Columnist Joe Mathews, pictured in 2018, when he still wanted to be lieutenant governor.

My fellow Californians, I am no longer your best choice for lieutenant governor.

The job has simply become too important — and frightening.

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In this perilous post-republic period of political violence, the chances are simply too high that the next lieutenant governor elected this year will soon become governor. And that’s a job no sane person should want.

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Here’s how I lost interest in the lieutenant governorship, the only elected office I have ever coveted.

I first raised my hand for this not-so-distinguished post in 2009, in the Los Angeles Times, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had to appoint a replacement for the departing Lt. Gov. John Garamendi.

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I looked into the job requirements and found only three:

Wake up each morning.

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Check if the governor is alive.

I’d already been doing those things as a journalist covering Schwarzenegger. So, there’d be no need for on-the-job training. The lieutenant governor didn’t run anything. Neither did I. It was kismet.

I could handle the light work........

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