The record-union., 1897-09-03
FIVE VOTES AGAINST FOUR.
TRUSTEES DECIDE AGAINST
THE PRIMARY LAW.
The Next Thing to Decide Is How
Candidates VIII Get on
the Tickets.

Sacramento City will hold its pri-
mary elections this year in the old, old
way, and the Stratton primary election
law, which passed the Senate without
a dissenting voice, will not cut the
minutest fraction of a figure in local
politics.
That was the conclusion arrived at
by the Board of Trustees at the ad-
| journed meeting last night. which was
held for the purpose of considering the
advisability of adopting an ordinance
providing for holding the coming pri-
maries under the provisions of the Act
evolved out of the brain of the junior
member from Alameda County. Every
member was in his place when the roll
was called, and no time was lost in
getting down to business.
| AT McKay's suggestion. the proposed
| ordinance was read for the benefit of
| Bentley, who had been absent from the
| previous. meeting. and when that in
teresting proceeding had been con-
/ cl1ded Mckay moved the adoption OF
the ordinance, and called upon the Cor
poration Counsel, Hiram w. Johnson,
to enlighten the board with his opin-
ion as to the legality of the Stratton
primary law
! CORPORATION COUNSEL'S OPIN-
| ION.
| The Corporation Counsel said there
was no further opinion he could give.
| He had said already, and had already
| explained to the board that the law
was valid, and that nothing prevented
! inc mo ipS he'll
! its provisions, provided the members of
the board were SO inclined.
| Pennish inquired whether the Cor
poration Counsel, if he was candi-
| date. would be willing to take his
chances of nomination under the
| Stratton law.
| Mr.. Johnson said he certainly would
| be willing to take such chances.
| Devine wanted MIR. Johnson to ex-
plain why it was that Stockton had
/ declined to hold it's primaries under
the provisions of the stratton law
! The Corporation Counsel replied that
he did not presume to know why Stock
| ton had declined to hold its primaries
under the Startton law, any more than
| he knew why Fresno had done so. He
had given it as his opinion that the
law was valid and that it applied to
elections held during the present year
as we'll as to those which may be held
| in 1893 or subsequent to that year.
He favored holding under the new law,
| he said, because it is just and decent,
and if a doubt existed he thought it
shold be resolved IN favor of the decent
primary elections and thereby surprise
| Sacramento.
| RESPECTING OPINIONS.
| Opinions respecting the validity of the
! Stratton law, Mr.. Johnson said, are
about as plentiful as attorneys, and he
had heard on the street that STRAIT
ton, the author of the law, is preparing
an opinion to the effect that it does
not apply to elections held before jan
uary, 1898
ATTORNEY GENERAL AND PEN
! NISH
Pennish recalled the fact that At
torney- General Fitzgerald had been re-
quested to furnish an opinion respect
| ing the validity of the law, and as he
/ had not done so the board ought to
censure him roundly for his neglect
Mckay said the Attorney-G General
was not the law-officer of the Board
of Trustees
Deputy Attorney General G. N Post
/ was among the audience, and voiced
| Mckay's assertion The Attorney Gen
eral, he said was the law officer of
/ the State, and not of the Board of
Trustees. The Corporation Counsel oc-
cupied that position for the latter
body. If the Attorney General had
promised an opinion on the matter,
Judge Post continued, he had done so
merely through courtesy, and a censure
| from the Board of Trstees would fall
! far short
KENT GETS THE FLOOR.
Then Kent got the floor He had
/ given intimations that the ordinance
would be adopted, but the way he
smiled when he gave the intimation
made the friends of the measure look
glum. He said he did not favor law
which will prevent a man from run
ming independently, regardless of polit-
! ical bosses, party primaries and what
/ not.
Corporation Counsel Johnson cut in
with the assertion that the adoption
Of the proposed ordinance, and inciden-
tally Of the Stratton law, would NOT
/ hinder any man from getting out his
petition and running day and night. if
he felt 50 inclined
But Kent wasn't listening to the
Corporation Counsel He said if a man
who wanted office is not willing to
take his chance as an independent can
didate, he did not deserve to be elect
ed, and ought to be shut out His idea
was, ne said for the members of the
several political parties to get together
and name their candidate. and then if
any man wanted to find out his status
/ Of popularity, he could come out inde-
! pendensly and spend his spare time af-
/ ter election in counting the votes he
/ didn'T get. He knew, he said. that the
people were anxious to get good, live
men into office, and this kind of can
didatcs may, under existing circum-
stances, get on a ticket Independently
and give their admirers full swing.
As a fitting finale to his observations
Kent moved that the ordinance lie on
the table and thereby let everybody
get In end win. If possible.
DAVIS ENDORSEMENT.
Davis did not agree with Kent. He
did not consider the ordinance to be
political in any sense of the word In
the Legislature. Democrats, Republi-
cans and Populists had voted for the
Strattcn measure He had favored the
idea ever since the bill had BEEN IN
troduced in the Senate, and had al
ways been in favor of any measure
which would put an end to the dis
graceful primary elections commonly