Talk:Ryan deGraffenried

Not Lieutenant Governor
By way of explaining my deletions of references to DeGraffenreid as Lt. Governor: as the article states, he was the President Pro Tem of the Senate when Guy Hunt was convicted, and Jim Folsom, Jr. became Governor. He was also a senator from Tuscaloosa County, and continued to vote and act as a senator after Folsom became Governor.

The Alabama Constitution does not make provision for the filling of the office of Lt. Governor in the event it becomes vacant. True, deGraffenreid did preside over the Senate for the rest of the term (see, Ala. Const., Art. IV § 48 and Amend. 57), and he was, for the rest of that term, next in line to the Governorship (Ala. Const., Art. V § 127). The Lt. Governor can only vote in case of a tie, (Ala. Const., Art. V § 117), whereas DeGraffenreid continued to vote as a Senator. The Constitution has provisions for filling vacancies in the offices of Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Auditor and Agriculture Commissioner, but not Lt. Governor. (Ala. Const., Art. V § 136). Finally, DeGraffenreid's exercise of his Senate office is inconsistent with holding the office of Lt. Governor, as there is a ban against a legislator holding another state office at the same time. (Ala. Const., Art. IV § 59). There would have had to have been a special election for his Senate seat, which there was not.

In the interest of full disclosure, I inquired of a knowledgable and impartial third party - the Alabama Department of Archives and History - whether these constitutional provisions meant that their webpage, then listing DeGraffenreid as a Lt. Governor, was in error. Their research department determined that he was never Lt. Governor, and they removed him from their list of former Lt. Governors. It was also pointed out that, by way of precedent, the Department of Archives and History had never listed the then-President Pro Tem, whoever he was, as Lt. Governor from 1968-71, after Albert P. Brewer, then the Lt. Governor, became Governor on the death of Lurleen Wallace. The Department's current webpage listing Lt. Governors can be seen at Alabama Department of Archives and History: Alabama's Lieutenant Governors. Because the Alabama Department of Archives and History made the determination, not myself, I feel secure that this edit of the article does not violate WP:NOR. If the Department changes their mind, I am fine with the article reverting, but I don't think they will.

I would ask that any person feeling that the Department of Archives and History got it wrong to discuss it here, rather than trying to start an edit war. see, WP:CONS. Audemus Defendere (talk) 15:23, 27 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Removed him from their list of Lt. Govs? Hrm. Because, if I recall, that was the main reason I included him on List of Governors of Alabama. It doesn't count as OR, and thank you very much for confirming this with the state. The question of DeGraffenried really confused me while working on that list, so I guess it's resolved now. --Golbez (talk) 16:32, 27 June 2008 (UTC)