whether TV should be permitted on the
floor. Assume for the moment the officers
rejected this idea. We have this, I believe,
in the Capitol, I think on the House side,
due to the precedent of the former Speaker
Sam Rayburn. They do not have live tele-
vision in the committee hearings. On the
Senate side, you do. Suppose this contro-
versy came here, the officers of the Conven-
tion, thinking it would not be a good idea
and the Committee on Public Information
thinking that it would be a good idea. Obvi-
ously. the Committee on Public Information
would introduce a resolution supported by
a report, recommending that this policy
with respect to TV be reversed and that TV
be permitted, and the matter would be put
to the Convention; and in that respect the
committee could have an appeal to the Con-
vention. I mention that as purely hypo-
thetical, but I thought the hypothetical case
was not too far removed from the context
of the situation we are discussing.
So with that understanding of the pur-
pose of the committee, we have recom-
mended favorably the creation of a Com-
mittee on Public Information. It is not,
however, to be an administrative commit-
tee. It is to be an advisory committee, to
assist in recommending general policy to
the officers and to the Convention with re-
spect to public information.
THE PRESIDENT: Are there any ques-
tions for clarification of the Chairman of
the Committee? Delegate Wheatley?
DELEGATE WHEATLEY: Mr. Presi-
dent, Mr. Chairman, I am very interested in
the committee, as I am sure all the mem-
bers of the Convention are, and I think it
is very important to spell out any details
that might arise as to the exact intent.
Therefore, I would ask the Chairman about
what I consider to be his concluding remark
of the report, "Rather, the committee's
basic function would be to recommend
policy regarding the Convention's responsi-
bility in informing, educating and explain-
ing the work of the Convention and its
results to the public."
I find that the actual delineation of this
responsibility is somewhat difficult to ver-
balize in that if it is not an administrative
function and if it will not be a reporting-
type agency, as I assume from the remark,
I assume also that it would not present
views in an editorial fashion of any sort;
is that correct?
DELEGATE SCANLAN: That is cor-
rect. I agree with you that there is some
difficulty in verbalizing the function of the |
proposed committee. It would be a policy-
recommending committee. It would recom-
mend policy to the officers and to the Con-
vention through its officers. If there were
a policy dispute between the officers and
the committee, the committee's real diffi-
culty would be in dealing with the Conven-
tion through regular committee procedural
channels.
DELEGATE WHEATLEY: Is it not the
intent of the Rules Committee, however,
that the Committee on Public Information
would report back, as the standing commit-
tees now do, unless there were some manner
of dispute?
DELEGATE SCANLAN: No. It would
be regarded as a procedural committee. It
is more related to procedure than sub-
stance. It is somewhat like the Rules Com-
mittee in that respect. For example, if the
members of my committee felt strongly
about the procedure under a rule, it could
perhaps be taken care of without changing
the rules. We might suggest that to the
officers. They could reject it. If we felt
strongly enough about it, we could bring
it to this Convention in the form of recom-
mended action in the Committee Report.
Similarly, the Committee on Public Infor-
mation could do that.
DELEGATE WHEATLEY: This com-
mittee, like any committee, would cease at
the end of the Convention?
DELEGATE SCANLAN: I believe it
would.
DELEGATE WHEATLEY: So, there-
fore, any recommendations as to policy by
this committee would have to be formulated
or adopted by the Convention before their
final adoption?
DELEGATE SCANLAN: I believe they
would, especially those that would have any
impact after we went home.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Kathleen
Robie?
DELEGATE ROBIE: Mr. President, I
would just like to suggest that since there
are two Delegate Robies, that Mr. Frank
Robey be given the credit for this fine idea.
THE PRESIDENT: Let the President
state that when Mr. Scanlan heretofore re-
ferred to Delegate Robey, he was referring
to Delegate Frank Robey.
Are there any further questions?
DELEGATE SCANLAN: I will not
make that mistake again. |
