TRENTON-New Jersey should seize the opportunity to convert its gubernatorial succession system into one that is clear and sensible, learning from the best approaches being used around the country-according to a new report from New Jersey Policy Perspective.

If New Jersey had a lieutenant governor, people going to the polls to select a governor would do so knowing who would take that person's place if the governor did not finish his or her term. "New Jerseyans deserve this right-and this responsibility-as much as citizens of other states," said Jon Shure, president of NJPP and author of the report, The People Should Choose Who Fills the Shoes.

"The one good thing about waiting so long to do this is that New Jersey now can pick from what's best in other states," Shure said.

Key recommendations of the report are:

• The governor and lieutenant governor should run together as a ticket in the fall election, with people casting one vote to elect both.
• They two should either run together in the primary or New Jersey should adopt a system where the gubernatorial primary winner chooses his or her running mate.
• The governor should have the authority to appoint the lieutenant governor to head a cabinet department in addition to other responsibilities chosen by the governor.
• The lieutenant governor should not preside over the State Senate or play any other role with regard to the Legislature.

In 24 of the 42 states with a lieutenant governor the candidates for that office and for governor run together in the fall election, though the methods for choosing the lieutenant governor nominees vary. Increasingly, lieutenant governors are being given significant responsibilities, especially in the past few years as states face the added burdens of budget crises and post-9/11 security concerns. In states where the governor and lieutenant governor aren't elected together as a team, experience shows more potential friction between the two officeholders and fewer important responsibilities being given to the lieutenant governor.

The report notes three serious drawbacks with New Jersey's current constitutional requirement that the senate president continue to hold that post and also serve as acting governor:

• By heading the executive branch and half of the legislative branch, the acting governor violates the separation of powers concept intended as a safeguard against too much authority being concentrated in one place.
• Because the acting governor was not elected statewide, but only by voters in one legislative district, he or she has no mandate from the general public.
• If the senate president and governor are from different parties, the person who becomes acting governor would, in addition to not having been elected to lead the state, be a member of the party rejected by voters for that duty.

"In the absence of having a lieutenant governor, New Jersey is not just an anachronism," the report says. "It is behind the curve, failing to make use of best practices when it comes to operation of the executive branch of government. New Jersey's current system of succession is inadequate for the 21st century, a time of increasingly complex problems and rising distrust among the public."

New Jersey Policy Perspective is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established in 1997 to conduct research and analysis on state issues. Our goal is a state where everyone can achieve to his or her full potential in an economy that offers a widely shared, rising standard of living.

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