124 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

suppose it's a legal point, but certainly I have no pride in the right
to commute a sentence. Certainly, if the entire legislative body of the
State of Maryland agreed that it should be done, I would be inclined
to go along with their determination.

Q. Governor, Mr. Wolff indicated that he had held up preliminary
work on the Harbor tunnel authorized in last year's bill, pending
legislative action on the priorities bill. In view of this, I'm wondering
how everyone has known all along the Harbor tunnel was first in
priority?

A. Well, I don't know. I'm not familiar with Mr. Wolff's ordering
the hold up on the Harbor tunnel acquisition. I'd have to find out
what he had in mind when he made the order because, frankly, there's
never been much doubt in my mind that the tunnel was of the great-
est priority, the crossing or the tunnel, whichever one we got. This
morning, that was reemphasized in my conversation with Mr. Wolff
when he stated that the traffic projections taken from the increased
use of the Kennedy Expressway indicated that the tunnel was ab-
solutely essential, along with the observations of what's beginning to
happen on weekends and holidays there, already.

Q. Governor, I noticed that some of the Republicans in the Senate
voted against you when the matter of the Prince George's County
Baby Jane Ritter bill came up to override your veto. In view of the
individual replies, were you too unhappy about that?

A. Let me defer that just a minute while I go to Mr. Cottin a minute.
One thing I think we've got to remember is that without any bill
before the Legislature at all, the tunnel is there. That's a fait accompli
mandated by the previous Legislature, so we've not stuck on construc-
tion. There's no need to put any bill through to empower the com-
mission to go ahead with the tunnel.

Q. Now, as I understand it, Governor, the City lawmakers were con-
cerned because, in your present bill, the tunnel provision was in the
field in favor of priority.

A. Well, frankly, we had hoped very strongly to be able to possibly
cause a reconsideration of the Harbor crossing, but since that appears
to be in very bad shape at the moment, from my analysis, we're going
to have to go ahead. Now, coming back to Baby Jane, I didn't know
the real impetus behind the Baby Jane bill when I vetoed it. Maybe,
if I had, I might have been tempted to exempt this particular young
lady from the provisions that I vetoed. I see that several Republican