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(Laughter.)
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Wheatley.
DELEGATE WHEATLEY: I would like
to ask Delegate Gallagher in line 15, when
it says "30 minutes, then the sponsor shall
be quartered," is there a butcher in the
house?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: When the
vote comes up with respect to attorney gen-
eral, the answer will definitely be yes.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Johnson,
do you still wish to add your amendment
N?
DELEGATE JOHNSON: Can we vote
on Resolution No. 22 first? It will not be
necessary to introduce motion Number N.
THE CHAIRMAN: As the Chair under-
stands it, you have no further amendments
to section 5.30. You still have section 5.30
under consideration. And there is another
Minority Report JB-l(B).
The Chair recognizes Delegate Dulany
to present the Minority Report. Come to
the reading desk.
You should have before you Minority Re-
port JB-1B, Delegate Dulany.
DELEGATE DULANY: Mr. Chairman,
and fellow delegates, I am sure you know
by now that the majority and minority in
the Judicial Branch Committee were not
necessarily composed of those who repre-
sent the majority and minority on the floor.
There was considerable debate on many of
the provisions in there and we were broken
up on several sections and this was one.
The amendment about the selection of
court clerks is somewhat, I would say, of
a political problem in this State. There was
some testimony before our Committee that
if we would eliminate the election of court
clerks, it might place the whole constitu-
tion in jeopardy.
I think we ought to take a look at what
we have in relation to the count clerks
around the State. First, in the Court of
Appeals, we have an appointed clerk, a
clerk appointed by the court. We have the
game situation in the special court of ap-
peals. We have the same situation virtually
in the courts of limited jurisdiction, al-
though they are somewhat at variance.
As you know these courts vary somewhat
from county to county. It is only in the
circuit court that we have an elected clerk.
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You will find that they do many things
that really are not judicial functions.
For example consider the clerk of the
circuit court. I am told that there are some
600 sections in the code on duties that have
been placed on the circuit court clerks. For
example, he handles all the recording, the
recording of deeds, mortgages, retail sales
agreements. He handles the agency locket,
the corporation record and so forth.
He is in most counties the sellor or
vendor of licenses for retailers. When beer
stamps were sold, no lawyer could get near
the courthouse because they were lined all
around the courthouse and down the next
block.
He also performs the village ceremonies.
He collects fees and deposits. He .certifies
the land for bail. He issues many state
commissions, notary commissions, and he
handles, as we all know, the filing of elec-
tion papers.
These are only a few of the things they
perform. Actually, the circuit court clerk
today is the highest resident state official
in the country who is elected, but he must
also in addition to all the functions I have
given him, perform his services as clerk to
the judge of the circuit clerk, which will
become the superior court under the article
we have adopted.
His obligations are to maintain the
dockets, to swear witnesses, to collect fines
and perform the normal duties of a court
clerk under the direction of the judge.
Our committee debated a long time, long
and hard on this particular issue, and we
heard some testimony as follows in regard
to the circuit court clerks, that in some
courthouses in this state you must have
political connections in order to secure a
job in the courthouse.
Sometimes when you secure this job it
may be a lifetime position unless you can
be removed for cause but, nevertheless, the
original political connection is required. We
have a letter from a person who worked in
a number of eastern counties and he was
removed when new court clerks were elected
because he did not fit their political liking.
We have evidence of disagreements which
exist between court clerks and judges which
cause problems in the judicial operation of
the courts. We also have much testimony
and much evidence that in many counties
where there is a good relationship, the
court clerk stays on for years and years —
as a matter of fact almost for life.
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