CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION 445

practical purposes, the draft revision — while an improvement over
the existing arrangement — curtails the exercise of leadership and
initiative by the Governor-elect.

Two modifications of the draft proposal could correct this situation.
The first would be to authorize the inauguration of the incoming
Governor on the first Wednesday in January; the second, to convene
the regular session of the General Assembly on the first Wednesday
in February. A combination of these features should facilitate ade-
quate preparation of a legislative program, review of the budget, and
encourage proper leadership by the Governor-elect. Simultaneously, it
would provide the newly elected General Assembly with an extra
day to organize and elect its presiding officers.

Any discussion of Article IV must be prefaced by a discussion of
the philosophy of the executive branch. The Governor of any state
is elected by a plurality of the voters. His authority stems from their
mandate and he is directly responsible to the electorate. His election
is presumed to imply the endorsement of his programs and policies
as articulated during the gubernatorial campaign. While this man-
date does not sanction unrestricted or unqualified executive action,
ample constitutional safeguards against the abuse of executive au-
thority are vested in the legislative and judicial branches. Checks and
balances must exist among the three traditional branches of govern-
ment to provide review of critical decisions and to prevent dispropor-
tionate exercise of authority. Yet this concept should not, I believe,
be enlarged to allow checks and balances to exist within any single
branch of government. For such an extension becomes a perversion
of purpose which obscures clear lines of responsibility to the electorate
and impairs initiative and effectiveness by that branch.

Under the existing Constitution's provisions, executive-administra-
tive authority is eroded by a multiplicity of elected officials and a
multi-headed board lacking unequivocal line responsibility to the
Governor. If the executive-administrative function is to be performed
as intended, these checks within the executive branch must be elimi-
nated — or defined and limited — so as not to impede gubernatorial
action. If a Governor is to be fully and exclusively responsible to the
people, the administrators of the executive branch must be fully and
exclusively responsible to him.

For this reason, I support the draft Constitution's provisions con-
fining elective positions within the executive branch to a Governor
and a Lieutenant Governor elected on the same ticket.