SPRINGFIELD — Few ideas have as much political currency among rank-and-file lawmakers in Illinois as eliminating the lieutenant governor’s office.

With no specific duties, the deputy executive is often seen as an excess. Previous officeholders have departed in the middle of their terms, and some have even run for the office while promising to eliminate it.

But legislators in the General Assembly sent mixed messages about the concept this week, approving it in the House while rejecting it in the Senate, scrambling traditional party lines and all but guaranteeing voters won’t have a chance to weigh in on it any time in the near future.

Both proposals would have given voters the chance to eliminate the office and save an estimated $1.6 million each year. It also would have made the sitting attorney general next-in-line for the governor’s office if he or she was impeached, died in office or was otherwise unable to perform the duties of office.

That succession issue turned out to be a poison pill for some Republicans in both chambers.

Sen. Matthew J. Murphy, a Republican from Palatine, reminded colleagues on Thursday that he ran for lieutenant governor in 2010 on the platform of eliminating the office. “I had some people tell me that’s why I lost,” he quipped to colleagues.

He said he still wants to get rid of the office, but the proposal should ensure that the party holding the governor’s office is the party that maintains the office.

“You could very easily get rid of the lieutenant governor’s office without concern if you could address succession,” Murphy said. “When the people elect somebody of one party, they expect that those general principles and governing philosophy is what’s going to govern the state for the four years.”

Sen. Tom Cullerton, a Villa Park Democrat who sponsored the idea, said he proposed the same idea a year and a half ago and nobody complained about how it dealt with succession back then.

“This idea has been bantered around this chamber and this capitol for years,” he said. “And everybody campaigns on saying this needs to happen. Yet now I’m hearing more and more reasons for another thing that should change not to change.”

The measure, Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 29, failed by a 28-21 vote.

This morning, the Republican sponsor of a similar idea in the House got into a tiff with a GOP colleague about it.

Sensing pockets of opposition, Rep. David McSweeney, a Barrington Republican who sponsored the same bill in 2013, raised his voice to point out the lieutenant governor’s office is continuing to get funding despite the fact that some agencies are not.

“While social services are getting decimated in this state, the lieutenant governor’s employees are getting paid without an appropriation,” he shouted toward Rep. Peter C. Breen, a Lombard Republican who had been quizzing him about the proposal.

“Representative, you know, there’s no need to shout,” Breen responded.

Breen said later that lawmakers only recently voted to have the governor and lieutenant governor run as a team during elections, like the president and vice president, and Gov. Bruce Rauner’s selection of Evelyn Sanguinetti had been a positive development.

He said the lieutenant governor is uniquely situated to be an ambassador for the state’s government if the governor is traveling or otherwise occupied.

“You have your first Latina lieutenant governor and you actually see her taking on independent responsibilities that are really the beginning of an exploration of what a lieutenant governor can actually do in this state,” Breen said.

“And whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, the governor and lieutenant governor are now, going forward, are actually able to be more of a team.”

On the other hand, McSweeney found support among some Democrats, including Rep. Jack D. Franks of Marengo, who said the only reason Republicans don’t support the idea now is that Republicans control the governor and lieutenant governor’s office, but not the attorney general’s office.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, this will not pass in the Senate. We saw yesterday a bunch of hypocrites who not only sponsored and voted for this bill years ago, but went through a series of gymnastics to justify their pathetic flip-flop,” Franks said.

“Now, the only thing that changed was the party that controlled the office. A couple years ago, it was a great idea when a Democrat had it. But this year, all of a sudden, it’s just an awful idea when a Republican has it.”

He said later that he was in favor of the bill because “the only job description I can think of for the lieutenant governor is to wake up in the morning, read the obituaries, and see if they won the lottery.”

The measure, House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 5, passed with a 95-10 vote.