Senate Rejects Bid to Pair Gov., Lt. Gov. on Ballot

California voters have a 20-year tradition of electing governors and lieutenant governors from different political parties.

The state Legislature has an even longer tradition of not interfering with that first tradition.

Both traditions survived Thursday when the state Senate rejected a constitutional amendment requiring candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to appear on the November ballot as teams, like candidates for president and vice president.

The amendment, by Sen. John Lewis (R-Orange), went down to defeat on a 17-16 roll call, 10 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval.

Eleven similar constitutional amendments have failed in the Legislature since 1974.

Since 1978, voters have elected governors and lieutenant governors from different parties. The current governor, Pete Wilson, is a Republican, and the lieutenant governor, Gray Davis, is a Democrat.

Lewis said that electing governors and lieutenant governors from the same party would improve the chances that they would work as a team and that the lieutenant governor would be given more to do.

Sen. Leroy Greene (D-Carmichael) said the amendment would ensure that an administration’s policies would be carried out if a governor left office in midterm.

But opponents said voters prefer the current system and noted that how much a lieutenant governor accomplishes is determined by the officeholder.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Sen. Richard Mountjoy (R-Arcadia), who ran unsuccessfully this year for the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor.

Sen. Betty Karnette (D-Long Beach) complained that the amendment would increase the governor’s power because a lieutenant governor of the same party would probably carry out the governor’s wishes in votes on the University of California Board of Regents and other state panels.