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troller are in the policy-making area. As I
understand your comments, he is responsi-
ble for what you call the pre-payout checks
which I presume are done by the merit
system employes rather than the comp-
troller himself on a daily basis; and you
suggested that the auditor reports to the
comptroller, and that that has been vested
in the legislature. There is also the legis-
latively delegated and quasi-judicial pow-
ers. Would you say that an appointed comp-
troller would handle the legislatively dele-
gated power and the quasi-judicial power
less ably than an elected comptroller?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sybert.
DELEGATE SYBERT: I think a crony
appointed by the governor who does not
know too much about fiscal affairs would be
less apt to be as efficient as an elected
controller who had to expose himself to the
people on his excellent record and satisfy
them sufficiently to get re-elected comp-
troller of the State. I think it is safer
under our present system.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Byrnes.
DELEGATE BYRNES: I am trying to
narrow down in my own mind what your
position is. You certainly stated it very
adequately. Let me make sure that I have
it clarified.
It seems to me you might be saying that
the great asset to the people in the comp-
troller is found *by the fact that he sits on
the Board of Public Works, not so much
that he is comptroller and head of the
treasury department. I think this is a very
fundamental distinction that Judge Adkins
alluded to when he said that the comp-
troller's responsibilities, qua comptroller,
or as the official known as the comptroller
is one responsibility, but his function on a
Board of Public Works is an entirely dif-
ferent one. To put it another way, anyone
could sit on the Board of Public Works
and perform this independent watchdog
function without necessarily also having to
be head of the treasury department. What
I am questioning is whether or not this is
a correct analysis, whether or not this
dichotomy can be made because if it can,
it is important that we do so because it
would seem that we could have this kind
of elective official, and at the same time
strengthen the executive branch, while not
letting the treasury branch be headed by
an elective position.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sybert.
DELEGATE SYBERT: I think the peo-
ple of this State in 1851, and you might
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say they have confirmed it ever since by
reason of the fact that it has never been
changed by constitutional amendment, con-
ceived that a person such as the comp-
troller who has or acquires an intimate
working knowledge of all facets of state
government, of all the executive depart-
ments, is perhaps the best state official to
sit on the Board of Public Works because
of his intimate knowledge of state affairs.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Willoner.
DELEGATE WILLONER: Judge, I was
wondering whether or not any surveys
were done to determine whether or not the
people knew that there was a comptroller
and an attorney general. I remember one
survey on Congress which revealed that
about ten per cent of the people knew who
their Congressman was. I wonder if any
surveys were done?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sybert.
DELEGATE SYBERT: I do not know
if any precise surveys were done to see
how many people know the name of our
present comptroller or attorney general.
But I might say that during two election
campaigns, I travelled over this state and
went into virtually every hamlet and city
and to the countryside and almost every
store and place of business along with
candidates for comptroller and governor;
and that was done at least twice in every
county in the State, and three or four
times in the more populous areas. I think
anyone interested in government, who
either reads the newspapers or turns out
for political meetings, pretty well knows
who is running for comptroller, forms an
opinion about his qualifications and votes
accordingly for the person of his choice.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Willoner.
DELEGATE WILLONER: Did you
study the percentage dropoffs between gov-
ernor and attorney general?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sybert.
DELEGATE SYBERT: No particular
study. There always is a dropoff for voting
from the governor on down. A substantial
number of people vote for governor and
apparently do not vote for anything else.
But on the other hand, the other candi-
dates, attorney general and comptroller, get
very large votes.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Storm.
DELEGATE STORM: Judge Sybert, do
you recall in the Committee the original
vote on this question was 10 to 10?
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