2 to call for vote to scrap No. 2 job

Sens. Keith Ingram and Jimmy Hickey said Thursday that they will introduce a proposed constitutional amendment during the next legislative session to eliminate the lieutenant governor's office.

If approved by the Legislature, the proposal would go to voters on the ballot in November 2016. The office would be eliminated in 2019 if the proposal is passed.

The lieutenant governor's office has been vacant since Mark Darr, a Springdale Republican, resigned Feb. 1. The remaining staff left June 30, and the office's space in the Capitol is empty.

Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin is running for the office against Democrat John Burkhalter and Libertarian Christopher Olson. Under the proposal, whoever is elected would serve out a full four-year term before the office is eliminated.

Ingram, a Democrat from West Memphis, said he and Hickey, a Republican from Texarkana, thought it was important to announce the measure well before the November elections.

"If we waited until after the fall elections and Congressman Griffin won, I would be accused of being partisan and the same with Sen. Hickey if John Burkhalter won. We're trying to take politics out of something that is, in my mind, a business decision," Ingram said.

Under the Arkansas Constitution, the lieutenant governor's responsibilities include fulfilling the duties of governor in the event of the governor's death, resignation, disability or absence from the state. The senators' proposal would transfer those duties to the attorney general.

If the attorney general was promoted to the governor's office, the attorney general would appoint his replacement until a special election could be held.

Ingram said the remaining duties of the lieutenant governor's office, including any political appointments, would be reassigned in separate legislation.

The proposal estimates a savings of $450,000 for the state and predicts no reduction in government services.

"I don't know that any of the citizens in the state have not been served since that office has been basically closed," Ingram said.

Hickey said that while the lieutenant governor's duties include presiding over the Senate, the chamber's staff is reviewing the rules to make adjustments for the office's elimination. He said he thought the updates would be "very, very simple."

"I believe that it's been shown, since the office has been vacant, that the Senate can run effectively without it," Hickey said.

Legislative leaders said it was too early to say whether there are enough votes for the measure to pass.

House Speaker-elect Rep. Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, said he had not spoken with Ingram or Hickey about the proposal and was not familiar with it. He said he did not know of any interest in the House for eliminating the office or how members would vote for it.

"I think it's just way too early to tell right now," Gillam said.

Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, who is in line to be Senate president pro tempore in 2015, said he did not know all of the details about the proposal but that he was willing to review it. He agreed that it was too early to say what the majority of the senators would think of the proposal.

"I think anything's possible as far as passage," Dismang said.

The Democratic and Republican candidates for the seat said they remain opposed to proposals to eliminate the office.

"The question is not whether we need a lieutenant governor, it's what kind of lieutenant governor do we need," Burkhalter, a Little Rock businessman, said in a statement. "Our lieutenant governor should serve as a vital advocate for job creators in our state. I will bring real-world experience creating jobs, building and growing small businesses, and recruiting companies of all sizes to Arkansas," he said.

Griffin, also from Little Rock, said in a statement, "Arkansans want a lieutenant governor who will advocate for conservative policies in the Legislature and be accountable to the whole state. After watching two lieutenant governors have to step in and become governor on short notice, it's also important to most people I meet that they have a lieutenant governor of their own choosing, for that purpose."

Democratic Lt. Gov. Jim Guy Tucker was promoted to the governor's office after Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992.

A few years later, when Tucker was convicted of fraud and conspiracy and resigned, Mike Huckabee, a Republican lieutenant governor, became governor.

A Section on 08/15/2014

Reader poll

What do you think about abolishing the lieutenant governor's office?

  • It's a good idea: The position is unnecessary. 45%
  • It's a bad idea: The governor needs his right-hand man. 13%
  • The plan could work, but I want to see all the details. 20%
  • The proposal seems like a political stunt. 19%
  • Other (please comment) 2%

165 total votes.

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