Why is the lieutenant governor roster so diverse?
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  Why is the lieutenant governor roster so diverse?
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Author Topic: Why is the lieutenant governor roster so diverse?  (Read 1863 times)
The Arizonan
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« on: August 02, 2014, 02:57:04 PM »

If you look at all of the current lieutenant governors in the United States, you'll notice that there are more women and minorities compared to the governor roster. For example, Minnesota, Iowa, and Rhode Island have female lieutenant governors while they've never had female governors. Why is that? Is the office of lieutenant governor merely a symbolic position and people don't really care who they vote into that office?
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2014, 03:00:46 PM »

I believe alot of states have it so that the LG is chosen in the primary, and then joins with the Gubernatorial nominee on the ticket for the election.

I guess people feel like they have a bigger shot at LG than Governor. The problem is that if the Governor doesn't like them, than they can be shut out of the government.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2014, 12:52:54 AM »

Tokenism.

You'll observe that there is considerably less diversity (in terms of being a minority or a woman) amongst the number of Lieutenant Governors elected separately from the Governor (2 out of 20, or 10%), than there are amongst Lieutenant Governors who are elected on a ticket with the Governor (14 out of 25, or 56%). Take these figures with a grain of salt, though. I came up with them by scrolling through a list on Wikipedia. For all I know one of these apparently generic white men could be gay or in a wheelchair or some minority with an unassuming English name. Admittedly, it might be a bit disingenuous to regard, say, a Hispanic in New Mexico or a Chinese-American in Hawaii as a "minority", but the point would still stand anyway.
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The Arizonan
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« Reply #3 on: August 03, 2014, 09:34:50 AM »

Why can't the governor roster be as diverse as the lieutenant governor roster?
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Mister Mets
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« Reply #4 on: August 03, 2014, 10:27:04 PM »

Tokenism is a valid answer.

Governors who win primaries are more likely to be white guys, and they're more likely to pick someone who can add diversity to the ticket for the most ceremonial post of Lieutenant Governor. The post isn't very prestigious, and the pool of potential Lieutenant Governors is big enough that potential Governors can find a woman or racial minority as qualified as any white guy who would take the job. There's usually a state legislator, failed congressional candidate, prosecutor, academic or state party chairman available for the office.
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TJ in Oregon
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« Reply #5 on: August 04, 2014, 09:00:38 PM »

Tokenism is a valid answer.

Governors who win primaries are more likely to be white guys, and they're more likely to pick someone who can add diversity to the ticket for the most ceremonial post of Lieutenant Governor. The post isn't very prestigious, and the pool of potential Lieutenant Governors is big enough that potential Governors can find a woman or racial minority as qualified as any white guy who would take the job. There's usually a state legislator, failed congressional candidate, prosecutor, academic or state party chairman available for the office.

It really depends on what the role of the Lt. Governor is for each state too. In some states, such as Ohio, the Lt. Governor runs a department, so she's basically an elected cabinet member. In others the Lt. Governor does nothing at all.
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Simfan34
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« Reply #6 on: August 05, 2014, 07:29:37 PM »

Why can't the governor roster be as diverse as the lieutenant governor roster?

Because governors actually have to get elected, rise through the ranks, win primaries, etc, etc. I'm obviously not trying to say women or minorities are incapable of doing that, but I shouldn't have to explain why there are so few women governors compared to a position that is often a do-nothing one whose occupant is deliberately chosen to attract a group's support on the basis of their diversity as opposed to their political acumen or other qualities (see: Sarah Palin).
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Southern Democrat
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« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2014, 05:37:07 PM »

In several states, the LG is independently elected separately and has power and influence in the State Senate by appointing chairman of the committees and sub-committees, legislative board councils, etc.,

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Mister Mets
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« Reply #8 on: August 16, 2014, 09:55:57 AM »

As an example of how obscure candidates for Lieutenant Governor can be, there is no wikipedia entry for Charlie Crist's running mate.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/17/4240707/crist-names-miamian-annette-taddeo.html

Looking her up just gets you the 2014 Florida gubernatorial election page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Taddeo-Goldstein
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #9 on: August 16, 2014, 10:19:37 AM »

The thing is, Florida is one of those states that has the candidate pick the Lieutenate Governor (like how a candidate for President picks his running mate).

