PHOENIX — Arizonans may get to decide if they want to elect the state’s chief executive the same way they elect the president: with a built-in replacement.
House Concurrent Resolution 2020 would set up a system where each party’s gubernatorial candidate would choose a running mate.
The pair would run as a ticket and, if elected, the running mate would become the lieutenant governor.
The measure gained preliminary approval in the state House on Wednesday.
It still needs a final roll-call vote and Senate OK before being placed on the November ballot, where voters would get the final say.
Rep. Becky Nutt, R-Clifton, said the biggest effect would be to scrap the system where the death, recall, resignation or impeachment conviction of a governor elevates the secretary of state to the chief executive.
The secretary of state is separately elected, and might not be from the same party.
The 1988 impeachment and conviction of Republican Gov. Evan Mecham elevated Secretary of State Rose Mofford, a Democrat, to the top spot.
It’s also worked the other way, with Republican Jan Brewer replacing Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano after she quit in 2009 to take a job in the Obama administration.
Voters rejected the lieutenant governor idea in 1994 and again in 2010.
Some of the opposition in prior efforts was to creating another taxpayer-funded position for someone whose only official job would be to step in if necessary.
By contrast, Nutt’s proposal spells out that the lieutenant governor also would serve as director of the state Department of Administration.
That agency is in charge of personnel matters and ensuring that buildings are maintained, among other roles.
The measure has bipartisan support.
Rep. Randy Friese, D-Tucson, said when people elect someone as governor they also are voting for that person’s political vision.
“It would benefit the state to have political alignment and, of course, vision alignment for someone who would take over as the chief executive of the state if the governor were to, for some reason, have to vacate that office,” he said.
Friese said it also means voters effectively get a chance to ratify who would become governor if the top position became vacant.
He noted, however, that there is a loophole of sorts.
The measure says if the lieutenant governor resigns or otherwise leaves office, it is up to the governor to name a replacement, subject only to state Senate confirmation. And that could mean that someone whose name never was on the ballot — and who never stood for election — could end up as governor.
Friese said that’s likely to be a rare occurrence, and not a reason for him to oppose the plan.
But Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley, D-Tucson, said the problem is that an appointed lieutenant governor, once elevated to governor, would then get to appoint the next lieutenant governor.
“That takes the voice of the people too far out of the governor’s race in my opinion,” Powers Hannley said. “I think we should keep the system the way it is.”
