PHOENIX β Saying Arizona needs a better method of gubernatorial success, a House panel voted Thursday to ask voters to create the position of lieutenant governor.
Rep. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, wants to scrap the current system where the secretary of state, elected separately from the governor, becomes the stateβs chief executive when the top person dies, quits or is thrown out of office.
The idea is not new. In fact, voters rejected a similar idea in 2010.
Mesnard insisted, though, this one is better because it actually would give the lieutenant governor something to do: head the state Department of Administration.
But HB 2252, approved by the Committee on Government and Higher Education on a 7-2 vote, also has something else.
It would essentially set up a system similar to what occurs at the federal level, with the person running for governor choosing a running mate. And that means there would be no separate ability of voters to choose who they want running the state if the governor goes away.
That happens in Arizona β a lot.
βWeβve had everything from resignations to appointments to other things to impeachments to convictions for fraud to deaths of governors,β Mesnard said.
