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MARVIN MANDEL Governor of Maryland Marvin Mandel was elected fifty-sixth Governor of Maryland in a rare selection process that had occurred only several times before in the State's history. Because Maryland has no direct line of succession to the governor- ship, Governor Mandel was selected by the Maryland General Assem- bly when it met January 7, 1969, to pick a successor to Spiro T. Agnew, who had resigned to become Vice President of the United States. Within hours after his election, Governor Mandel was sworn into office in a befitting modest ceremony; and in his inaugural speech he set the tone for his Administration. If there was ever any doubt in anyone's mind, Marvin Mandel has striven vigorously to live up to the challenge he set for himself. One of his first acts was to restore to Medicaid 22,000 persons who were cut from the rolls in an economy move by the Agnew Administration. No governor in recent history has enjoyed greater success in guid- ing through the Maryland General Assembly such a massive package of legislation as was enacted during the 1969 Legislative session. Sig- nificantly, every one of the 40 measures sponsored by the Mandel Administration was adopted by the General Assembly. The high points of Governor Mandel's 1969 Legislative program were eight Constitutional Amendments.including reform of the State's court system.and legislation launching the reorganization of the cumbersome Executive Department's 248 agencies and depart- ments into 10 modem departments headed by cabinet-level secretaries. Maryland thus became one of the few states in the nation to adopt the cabinet system. The first four departments created by Mandel Administration legis- lation were; Department of Natural Resources; Department of Plan- ning; Department of Budget and Fiscal Planning; and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Other significant legislative achievements of Governor Mandel's Administration included: increasing the State's contribution to com- munity colleges; creation of a State Drug Authority; creation of a State Housing Authority to encourage the development of low-rent housing; enactment of a prevailing wage law for Maryland; restora- tion of the Presidential preferential primary election in Maryland; and the strengthening of Maryland's Human Relations Commission. Similarly, the Governor's legislation reorganizing the Metropolitan Transit Authority was designed to prepare the way for mass transit systems in the State's two sprawling population centers. He also pro- posed legislation to assure that enough open space will be preserved to provide for parklands and recreation areas in Maryland. One of Governor Mandel's first acts was to create the Maryland Council of Economic Advisors.only the second in the nation on the state level.whose membership includes economists from The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland and the Brookings |
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Maryland Manual, 1969-70
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