Projo Politics Blog

In Rhode Island, it was a snowstorm while the governor slept on a plane halfway around the world that sparked questions about who should be in charge in the absence of the state’s chief executive.

In Tennessee, it was an acute case of Lyme disease that raised eyebrows.

Tennessee politicians reportedly began considering changing the state Constitution to create a lieutenant governor position after Gov. Phil Bredesen was incapacitated for several weeks by the tick-borne illness in 2006, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. This month, the Governor’s Advisory Committee on the Transfer of Chief Executive Powers proposed a constitutional amendment doing just that.

When General Assembly members here in Rhode Island earlier this month proposed amending the state Constitution to let the lieutenant governor to take charge in the governor’s absence, a Carcieri staffer said the governor believed the bill wasn’t practical and could present problems such as “chicanery” by a lieutenant governor who could meddle in day-to-day affairs.

Unlike the Carcieri administration, Tennessee’s Governor Bredesen seemed to take his state’s proposal in stride.

“I wonder if that family of ticks in my yard knows that they are going to change the Tennessee state Constitution as a result of their action,” he told the Times Free Press.

cneedham@projo.com

---