Some words of wisdom from Russia

PACKET EDITORIAL, April 22

By: Packet Editorial, April 22
   A visitor to New Jersey this week, upon learning that acting Gov. Richard Codey doubles as president of the state Senate, expressed surprise.
   "All that power in one set of hands," the visitor marveled — adding that the notion of one person heading up both the executive and legislative branches of government simultaneously struck him as "authoritarian."
   Ordinarily, we wouldn’t deem this observation especially noteworthy. After all, just about everyone who is made aware of New Jersey’s odd system of gubernatorial succession has the same reaction: All that power in one set of hands is authoritarian.
   In this instance, however, the visitor’s identity makes his observation particularly poignant — and credible.
   Mikhail Gorbachev knows a thing or two about power, and even more about authoritarianism. So when the former president of the Soviet Union, while visiting the State House in Trenton, expressed astonishment that New Jersey (or any U.S. state, for that matter) would vest so much power and authority in one individual, his observation merited more than passing attention.
   Mr. Gorbachev was quick to add, after meeting with Mr. Codey, that he did not find the acting governor/Senate president to be at all "authoritarian" in his demeanor. Neither, it could be argued, was Donald DiFrancesco, the last person to serve in both capacities for any length of time. But this is hardly a tribute to the sagacity of the framers of the state constitution. Rather, it is a fortuitous condition that came about despite, rather than because of, New Jersey’s constitutional provision for gubernatorial succession.
   Both Mr. Codey, who took over as acting governor when Gov. James E. McGreevey resigned after admitting to a gay extramarital affair, and Mr. DiFrancesco, who took over when Gov. Christie Whitman left office early to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, were careful not to abuse their excessive power. But that didn’t make their power any less excessive. The mere fact that they ran (or will have run) two of the three branches of government for a full year or more — Mr. Codey from last November through the end of this year, Mr. DiFrancesco for virtually all of 2001 — means the separation of powers has effectively been suspended in New Jersey for about 25 percent of the last two gubernatorial terms.
   The delegates to New Jersey’s 1947 constitutional convention are generally credited with doing a fine job of updating a badly outdated document. They strengthened the governorship, reformed the judiciary and generally set New Jersey on a course toward progressive government. But they badly mishandled the matter of gubernatorial succession, choosing to retain a century-old provision designating the Senate president as second in command to the governor. They were no doubt thinking this provision would be used as it had in the past, with the Senate president serving in a caretaker capacity when the governor happened to be out of state for a few days. Little did they know that two successive Senate presidents would assume control for a year or more after two successive governors permanently vacated the office.
   New Jersey voters will finally have a chance to remedy this shortcoming in November, when a public question to create the office of lieutenant governor will appear on the ballot. This proposal, as written, has its flaws. Some critics object that, if approved, it won’t take effect until 2009. Others are disappointed that it merely allows, rather than requires, the lieutenant governor to preside over an executive department or agency. But these concerns are incidental compared to the serious problems we’ve already encountered under the current system of succession. Even an imperfect mechanism for transferring executive power is preferable to an "authoritarian" arrangement that places both executive and legislative power "in one set of hands."
   Right, Mr. Gorbachev?