Bill Cotterell: Leave Florida's lieutenant governor post alone
There's probably no rule of government cited more often — and ignored so often — than that old line about, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'
Grammar aside, that's a good epigram. Florida lawmakers should heed that advice in deciding whether to try to eliminate the office of lieutenant governor, the subject of a proposed constitutional amendment up for debate in the current lawmaking session. Basically, there's nothing wrong with the office, it just doesn't have enough to do.
So instead of replacing the governor's currently missing understudy with a Cabinet-level Commissioner of Government Efficiency, as HJR 1325 and SJR 1756 propose, legislators ought to give the office some official duties.
Through no fault of the men and women who have held the post, being made fun of comes with the job.
When a budget crisis 30 years ago forced the governor to compose a list of 'non-essential state employees' to be furloughed, some legislators made lapel buttons labeled 'Non-essential Employee of the Year,' with Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay's picture in the middle.
Lt. Gov. Wayne Mixson used to joke about carrying a little mirror that he said he'd hold under Gov. Bob Graham's nose every morning and, if it fogged, he'd have the day off. MacKay once remarked that if he closed one eye and tilted his head just right, the title on his door said 'Governor.'
Tallahassee once had a restaurant called The Lieutenant Governor's Club, but it didn't last long. It was nice, but the name was just a little dig at the posh Governors Club — a private enclave a block from the Capitol that's so high-class its 'shirts and shoes required' sign is in French.
We got by without a lieutenant governor for about 80 years. When Gov. Dan McCarty died in 1953, Senate President Charley Johns became acting governor for two years, until Gov. LeRoy Collins defeated him.
The office was created by a 1968 constitutional revision, and Gov. Claude Kirk chose a state representative, Ray Osborne, hoping to shore up GOP support for his re-election campaign in the Tampa Bay area, which was troublesome for Kirk at the time.
It didn't help. The Kirk-Osborne ticket survived the 1970 primaries but was soundly defeated by Democrat Reubin Askew and his running mate, Secretary of State Tom Adams, who also provided political ballast that the little-known Askew sorely needed.
The constitution doesn't provide any official duty for the second spot, except to succeed the governor when necessary. That's happened twice — for three days when Graham left to be sworn in as a U.S. senator in 1987 and for 23 days when Gov. Lawton Chiles died in 1998, and MacKay took over.
A running mate's primary job is to help the governor get elected. Some governors appointed their partners to head the old Department of Commerce, and, of course, many lieutenant governors have started working on campaigns for governor — although none has ever made it. There's plenty of other work for them, though.
Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp chaired the board of Space Florida, oversaw the Office of Drug Control and Office of Adoption and Child Protection during the four years he served with Gov. Charlie Crist. Frank Brogan and Toni Jennings, serving with Gov. Jeb Bush, also chaired Space Florida.
Lt. Gov. Bobby Brantley headed the panel that set up the Florida Lottery under Gov. Bob Martinez. Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, who was Gov. Rick Scott's 2010 running mate, said she was able to bring a focus on smaller, rural counties behind the scenes.
Kottkamp noted that linking the two top jobs assures continuity in the executive branch.
'If something happens to the governor, the person that succeeds him or her should be someone from the same political party that will carry out their agenda — the party and agenda the people of Florida voted for,' Kottkamp said. 'If you get rid of the lieutenant governor and make a Cabinet position like attorney general the next in line, you open up the very real possibility of someone from a different party becoming governor. This could be enormously disruptive, and contrary to the will of the people that voted for the governor.'
Five states — Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Wyoming — don't have lieutenant governors. Some, like neighboring Georgia, have the governor and lieutenant governor run separately. In Florida, governors run alone in the primaries, then pick running mates (and potential lieutenant governors) once they're nominated
Florida has other efficiency officers, auditors and inspectors general. There's no need for a Cabinet-level DOGE czar. Lieutenant governors aren't glamorous, but we don't need them 'til we need them.
Bill Cotterell is a retired Capitol reporter for United Press International and the Tallahassee Democrat. He can be reached at wrcott43@aol.com.
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