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ROBERT L. EHRLICH, JR., Governor S.B. 1075
April 7, 2006
The Honorable Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr.
President of the Senate
State House
Annapolis, MD 21401
Dear Mr. President:
In accordance with Article II, Section 17 of the Maryland Constitution, today I have
vetoed Senate Bill 1075 — Gubernatorial Appointment of Cabinet Secretaries — for both
constitutional and policy reasons.
Article 8 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights provides:
"That the Legislative, Executive and Judicial powers of Government ought to be
forever separate and distinct from each other; and no person exercising the
functions of one of said Departments shall assume or discharge the duties of any
other."
The Constitution of Maryland and the Laws of Maryland provide that Governor shall
nominate, and with advice and consent of the Senate, appoint the members of his
cabinet who thereafter serve at the pleasure of the Governor. In both a constitutional
and statutory sense, those appointed as principal department secretaries are "civil
officers of the State". See the Constitution of Maryland, Article II, Section 10.
Senate Bill 1075, notwithstanding decades of practice to the contrary, seeks to subvert
the separation of powers doctrine of Article 8 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights by
allowing the Senate to usurp the constitutional and historical authority of the
Governor through the transparent ploy of discharging a department head by refusing
to "reconfirm" that civil officer whose term would otherwise carry over at the pleasure
of the Governor. This represents a sham which is contrary to The Maryland
Declaration of Rights and the Constitution of Maryland.
In addition, Senate Bill 1075 offends the history of the State of Maryland which has
enjoyed the "cabinet form of government" since the early 1970s. From that time to the
present Maryland has had the services of three Democrat governors who were each
elected to two consecutive terms and who each had cabinet secretaries whose services
continued from the first gubernatorial term into or throughout the second and having
each only been once confirmed by the Senate.
Other than the sponsor, no one testified in favor of Senate Bill 1075. It, of course,
comes as no surprise to any observer of the Maryland governmental or political scene
that for the last 40 or so years no reformers, crusading journalists, or "good
government types" have raised so much as a whisper of a need to offend against the
Constitution of Maryland in the manner of Senate Bill 1075. That is because there is
no defensible need, rather, only expediency.
For the above stated reasons, I have vetoed Senate Bill 1075.
Very truly yours,
Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.
Governor
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