DES MOINES (AP) — Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has named Republican attorney Adam Gregg as her administration’s No. 2 leader while seeking to avoid a lawsuit over whether she has the power to name a new lieutenant governor.
Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller advised this month that the Iowa Constitution would not give Reynolds the power to name a new lieutenant governor after she succeeded Gov. Terry Branstad.
Miller’s opinion angered Reynolds, who had indicated she might appoint a new lieutenant even if it risked a legal challenge.
Reynolds said Thursday that Gregg would be the “acting lieutenant governor.”
Gregg will collect the lieutenant governor’s salary of $103,000 but not be in the line of succession. That means Senate President Jack Whitver would become governor if Reynolds leaves office before January 2019.