If it’s broke, let’s fix it. That’s what Montanans need to do with our dysfunctional office of lieutenant governor.
The dysfunction dates back for at least a half-century. After serving as governor in the 1950s, Republican Hugo Aronson once commented in my presence that he rarely left the state because of his deep distrust for his lieutenant governor, Democrat Paul Cannon.
In the 1960s the relationship was probably even worse between fellow Republicans Gov. Tim Babcock and Lt. Gov. Ted James. Babcock was out of state when a car crash killed Public Service Commissioner Jack Holmes. Without waiting for Babcock’s return, James quickly appointed his political ally and Great Falls hometown friend, Ernie Steele, to the vacancy on the PSC created by Holmes’ death. Babcock was furious, and the animosity that grew between them resulted in James and Babcock locking horns in a bitter Republican primary contest for governor in 1968.
Attempting to create a more functional relationship between governors and lieutenant governors, the 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention changed the state Constitution to require candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run as a team, as national candidates for president and vice president do. (That hasn’t always been an ideal arrangement either. Lyndon Johnson described his role as vice president in the Camelot time of the Kennedy administration as “the banjo part in the halleluiah chorus.”)
In 1976 when Montana’s partnership provision was first implemented, Gov. Tom Judge chose former legislator and state Lands Commissioner Ted Schwinden as his running mate. Judge gave Schwinden some real responsibility, but no trust relationship resulted. Judge and Schwinden ended up squaring off against each other the first chance they got, in the primary election of 1980.
Lt. Gov. George Turman resigned before the end of Schwinden’s administration, as did Lt. Gov. Allen Kolstad in the succeeding administration of Gov. Stan Stephens. Lt. Gov. Denny Rehberg left in the middle of Gov. Marc Racicot’s administration to run for U.S. senator. Lt. Gov. Karl Ohs made no secret of his disdain for his boring and unfulfilling job and confided to me his intention not to be a candidate for the office again.
Now, Lt. Gov. Angela McLean has resigned, reportedly because a personality conflict with Gov. Steve Bullock resulted in the governor giving the capable and energetic McLean nothing to do.
People with ambition and ability hate being benched. People who become lieutenant governor, like McLean, are usually ambitious and capable people. Why waste their productive potential because a governor may either not recognize it, or be uncomfortable with it for some reason?
Montanans know that lieutenant governors running independently of the governor have been problematic for our state, at least since the era of Aronson, and the attempt to force them to be loyal teammates hasn’t worked either.
Lieutenant governors should serve in a real job. Many do, including neighboring lieutenant governors of Wyoming, Utah, Oregon, Alaska, and Arizona. Whether called secretary of state or lieutenant governor, those states elect one person to perform the defined duties of secretary of state.
We should do the same thing. Montana taxpayers will be served by eliminating a useless and troublesome office and benefited by giving a capable person a real job to do.
This reform can be accomplished only by amending our state constitution. That can happen by a citizen’s initiative in the 2016 general election or by a referendum to the people from the 2017 legislature, voted on in the election of 2018. Let’s recognize it’s broke, and let’s fix it.
Bob Brown, former secretary of state
Whitefish