MN To Keep Lt Governor For $750K A Year
71 views · Published 18 February 2010 · 32:35 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: The Uptake by Bridgemakers · 2010 · News & Politics
Why does Minnesota have a Lt. Governor? Other states don't and seem to do just fine. So today, Minnesota Rep. Phyllis Kahn proposed a constitutional amendment which abolishes the office of Lt. Governor. This amendment would eliminate the position of Lt. Governor. Rep. Kahn argues that the position has very few duties and in an effort to "make government smaller", we could eliminate this position. Rep Buesgens likens the position to an insurance policy. The Governor and Lt. Governor are elected on the same platform and this person is one heartbeat away from being governor. If something were to happen to the Governor then the position would go to Secretary of State, which has its own specific set of duties and was elected to do those duties. He has fire insurance and has yet to use it but isn't going to get rid of it because he so far hasn't had to use it. Rep Emmer at some point wanted to make sure we're not making tongue in cheek comments about the current Lt. Governor. He feels that she has done all the duties assigned to her, and done them well, even if we don't see her all that often. Rep. Kahn referenced getting rid of the State Treasurer which had far more duties than the Lt. Governor constituents voted it through easily. She also made comments on how infrequently she sees the current Lt. Governnor or how often the representatives are in contact with her. Other representatives used the insurance policy anaology, one saying he didn't like the analogy but that he supports the bill and another saying "how many insurance policies can we have". It was also discussed that the 3/4 of a million dollars they would save by eliminating this position isn't a lot, but its something. and in this economic climate every little bit helps. The bill was defeated. Distributed by Tubemogul.
