Clay Pell and the Coast Guard Reserves

Today it dawned on me that Clay Pell could become Governor, yet he still has a commitment to the United States Coast Guard Reserves. On Twitter, I asked him and his campaign manager if he would still be required to serve in his reservist duties and his campaign manager, Devin Driscoll replied:

Clay will continue to serve in the USCG reserves after he’s elected governor, yes.

First, thank you to Clay Pell for his service to the country. That is respected and appreciated.

My next thought after that is that it puts more importance on the Lt. Governor race. I figured that if the Governor is unavailable to perform the duties due to his Coast Guard responsibilities, the Lt. Governor would step in. However then, Matt Allen reminded me:

I don’t know what the mechanism would be. The Governor is the Governor no matter where he is. LT Gov has no power

Which is true, as we saw after the “December Debacle” where Governor Carcieri was on a plane to the Middle East and no one else had been delegated to be in control. Worse, there are no provisions for the Lt. Governor to immediately assume command.

This takes me back to the original question, is that OK for the Rhode Island governor to be away periodically fulfilling his duties to the Coast Guard? According to an article by Ted Nesi, Pell drills once per month.

I understand there are enough US Coast Guard stations in Rhode Island that Pell would never have to leave the state, but what if there are circumstances that require he leave mid-drill? Can he leave? What if he were forced to not attend a scheduled session? What is the Coast Guard’s stance on this? Would he need to make it up at a later time? And still the question of whether the voters think it’s fine for the Governor to be away for these? It could be said that what’s the difference between a governor taking a vacation, or a college speaking tour or fulfilling his military requirements?

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