“We clearly made a mistake if we created the office lieutenant governor and wasted money if the lieutenant governor is not going to be here when the governor is out of state,” said state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union). “It’s being handled very well by Sen. Sweeney, but you have to really question the purpose of the office.”

Christie in on vacation with his family at Disney World in Florida, while Guadagno is with her family in Mexico, Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said. Sunday, hours after taking the oath to become acting governor, Sweeney declared a state of emergency…

Lesniak, who is also in Florida, said that although the arrangement may be for less than a week, either Christie or Guadagno should have been on hand to deal with the emergency.

“Thirty-one inches of snow. Hundreds of serious incidents, roads closed down, states of emergency. This is not an insignificant incident. This is serious,” he said. “I think it points to a real revaluation of at least the way this office is being handled in the future.”