Tennessee State Senators debate amendment

PDF: Amendment No. 1 to SJR0687

NASHVILLE — Senators on Thursday sparred over a proposal that would amend the Tennessee Constitution to let voters elect the lieutenant governor and secretary of state.

Efforts to exclude the secretary of state, who is elected by the 132 members of the General Assembly, sparked the fiercest debate. The lieutenant governor is elected by the 33-member Senate.

“I want to see us opening the election of secretary of state to all the people of Tennessee,” said Sen. Rosalind Kurita, D-Clarksville, the sponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 687. “I don’t think that having been seated in this body or another body should be the only prerequisite for running for a statewide office.”

She called the current appointment process an “insider-only opportunity.”

But Sen. Douglas Henry, D-Nashville, said that because the secretary of state is a member of the State Funding Board, which makes budget revenue estimates for the governor and legislature, the state needs someone “who knows something about the state’s fiscal situation” to make the decision.

“If you elect the secretary of state through the population, every man Jack, woman Jill (who) wants to come to Nashville and sit in that office could run,” Sen. Henry said. “And if they combed their hair, put on their shoes and put on a bright smile and go around shaking hands, lo and behold, they’d be sitting there.”

He suggested that “perhaps” only 10,000 to 20,000 of the state’s estimated 6 million people are aware of “Tennessee’s fiscal affairs and know something about it. But the (132) members of the legislature, of them I’d say at least half have some rough idea.”

Sen. Henry’s proposal failed when it got nine votes in support with 22 senators voting no.

Sen. Doug Jackson, D-Dickson, differed with Sen. Kurita’s contention that her proposal would change an insider’s game.

“If you’re not a millionaire or you’re not an insider, you don’t have a chance,” he said of getting elected to statewide office. “When’s the last time we saw a factory worker get elected to the position of governor in this state or United States Senate?”

Sen. Kurita’s amendment to the resolution, which originally sought the popular election of all of the state’s constitutional officers, then passed on a 22-11 vote. The amendment narrowed her original plan to include only the lieutenant governor and secretary of state in popular elections.

Sens. Bo Watson, R-Hixson; Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga; Dewayne Bunch, R-Cleveland; and Tommy Kilby, D-Wartburg, voted for it. Sen. Steve Roller, D-Smithville, voted no.

The resolution then was read for the first time. It must be read twice more before the Senate votes on it and would require a simple majority for passage.

In order to get on the 2010 gubernatorial election ballot, the measure would have to pass both chambers this year and then get a two-thirds majority in each chamber of the 106th General Assembly.

The revised resolution came about when Gov. Phil Bredesen temporarily was incapacitated in 2006 as a result of a suspected tick bite and the state had no temporary succession provision. The resolution provides that an elected lieutenant governor temporarily or permanently would succeed the governor in times of illness.

Sen. Kurita argued that the secretary of state should be elected as well because he or she is second in succession.