|
occupied so much of the time of the Gen-
eral Assemblies in the past that related
solely to matters back home, about whether
the liquor board ought to be appointed by
the governor or county commission and a
host of local matters which, indeed, did
occupy the time, efforts, and attention of
members of the General Assembly.
This will not be a localized or local
oriented General Assembly which we will
have from 1970 forward and there will
be little opportunity to act as if one were
a representative of a small enclave or a
local neighborhood.
I am not going to run through the 10 or
12 advantages that I have spoken about
before. These are all before you in the
memorandum which you have.
Before sitting down, I simply want to
tell you that we had long and vigorous
debate over this question, and I thought it
was conducted in a very intelligent, sensi-
ble manner. I think when we had a great
deal of time on our hands we arrived at a
sensible decision. Now as we see the dawn
of January 12 breathing down our backs
then there is a tendency simply to vote to
get it over with. I would hope that the
strength that went into your earlier deci-
sion will not be dissipated, that the advan-
tage of single-member districts will remain
before your eyes and you will continue to
maintain in this constitution a decision
that has been applauded not only in the
State of Maryland and the press in this
State but by all the knowledge people and
those with experience in General Assembly
matters throughout the country.
I would urge you to sustain your prior
position and to reject the amendmen.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Lord.
DELEGATE LORD: I yield three min-
utes to Delegate Carson.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Carson.
DELEGATE CARSON: Mr. President
and ladies and gentlemen, I rise to speak
briefly in favor of this amendment, and I
would like, first, to discuss with you what
this amendment will permit. It will permit
the General Assembly in its discretion in
years to come to decide what type of dele-
gate districts there ought to be within this
State but within the very severe limitation
that there can never be a delegate district
greater than a three-member delegate dis-
trict.
This amendment would permit the Gen-
eral Assembly, if it saw fit, to establish
|
single-member districts throughout this
State. On the other hand, if the General
Assembly in its wisdom thought it was cor-
rect, it might also provide for a reasonable
mix of delegate districts of one-member,
two-member, and three-member districts.
My county is Harford County and only
the politicians are in favor of this flexi-
bility. I am not a politician. I have never
run for political office, and I have no in-
tention of doing it but I will tell you what
this amendment will do for our county and
what Delegate Gallagher's will do.
In Harford in 1950 we elected three out
of four of our delegates from the eastern
or lower half. Eight years later we elected
three from the upper part of the county.
Four years ago we elected three from the
lower end, and now we are back to four
from the upper end. For the Constitutional
Convention we elected three from the lower
end of the county and one from the upper
end.
Each election time we elect on a multi-
member basis because the people in Har-
ford County feel they are best qualified on
other than geography.
I do not suggest that the General As-
sembly should not have this power. I would
urge them to have the power. Let the Gen-
eral Assembly have a reasonable degree of
flexibility within this area. If you mandate
forever in this constitution that there be
single-member districts, I suggest that as
soon as the constitution is ratified and dele-
gates are elected from those single-member
districts, it will be virtually impossible to
change those districts, regardless of
whether the change is desirable, regardless
of whether single-member mandatory dis-
tricts are shown to be good.
In summary, I urge you to vote in favor
of the amendment, to vote in favor of some
small flexibility and to avoid stultifying
for all time a system that we are not even
sure is relevant to us today.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: I yield two
minutes to Delegate James Clark.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate James
Clark.
DELEGATE J. CLARK: Mr. President
and ladies and gentlemen of the Conven-
tion, there are several very important rea-
sons that I feel we should maintain the
position we have already taken and reject
the amendment which is before us.
|
