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of Public Works, the people would rise up
in their wrath. I do not know why they
would not rise up in their wrath just as
much if it were a legislative Board rather
than a constitutional Board.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Storm.
DELEGATE STORM: Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Raley.
DELEGATE RALEY: I will be per-
fectly happy to go along with what you say
about this not being in the constitution but
I think the Board of Public Works does
serve a purpose, and I just wish you would
explain to me where they can do it.
You pointed out in reply to the question
on section 4.20, the words, "Unless other-
wise provided by law", but that applies
only to the head of each principal depart-
ment, isn't that correct, sir?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Morgan.
DELEGATE MORGAN: That is correct.
I thought the assumption was that the
Board of Public Works would be a prin-
cipal department. If it is, it can be in-
cluded as a Board within one of the prin-
cipal departments.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Raley.
DELEGATE RALEY: Under section
4.18 where it says "All duties shall be un-
der a principal department", I cannot con-
ceive that it would be considered as part of
a principal department. Further, it seems
to me, and I want your thinking on this,
that unless this Board were mentioned in
the constitution it probably would be il-
legal anyhow under section 4.01.
If we do not put something in the con-
stitution and let the General Assembly do
it, it cannot be done.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Morgan.
DELEGATE MORGAN: Just as the
General Assembly enacts a law and says
it cannot be carried out by the secretary
of this or the head of that department, I
suppose that it is, in a sense, interferring
with the executive authority, but it has
never been held to do so.
I submit that if you took the Board of
Public Works out of the Constitution, the
legislature could set up a Board of Public
Works and put the governor on it, or desig-
nate somebody appointed by the governor
and somebody designated by the legislature.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Raley.
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DELEGATE RALEY: Chairman Mor-
man, would you not agree though, that
there is some doubt whether the legislature
could do it?
DELEGATE MORGAN: There is no
doubt in my mind.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in favor of the amend-
ment?
Delegate James Clark.
DELEGATE J. CLARK: Mr. Chairman
and ladies and gentlemen of the Conven-
tion: What we are arguing about is that
those people thought we needed a Board of
Public Works. Judge Henderson asked a
good while ago why it is better to have it in
the constitution than allow the legislature
to establish the Board of Public Works.
The answer to this question has deter-
mined how I shall vote on it. If who shall
be on the Board, is in the constitution then
it is not subject to change as it would be
if the Board of Public Works were estab-
lished by the legislature.
Those of us who have been around the
legislature a while know that the member-
ship of the boards that are set up by the
legislature are very often subject to change
by the legislature and we have seen some
boards that are changed every four years,
because a Republican is elected in one
place in Maryland. This time you have a
Democratic governor and then you have a
Democrat elected back in that county and
a Republican governor and so we have to
go through and change the way the boards
are appointed, the make-up of them some-
times.
If we are going to have a Board of Pub-
lic Works, and we allow it to be set up by
the legislature, we are just going to have a
political football.
When you get a Republican governor, a
Democratic legislature is going to want to
change that membership to take the con-
trol away from the Republican governor.
You may think it is far-fetched, but it
could happen. It has happened before.
Therefore, I think it is a meaningful rea-
son for putting the Board of Public Works
in the Constitution, so that it will not be
subject to such shenanigans.
If you think we have to have a Board of
Public Works and I think we do, and most
people think we do, then I think you should
give it this protection. Certainly this is
more important than a lot of things we are
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