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SENATOR JAMES: I will be glad to.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Morgan.
DELEGATE MORGAN: Do you recall
the testimony of the comptroller before
the Executive Branch Committee?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate James.
DELEGATE JAMES: I could not an-
swer that question because I was not there.
DELEGATE MORGAN: I will read from
the statement that he gave to the Commit-
tee. Clearly, he said, his most important
responsibility is as a member of the Board
of Public Works.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other
delegate desire to speak in opposition to
the amendment?
Delegate Gill.
DELEGATE GILL: Mr. Chairman, this
is the first day I have not been proud to be
a member of the Constitutional Convention.
During the primaries when I was asked
to run, I agreed to do so and was glad to do
so, and in. the first eleven weeks here it was
a pleasure; I felt that all of the delegates
were following their convictions and think-
ing through the problems and voting the
way they felt.
Today it has been a different thing. When
Senator Malkus got up today and wanted
to postpone this, I was glad, because I had
decided to ask if it could not be made a
special order for another day, to give the
people a chance to think over what had
happened in the halls, and on the telephones
and in the homes, because I felt that after
thinking it over carefully they might come
back again and vote their convictions on
what they really thought.
This morning when the compromise was
brought in and I read it, I said, what is
the compromise, this is simply one side
getting everything. To me a compromise is
one side getting something and the other
side getting something. Then this after-
noon just as I was coming into the door,
they said there was another compromise,
and I asked what it was and they told
me. I said, it is the same thing; the same
side is still getting nothing.
When I came here I believed that the
comptroller should not be elected to his
office and I vowed that it should not be in
the constitution, but I was willing to listen
to reason and be convinced otherwise. Since
I have been here I have not been convinced
and I still believe it should not be in the
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constitution, I still believe it should not be
an elective office, and the compromise which
continues the Board of Public Works is
not a compromise. The compromise which
continues the comptroller as an elective
office is not a compromise. The compromise
which allows him to be on the Board of
Public Works, and that was one of the
'main reasons we wanted the Board of Pub-
lic Works is not a compromise.
I cannot see how the compromise is any-
thing except giving up your principles and
once we begin giving up principle, we will
continue doing the same thing. I shall vote
against it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Fornos.
DELEGATE FORNOS: Mr. Chairman,
fellow delegates: I have always maintained
that this constitution shall represent the
collective wisdom of the people of the State
of Maryland, and that the ingredients of
this constitution shall reflect that collec-
tive wisdom.
I, too, share the very sad feelings that
some of us are evidencing here tonight, by
the necessity of this compromise. How-
ever, compromise is the ingredient of life,
and I think that when the people of this
State, out of some 700 candidates, selected
these 142 men and women they showed
their collective wisdom in selecting you as
the best qualified. Now you have the bur-
den of letting the collective wisdom of this
Convention prevail and hopefully turn out
a document which will endure, a document
which I think we can be proud of because
of our labors, not because of the kowtowing
that we may be doing on one or two issues,
because not all of us are going to be one
hundred percent pleased with the docu-
ment, but we will be with the overall
product, and I certainly hope that you will
vote in favor of this compromise.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in opposition? Dele-
gate Mentzer.
DELEGATE MENTZER: I am opposed
to this amendment because I believe we are
not asking the voters of the State to select
'their chief fiscal officer, but only a pre-
audit bookkeeper. Therefore, we say we
rationalize this because we are selecting
him statewide because he is a member of
a Board of Public Works or board of re-
view. Ladies and gentlemen, the average
citizens of this State do not know the im-
portant work of the Board of Public Works,
and to educate them in the new doings of
the board of public review is too large a
job, I submit. In addition, we are placing
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