394 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

A. Yes, we're working on the idea of revamping the executive branch
of government with particular regard to transportation. I made this
statement several weeks ago, and J made it around the counties a
few times. I am not sure that my position paper advocating an office
of transportation is the correct solution. I'm in the process of changing
my opinion for this reason. It seems to me that if an office of trans-
portation is to function effectively, it has to be headed by an overall
czar of transportation. And I don't think such a person can be found
who will be able to work compatibly with the State Roads Commis-
sion, with the Airport Authority, with the Maryland Port Authority,
with mass transit people, and who has a sufficient amount of overall
knowledge to boss, entirely, the functions of those offices. Now, the
only other approach is the approach of a coordinator who will simply
assimilate information from the other agency heads of the components
of transportation and will then try to coordinate the efforts to avoid
the agencies going in opposite directions with one another. I don't
think we need to interpose, between the existing levels of government,
such a. person. I have already received, under the Curlett recommen-
dations, program executives who can do this job very well. So I don't
really see any need to create another job category in between me and
my program executives and the department heads, if his function is
only to be advisory. The alternative that I mentioned when I first
began to discuss this question is that you have a total comptroller of
all transportation; but, from what I have seen, it is impossible to find
a person with sufficient qualifications to do that job, to delve into the
intricacies of all these different aspects of transportation. It is hard
enough to find a good roads man or a good airport man or a good
mass transit person. So it may well be that I'm going to abandon the
idea of a transportation head and allow the task force to investigate
other systems of handling the problem, such as the program executive,
simply making certain that I have all information and am kept fully
advised of exactly what's happened and is happening in all of the
various transportation agencies so that we can prevent them from
going in different directions from one another.

Q. Governor, the Legislative Council is considering this problem.
A. I understand the Legislature is considering it, and I have made
known my shift in position and I recognize fully that this is not in
accordance with my transportation paper and my campaign statement,
But I just found out that what I said wasn't proper, wasn't operable,
in my opinion. I made that known to the heads of the Legislature, and
I'm trying to convince them to take another look at the problem too,
because I haven't seen where this so-called office of transportation