Louisiana will get a new lieutenant governor – – Scott Angelle, appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal – – next week to replace Mitch Landrieu when he takes over as mayor of New Orleans. It makes us wonder if we really need a lieutenant governor whose main duty is to replace the governor if he leaves office in mid-term.
Why not let the secretary of state take over as governor if need be, which may be necessary once every 100 years, and assign his duties to other elected officials. It would save us money at a time when we are much in need of it. And that’s not a bad thing at anytime.
The lieutenant governor has been assigned the job of overseeing economic development in the state but that should be done by other departments that are closely aligned to working with our various economic forces. By eliminating the uneccessary position of lieutenant governor, we will be uniting the operation of our state into a more compact and less bureaucratic force.
We recall that Louisiana once had a governor and lieutenant governor who did not get along and even did not speak to each other. As a result, the governor did not assign any duties for the lieutenant governor and the latter did nothing. And the state got along fine though we had to pay the expenses of his office.
Several officials in Louisiana have announced their intention to run for lieutenant governor in November when the election will be held to replace Angelle who has pledged not to run to succeed himself. But Gov. Bobby Jindal is pushing the current legislature to pass constitutional amendments that would abolish the office of lieutenant governor. We wish him success.
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