The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-05-07
The Mayor and III. comp,ro,l.r.

The Mayor nnd the Com ptroller.
give the appointment Of the noxt Comp
troller 10 the Mayor who will come into
Office next January there is some probnb,l.
ity that the object will be achieved other.
wise than BY legislation. It is alleged that
through defect in the charter Of 1873 tho
Mayor has no power to appoint Comptroller
ut the expiration of Mr.. Andrew II. Green's
term of Office and that the present head OF
the Finance Department must remain in his
position until law shall be passed prescrib-
ing the manner in which the appointment Of
his successor is to be made. The proposition
that the existing charter actually prohibits
the Mayor from appointing has some little
plausibility. Indeed, it is limited that tho
peculiar wording Of the law was designed to
accomplish that very object. The section
relating to the appointing power reads as
follows:
SECTION p The Mayor shall nominate and, By and
with the of abe Board Of Aldermen, appoint tho
heads OF departments and all commissioners (savc Com
mi, sioncrs Of Pubic Instruction, aud also save and
except the foowin. named Commissioners and ofncors
who held Office such on the lst day Of January, In
year 1913 that say. the Comptroller the Com
missioner PUBLIC Works, tho Counsel to tue Corpora
ilon the President oil the department OF Public Parks
ana The President Of the Department of Pol cc which
said Comptroller Commissioners and Counsel to the
Corporation shall bold respective offices such
Comptroller Commissioners and Counsel TO the Cor
Voatiun aforesaid until tho expiration of their rcspcc
i've terms OF Office Tor which ihcy were appointed un-
less removed for cause as herein pr0vidcdl and
the said Mayor shall in like manner appoint all
members Of any other oeal board and all other on
not elected by the people, including tho Commits
soncr Jurors whose appointment Is not IN this act
excepted otherwise provided for. Every head Of a
department and IN this section named, exccpt
rs nercin otherwise provided shall hold his Office tol
tho or six years. and in each case uut person
duty appointed in his place.
The argument used in support of the
theory that the Mayor has no power to APP
point a Comptroller is based upon the ex-
ception made in this section, which it is pre-
tended positively prohibits the Mayor from
making such appointment In the case Of
the other officers included in the exception
no opportunity has been afforded to test
the point. The Commissioner of Public
Works resigned lis Office; the President of
the Police Department died the Corpora
ton Counsel was removed for cause, md
the term Of the President Of the Park Com
mission has not yet expired. The Comp
trollers case will therefore be the first in
WHICH TIC Lcs,fil lutStAol StAi NC ISsAccus 1 uo
answer of course, is that the "excep-
ton" in these instances covers only the
period for which each official named was
originally appointed, and that on the expira-
ton Of this original term the appointing
power reverts to the Mayor and Aldermen.
On the other hand it is insisted that while
this may have been the intent. the defect in
the law has actually interposed a barrier ID
the appointment of Comptroller. The i'm.
portancc of the issue raised lies less, however.
in the validity of the objection to the Mayors
authority to appoint than in the fact that il
may enable Comptroller Green to hold on to
his position during the brief interval between
the expiration of his present term on Novem-
Der 20 and the Inauguration of the new city
government on january l, 1877. An injunc-
ton restraining the Mayor from nominating
or the Aldermen from confirming until the
issue can be decided might possibly throw
over the appointment to the next Mayor.
In view Of all the circumstances this probau
bly, would not be regarded as q public
calamity.