Senator Writes Lieutenant Governor Bill Hoping to Change State Chain-of-Command

Matthew Hersh

A bill has been introduced in the state Senate targeting the current standards of gubernatorial succession. The bill was introduced Friday by district Senator Shirley Turner (D-Ewing).

In response to the the prospect of Senate President Richard Codey (D-West Orange) tackling both his current job as senate president and acting governor for the 14 months after Gov. James E. McGreevey resigns on November 15, Sen. Turner said adding the lieutenant governor office would create a position that already exists in 42 other states.

She said the move would also help avert situations like the one a week before Gov. McGreevey was sworn in at the start of 2002. When Gov. Whitman vacated her seat to assume her role as commissioner of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, then-Senate President Don DiFrancesco assumed that role for the following year. However, when Mr. DiFrancesco resigned amid allegations of violating legal ethics rules while serving as municipal attorney for Scotch Plains, the state's executive office was ostensibly a revolving door of acting governors until Gov. McGreevey was sworn in.

"I don't know what our founding fathers were thinking when they allowed the senate president to [simultaneously] serve as acting governor. Here, clearly, we're in violation of several checks and balances in our state government," Sen. Turner said.

As acting governor and senate president, Sen. Codey would effectively be able to allow bills on to the senate floor and subsequently sign them as governor if the bill were to pass.

Sen. Turner also said a lieutenant governor would circumvent the issue of calling for special elections, as the case has been made in recent weeks with Gov. McGreevey's impending resignation. A lieutenant in the executive office would run with the governor as a ticket.

Under Sen. Turner's bill a lieutenant governor would also serve as the secretary of state.

Ultimately, Sen. Turner said, the bill is aimed to decrease the executive power that an acting governor, who is also senate president, has in creating and passing legislation.

With the current structure, Sen. Turner said there is too much power vested in the acting governor: "You can have a person introduce a bill, post it in committee, then run down the hall and sign it in to law."