Apr 24, 2017 3 min read

In describing the move by Gov. Tom Wolf last week to remove a security detail from Lt. Gov. Mike Stack and Stack’s wife, Tonya, the word “unprecedented” or a variation thereof has been used more than once.

“We are in uncharted territory,” the Pennsylvania political sage Terry Madonna told the PennLive website.

It shouldn’t be unprecedented. In fact, the reaction to the commonwealth’s lieutenant governor not having a cordon of state police protecting him or her at all times shouldn’t be “Oh my goodness!” Instead, it should be, “It’s about time!”

To recap, Stack earned some unwanted headlines earlier this month following reports that he and his wife were being investigated for mistreating employees who worked at the lieutenant governor’s mansion, and for asking their protective detail to fire up the sirens and stop traffic when they were going about their everyday business. Stack later apologized, citing stress and frustration, and vowed that he and his wife would mend their ways.

On Friday, however, Wolf delivered a terse letter to Stack, telling him the security detail was being yanked and the staff at the lieutenant governor’s mansion was being downsized. Moreover, the remaining staff was going to be supervised and arrive at pre-arranged times.

Wolf described it as “a necessary step to protect commonwealth employees.”

Stack accepted the decision, and reiterated his contrition. In a statement, he said he apologized to Wolf, recognized the behavior he and his wife engaged in was “unacceptable” and it was symptomatic of larger, unspecified problems that would be addressed “forcefully and fully.”

But the fact remains that the lieutenant governor’s office does not need all the trappings that surround it, no matter the conduct of the individual occupying it.

Is it really necessary for the state’s second-in-command to reside in a mansion in Fort Indiantown Gap with a five-car garage and a swimming pool? The only duties delineated by the state constitution for the lieutenant governor are presiding over the state Senate and overseeing the pardons board. For this, Stack receives a salary of $162,000 per year. Some governors give their lieutenant governors additional duties, while others let them languish. More often than not, lieutenant governors are not major power players in the state.

We would think a rented townhouse in Harrisburg would be sufficient for the lieutenant governor.

And most Pennsylvanians would be hard pressed to pick Stack, or any lieutenant governor, out of a police lineup. Before Stack’s woes, even the most dedicated of political geeks probably would have responded, “Yeah, um, let me think about it for a second …” when asked who the lieutenant governor was. Lieutenant governors can probably conduct their lives safely without state police troopers keeping an eye on them.

In Pennsylvania, the governor and the lieutenant governor run for their offices separately, and Wolf and Stack have each pledged to seek another term in 2018. But it’s a good bet Wolf would like Stack to reconsider his decision. In what guarantees to be a bruising re-election campaign, the governor surely hopes he doesn’t have to answer any more questions about Stack’s untoward and self-aggrandizing antics.