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to take away from the people of this State
the right to elect these officials. They can-
not understand because it has been going
on in Maryland for years and years and
certainly the Board has performed well.
We came down here to re-write the con-
stitution and most of it that I have voted
for so far is pretty good, but I cannot un-
derstand why you want to take these legis-
lative offices away from people. Now, what
are they going to say? You fellows went
down there and you took this away from
us and you took that away from us. Is
that democracy?
I know you can use all kinds of reasons
why you do not want them but those
reasons are sometimes very suspicious. I
hold no brief for the individuals involved
in those offices, but I do say that the
people of Maryland have had good govern-
ment and you can look at it. Now, give it
to somebody with individual power and let
him wreck it and then where will you be?
THE CHAIRMAN: You have one-half
minute, Delegate Bushong.
DELEGATE BUSHONG: It only takes
one man to do it if you give him enough
power.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Dorsey.
DELEGATE DORSEY: Mr. President,
I will extend the time two more minutes.
THE CHAIRMAN: Very well, Delegate
Bushong has two additional minutes.
DELEGATE BUSHONG: I feel that in
the history of the Board of Public Works
it has performed well. If you increase the
governor's representation by two, certainly
the ugly head of politics cannot play the
game because he is going to have three out
of five.
Now, explain to me if that is the case,
why in the world do you want to do away
with the Board of Public Works? There is
big money that is appropriated for the
legislature for expenditures later on in the
year and who oversees that expenditure?
The Board of Public Works.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, bring out the
new constitution, but I warn you here and
now, if you keep taking the elected powers
away from the people, it will not pass.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Morgan.
DELEGATE MORGAN: Mr. Chairman,
I owe five minutes to Delegate Sickles.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
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DELEGATE SICKLES: Mr. Chairman,
I listened with great interest when you
addressed this body on September 12 and it
seemed to me that you painted the picture
rather clearly as far as the State of Mary-
land is concerned and really as far as
many of the states in this union are
concerned.
I think there were some disagreements
with the language that you used, but I do
not think anybody really disagreed with the
point you were trying to make. There are
many in this country and I am one of them
who really feels that democracy is still at
stake and I think those who speak the
loudest with respect to taking away from
the people their right to elect a particular
candidate ought to think about what they
are doing, because I do not think that they
really understand what they are doing for
themselves.
The reason we are here is because the
people have decided that we ought to put
the State back in business and I can tell
you that the people of the country feel
that this is true not just with respect to
this State but with respect to all of the
states.
When I was in the Congress of the
United States we ended up concerning our-
selves with many problems that should be
considered by the states and local commu-
nities but they were not. And we were in
that position where the buck had to stop
and that is why we entered into these
programs.
Why do you think we have a poverty
program on the national level? It is~ be-
cause the states failed to minister to these
programs. Why do we have national pro-
grams for air pollution and water pollu-
tion, and poverty and all the problems that
affect the urban centers? It is because the
states have failed to act and the reason
why they have failed to act is because they
are not properly constructed to act.
Now, I will go along with a legislature
that might fumble, that has some built-in
checks or balances, so that everybody has
a look before a policy is adopted. However,
once a policy is adopted, I think the people
have a right to expect that it will be car-
ried out. And that is what this is all about.
That is why we are talking about the
single executive, the person to whom we can
look to carry out these programs, the per-
son we can blame if they do not get carried
out.
I am for visibility but not to the extent
of putting chains on the hands of the chief
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