Also, I've tried looking up this Taddeo woman, and I can't find anything that she's actually done.

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muon2
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« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2014, 12:21:48 PM »

Through 2010 IL separately nominated Gov and LG though they are elected on a single partisan ticket. The IL Constitution gives no authority to the LG other than to replace the Gov should the office be vacant and to assume any duties assigned to the office by statute. It hasn't been unusual for IL LG's to leave office midterm due to boredom and the prospects of a more interesting job.

After the debacle of Scott Cohen getting the Dem LG nomination and then finding out that he had some serious negatives in the past, the legislature utilized the provision in the constitution that allowed the nominations to be by ticket and that exists for 2014. Ironically there had been a similar debacle in 1986 when a LaRouche follower won the Dem LG nod forcing Stevenson to run as an independent on the Solidarity ticket leaving the Dem ticket with an LG but no Gov candidate. Surprisingly that didn't lead to ticket nominations back then.
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Donerail
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« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2014, 01:21:43 PM »

Also, I've tried looking up this Taddeo woman, and I can't find anything that she's actually done.

Businesswoman, Congressional candidate against IRL in 2008, and party chair of the Miami-Dade Dems.
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Badger
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« Reply #12 on: August 16, 2014, 01:52:29 PM »

Because witth some exceptions (e.g. Texas), it's a do-nothing elected office that allows the gov candiidate or their party to demonstrate "diversity".
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Mister Mets
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« Reply #13 on: August 16, 2014, 04:50:38 PM »

Through 2010 IL separately nominated Gov and LG though they are elected on a single partisan ticket. The IL Constitution gives no authority to the LG other than to replace the Gov should the office be vacant and to assume any duties assigned to the office by statute. It hasn't been unusual for IL LG's to leave office midterm due to boredom and the prospects of a more interesting job.

After the debacle of Scott Cohen getting the Dem LG nomination and then finding out that he had some serious negatives in the past, the legislature utilized the provision in the constitution that allowed the nominations to be by ticket and that exists for 2014. Ironically there had been a similar debacle in 1986 when a LaRouche follower won the Dem LG nod forcing Stevenson to run as an independent on the Solidarity ticket leaving the Dem ticket with an LG but no Gov candidate. Surprisingly that didn't lead to ticket nominations back then.

On that topic, I couldn't find any information on the Republican LG nominee in Illinois.

The candidate seems to be a councilwoman from the city of Wheaton, population approximately 54,000.

According to polls she will has a very good chance of being a heartbeat away from the governorship in a big state.
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muon2
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« Reply #14 on: August 16, 2014, 11:05:22 PM »

Through 2010 IL separately nominated Gov and LG though they are elected on a single partisan ticket. The IL Constitution gives no authority to the LG other than to replace the Gov should the office be vacant and to assume any duties assigned to the office by statute. It hasn't been unusual for IL LG's to leave office midterm due to boredom and the prospects of a more interesting job.

After the debacle of Scott Cohen getting the Dem LG nomination and then finding out that he had some serious negatives in the past, the legislature utilized the provision in the constitution that allowed the nominations to be by ticket and that exists for 2014. Ironically there had been a similar debacle in 1986 when a LaRouche follower won the Dem LG nod forcing Stevenson to run as an independent on the Solidarity ticket leaving the Dem ticket with an LG but no Gov candidate. Surprisingly that didn't lead to ticket nominations back then.

On that topic, I couldn't find any information on the Republican LG nominee in Illinois.

The candidate seems to be a councilwoman from the city of Wheaton, population approximately 54,000.

According to polls she will has a very good chance of being a heartbeat away from the governorship in a big state.

