Well, the sudden death of Lieutenant Governor Sheila Oliver has put a new spotlight on the role, including the line of succession at the state level.

Governor Murphy now has a little less than a month to appoint a replacement.

And whoever it is will be only the third lieutenant governor in New Jersey history.

Many parts of the position are still being defined.

I'm joined now by the only other person who knows what that entails.

Former Republican Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, who served in the eight years of the Christie administration.

Lieutenant governor, to which you will always be to me.

Welcome.

It's great to see you.

And also, my condolences.

I know that you were at the services which had to be really tough to see someone who you worked very closely with while you were in the position.

Well, Briana, I'm sorry that we're meeting under these circumstances, quite frankly, because Sheila Oliver was a great public servant on every level.

But we did get to know each other because we had a lot in common, not only when she was a Speaker, I was the lieutenant governor, but then when she became the lieutenant governor, we had a lot of conversations about how the office could change or should change or existed.

So it was a it was a very, very sad day.

And she was a fabulous public servant.

And you know what?

An aunt, a sister, a great aunt to a lot of people, it was a very sad service, but a nice honor for her.

Absolutely.

Well, you in fact, I mean, really laid the groundwork.

This was an undefined position although it had been approved and put in the state constitution years before you took office.

What do you think people don't know about the role besides the fact that it takes a really strong person to be in there and be in any gubernatorial administration?

Well, I can tell you the fun part about being the first is there are no rules and you literally make it up.

We went to another lieutenant governor from out of state and asked him to come over and spend some time with us at the governor's mansion at Drumthwacket.

So, you know, basically, what do you call the lieutenant governor?

Where does she sit when she's in the room?

How does this work?

And we were able we started things, but we I expect it will evolve over time.

So it's going to be different for every governor.

Christie, Governor Christie and I wanted the lieutenant governor to be close to his office so people could recognize that there was such a thing, which we did for the first two years.

And then I went off and did what he wanted his lieutenant governor to do, which was work on business.

Lieutenant Governor Sheila She wanted to work on housing.

It's something she's been committed to for years and years and years.

So Governor Murphy and she clearly decided to put her in charge of the Department of Community Affairs, which was near and dear to her heart.

Well, it's interesting, though, that you say even just some of those formalities in politics where you stand, where you sit in the room where you are, if there's a dais involved.

I mean, even those things had yet to be determined.

When you think about all of the priorities of the state and there are many, how important do you think it is to have someone in the role who's got a good grasp on those issues?

Or whether or not they've been in politics before?

Well, I've been in politics for a very short period of time.

My background was really you know, I was a prosecutor or in the U.S. attorney's office for many years and then the state attorney general's office.

So it's very important to have someone in a line of succession, whether it was in this case, the lieutenant governor or prior to us, it was the Senate president.

The problem we run into a New Jersey is if you have the Senate president in charge of the state of New Jersey while the governor is out or otherwise indisposed, then you could have somebody of a different party running the show.

And signing things into law and making policy.

And that becomes very complicated.

There are lieutenant governors who run on separate tickets from their governor.

So there are lieutenant governors in this country who could be of a different political party than the sitting governor.

But I think that makes for a lot of confusion and that's what happened when we lost Christie Whitman a year early because she went to serve in the Bush White House or McGreevey when he resigned or even Governor Codey, who stepped in to fill a gap.

They didn't necessarily have the same principles as or same background, political background.

It's a little more seamless, right.

I imagine when you're already working in the front office and, you know, all of the goings on to step in and fill that role in a way that's meaningful.

Well, and you want the government to run smoothly.

Right.

The people elected governor and five most important words in my in my lexicon when I was lieutenant governor is I am not the governor.

And why?

Because you have to understand what the role is.

The role is not to be a policy maker, in my opinion.

My role was to stand in for the governor when he was otherwise unavailable.

And I, I understood that I had a seat at the table.

If I didn't like something the governor was doing in private.

I would express that and have the opportunity to express that.

But in public, you know, you speak with one voice.

You're a united front.

Sure.

Yeah.

You kind of have to understand that going into the job.

Let me ask you this before I let you go.

Where would you like to see this office be taken?

What would you like to see for this role?

And I'm red and blue aside, and the actual person who gets into it.

Where would you like to see it go?

Well, I love the fact that it's one office, three jobs, acting governor, lieutenant governor and the head of some departments so it's the taxpayers aren't paying three times.

In my case, there was no pension.

So I like the way that's established.

I think that the lieutenant governor could have a more independent role.

The the lieutenant governor is now in a separate area in the state house.

I understand.

Doesn't sit as in the department and as the lieutenant governor, she does have a different identity, which I like.

I am afraid that the seat will be pigeonholed for women.

I don't want that seat as lieutenant governor.

That's why when I ran for governor, I had a man in the job.

One of the many reasons Carlos was very qualified but also I don't want it to be pigeonholed as the woman's spot.

I don't want to be pigeonholed as the minority spot.

I'd like to see a strong, independent person who helps support whoever the governor is and whoever the governor's whatever the governor's policy is.

So I think that's a going forward.

Former Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno thank you so much.

Thanks, Briana.