The state constitution, last rewritten 70 years ago, gives New Jersey’s governor some of the broadest powers of any in the country, including the authority to appoint cabinet members, judges, prosecutors, and dozens of other officials who serve in key positions at all levels of government.

Adding to that power is the authority to also select the state attorney general, making New Jersey’s governor one of only a handful of chief executives across the country who can pick who fills the state’s top legal office, which is something most other states leave up to voters.

But now, one of the leading candidates running in this year’s gubernatorial election in New Jersey is proposing to end that long-held tradition and instead make the state attorney general position an elected office. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, a second-term Republican, inserted the call for an elected attorney general into the first major policy proposal she’s released since announcing her candidacy for governor last month.

“The problem with Trenton is really quite simple, they (voters) don’t trust us anymore,” Guadagno said in an interview with NJ Spotlight.

“Let’s bring the attorney general’s office out into the light,” said Guadagno, a former federal prosecutor whose resume also includes a stint as a high-ranking official in the state attorney general’s office.

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Still, legal experts say Guadagno’s idea deserves a full discussion and a weighing of the tradeoffs that come with increasing the attorney general’s office’s legal independence, but also its involvement in statewide politics.

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Right now, a total of 43 states fill the role of attorney general through a statewide election, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. New Jersey is one of only five states that allows its governor to appoint someone to fill the position. The others are Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, and Wyoming.

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Guadagno announced the proposal to turn New Jersey’s attorney general into an elected office last week, including it with calls for a thorough audit of state government and a host of other financial reforms. She acknowledged during her interview with NJ Spotlight that people will likely link the attorney general proposal to Christie and Bridgegate, but she said it’s rooted in a broader desire to “convince people they can trust their government again.”

“It really has to be the number 1 item on their (priority) list,” Guadagno said of New Jersey’s voters.

Williams, the constitutional law professor, also brought up Bridgegate while discussing Guadagno’s proposal, and he said turning New Jersey’s attorney general into an elected official would instantly provide the state’s top legal officer with full independence from the governor, which could be a good thing.

“One of the pros, of course, is independence, and even potentially, a different political party than the governor,” Williams said. He also said the move would serve to whittle away some of the governor’s overall power by taking a way a key appointment.

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Guadagno said New Jersey already allows voters to elect county Sheriff’s to serve in a law-enforcement position in each of the state’s 21 counties. In fact, she herself was Monmouth County Sheriff before being elected lieutenant governor on a ticket with Christie in 2009.

“I think this is analogous,” she said.

Guadagno also said she would be in favor of establishing term limits for New Jersey’s elected attorney general, just as the governor’s tenure is limited by the state constitution, to two terms in office. And even though she’s now seeking the governor’s office, Guadagno said she isn’t afraid of taking away some of the office’s broad powers.

“The problem here is I think it’s too powerful,” she said.

Read more: http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/17/02/26/guadagno-on-choosing-nj-attorney-general-let-the-people-decide/