THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher,
do you yield to a question?
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Yes, sir.
DELEGATE STORM: Would your Com-
mittee mind exempting Frederick County
and Carroll County?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: In view of
the support which we intend to give local
government, despite what may have tran-
spired earlier today, we would mind.
DELEGATE STORM: Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any delegate
desire to speak in opposition?
Delegate Gill?
DELEGATE GILL: Mr. Chairman, I am
from Baltimore City.
THE CHAIRMAN: You may proceed.
DELEGATE GILL: I think one of the
most telling arguments against democracy
in the United States is on election day,
when so few people turn out to vote.
I think one of the main reasons why so
few people turn out to vote is they do not
feel that they are a part of the electoral
process for one reason or another.
I disagree with one of the delegates who
said that 33,000 people would be too few to
represent and would make too parochial a
district.
I recall that one of the main reasons I
favored the recommendation of the Com-
mittee was the chance it gave the people to
be represented better.
I recall one witness who came before our
Committee and said he was against ombuds-
men because he was one. Each person in
the legislature has an opportunity to be an
ombudsman, and representing a single dis-
trict gives him that much more of a chance
to serve the people.
Of course, that is the only reason we are
down here. We are trying to get a legis-
lature structured and designed so that it
can better serve the people. If we can do
anything in this age of numbers to restore
people's individuality, make them feel that
they are part of government, and that they
know their elected representatives and their
representatives know them and their prob-
lems, it would be a great asset. The recom-
mendation of the Committee is to have the
same legislative district so that the person |
represented, or the senator can have a
broader view in representing the whole dis-
trict while the district will be composed of
three parts, each one represented by one
person who will get a chance to know his
constituents and they, him. If we can have
more parochialism, I think we will have a
better government, and a better turnout on
election day. I certainly hope that this
amendment to the amendment, and the
amendment will be voted down and that
the recommendation of the Committee will
be approved.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in favor of the amend-
ment to the amendment?
Delegate Byrnes?
DELEGATE BYRNES: Mr. Chairman,
I would like to speak.
1 prefer the Case-Lord amendment, but
I feel that it is appropriate at this point
to speak in favor of the Rybczynski amend-
ment, because I am not certain we are
going to have the opportunity to discuss
the problems of single-member districts
again.
The report of the Committee on the
Legislative Branch convinced me, and the
reality of the third district of Baltimore
City convinces me that too many delegates,
too many senators cause confusion and
problems. I am in agreement with three as
a maximum, but if we have small districts
now, as the committee suggests what hap-
pens in 1980 in 20 or 30 years? What will
the population of that small district be at
that point? Aren't we approaching what we
now have in the Congressional districts,
simply high visibility?
I think the goal of high visibility can be
carried to an extreme. High visibility
means to me that the man in office has the
opportunity to get his name before the
public. That is what visibility is in politi-
cal life. It does not mean that .he would be
required, as he would be in a multi-member
district, to compete with his fellow dele-
gates in that district in servicing his con-
stituents.
There is competition today and it is a
healthy competition: three delegates serv-
ing one constituency; one delegate serving
one constituency can feel very secure. I
think this is the trap we will be falling
into in 20 or 30 years from now. If the
point is to have shorter distance, it is to
better focus public attention on legislation.
Does this not in reality imply that the
most vocal and aggressive constituents will |
