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The Executive Branch Committee recom-
mends that the Board of Public Works not .
be provided for in the constitution. I op-
pose this recommendation. I urge that this
Convention should provide for the Board
of Public Works in the constitution and
whether you agree later that the Board of
Public Works should consist of three or
whether you agree that it should consist of
five is a matter for determination, but
whichever it shall be, it must be, I say to
you, determined by the constitution.
Who says that the Board of Public Works
should not be in the constitution ? Not the
present governor of Maryland, Governor
Agnew. He addressed this assemblage and
said: "In my opinion the Board of Public
Works should be continued but reconsti-
tuted." You heard his language, it was re-
peated here just a moment ago by Dele-
gate Dorsey.
Next, I called as a witness a man who
served eight years as comptroller of the
State, who served on the Board of Public
Works and who served as Governor for
eight years, who is Honorary Chairman of
this Convention, Governor Tawes, and he
too says that we should keep the Board of
Public Works in the constitution.
Now, let us just see what the Executive
Branch Committee recommendation does.
First, it says that the Board of Public
Works is an unwarranted dilution of the
governor's executive authority and responsi-
bility, but they go on to say this. The Ex-
ecutive Branch Committee acknowledges
that under the proposed executive article,
the Committee has eliminated the existing
constitutional checks within the executive
branch.
And yet in its argument that there should
not be a Board of three, this is what the
same Committee says in its recommenda-
tion in Memorandum EB-1, page 22, lines
34 to 42, and I quote them literally: "The
Committee recognizes that there are few
administrative absolutes and that some-
times a plural decision-making body may
be desirable when there is need for con-
tinuity in policy or to represent diverse
viewpoints."
I am quoting the Executive Branch Com-
mittee.
Who else says that we should abolish
the Board of Public Works? The draft
which you have from the Constitutional
Convention Commission does not say abolish
it. All that they say is do not put it in the
constitution and they say it may be a good
thing to have. They do not say in their
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draft, "vest all the executive responsibilties
in the governor and eliminate the checks
completely."
You have this available. We do not have
too much time. I shall not read what is in
the blue book. Every change relating to the
legislature that has come before this Con-
vention has been debated long- and over
many years, and not one item recommended
or brought before this convention by the
Legislative Branch Committee is so totally
new that you have to say "I only heard of
it in the last year or two." The same thing
is true of the Judicial Branch Committee.
Everything that they have said you have
heard debated, talked about, editorialized,
written, and discussed. However, until the
Commission draft of less than a year and
a half ago, nobody suggested the abolition
of the Board of Public Works. It has not
received the same scrutiny that all of the
other changes, which are suggested here
and have yet to come, have received.
Let us go back to those who have studied
our government. We had a Commission
under one of the great living men dedi-
cated to public service. I refer to Judge
Simon Sobeloff, former Chief Judge of the
Court of Appeals of Maryland, City So-
licitor of Baltimore, chief of the judges of
the fourth circuit Court of Appeals, and
on and on and on. He was Chairman of
the Sobeloff Commission created by the
governor of Maryland and this is what his
report published in 1952 says at page 20:
"The Commission recommended that the
Board of Public Works retain its authority
over the major decisions involving public
works and property."
The Sobeloff Commission recommended
further that it retain its authority over the
issuance of funds, requests for bids, se-
lecting sites for new institutions and that
its authority be broadened.
Now, I say to you in 1953 I think when
Judge Sobeloff became Chief Judge of the
Court of Appeals I believe Mr. Stockbridge
became chairman of the Commission. I be-
lieve there were some changes made, but as
far as I can see they did not recommend
the abolition of the Board of Public Works.
I call history to bear that until the report
of less than two years ago, there has been
no desire, no need, no recommendation for
the abolition of the Board of Public Works
as a constitutionally created board in Mary-
land.
Let me digress at this point from what
I have prepared. I have the utmost respect
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