Politics

Putting the Lt. Gov. to work

THERE IS a "good government" move afoot to make the lieutenant governor's office more meaningful — to stop wasting the talents of men like Paul Simon, Neil Hartigan and Dave O'Neal. As often seems to happen in Illinois, however, politics is getting in the way.

The situation goes back to 1968, the last gubernatorial election held under the 1870 Illinois Constitution. That document provided that the candidates for governor run separately from the candidates for lieutenant governor, leaving the voter free to vote for, say, a Republican for governor and a Democrat for lieutenant governor.

That's exactly what happened that year. Paul Simon, a Democrat who then lived in Troy, won the No. 2 spot over Republican Robert A. Dwyer, while Republican Richard B. Ogilvie was elected governor over Democratic incumbent Samuel H. Shapiro.

The result was kind of half-breed administration in which both Ogilvie and Simon were forced to tread softly. A potentially dangerous rivalry was averted only by the accident of fate that they are both dedicated public servants and considerate gentlemen.

But when the Constitutional Convention met in the old Capitol in Springfield, one of its tasks clearly was to prevent such a situation from recurring. The delegates did so — but they didn't go far enough. As a result, the relationship between the governor and the lieutenant governor has been worse during the last two administrations than it was during the Ogilvie-Simon years.

Essentially, the delegates decided that political party considerations were important — that the labels hung on the governor and the lieutenant governor should be the same. Consequently, they decreed that the party nominees for the two offices should run as a team in the general election. Never again would the state's two top officeholders be of different parties.

However, the delegates failed to deal with another crucial political consideration — they declined to make the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor a team in the primary elections as well.

The first two times it was used, the system flopped miserably.

In the 1972 elections, it gave us Gov. Daniel Walker, a virulent and-machine candidate, coupled with Lt. Gov. Neil Hartigan, a Chicago ward committeeman. "Uncomfortable" would be a mild description of their relationship. Walker installed Victor De Grazia as his "deputy to the governor," and Hartigan was left to deal with senior citizens, strip-mined land and whatever else he and his staff could scrape together.

Then in 1976 we got Gov. James R. Thompson and Lt. Gov. Dave O'Neal. Although they were not natural enemies as Walker and Hartigan were, they wound up working against each other on such important issues as the Equal Rights Amendment and the House "Cutback Amendment," and O'Neal finally resigned in disgust. O'Neal called the job "confining" and implied the average baboon could master its complexities in a matter of a few weeks.

O'Neal's resignation, however, stirred some positive reaction. Former Secy, of State Michael J. Hewlett, an astute observer of both Illinois politics and Illinois government, decided the flap provided a unique opportunity to restructure the lieutenant governor's office for two purposes. The first, he said, is to better utilize the talents of the person who holds the office; the second is to prepare that person to take over the reins of government in a hurry if something should happen to the governor.

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Hewlett proposed to the legislative leaders that the 1970 Constitution be amended to give the state's No. 2 executive some specific, meaningful duties. Rather than chairing the Abandoned Mined Lands Reclamation Council, Hewlett suggested, the lieutenant governor should perhaps chair an ongoing commission which keeps track of the state's financial situation, and perhaps another which oversees social programs.

"He doesn't need to know about building highways," Hewlett said. "We have engineers to do that. But if something happened to the governor, the guy who takes over should know something about the money and about the programs that affect the people of the state." Hewlett said the initial response — a positive one — was from House Speaker George Ryan (R., Kankakee). He said Ryan was receptive to the idea and hoped to move with it.

At this point in the story, politics intrudes. Through one of those coincidences that seem to plague (or should it be infest? enrich? enliven?) Illinois politics, Ryan also is a candidate for — of course — lieutenant governor.

His aides won't exactly say so, but if the speaker were to push an amendment to restructure the office he is seeking, it would provide another juicy issue for his primary opponent, Sen. Donald Totten (R., Hoffman Estates). And Gov. Thompson, who is solidly behind Ryan, already has enough problems dealing with charges of cronyism. As a result, Ryan aide Zale Glauberman said it's not likely anything will be done on an amendment next year.

That raises some questions. One is whether the political liability of being forced to take the lead on such an issue might be turned into a mutual asset if Ryan and Totten could get together on a proposal.

If Ryan is sincere in his support, he would lose nothing by agreeing to a sensible proposal. And he would stand to gain stature as a statesman. Totten, who needs to show he could be a "team player" in the Thompson administration if he wins a hotly contested

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primary against the governor's candidate, would have a chance to prove he can work on governmental issues at the same time he is fighting political battles.

One could also ask whether Howlett's proposal goes far enough. Perhaps the amendment should be written in such a way as to let the gubernatorial candidate pick his own running mate before the primary, although that, under the circumstances, would really leave Thompson and Ryan open to criticism.

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