Ousted from Senate post, lieutenant governor’s job could become more important

If you were hanging out in the State House’s first-floor lobby last Wednesday, you might have heard a tour guide ask a gaggle of school children if they could name South Carolina’s lieutenant governor.

“Mike Pence,” one offered up.

Tough break, Kev.

But the Palmetto State’s No. 2 post – a title with some sizzle, but little steak – is no stranger to snubs.

Hardly anyone but Anderson Republican Kevin Bryant wanted the job after former second-in-command Henry McMaster left it for the governor’s mansion in January.

The state’s most powerful politician, Florence Republican Hugh Leatherman, caused a ruckus in the upper chamber when he briefly resigned as Senate president pro tempore just to avoid becoming lieutenant governor.

And last week, S.C. lawmakers passed a bill, close to becoming law, that eliminates the lieutenant governor’s only two real jobs: president of the Senate and director of the Office on Aging. That bill would go into effect after the 2018 election.

But it isn’t all bad.

Oddly enough, the demotions might make the part-time job more attractive.

The bill gets rid of state law’s job description for the lieutenant governor, instead explaining that his or her job is, well, whatever the governor decides it is.

With that autonomy, the 2018 candidates for governor can craft and offer meaningful executive branch roles to their prospective running mates.

Catherine Templeton, for example, says she will offer her pick for lieutenant governor a true partnership. The former chief of the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, who is challenging McMaster for the 2018 GOP nomination, said she wants an Upstate Republican who can bring a business perspective to the governor’s office.

“I really want a partner, someone who brings perspective different than mine but that is in touch with what we need in our lives,” the Mount Pleasant Republican said.

Former Democratic Lt. Gov. Yancey McGill, also running in the GOP primary for governor, said his second-in-command would be a great communicator who would travel the state preaching the governor’s agenda. “That person ... in my eyes would be not just a lieutenant governor but would be an ambassador for South Carolina.”

State Rep. James Smith, a Richland Democrat mulling a run for governor, said the future lieutenant governor could carve out a role similar to the one Vice President Joe Biden played in President Barack Obama’s White House.

“He was a key advocate within the legislative process in Congress, helping to get deals done and move the country forward,” Smith said. “I think (the lieutenant governor) will be an important emissary for the governor and working with members of the General Assembly.”

The job still will offer statewide name recognition to folks who fancy themselves rising stars. And soon, it could offer more than the $43,000 a year it now pays.

The bill requires the state’s Agency Head Salary Commission to study the job’s duties and responsibilities in 2018 and recommend a new salary.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said most politicians would listen if a candidate for governor offered the job.

“Now, whether it will be tempting enough to make you jump, I don’t know,” Massey said, adding he is happy with his current job.

Of course, the change won’t guarantee future third-graders will know the lieutenant governor’s name.

Told of his misidentification with the Republican vice president, Bryant said, “I would take that as a huge compliment.”

Tweet of the week

State Rep. Gary Simrill, R-York, gets the S.C. Keeper of the Pavements award, with his tweet Friday about a Palmetto State pothole.

“The South Carolina-shaped pothole. Unfortunately, these aren't in limited supply,” the York Republican tweeted with the picture.

Simrill said the pothole is, indeed, in Columbia.

This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Ousted from Senate post, lieutenant governor’s job could become more important."