possible to elect one by the president. Pos-
sibly there was a risk of conflict in per-
sonalities. It is a risk and the understand-
ing of the Committee is to accept the rule
as it is in the present form.
DELEGATE MALKUS: Mr. President,
members of -the Convention: I believe if
you are going to elect a vice chairman, you
are going to start a family fight in the
beginning in committees, and I do not be-
lieve it will work out too well. Right in the
very beginning, you are going to start
choosing up sides and I think that the
amendment for that reason will not serve
a good purpose.
THE CHAIRMAN: Any further discus-
sion? The amendment is very clear. It
simply restores the power of appointment
of vice chairmen of committees to the presi-
dent. The Chair will now submit the ques-
tion. All in favor of the amendment say
Aye. Opposed, No.
The No's seem to have it. The No's
have it.
Does Delegate Della have an amendment?
DELEGATE DELLA: Mr. President,
this particular amendment to Rule 2 I[22]
was submitted to the by-laws sub-committee
the other evening and they voted it down.
Today I was requested again to introduce
the amendment to the body as a whole.
The seating arrangement of this chamber
is by delegation on a county basis and your
members are joined together in that county
delegation. Now, the argument against it
is because we are individuals and we are
down here to construct a Constitution
which will be to the benefit of the entire
state. If I am a delegate of the Sixth
District of Baltimore City, that does not
change my spots or change my color or my
hair, if I am with my delegation or in al-
phabetical order.
The amendment that has been offered,
although I cannot verify the amount of
money that will be required to change the
board, but I was informed it will run up
to around $40,000. Now, I do not know
whether we're economizing or not in this
Convention, but if that will be the cost,
then it would be very simple to change
your board by delegations or in counties.
I have no argument with my colleague
to my right or to my left. As a matter of
fact, if I were to select any delegates in
the Convention, I would select the seat
right here, but for convenience purposes
and to eliminate confusion in contacting |
the members of other delegations, because
I know they will be getting out of their
seats to talk to the delegates from their
district or counties, I move the adoption
of this amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chairman is
waiting so that everyone has a copy. The
amendment has not been read. I would like
to ask the Secretary to read the amendment.
THE SECRETARY: Introduced by Dele-
gate Della. Amendment to Rule 2 I[22].
On page 7 of the mimeographed proposed
rules and in Rule 2 I[22] thereof, strike
out all of lines I - 4, inclusive, and insert
in lieu thereof the following:
"Rule 21. Seating. The seats of the
delegates on the Convention floor shall be
arranged by the counties, legislative dis-
tricts or subdistricts from which the sev-
eral delegates were elected, following the
same arrangement as used by the House
of Delegates of Maryland. If a vacancy
occurs the person selected to fill the va-
cancy shall continue to have the seat of
the delegate who vacated the position."
THE CHAIRMAN: Any discussion?
DELEGATE BENNETT: Mr. Chairman,
Mr. Bennett from Montgomery County, l
think Mr. Della has given the strongest
argument against this amendment when he
says that we are here to represent the
entire State of Maryland. We are here not
from any particular area or to protect the
needs of any particular community. We
are here also to get acquainted with the
views and points of view of other delegates
to this Convention and already I have
profited by that by getting acquainted with
my fellow delegate from Hagerstown. 1
would like to see the present seating ar-
rangement remain for that purpose.
I believe that if the delegates want to
meet together by delegation, there is plenty
of opportunity to meet with them in their
quarters or at other times. I hope the
amendment will be defeated.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Linton.
DELEGATE LINTON: Mr. President,
members of the Convention, I find in read-
ing this amendment that we have a me-
chanical problem. Those of you who have
never seen the electorate voting machine
may not know that there is a series of
wires running through a squirrel cage com-
puter in the basement of this building, that
the delegate just gave a figure of $40,000
to convert this to a new arrangement. |
