Apr 13, 2017 4 min read

Don’t know who Mike Stack is?

Don’t worry. You’re not alone. Mike Stack is the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, a heartbeat away from assuming the commonwealth’s highest office. There’s every likelihood that he could stroll through a bustling mall like South Hills Village in Bethel Park and he would go completely unrecognized.

Stack and his wife did make their way into the headlines this week, but given the nature of their newsmaking, they would have probably preferred the obscurity in which the lieutenant governor typically languishes. It turns out both are being investigated by the inspector general’s office for mistreating their employees. The Stacks are alleged to have delivered regular tongue lashings to the staff that handles the cooking and the cleaning at the lieutenant governor’s mansion – yes, the lieutenant governor resides at a mansion, and has a staff. Perhaps even worse, they are said to have chastised Pennsylvania State Police officers who handle their security – yes, a lieutenant governor who has less name recognition than the host of a 3 a.m. cable TV infomercial has a security detail – for not firing up the sirens and flashing lights when they go about their lives.

OK, if you’re the president or a celebrity on a par with, say, Paul McCartney, then you’re allowed to stop traffic when you swoop in for an event. But Stack is not the commander in chief, and he is definitely not a Beatle, so if he and his wife were demanding this type of treatment, then it stands to reason that they have, at the very least, a rather inflated perception of themselves and their importance.

Stack offered an apology Wednesday, saying he and his wife, Tonya, were “deeply sorry for offending anybody and we’re going to make it up for everybody because we can make it better.” He also admitted that he “said things in anger and stress and frustration that I wish I hadn’t.”

Fair enough. But the question is why the lieutenant governor’s job would stress anybody out at all. The post pays $162,000 per year.

The only enumerated duties the commonwealth’s second-in-command has are presiding over the state Senate and overseeing the pardons board. Given the paltry portfolio lieutenant governors have in Pennsylvania, it perhaps shouldn’t be surprising that few of them have had any lasting impact on the state’s politics, and have not endured in memory. Granted, Raymond P. Shafer became governor in 1967 after having served as lieutenant governor. And Mark Schweiker became governor in 2001 after Tom Ridge stepped down to become the first secretary for homeland security in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. But you can be forgiven if names like Jim Cawley, Robert Jubelirer, Ernest Kline or John Morgan Davis don’t ring a bell.

There’s nothing wrong with Pennsylvania having a lieutenant governor. But there’s no need for them to be accorded with treatment and accommodations above their station. Because lieutenant governors run and are elected separately from their bosses, they are frequently kept at an arm’s-length, and that is reportedly what Gov. Tom Wolf has done with Stack.

A better way would be for gubernatorial candidates to choose their running mates, so they can have a trusted ally serve with them and, perhaps, they can be more of a player in the day-to-day operations of the administration.

It would make the lieutenant governor’s office more meaningful, give better value to taxpayers and, we would think, provide more continuity should the lieutenant governor have to take the reins of power.