Not Gov. Walker?

Through a quirk in the Utah Constitution, Lt. Gov. Olene Walker could remain lieutenant governor and not get the title of governor should Gov. Mike Leavitt resign to take a top Bush administration job.

One reading of the constitution — and a lot of public officials are reading it closely these days — suggests Walker would carry on all the duties of governor should Leavitt win confirmation to head the Environmental Protection Agency and resign. She would get the governor's pay, sign all the state documents, veto bills and live in the Governor's Mansion.

She just might not have the title. And thus she wouldn't be Utah's first female governor.

And if she doesn't have the title of governor, she'd still officially be the lieutenant governor — and so she couldn't appoint someone new to be lieutenant governor, either, some argue.

"Some have suggested I be acting governor or said I could still appoint a lieutenant governor. But neither makes any sense. You certainly couldn't have two lieutenant governors," said Walker.

Walker has formally asked Attorney General Mark Shurtleff for a legal opinion on the matter.

"I believe the opinion will come quickly and will show" that she gets not only the title of governor, but "I also get to appoint" a new lieutenant governor, Walker said Wednesday.

Specifically, the state's constitution says that in case a governor resigns, dies or is disabled, the lieutenant governor take over all "powers and duties" of the governor until the next election. If the lieutenant governor can't step in, then the Senate president will "act" as the governor until the next election. If the Senate president can't do it, the House speaker is next in line, the document says. The constitution does not say any of those three elected officials will take over the office of the governor, just that they will assume the governor's duties.

Important issue

Walker is not surprised that there could be some confusion over the succession process.

"This has never happened before," where a Utah governor leaves office and his second-in-command steps in, said Walker. "At first blush, a reading of the (Utah) constitution is clear" — the lieutenant governor becomes governor with all those powers, she said.

But when the language is closely examined, a "hypothetical" can be thrown up by anyone, she said.