Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-08-17

. VI utu Vi uoHudstoH. nun. 0ouu l<Oh-
worth of Houlton, A. 8. Rice, Esq. of Rock
land, Hon. Emery o. Bean of Reaifeld,
Henry Hudson, Esq. of Dover, Hon. W. II.
NcCrillis of Bangor. Hon. Nathaniel Wilson
of Orono, and ex-Mayor Laughton of Bar
gor. But petitions we're of no avail. Had
they been signed by majority of the voters
in the State they would not have swerved
His Excellency from his determination to
strike down Judge Libbey. The Council,
TO which the petitions we're addressed. as
well a. to the Governor, needed them, and
can justify their course in rejecting the NOM
nations made to take the place OF Judge
Libbey on that ground if need be.
The POWER OF THE Council.
The supporters of Gov. Piaisted hold that
because the constitution declares that 1.-THE
Governor shall have full power at his discre-
ton to assemble the Council" that body cam
not legally assemble or do any business un-
less summoned by that official. This assump
ton Of His Excellency practically puts it in
the hands of the Governor to nullify that part
Of the constitution which creates the Execu-
tive Council by refusing to call it together
during the year. The doctrine ignores the
other provisions of the constitution as well as
all the precedents. The first Council which
assembled after Maine became a State held
several sessions at which the Governor was
| not present and adjourned to a given day.
From that time to the present, such instances
are numerous. The record of the Garcelon
Council in this respect is full of precedents
March Z, 1879, the Council met, the Cover
nor being absent. Mr.. Foster took the chair
| A pay roll was passed which was subsequent
| ly approved by the Governor; an order was
passed submitting the question Of mileage of
members of the legislature to the Supreme
Court the record Of previous meeting was
corrected and an adjournment to March II
was voted. April % the record shows that
Gov. Gareelon was absent, but the Council
passed the order providing for the appoint
ment of pension agent, changed a standing
committee, voted to investigate the liquor
agency and adjourned to May 20. Like in
stances are numerous in other admini.tra-
tons. In his letter to his democratic friends
Gov. Plaisted claims that he not only has
power to assemble the Council at his pleas
ure, but also to keep and hold it at his
pleasure. He has a wonderful facility for
| constituting the constitution so as to centrallze
| all power in his own person. Here is what
| the constitution says: The Governor, with
the councillors, or majority of them, may,
from time to time, hold and keep council. "
II is the Governor and Council who shall
| hold and keep a council, not the Governor,
| unless the Governor is permitted to arrogate
to himself all the powers of the Governor
and Council. During the sixty-two years
| that Maine has been a State. the Chief Mag
istracy has been honored with such men as
King, Lincoln, Fairfield, Kent, Paris, Cros.
by. Wells, Hamlin. the Morrills, Washburn.
Coburn, Cony and Chamberlain-the first
Jurists, the most experienced and able public
| men, and the most sagacious business men in
the State; but all of these illustrious men
were unable to make the discoveries which
| Gov. Plaisted has made in two years, name
| ly, that the Governor is clothed with power
to abolish the Council and that he can re-
move officers which he cannot create. An
| other term, with similar discoveries, would
enable His Excelency to so modify the con-
stitution and eliminate coordinate branches
of the government that the Governor alone,
with the assistance of a military staff, would
| be enabled TO assume all its functions, and to
exclaim, 81 am the State"
| In strict compliance with the precedents,
and upon the assumption that it is a consti-
tutional body which cannot be abolished or
| shorn of its power by the Governor. the
| Council met on the day to which it had adj
Journed. 1t was of the utmost consequence
that the Council should meet at that date,
| because $50, 900 of the State debt matured at
| that time, the payment of which should be
provided for The Council met and PASSED
the order which must precede payment. at
| tended to routine business and adjourned.
The warrant which the Council had made for
the payment of the matured installment of
the State debt Governor Plaisted refused to
sign leaving the State Treasurer to assume
the responsibility of providing for the $780,
900 of maturing obligations, which he did on
his personal account To this date Governor
Plaisted has refused to sign the report of the
Council authorizing the payment of the
| $50. 900. Consequently it is not yet legally
paid.
CONCLUSION.
| The cases above noticed cover all the
charges which Gov. Plaisteds friends have
made against the Executive Council. They
are matters of record. and this statement of
each case is sustained by that record. These
| facts show that the Council is not guilty of
any attempt to interfere with the prerogatives
of the Governor, of any violation of the
| constitution or of any discourtesy toward
that official. On the other hand. they do
show that the Council has constantly yielded
power conferred upon it by the constitution
and established by long line of precedents.
Candid people will see that the charges of
the Plaisted conventions and organs and the
complaints set forth in His Excellency's
recent jeremiah are RrOunuless ana frivolous,
and that his attempt either to play the role OF
| Jackson or to assume the character of
martyr would be a pitiful if it were not a
contemplate failure.
| Not so with Governor Plaisted. He has
shown himself trifling. captious, exasperating
and arbitrary in his treatment of the Council :;
he has denied that body rights which its
predecessors have always enjoyed; he has
denied its right to meet and adjourn in
defiance of precedent and law; he has
usurped the functions of the Council by
attempting to remove officers without its
| consent :" he has given to the constitution
the most forced and unnatural construction
in order to justify his high-handed pro-
ceedings-interpretation which no other
Governor except Garcelon has ever been
forced to put upon laws and constitutions
Nor do his Inconsistencies and reckless dis
regard of laws, popular opinion and CO.
ordinate branches of the State Government
end with the Council. He has ignored the
popular sentiment of the people by driving
from place wounded soldier, in order to
provide for his own son; he has, time and
again, ignored the popular preference for
official appointments in his own party by pay
ing no heed to petitions; he has permitted
| S5O. 200 matured State debt to remain unpaid
nearly a year in order to maintain his
construction of the constitution, which makes
4