Fine-Tuning the Constitution
Virginians
should re-think the way they elect lieutenant
governors -- but the one-term limit on electing
governors works just fine.
A
proposal to amend the Constitution of Virginia to
require candidates for governor and lieutenant
governor to run for election as a team will once
again be considered by the General Assembly. It
makes good sense.
Two
related ideas should also be addressed while this
proposal is being debated. The first is to mandate a
special election for governor whenever the office is
left vacant due to an incumbent’s death or
resignation. While it is wise to have an immediate
succession by the lieutenant governor to assure
continuity and stability in case of a vacancy in the
governor’s office, Virginians deserve to select
the person they want to lead the Commonwealth for
the balance of the term.
If
the Constitution is amended to require that
candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run
together on a slate, it alters the debate over the
special election proposal. Now, the lieutenant
governor can be a member of a political party
different from the governor’s party. In fact, that
has often been the case in Virginia in recent
decades. Upon a vacancy in the governor’s office,
the Commonwealth might suddenly be led by a person
with policies sharply at odds with those of the
person the voters elected to the office.
Of
course, the voters also elect the lieutenant
governor. The reality is that campaigns for the
office of lieutenant governor and attorney general
are not followed closely by most voters. While a
successful gubernatorial candidate may claim a
mandate from the voters, the same can hardly be said
for the other two successful statewide candidates.
At a minimum, any legitimate claim to a mandate that
either prevailing down-ticket candidate has is
always trumped by the governor’s mandate.
The
lack of voter attention to down-ticket races is the
principal reason for proposing a special
gubernatorial election, even if the top two
statewide candidates are members of the same party
and run as a team. Republicans may oppose the
special election proposal on the cynical grounds
that it would enhance the Democrats’ prospects of
capturing the governor’s office. That’s not a
good enough reason.
The
second idea that deserves to be considered at the
same time as the proposed tandem-ticket
constitutional amendment is the notion that a
Virginia governor should be allowed to run for a
consecutive term of office. This is not a sound
idea, as a recent argument in this space explained.
Virginia
voters have too few opportunities to affect the
policies of the Commonwealth. Giving an incumbent
governor the opportunity to run for reelection will
dramatically reduce even those limited
opportunities.
Even
if the General Assembly enacts legislation to curb
the powers of the office of governor, that office
will remain the most powerful gubernatorial position
in the nation. The strength of the office derives
primarily from the Virginia Constitution and not
from statutes the General Assembly enacted from time
to time. A governor able to succeed himself will
effectively control the field of likely successors,
freezing out those who don’t share the
incumbent’s politics.
Virginia
has been well-served by the present constitutional
bar to gubernatorial succession. We can’t be as
certain about the provisions dealing with the office
of lieutenant governor, principally because there
has been no recent experience with a death or
resignation of a governor.
Let
the legislature consider all these ideas, but
simultaneously.
--
January 13, 2003
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