New Jersey lieutenant governor discusses role in public office

Kimberly Guadagno, the Secretary of State and Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, discussed her experience serving in public office as a woman and as the first lieutenant governor of New Jersey in a lecture on Tuesday evening.

The lieutenant governor position was created after a 2005 referendum and, as a result, the role was not previously outlined in New Jersey legislation.She was elected in 2009 as a running mate for Chris Christie and began her term in January of 2010.

“You read the Constitution and you realize there are no obligations, other than the obvious ones — make sure the governor comes to work everyday — there are no parameters in New Jersey for what the lieutenant governor does,” Gaudagno said, “There’s no job description, no salary, no office, no personnel.”

One of her current responsibilities as lieutenant governor, Guadagno explained, is to serve as acting governor whenever the governor is out of state. Guadagno also oversees travel and tourism, which is the third largest industry in the state, and runs programs for arts, history and culture.

Guadagno said that the current legislation regarding the lieutenant governorship has several loopholes such as its direct tie to the governorship. If the governor were to resign, she would not be allowed to stay on but would have to run again on a ballot with a governor.

“We do not serve the term out,” Guadagno said, “I would have to, if I wanted to run for governor, declare right now, and run in the next November election even though I was elected to be lieutenant governor for a four-year term and don’t have to leave office until 2017.”

Guadagno served as the sheriff of Monmouth County in 2007, andsome people argued that Guadagno should not have been sheriff because she is a woman.

“Women have to be just a little bit better, or a little bit faster when you go after the jobs that people don’t expect you to take,” Guadagno said.

Guadagno noted that the system of having the governor and the lieutenant governor run as a ticket is beneficial.

“I believe it’s better for the people of New Jersey if the lieutenant governor can’t raise an army against the king, if you will," Guadagno said. "If they run on separate parties, I don’t know what’s the point of having a lieutenant governor."

Guadagno is working on the New Jersey Partnership for Action, the state's strategy for economic development. She explained that while the economy of New Jersey may not be recovering very quickly, the unemployment rate had declined significantly in recent years, from9.8 percent to 6.5 percent.

Guadagno and the New Jersey Partnership for Action works to encourage businesses to stay in the state and create more jobs.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

“We’re not going to win every fight, we don’t win every fight, but we want to be in every fight and that’s the benefit of having a governor like Chris Christie,” Gaudagno said, “He’sraised the profile of New Jersey in a way that allows us to at least get a seat at the table at some of these businesses.”

The lecture was held at 7:30 p.m. in the Whig Hall Oakes Lounge as the last lecture of the American Whig-Cliosophic Society's guest speaker series.