For Sen. Duane Mutch, it was easy to justify his support for keeping the lieutenant governor as the North Dakota Senate's presiding officer.

North Dakota's system is fashioned after Congress, where the vice president has presiding authority in the U.S. Senate, the Larimore Republican said. And "we need to have something for the lieutenant governor to do," Mutch said.

Senators voted 26-19 on Friday to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment to remove the lieutenant governor as the person in charge of running the Senate's floor sessions.

Its objective was to allow senators to elect one of their own colleagues to handle the job. The North Dakota House already elects its own presiding officer, who is called the speaker.

Mutch, who was elected to the Senate in 1958 and is the Legislature's most senior member, said the lieutenant governorship was a part-time job - paying about $1,500 a year - when he first came to Bismarck.

"We probably made a mistake in raising his pay now. I don't know what he gets," Mutch said in a Senate floor speech Friday, as other senators laughed. "But we should get something for the money we're spending, and keep him home here, instead of traveling to Washington and around, because there's no money down there either."

Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple, who is a former state representative, supported the idea when the Legislature placed it on the ballot during the 1990 and 1996 primary elections. It was defeated both times.

"Duane is a very humorous guy. He is a master of the tongue-in-cheek and the mildly sarcastic," Dalrymple said afterward. "I take it as humor. He knows perfectly well I am a busy guy, and have plenty to do."

Sen. David Nething, R-Jamestown, said another campaign for the amendment could provide an opportunity to explain its importance.

It is intended to separate the executive and legislative branches of government, and is not intended as a slap at Dalrymple or any other lieutenant governor, Nething said.

"Other states have gone through this process, and in each instance, the question has been focused on whether or not the legislative branch … should have its own presiding officers," Nething said. "That's what this is all about."

When the lieutenant governor was made the Senate's presiding officer, the job was part-time, Nething said. It is now a full-time executive branch office, with an annual salary of $67,708.

Sen. Karen Krebsbach, R-Minot, said she liked the present system.

"I just feel that we are taking a step that we do not need to do," Krebsbach said. "I think that we have been served well, and I think that it can continue to be so."

Dalrymple said it was "one of the strangest experiences I've ever had in my life, presiding over a group of senators as they debated the future of your position."

"It was funny, and really kind of an amazing few minutes," he said.

The resolution is HCR3057.