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efficiency as an attorney general I cannot
say, but we have had exceptionally good
men who have been attorneys general and
who have gone on to high office in this
State.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: Do you not be-
lieve as I do, as a fellow member of this
bar, that we who are members of the bar
have a code of ethics which is quite high,
and that independent of whether we are
public servants through the elected process,
or whether we are appointed by someone
else, that we will keep the requirements of
this standard?
DELEGATE MASON: I agree with you
completely, but I know of no attorney gen-
eral who has not maintained those high
standards and code of ethics.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: I am suggesting
that perhaps you are right, but would not
the same thing be really true if a member
of the bar living up to the code of ethics
were also appointed by someone else?
DELEGATE MASON: I do not under-
stand you. What code of ethics are you
referring to, and what would an appointed
attorney general do that would violate the
code of ethics?
DELEGATE SICKLES: It seems to me
the thrust of your discussion was that
somehow the attorney general appointed by
the governor would become, quote, "the
governor's man," and this somehow was
going to affect his judgment and was going
to affect the kinds of opinions that he
would render.
I am just suggesting that as a fellow
member of the bar, that we ought to sug-
gest to the public generally that we would
not be so affected, and that whether he
were elected and had to go to the people,
that we would not make statements and do
things just to please the public, but would
do what we thought was right legally; and
I think an appointed attorney general would
do the same thing.
I am asking you if you would agree with
that premise.
DELEGATE MASON: That is a very
long and involved question. If you will
divide your question, I will try to answer
it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: My question I
think simply is this: I think that a mem-
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ber of the bar has a duty to give legal
opinions which are in his best opinion right
and proper. You suggest that if he is ap-
pointed by the governor, somehow this
responsibility and code by which we all live
would be violated, and he would become the
governor's man; but you suggest that if he
were running for election that he would
not give in to these temptations. It seems
to me that if we do live by this code, and
the kind of people who are selected for an
attorney general would be such that they
could be in public scrutiny, it would make
no difference whether he were appointed or
whether he were elected, as long as he
lived up to the code that you and I live up
to.
DELEGATE MASON: I presume that
was a question also, but it ended more like
a speech, I would only say this: That an
elected attorney general has more freedom
of action, and independence, than an ap-
pointed attorney general.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: That leads me
to my last question: Do you think the at-
torney general ought to be allowed to con-
tinue his private practice of law?
DELEGATE MASON: I do not think so.
I do not think there is any prohibition
against it, as long as his private practice
is not in conflict with any of his duties as
the attorney general, like any other state
official. He can perform it, as far as the
law is concerned at the present time.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: Do I under-
stand your answer would be that you would
not oppose the proposition that he should
be a full time state officer and not be per-
mitted to continue his law practice?
DELEGATE MASON: I would not op-
pose that at all.
DELEGATE SICKLES: Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Any further ques-
tions of the majority spokesman?
Delegate Della.
DELEGATE DELLA: Delegate Mason,
is it my understanding that you are sug-
gesting that the governor be given the
authority to advise him?
DELEGATE MASON: That is exactly
correct, Delegate Della.
In several states where they have an
elected attorney general, the governor has
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