By John Crangle
SC Common Cause

The time is long past when the do-nothing job of lieutenant governor should be abolished. The taxpayers of South Carolina waste $1 million per year to have a part-time employee wear a purple robe and carry a wooden mallet three days a week from January to June and wait, usually in vain, for the governor to die, resign or get impeached.

Once in great while he votes to break a tie in the Senate. Of course, there is no reason a tie must be broken; a tie means the motion fails.

To keep hyperactive Andre Bauer busy, the Office of Aging was shifted to the lieutenant governor’s office. Of course, there is no reason a state agency could not do the job.

Otherwise, too often the lieutenant governor gets in trouble.

The current and previous lieutenant governors have been an embarrassment to the state. Ken Ard is the worst of the lot. His predecessor, Andre Bauer, was more the victim of low impulse control; Andre’s wild driving in a state car was more like a teenage kid on a Saturday night than a crooked politician.

There was a time (perhaps when the South Carolina Constitution was written in 1895) when the lieutenant governor might do something. Governors did die — life expectancy in the 1800s was only 40. And from 1900 to 1970, eight lieutenant governors were later elected as governors, but it has not happened since then; and only one lieutenant governor in the past half century has replaced a governor, when Gov. Donald Russell resigned in 1965.

The job has no future, as Adam Bean in a recent article clearly explained: Seven of the past eight lieutenant governors all tried and failed in their runs for governor; and the eighth failed in her run for Congress. Except for Earle Morris, it was the end of their political careers; and Morris ended his career in prison.

In the future, candidates for lieutenant governor will probably all be like Ken Ard — obscure figures with a thin resume. As the influence of newspapers and local television news fades, the monopolistic power of television political advertising has become blinding. This means that the candidate with little or no public record has a greater advantage than before. Whereas experienced state legislators have had to make many difficult votes on hard tax-and-spending issues, both Ard and Nikki Haley showed that doing nothing in public office is really an asset, allowing the candidate to create a Captain America persona of imaginary powers without showing the scar tissue of decades of political combat.

With enough campaign money, a candidate can buy himself a fake political identity just like he can buy a fake ID card. Big money buys political consultants, scripted TV ads and lots of air time. Even if the candidate is too homely to be fixed by the make-up lady, he can be computer enhanced and programmed on TV; the voters don’t have X-ray vision to see inside an empty head.

There will be no need for a lieutenant governor in the future as there is no need now. If the governor goes, the Constitution provides a line of succession to the president pro tem of the Senate and the speaker of the House. The latter two officers are well-equipped to take over. They have served many years in the General Assembly, and they have been selected by their colleagues, who have confidence in their ability and leadership. Such people (currently Sen. Glenn McConnell and Rep. Bobby Harrell) are much better equipped to be governor than Ken Ard, whose only prior office was as Florence County councilman. We can be assured that the president pro tem and the speaker will be able to work constructively with other legislators.

Eliminating the position of lieutenant governor will require a constitutional amendment. Both the Senate and House must vote by two-thirds super majorities to amend. At the next general election, the voters in referendum must approve the proposed amendment by majority vote; finally, both houses must vote by simple majority to ratify the amendment. This done, the useless office of lieutenant governor is thrown on the trash heap of history, and the taxpayers will save $1 million per year and whatever embarrassment and cheap laughs the future might otherwise hold.

John Crangle is a Columbia attorney and chair of Common Cause South Carolina, a longtime member of the SC Progressive Network.