KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | Confusion over Parnell's successor continues

Confusion over Parnell's successor continues

by Andrew Hinkelman and Jason Lamb
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- As confusion over who is legally bound to assume the role of lieutenant governor after Gov. Sarah Palin resigns later this month continues, the House Judiciary Committee announced it will hold a hearing next week.

Committee Chair Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, issued a statement Wednesday saying that his group will consider Lt. Gen. Craig Campbell, commissioner of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, to be the next lieutenant governor-designee.

"The governor quit and went fishing," Ramras said in the statement. "Governor Palin failed to leave specific instructions, so the Legislature is stepping in to bring order to the constitutional chaos she created."

Joe Schmidt, the Department of Corrections commissioner, had been confirmed by the Legislature during the last session as the next in the line of ascension. He replaced former Attorney General Talis Colberg, who resigned.

Palin created confusion over who would become lieutenant governor amid the chaos of her resignation announcement by declaring that Campbell would assume the post after current Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell was sworn in as governor, bypassing Schmidt.

Schmidt told Channel 2 News over the weekend he no longer wanted the position. According to the statement issued by Ramras, Schmidt has submitted his resignation as lieutenant governor-designee to the House and Senate.

"She seems to have planned the succession of state business around a picnic rather than the constitution she told us for years and years she cherishes more than anything else," Ramras said in a phone interview with Channel 2. "It seems to diminish the process, and I find her behavior irresponsible and deplorable."

According to a legal opinion issued by the Legislative Affairs Agency's Division of Legal and Research Services, state law is murky, at best, in trying to resolve the vacancy during the Legislature's recess.

The law governing the "Appointment of successor to lieutenant governor" says in part: "If the person designated and confirmed is removed from or vacates the appointment, the governor shall appoint a successor subject to confirmation in the same manner as the person initially appointed."

But since the Legislature is in recess, Article III, Section 27 of the state constitution comes into play, which says in part: "The governor may make appointments to fill vacancies occurring during a recess of the legislature, in offices requiring confirmation by the legislature."

However, Article III, Section 13 of the state constitution says in part, "Provision shall be made by law for the succession to the office of governor and for an acting governor in the event that the lieutenant governor is unable to succeed to the office or act as governor."

So the legal question at hand is, does Section 27's provision for recess appointments trump Section 13's intent that a separate law dictates how the order of succession is determined.

The memorandum issued by Legislative Affairs says, "Given the broad authority granted under (Section) 13 to provide for succession, it seems unlikely that (Article) III, (Section) 27 ... applies, but these are unresolved questions."

House Speaker Mike Chenault said the Legislature will continue looking for a solution.

"Certainly that's one legal opinion, if I had my druthers I'd hope we would confirm him before he was sworn into office, but is that the only option out there?" he said. "We're looking at that to try and determine that."

The questions are unresolved mostly because they've never come up before. Then-Gov. Wally Hickel resigned in 1968 to become secretary of the federal Interior Department, but his lieutenant governor-designee did not vacate the post and the order of succession was maintained.

Contact the Channel 2 News room at news_desk@ktuu.com