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DELEGATE PULLEN: I am asking if
he knows what the facts are.
THE CHAIRMAN: He has answered
you. I take it he has answered you to the
best of his ability, Delegate Pullen.
DELEGATE PULLEN: May I respect-
fully suggest he read the attorney general's
opinion on it?
THE CHAIRMAN: Now, do you have
another question?
DELEGATE PULLEN: I have a lot of
them. I had better bring them up later.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any fur-
ther questions of the Vice-Chairman? Dele-
gate Grant.
DELEGATE GRANT: Delegate Adkins,
I wanted to ask you for clarification of an
answer you gave to Delegate Frederick.
Did you indicate that if the comptroller
were a constitutional office that the powers
that would be assigned to him would be
different than if the office were created by
the legislature and was not mentioned in
the constitution?
DELEGATE ADKINS: I suppose the
answer to that would depend on the nature
of the constitutional provision that this
Convention ultimately wrote, if it wrote
one. If the comptroller were given by the
new constitution the same powers which
he now has, my answer would be yes, that
they would be different from the powers
which a legislatively selected or legisla-
tively authorized comptroller would have,
because he now is what amounts to the
chief fiscal officer for the State. I suggest
that under the proposal of the Committee,
which will come under consideration later,
the legislature could not create such a
broad fiscal officer, free of gubernatorial
appointment. Does that answer your ques-
tion?
DELEGATE GRANT: Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any fur-
ther questions of the Vice-Chairman? Dele-
gate Mason.
DELEGATE MASON: Delegate Adkins,
did I understand you correctly to state that
if we have an elected comptroller that
would constitute a plural executive, which
is not good for this State?
DELEGATE ADKINS: You certainly
did not understand me to say a plural ex-
ecutive would be good for this State. No,
I do not think a plural executive would be
good for this State.
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THE CHAIRMAN: You misunderstood
Delegate Mason, I believe.
DELEGATE ADKINS: Maybe I did.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mason,
would you restate your question?
DELEGATE MASON: I said, was it
not your testimony that the election of a
comptroller would constitute a plural ex-
ecutive?
DELEGATE ADKINS: It is my state-
ment to the extent that the executive power
is vested in more than one elected execu-
tive; to that extent we have a plural execu-
tive. That is not exactly the way I phrased
the term, but I think that is an accurate
statement.
DELEGATE MASON: Is it not a fact
that most states elect from six to eleven
statewide offices, whereas Maryland only
elects three?
DELEGATE ADKINS: There are only
ten states which elect a comptroller. I do
not have the figures on the total. I could
get them. I do not have them in my mind.
There are only ten states which elect a
comptroller, which would be comparable to
our comptroller here.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mason.
DELEGATE MASON: But there are a
considerable number of states that elect a
fiscal officer by another name, is that not
true?
DELEGATE ADKINS: Yes. There are
other states that elect a fiscal officer by an-
other or different name. Some call him a
treasurer. If you will bear with me a min-
ute, I think I have the information on that
here. No, I do not have it. I thought I had
it, but I can get it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mason.
DELEGATE MASON: I am not inter-
ested in the numbers, Delegate Adkins, but
is it not a fact, as far as statewide offices,
elected officials are concerned, that most
states elect from six to eleven statewide
officials?
DELEGATE ADKINS: Suffice it to say
it is certainly true that there are many
states which have more than two statewide
elected officers, yes.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mason.
DELEGATE MASON: Now, did I un-
derstand you correctly that the governor
of Maryland would be a weak governor?
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