|
DELEGATE CHABOT: No, sir, this only
goes to make sure he has the power to make
the appointment and does not discuss at all
the power of withdrawing the appointment
or removing the person appointed.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gleason.
DELEGATE GLEASON: Mr. Chairman,
I just do not understand that last answer.
I wonder if I could ask the sponsor
again: If the attorney general may appoint
such assistants as prescribed by law, does
he also have the power to remove such as-
sistants without any reference ,to the law?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Chabot?
DELEGATE CHABOT: In order to an-
swer that, Delegate Gleason, with certainty,
I would have to know exactly the way in
which this provision in the same word has
been interpreted in the present Constitu-
tion.
My primary purpose here was to insure
that he had the power to make his appoint-
ments as he now has in the present Consti-
tution. I was not intending to give him
greater power, merely to preserve the
present power that the Constitution already
gives him.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gleason.
DELEGATE GLEASON: May I sug-
gest to the sponsor that a little research
before these amendments are proposed
might be in order because if he has the
power to remove such assistants then you
have effectively removed the power from
the General Assembly, the power to put
such assistants under the merit system.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: If that is the
consequence of this language, because that
is the power he now has, then I would wish
him to continue to have that power. I think
that we have seen just recently the po-
tential consequences in the case of one ad-
ministrative agency in the county of the
General Assembly's power to shift around
as partisan politics dictates, the power of
appointment of members of a particular of-
fice and the objective of this was to re-
tain the same independence that the at-
torney general now has with regard to the
matter of deputies and assistants.
THE CHAIRMAN : Delegate Gleason.
DELEGATE GLEASON: May I sug-
gest as my last question or comment to the
sponsor that if that is the present power
and you are intending that that power be
|
continued, you are giving a power to the
attorney general that even the governor
does not have because his employees would
be under the merit system, except heads of
the departments.
I might suggest that the Chairman of
the Committee might consult with his Com-
mittee as to whether they intend to fore-
close these people from being under the
merit system.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Marion.
DELEGATE MARION: Delegate Chabot,
in view of the fact that we have already
considered, I am thinking back over what
we have done and we have provided for
clerks of the court without spelling out
that they have authority to appoint depu-
ties and we have provided for a comptroller
without provision in the constitution that
he have a right to appoint deputies or as-
sistants. We provided for state's attorneys
without any constitutional provision that
they have authority to appoint deputies or
assistants, and we have been told this
morning that the governor has authority
to appoint general counsel without a spe-
cific provision in the Constitution and such
other staff persons as he desires.
Why do you suggest that there is a need
for a constitutional provision giving that
authority to the attorney general and mak-
ing an exception for him contrasted with
all these other constitutional officials?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: I believe every
one of the constitutional officials that you
have described has been treated differently
in some major manner by this Convention.
With regard to the clerks of the court, the
purpose of our decisions earlier was that
the relevant judge in each particular case,
have power over the clerk, and I assume
that he would have power over the clerk's
appointees to the extent that the legisla-
ture takes it away. However, in any event,
I do not think this Convention envisioned
any great likelihood of political controversy
between that appointing judge and the Gen-
eral Assembly itself. With regard to the
various other officials that you mentioned,
the comptroller conceivably apart from his
secretaries could perform all the functions
we have given him by himself without any
professional assistance.
I suggest that the remaining officers are
not of such a stature. I would have wished
to see a different sort of attorney general
set forth in the constitution if any was to
be set forth, but the Convention having
|
