor is from the same political party as the governor that voters elected.

Mesnard’s proposed constitutional amendment wouldn’t take effect until 2027, ensuring that Hobbs will remain first in line for the governor’s office for at least her first term as secretary of state, and if re-elected in 2022, for her second term, too.

This means starting with the 2026 election, candidates for governor must pick a running mate no later than 60 days before the election starting.

Mesnard abandoned a companion bill that would have spelled out the duties of a lieutenant governor in state law. His proposal called for the second-in-command to also serve as the director of the Department of Administration, a role currently appointed by elected governors.

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The amendment mimics the presidential election, in which the candidate advanced by each political party chooses a running mate to appear on the ballot. Mesnard said he hopes the proposal is simple enough to garner support from Arizona voters, who twice have rejected different ballot measures to create a lieutenant governor.

“If this fails, I think we are done with the lieutenant governor in this state for a long time,” Mesnard said. “This is as basic as it gets, and as easy to understand as it gets.”

The current constitutional system allows Arizona voters to consciously decide who will be next in line of succession to the governor in voting for secretary of state. Arizona voters fully understand that this is what they are doing in voting for secretary of state, because succession has happened with some frequency:

• Gov. Sidney Osborn (D) died in office on May 25, 1948, and Secretary of State Dan Garvey (D) succeeded Osborn as governor.

• Gov. Raul Castro (D) resigned from office on October 20, 1977, and Secretary of State Wesley Bolin succeeded Castro as governor.

• Gov. Wesley Bolin (D) died in office on March 4, 1978, and Secretary of State Bruce Babbitt succeeded Bolin as governor.

• Gov. Evan Mecham (R) was impeached and removed from office on April 4, 1988, and Secretary of State Rose Mofford (D) succeeded Mecham as governor.

• Gov. Fife Symington (R) resigned from office on September 5, 1997, and Secretary of State Jane Hull (R) succeeded Symington as governor.

• Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) resigned from office on January 21, 2009, and Secretary of State Jan Brewer (R) succeeded Napolitano as governor.

Mesnard’s ballot measure would deprive Arizona voters of the right to decide who will be next in line of succession to the governor. There may be strategic reasons why voters elect a secretary of state from a different political party than the political party of the governor, e.g.,  to serve as a check on the political ambitions of a governor, for example. That strategy doesn’t always work (see Gov. Janet Napolitano who abandoned us to the ideological extremism of Jan Brewer).

I believe many Arizona voters viewed electing Democrat Katie Hobbs secretary of state as a check on the political ambitions of second-term Republican governor Doug Ducey, who may have wanted to move up to run for senator or even president in 2020 if Donald Trump is indicted, impeached or decides not to run.

Mesnard’s measure deprives Arizona voters of determining whom the lieutenant governor should be. That choice is left to the nominee of the political parties who chooses his or her running mate.

Mesnard’s proposal is the Florida model, where the lieutenant governor is elected directly along with the governor as his or her running mate. There are better models to follow.

For example:

In Alaska, lieutenant governor candidates run separately from candidates for governor in the party primaries, but after the primaries, the nominees run together as a slate.

In Virginia, the governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately and thus may be of different political parties.

If Mesnard’s proposal preserved the right of Arizona voters to determine the lieutenant governor, it might have a slight chance of passage. But Mesnard is only concerned with maintaining political party control, not something with which the large number of “no party preference” voters in Arizona are particularly concerned.

This spells certain defeat at the ballot box, again.

So this is just a waste of time and resources. Arizona does not need a lieutenant governor.