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DELEGATE SICKLES: Does this mean,
then, that these attorneys are available on
a day-to-day basis to counsel with and ad-
vise the various departments with which
they work?
DELEGATE MASON: They are avail-
able each day to advise with the depart-
ments for whom they work.
DELEGATE SICKLES: Do I under-
stand from your previous answer that they
then write up a memorandum on every bit
of advice they give in order to make sure
it is uniform and send it back to head-
quarters?
DELEGATE MASON: No. I do not
think it works that way; but they are
available to the department head to whom
they are assigned and any information
that the department head wants legal ad-
vice on, he has the attorney from whom he
can get this advice.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: Upon what
'basis are their promotions handled? Who
makes the recommendations; the depart-
ment head for which he works, or does the
attorney general himself make this recom-
mendation?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mason.
DELEGATE MASON: When you say
"promotions," I do not understand. There
is usually one line of authority. You have
a chief of the Criminal Division and a
chief of the Civil Division. You have a
deputy attorney general, and the other at-
torneys general are assigned to various
agencies that are not in the main office,
and they are assigned at a fixed rate of
pay.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: Does the At-
torney General or someone not have to
make determination of the quality of serv-
ice that is being performed by the assistant
attorneys general?
I am just concerned as to how this is
handled administratively.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mason.
DELEGATE MASON: The attorney
general has a deputy and principal ad-
ministrative assistant who evaluates the
work of each assistant and makes reports
regularly to the attorney general. The At-
torney General himself interviews regu-
larly the attorneys assigned to the various
agencies.
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THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: Are you sug-
gesting then that there is daily contact
between the attorney general and the vari-
ous attorneys who are working for the
respective agencies?
DELEGATE MASON: No, I am not
suggesting that.
I do not say they have daily contacts, but
they have frequent contacts in order to
keep abreast of what is happening in the
State as far as the legal matters go.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: Would you say
that he exercises a degree of supervision,
sufficient to know what the quality of the
work is that they are performing?
DELEGATE MASON: I feel reasonably
sure he does exercise that type of super-
vision, and if the agency was not receiving
the attention that they should receive, I am
sure they would soon let the attorney gen-
eral know about it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: I have one last
question. Isn't asking all these elected at-
torneys general around the country like
going to the devil to discuss hell? They
would have to be in favor of it, wouldn't
they?
DELEGATE MASON: I do not know
what they would do if they went to
the devil and discussed hell, but most of
the attorneys general around the country
are in favor, as I indicated, of elected at-
torneys general, and I think they have
stated good and cogent reasons for being
for the elected attorney general.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: Do you, or
would you agree that making the attorney
general run for office in effect makes him
a politician and that this means that his
activities might be in some way affected by
his attempt to please the public?
DELEGATE MASON: Well, if he runs
for office, he necessarily is in the political
arena. I do not know to what degree that
would affect the performance of his duties
as attorney general.
If you will look back over the years,
some of the most outstanding men in the
State have been attorneys general, and
they have been elected attorneys general.
So to what degree that would affect his
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