TRENTON -- Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, a Republican candidate to succeed her boss, Gov. Chris Christie, released a plan Wednesday aiming to combat waste and corruption in New Jersey's government -- one that includes a proposal to change the state constitution to allow voters to elect the state's attorney general.
"People don't trust Trenton, and an independently elected attorney general who is answerable to those people will help restore that trust," Guadagno, a former Monmouth County sheriff and federal prosecutor, told NJ Advance Media. "I am willing to give up some of the power of the governor's office to do that."
In her first major platform announcement since launching her gubernatorial campaign last month, Guadagno also promises that if she's elected, she'd authorize a "complete audit" of the state government she's helped run for seven years, call for another audit of every school district in the Garden State, and scrap Christie's plans for a $300 million renovation of the Statehouse in Trenton.
"If we truly are going to make New Jersey more affordable for families and small businesses, we need to set the right priorities in Trenton," she said in a statement.
New Jersey is one of five states in the U.S. in which the governor appoints the attorney general, the top law-enforcement officer in the state.
For residents to elect one instead, the Democratic-controlled New Jersey Legislature would need to pass a ballot question to alter the state Constitution. Voters would then need to approve it.
Guadagno said she would also support launching a commission or independent special prosecutor if the governor or lieutenant governor is under investigation.
Guadango did not directly respond when asked if this was a reaction to the George Washington Bridge scandal that surrounded Christie's administration in recent years. Neither the state's attorney general nor U.S. attorney ever charged Christie with any wrongdoing.
Ricky Diaz, a spokesman for Gudagno's campaign, said it's "not a reaction to any one thing."
"It's a good government issue," Diaz told NJ Advance Media. "When you have someone that is elected by the people, that promotes transparency."
However, a governor would have to convince lawmakers to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Governors have no role in the constitutional amendment process; the Constitution is changed when the Legislature votes to put something on the ballot and voters agree to it.
The idea isn't new. Another gubernatorial candidate, state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), co-sponsored a resolution in 2016 for a referendum asking voters to make the attorney general an elected position. The measure went nowhere.
Guadagno's entire plan seems to be the latest example of her distancing herself from Christie, who is carrying record-low approval ratings with less than a year to go in his final term.
Even though she was elected twice with the governor, serving as his second-in-command since 2010, Guadagno told the Associated Press on Tuesday that nobody is "more different from Chris Christie than his lieutenant governor."
"We're completely different in style," Guadagno told the AP. "Plainly, we're completely different how we approach problems in New Jersey."
Guadagno faces a few other challenges, as well: Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in New Jersey by a 2-to-1 margin, and she comes from the same party as President Donald Trump, who lost the state in last year's election and remains largely unpopular here, according to recent polls.
According to the proposal, Guadagno would also:
* Audit the state government's finances, operations, and programs "to root out waste, abuse, and inefficiencies" and lead to "property tax relief" for residents.
* Audit the state's 568 school districts to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent on schools in a fair way.
* Change the state's budgeting process to force all state spending to be "justified based upon need and cost."
* Sell buildings and assets "no longer needed by the state."
* Set up a charitable foundation to raise money from private sources to repair the aging Statehouse. Christie has proposed using taxpayer money to modernize the building, which he calls a health and safety hazard.
Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.