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strict our actions as we proceed further
on in the constitution? Do you feel that we
could then establish such a board and des-
ignate some officer to serve? Are we re-
stricted simply in the use of the word
"comptroller" as the designation of the
officer?
DELEGATE ADKINS: No. I would say
the answer to that is clearly no. If you
agree with the Majority Report here and
eliminate the comptroller as an elected
office, it is still before the Convention to
either deny a Board of Public Works con-
stitutional status or to construct such a
Board of Public Works for the constitu-
tion, as the Convention thinks wise. There
is no magic in having an elected comp-
troller as a member of the Board of Pub-
lic Works if that is your question. I am
not sure that answers it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: I also am not
sure of the language of the Report that we
are voting on, that the office of the comp-
troller not be provided for in this consti-
tution. If we agree with the Committee at
this stage, and still determine to create a
Board of Public Works, have we not de-
cided that the comptroller, whatever that
may mean, cannot be a member of this
Board of Public Works?
DELEGATE ADKINS: No, not unless
you decide that the Board of Public Works,
as the Convention would propose, is exactly
identical with the existing Board of Public
Works, which is not yet before the Conven-
tion. You can have a Board of Public
Works composed of the governor, a treas-
urer, the post-auditor, any set number of
officials that the Convention saw fit to write
into the provision for a Board of Public
Works.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: Then, do I un-
derstand correctly, that our decisions on
items 2 and 3 would not in any way prevent
us, if we decided that there should be a
Board of Public Works, from constituting
it any way we wanted to?
DELEGATE ADKINS: I see no logical
inconsistency, unless, I think I should add
this caveat, unless you were to decide that
you wanted a Board of Public Works com-
posed of an elected comptroller, and an
elected treasurer. In that event, I think
you would have an inconsistency, but not
otherwise.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Pullen.
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DELEGATE PULLEN: Mr. Adkins, it
is my understanding that a committee de-
termines the estimates of income for the
State. My question, sir, is this: When the
final statement of income is put in the
executive budget, which is the governor's
budget, does the governor have a right to
change that? Are they his figures or are
they the figures of the committee?
DELEGATE ADKINS: Are you direct-
ing your question to the extent of the gov-
ernor's right to change the Board of Reve-
nue Estimates' figures for the purpose of
determining whether the budget is balanced
or not?
DELEGATE PULLEN: It has a bearing
upon the necessity of an elected comp-
troller. I simply want to know the author-
ity vested in the governor in such instance.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Pullen, Del-
egate Adkins was asking whether you were
referring to the authority of the governor
to disregard an estimate of the Board of
Revenue Estimates.
DELEGATE PULLEN: Precisely.
DELEGATE ADKINS: I would stand to
be corrected on this. My thought is, I have
not personally researched this problem, but
my thought is that the governor is bound
by the revenue estimates produced by the
Board of Revenue Estimates, and to that
extent is suffering, I think, one of the
severest limitations on the gubernatorial
power that a governor can have, and in-
deed I consider that to be one of the very
root problems involved in this tri-headed
executive that we now have.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Pullen.
DELEGATE PULLEN: Then, it is your
theory that an elected governor, who may
or may not have administrative ability, has
the omniscience to decide exactly how much
revenue we are going to have whether he
has competence or not?
DELEGATE ADKINS: I do not think
an elected governor has that omniscience
any more than an elected comptroller. I
think both are forced to rely to the extent
that they can on the best expert talent in
the field that they can elicit on the best
mechanical devices for compiling the infor-
mation and making the necessary forecasts.
However, I see no reason why the governor
is not equally as competent to select the
personnel to do 'this job as is an elected
comptroller.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Pullen.
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