Here's her bio from the campaign website. She a Latina, the daughter of Ecuadorian and Cuban parents. She's an attorney who worked for the AG's office and in private practice. As you note she was elected to the Wheaton city council. She's been a personal friend of mine for a number of years, FWIW.
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The Arizonan
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« Reply #15 on: August 17, 2014, 07:35:57 PM »

All I know about Annette Taddeo is that she ran against Ros-Lehtinen in 2008, was Columbian, and converted to Judaism.
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rbt48
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« Reply #16 on: August 17, 2014, 08:12:40 PM »
« Edited: August 20, 2014, 08:28:30 PM by rbt48 »

Tokenism, especially in states where the candidate for governor gets to pick the Lt Gov candidate.  Iowa and New Jersey are great examples.  Both of George Pitaki's Lt Govs were female (by design, not by chance!).

I don't think there has yet been an instance where both the Gov and Lt Gov were females.
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Mister Mets
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« Reply #17 on: August 20, 2014, 09:01:07 AM »

Tokenism, especially in states where the candidate for governor gets to pick the Lt Gov candidate.  Iowa and New Jersey are great examples.  Both of George Pitaki's Lt Govs were female (be design, not by chance!).

I don't think there has yet  been an instance where both the Gov and Lt Gov were females.
There are sometimes tickets like that. See Texas Democrats.

There have been 36 female Governors, so you'd assume it would have happened once.

In Arizona, there was a situation where the Governor and the next in line in the order of succession were both women: Janet Napolitano and Secretary of State Jan Brewer.
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The Arizonan
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« Reply #18 on: August 26, 2014, 12:55:05 AM »

So, the tokenism explains why Branstad, Kasich, Beshear, Abercrombie, Malloy, Pence, Scott, etc. all picked their running mates. I think I've noticed the same with the running mates of candidates like Davis (Kansas), Peters (Michigan), Brown (Maryland), Crist (Florida), Cuomo (New York), etc.
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The Arizonan
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« Reply #19 on: September 04, 2014, 05:03:36 PM »

Why is it hard for women to get elected governor?
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #20 on: September 04, 2014, 05:18:50 PM »

Why is it hard for women to get elected governor?

I think were at the stage where, by and large, it's not all that hard.
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Mister Mets
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« Reply #21 on: September 04, 2014, 05:56:44 PM »

So, the tokenism explains why Branstad, Kasich, Beshear, Abercrombie, Malloy, Pence, Scott, etc. all picked their running mates. I think I've noticed the same with the running mates of candidates like Davis (Kansas), Peters (Michigan), Brown (Maryland), Crist (Florida), Cuomo (New York), etc.
It isn't automatically tokenism if a man picks a female running mate (although I am suspicious if she has no wikipedia entry).

Cuomo picked a one term congresswoman from a politically useful region.

Brown picked a young white guy who has been a successful county executive.

Davis's running mate fails the wikipedia entry test, but she was the democratic party's nominee for Senate in  the 1996 special election, winning 43% in the same cycle when Bob Dole ran for President.

It's not a problem when a candidate for lieutenant governor provides some kind of balance. The problem is when it's someone who isn't very qualified.
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NHLiberal
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« Reply #22 on: September 04, 2014, 08:10:08 PM »

Davis's running mate fails the wikipedia entry test, but she was the democratic party's nominee for Senate in  the 1996 special election, winning 43% in the same cycle when Bob Dole ran for President.

Against Brownback, interestingly enough

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The Arizonan
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« Reply #23 on: September 06, 2014, 07:10:15 AM »

Anthony Brown picked a Jewish guy, so that could be tokenism. It might be more for balance though.
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Maxwell
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« Reply #24 on: September 06, 2014, 05:13:02 PM »

Davis's running mate fails the wikipedia entry test, but she was the democratic party's nominee for Senate in  the 1996 special election, winning 43% in the same cycle when Bob Dole ran for President.

Against Brownback, interestingly enough



And daughter-in-law of Former Two-Term Governor and Democrat Robert Docking.
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