When it comes to the state's lieutenant governor position, everybody has an opinion.
From the state's top two Democrats to the hundreds of average Joes that jockeyed for the job online, nearly everyone with an eye on the topic thinks they have the answer.
This week's State Capitol Q&A covers the latest efforts to reform the office and who may be in line to be the state's next second in command.
Q: Democrats had to scramble after Scott Lee Cohen stepped down from the ticket. What is being done to make sure that doesn't happen again?
A: The media uproar following Cohen's dropout almost immediately prompted state lawmakers to file legislation that would dramatically reform the office of lieutenant governor and how the position is elected.
A handful of bills and several constitutional amendments have been filed from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. But so far nothing has the clearest path to becoming law or reaching the fall ballot.
Q: Which pieces of legislation have the most legs?
A: Right now, two proposals look to have the most realistic shot at advancing. There's House Speaker Michael Madigan's constitutional amendment to eliminate the office completely by 2015. And there are a pair of identical bills that would force candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to run on the same ticket in primary elections.
Q: What's the status of those ideas?
A: Madigan's constitutional amendment, House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 50, awaits a third reading in the House and could get a vote this week.
The other bills that would force the governor and lieutenant governor to run as a team are Senate Bill 377, sponsored by state Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, and House Bill 5820, sponsored by state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie. They have each passed their originating chambers and await approval from the other.
If passed, the bills would head to the governor's desk for his signature.
Q: What would running as a team do to fix the situation?
A: Running as a team would theoretically allow gubernatorial candidates to pick their running mate, much like a presidential nominee selects his or her vice president.
Furthermore, it would avoid another Cohen incident by letting candidates pick a partner who shares a similar set of beliefs, morals and so forth.
"You don't want somebody elected to the office that the governor is reluctant to assign duties to," Raoul said. "Moreover, if something were to happen to a governor that would incapacitate him or her ... you wouldn't want somebody with a totally different ideology or level of competence, such as say Scott Lee Cohen, to assume that role and have no idea of what the governor would want to do."
