At first glance, I don’t think I like the idea of establishing an elected lieutenant governor position, as state Senator Joe Haynes wants Tennessee to do via a constitutional amendment. The City Paper’s John Rodgers reports:

[T]he elected lieutenant governor would “temporarily act as governor” while the governor is out of state or incapacitated for more than seven consecutive days. As far as their duties, Haynes said they would do “about the same thing” as current Vice President Dick Cheney or former Vice President Al Gore. “Whatever the governor tells them to do I guess,” Haynes said.

Ramsey said he doesn’t “disagree” with Haynes, although it would make a lieutenant governor “more or less a ceremonial type position anyway.” The position’s main duty now is leading the state Senate and becoming governor if the sitting governor dies.

My objection to this is twofold: One, I don’t like creating a largely ceremonial office that would draw a salary and create another layer of bureaucracy. Two, I think in most instances now and in the future, the speaker of the Senate, whether Republican or Democrat, will likely not be in as poor health as former Lt. Governor John Wilder was when Bredesen fell ill from a tick bite last year. Haynes is citing Bredesen’s illness as one reason for his desire to make the office of Lt. Governor an elected position.

There may be hurdles and unintended consequences to this possibility, but I would prefer to have the electorate vote for speakers of both houses out of a pool of candidates chosen by each party during the general election itself or at a subsequent date. I like the notion of giving the power to the people to determine the leadership of the General Assembly, but I don’t like the idea of establishing a Lt. Governor’s office that would not hold the duty of presiding over the Senate.