As we move toward a thankful break this Thursday, I want to offer a small dish of giblets.

If you spend any amount of time preparing for the holiday feast, you are familiar with the Thanksgiving giblets; the edible internal parts of the bird that Midwesterners affectionately call the gizzard. In most homes these giblets are unwanted parts that are quickly tossed into the trash or fed to the family dog.

Today, we give a portion of these giblet-gizzards a second, political look. Be gentle, but it may make great holiday conversation as you devour the main political plate of turkey, those tart cranberries and brown sugar covered sweet potatoes and yams.

Earlier this month the San Francisco Chronicle asked is we really need to keep the giblet called the Office of Lieutenant Governor; “an office that occupies prime real estate in the State Capitol, but it’s largely vacant, with rows of empty cubicles.” Much of the physical vacancy is due to former Lt. Governor John Garamendi travels to Washington DC as a new congressman.

As California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger toils with his office’s duty that will announce a recipe for replacement in naming a place-holder, many holiday taxpayers are beginning to ask about the necessity of this gizzard – the Office of Lt. Giblet.

Does California need to have such a “do-nothing” office, gobbling up such a large portion of the state budget?

As described by the state Constitution, the lieutenant governor is the president of the Senate and casts the deciding vote in case of a tie – as if that will ever happen on California’s red carpet. The State Senate has had a tie vote twice in the past 33-years. I think California can be assured that there will be no such event in the foreseeable future.

Right now we are paying for an officer holder to prepare for his next public paycheck as a Congressman. There is nothing happening inside of the Lt. Governor’s Office, as reported by the Chronicle.

The lieutenant governor’s office already has undergone a significant reduction, as its budget was slashed more than 60 percent to $966,000 by Schwarzenegger because of the state’s financial crisis. The Capitol staff of 21 is down now to three full-time employees and one part-time worker, and offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles have closed.

Even the lieutenant governor’s Web site is hollow these days: It’s simply a white page with a phone number, address and e-mail link.

The main purpose of the office is simply redundant; be a full time place-holder.

The word “lieutenant” is French; meaning to hold a place, to be a tenant that holds a place until the master (owner) returns. The definition refers to the office’s lack of authority, in that the lieutenant serves beneath the commander – in this case the governor, or shall we say the former terminator.

What we are actually talking about is a vacant office that is reserved for a possible future vacancy elsewhere, either by vote in the Senate, or by proxy with a traveling governor. With a current budget that reveals another $20 billion shortfall inside of 2009; do we really need to name a replacement for the Lt. Governor’s opening?

In essence, does California really need this giblet of a gig in Sacramento?

If the purpose of this internal part of the bird is to be prepared to vote in the Senate, and to replace the governor on a moment’s notice, why not combine this office – and its remedial duties - with another and save millions in the process?

I spoke with current State Senator Jeff Denham, who is the lead Republican running for the Office of Lt. Governor, and I asked him about the possibility of tossing the office into the trash, or feeding it to the dog.

Politically, Jeff Denham has been a stalwart of fiscal savings, targeting the fattening left-overs and a practitioner of conservative stewardship principles. The Senator has refused pay raises, government vehicles, supports a part time legislator and the 18-percent salary reduction.

So, what does State Senator Jeff Denham think of removing the office that currently holds his political desire?

Not surprisingly, Senator Denham informed me that he believes the Lt. Governor’s Office is an unwanted giblet himself. Denham’s solution; combine the Lt. Governor’s Office with the Secretary of State’s Office. The change would save taxpayers millions in salaries, benefit and pension costs, and at the same time perform the vital duties of both offices with much more efficiency.

The new Lieutenant Secretary of State Office could easily accomplish the former dual-office responsibilities.  The Secretary of State is an office that involves the voting process, with voter registration and ballot education. The office has cyclical responsibilities that would easily coincide with the very rare demands upon the Lt. Governor’s tie-breaking Senate vote and house sitting during the governor’s vacation days.

To add more to the budget bounty, the change could include a ‘double-ticket’ campaign for this new office.

California could make the change to a Governor and Lt. Secretary of State ticket; featuring two candidates who run for their party nomination the same as the President and Vice President do nationally.

Political experts said many people have come to think that the lieutenant governor is unnecessary because the position is often held by a Democrat while the governor is a Republican. Several experts, including John Pitney Jr., a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, said the voters should elect both on the same ticket, as is done with presidents and vice presidents.

There would be immediate savings during the election process; as in no additional costs for separate primary races for both the Lt. Governor and Secretary of State Primary and general elections. In each Constitutional election cycle you would have the gubernatorial candidate announcing his, or her, campaign and then offering a bottom half of the ticket for the Lt. Secretary of State Office.

If there is the decision to operate a Constitutional Convention anytime soon, this is one change that I would heap large amounts of gravy upon. In the end, California could kill two birds with one stone – sorry.

This Thanksgiving, as you clean the bird and reach for its giblets, and the conversation turns to the economy, consider the pieces of government we are forced to eat each year that might be better described as a former generation’s dinner portion now known to be nothing more than additional fat to the diet that is already dealing with the gluttony of over spending and government obesity.