priate to suggest this amendment which
would require that one not play a numbers
game, see how he made out running for
both senate and house or win both and take
your choice, as the case might be.
Consequently, I offer this amendment to
restrict a person to running for one office
of the General Assembly at one time. The
Committee did not take this question up,
Mr. Chairman, therefore, I am unable to
say what favor it enjoys. You will also note
it not only addresses itself to the question
of seeking election, but also appointment to
more than one seat in the General Assem-
bly. It is a great unlikelihood, if I may use
the term, but I am not certain whether the
other provision with respect to holding
more than one office of profit or trust is
coming out of the Committee Recommenda-
tion and if so, whether it will be adopted.
I, therefore, included both the prohibition
against seeking election and appointment
to more than one seat in this single amend-
ment.
I would trust it would receive the favor-
able consideration of the Committee of the
Whole.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair would
like to observe that the Committee on Gen-
eral Provisions has under consideration a
constitutional provision similar to that just
mentioned by Delegate Gallagher, which
would prohibit the holding of more than
one office.
I think it is the Committee on—I am not
sure whether it is Suffrage and Elections
or General Provisions—I would assume that
if such a recommendation is made and ap-
proved by the Convention, that the Com-
mittee on Style could recommend an amend-
ment to the latter part of this section so
that it would not either be in conflict or be
superfluous.
For what purpose does Delegate Koss
rise?
DELEGATE KOSS: Mr. Chairman, .I
would like to ask Delegate Gallagher a
question, if I might?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher,
will you yield for a question?
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Yes, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Koss.
DELEGATE KOSS: I understand and
certainly would approve of the general in-
tent of this, that one person could not seek
election to more than one office. I assume
your Committee has not yet considered the |
manner of filling vacancies in the General
Assembly. My only question is this: under
circumstances when a vacancy would occur
in one house, would it be necessary for a
person occupying a seat in the other house,
in order to be eligible for appointment to
the vacancy to resign before he is con-
sidered? This turns, of course, on the ques-
tion of the filling of a vacancy if there is
any ratification process involved, that is,
appointment by one body subject to ap-
proval by another.
This is my question.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher?
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: I do not
think it would be necessary for such per-
son to resign in order to be considered. It
is my recollection that the cases that have
dealt with holding more than one office of
profit or trust have uniformly held that the
taking of the oath for the second office con-
stitutes the resignation from the first.
I would not see that this language would
require anything more of the would-be re-
cipient of the second office other than
merely to take the oath and thereby, in ef-
fect, to resign from the earlier position.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any delegate
desire to speak in opposition to the amend-
ment?
Delegate Scanlan.
DELEGATE SCANLAN: I regretfully
part company with my Chairman, having
supported him the last few days, when he
did not even support himself. But never-
theless, I believe that this amendment is
at most inopportune at this time and at
the worst entirely unnecessary.
It is clear, the General Assembly, has al-
ways had and will have under the new
Constitution, the power promulgated in the
election laws to prohibit what obviously
would rarely if ever occur anyway, a per-
son seeking to run for two offices at the
same time.
If the voters did not intimidate most
people from doing that, common sense
would.
I think such occasions in Maryland his-
tory are rare. Perhaps they have never
occurred at all.
I do not think the constitution is the
place to put in language to deal with an
evil that probably will never arise and if
it did, the General Assembly has ample
power to deal with it. |
