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NEWS CONFERENCE ON THE BUDGET
February 9, 1968

Opening Statement by the Governor:

Gentlemen, I called this regular fullscale press conference as a basic
request I had to answer questions from reporters concerning some
stories that appeared in the afternoon papers and on one of the wire
services and also on radio. I'm going to ask only to make one introduc-
tory comment regarding those stories. Although the Legislature is
composed of two parties, the Governorship of necessity, resides in one
party. We share a common objective, and that objective is to be fair
and to be accurate. When unfairness and inaccuracy occur aside from
partisan considerations it becomes necessary to straighten the situation
out. In this regard I have with me the House Majority Leader, Mr.
Thomas Hunter Lowe, who has something to say concerning these
stories.

Mr. Lowe: Thank you, Governor.

Gentlemen, let me say this. Customarily when you appear before a
television camera you are asked to be brief. But unfortunately brevity,
the attempt to be brief, the attempt to say something in a little space
apparently brought this about.

First of all, let me say if I didn't think this was an extremely im-
portant issue, I certainly wouldn't come here as the Democratic ma-
jority leader of the House to defend the Republican administration
on an issue as significant as this. I think to preface it I should read
the first sentence of this headline article that says Attorney General
Francis B. Burch ruled today that Governor Agnew's billion dollar
budget is unconstitutional because it does not include funds to con-
tinue the State's scholarship program as required by law. Now this
statement is, of course, completely wrong. First of all, Attorney Gen-
eral Burch did not say that. And secondly, the Constitution expressly
says the contrary. Let me read you two sentences, one from Attorney
General Burch's opinion: "It is immaterial in our view whether such
appropriation be in the original or a supplemental budget so long as
it is in a budget submitted to the General Assembly. " And, then let
me read you an excerpt from the Constitution of Maryland which
affirmatively makes provision for just such an issue such as this: "The
Governor may, with the consent of the General Assembly, before final
action thereon by the General Assembly, amend or supplement said
budget to correct an oversight, and such amendment or supplement