A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Contrary to what modern governors believe, governors and other public officials do die in office:
That’s why Montana’s Constitution requires a lieutenant governor. The death of a sitting governor is not so rare there is no need to plan for the contingency.
The qualifications for lieutenant governor are minimal:
Article VI, Section 2. Election. (1) The governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, and auditor shall be elected by the qualified electors at a general election provided by law.
(2) Each candidate for governor shall file jointly with a candidate for lieutenant governor in primary elections, or so otherwise comply with nomination procedures provided by law that the offices of governor and lieutenant governor are voted upon together in primary and general elections.
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Article VI, Section 3. Qualifications. (1) No person shall be eligible to the office of governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, or auditor unless he is 25 years of age or older at the time of his election. In addition, each shall be a citizen of the United States who has resided within the state two years next preceding his election.
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Article VI, Section 4. Duties. (1) The executive power is vested in the governor who shall see that the laws are faithfully executed. He shall have such other duties as are provided in this constitution and by law.
(2) The lieutenant governor shall perform the duties provided by law and those delegated to him by the governor. No power specifically vested in the governor by this constitution may be delegated to the lieutenant governor.
Article VI, Section 2(2) does not require that the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor be members of the same political party, but that clearly is the intent. It was an implicit promise to the voters that if the governor they elected vacates the office before the end of his term his successor will be of the same party, thus assuring the voters that the party they chose will continue to govern. That made the lieutenant governor a political insurance policy for the voters.
I doubt it ever occurred to the constitution’s authors that a gubernatorial ticket would comprise candidates of different parties, and they thus reckoned there was no need to specify that the governor and lieutenant governor must belong to the same political party.
But although wise, the constitution’s authors were not clairvoyant. They did not anticipate that Democrat gubernatorial candidate Brian Schweitzer would choose a Republican as his running mate, thereby depriving voters of their constitutionally mandated political insurance policy.
Had Schweitzer died in office, or for some other reason failed to complete his term, Republican John Bolinger, a decent man but still a Republican, would have become governor. That’s why I opposed Schweitzer’s choosing Bohlinger. I wanted to vote not just for Schweitzer, but for four years of a Democratic governor. Schweitzer deprived me of that option. Instead, he chose Bohlinger as a signal he would reach across party lines and be a bipartisan governor.
Schweitzer, I’m sure, saw no political risk in choosing a Republican as his lieutenant government. Like all politicians, he knew he would never die in office. For Schweitzer, and for Steve Bullock, the healthy, rugged, marathon runner who replaced Schweitzer as governor, and also knows he won’t die in office, lieutenant governor is a required office that’s a political nuisance.
Bullock says he’ll select a new lieutenant governor by the end of the years. He may have someone in mind, but needs a few weeks to vet and poll-test that person.
I believe Bullock needs to select a current or former Democratic legislator or big city mayor. There are many good Democrats who serve or have served in the legislature or as mayors. He needs to stop selecting plagiarists and quitters.