NE2 Amendment to restore sanity

[bore]

Amendment to Restore Sanity

The Constitution of the Northeastern Region shall be amended as follow:

1. The Lieutenant Governor of the Northeastern Region shall be elected by popular vote every four months.
2. Had the office fall vacant with more than a month before the end of the term, a special election shall be held.
3. A special election shall be held no earlier than a week and no later than two weeks after the vacancy was created.
4. Had the office fall vacant with more than a month before the end of the term, the Governor shall nominate the new Lieutenant Governor with advise and consent of the Assembly, which process shall not take longer than one week.
5. The Lieutenant Governor shall not serve at any other position within the Northeast Government.

Sponsor: Senator Kalwejt

Kalwejt, you have 24 hours to advocate for this bill. Debate time shall last 72 hours.

[Northeast Representative Goldwater]

So is the Lieutenant Governor the Governor's running mate? Or is he elected separately, like in California?

[HPoirot]

I like with this bill that the lieutenant governor is elected so you have to declare for it and seek the job. With the current system of number of first preferences you can get the job without even wanting it.

I don't know if we have enough interested people to fill this job in addition to other elected officials if the lieutenant governor can't hold any other jobs.

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

Kalwejt, you have 24 hours to advocate for this bill. Debate time shall last 72 hours.

I believe the second highest officer of our region should be elected directly by the people, not randomly selected by number of first preferences.

Second, the situation when Lt. Governor is Speaker at the same time is not only violating "can't serve two offices" principle. It also can be very impractical, as we all saw recently.

[bore]

I certainly agree with the principle of this bill, my problem is that it will be a real struggle to get people to run for it. We only had 3 candidates for the much more powerful position of representative, Is there any way that anyone can think of to strengthen the power of the lieutenant governor, like in the mideast?

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

I certainly agree with the principle of this bill, my problem is that it will be a real struggle to get people to run for it. We only had 3 candidates for the much more powerful position of representative, Is there any way that anyone can think of to strengthen the power of the lieutenant governor, like in the mideast?

That's the issue that should be studies.

Since I'm no longer a voting member of this body, I can at most suggest an amendment.

6. The Lieutenant Governor shall be entrusted with additional important government duties, which shall be specified by a separate legislation

[Northeast Rep Snowball]

I will not pass this bill if we are not going to define what the Lt does, I mean we are going to have an election that noone is going to run in...

[HPoirot]

I know it's probably not a good idea because the chief justice officer doesn't get elected but the Lieutenant governor could be the Chief judicial officer. I got this idea thinking about the job of Lieutenant governor would interest someone not having to to daily work but available to be activated in a role when needed. This made me think of the chief justice. The Lieutenant governor role would be more a caretaker than a political player.

[Governor Scott]

Right now, I don't support this bill.  Unless we can give the LtG more powers, I think we should keep the current policy.  Personally (and I'm saying, personally), if I could pick an LtG and designate duties to them, it wouldn't be much more than tallying Assembly votes for me... and I say that just because I'm really bad at math.   But, even then, it would be a role that's seldom needed.

And keep in mind that in the last election, we couldn't even get five people to declare for five Assembly seats.  I don't know anyone who aspires to hold this single position.

[HPoirot]

There is the issue of the Lieutenant governor not being the same person as Speaker. If someone is interested to be Speaker he needs to ask not to get too many first preferences in the election, which is bizarre. I would like people to run for the job they desire. 

[bore]

Doesn't the Improving the Chain of Command amendment stop Spenstargate happening again?

If so, why do we need a separate, hard to fill office?

[Northeast Rep Snowball]

For the record I will vote nay on this bill.

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

Well, I'm no longer a Representative, but as an author I'm withdrawing.

Still, I think Lt. Governor should not be selected by a random preference number. I recommend making the Assembly choosing one Representative as LG instead.

[Governor Scott]

Well, I'm no longer a Representative, but as an author I'm withdrawing.

Still, I think Lt. Governor should not be selected by a random preference number. I recommend making the Assembly choosing one Representative as LG instead.

I like that idea.