Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1903-06-09

gate that power either to the people
to elect, or to the governor, or to some
one else, to appoint, OF such vacancies
must continue Neither the governor
nor the pcOp'5 ave inherent power. or
any power. t. vacancies in the Of
fee Of county commissioners unless
sucn power j. g 7nte1 them by the leg
i|slative pove-. II the legislative pow.
er cannot directly M such vacancies.
then had the legislative power author
/, iN To delegate such power TO any per
son or persons? In short. Is it pos
T, siblc for the leei lative power. to dele
safe to others 10 10 that which It hal
, W. ~o".e- tc 10 itself2 The learned
! ctrnaei for the solicitor general de-
totes considerable space to local self
government. AMI contends that If the
Legislature can appoint officers in this
manner he a~pp"eherds dire and fear
full result. We are not called upon to
express our views of the virtues of 10
cal self-government, nor to pre1'ct the
effects upon the people In case the law
is upheld by the court. 1t is our
whole duty to decide what the law is;
not what 1t ought to be. We are call.
ed upon to construe what congress. in
its wisdom, meant when it said. "all
! county officers shall be appointed or
| elected. in such ann as shall be
provided by the governor and the leg
|islative assembly" Would It not be
wilfil utscOrstruction to say that the
foregoing language meant the people,
o. the governor. had the inherent or
primary legal right to fill vacancies in
the Offices of county commissioners?
Would it not do extreme violence to
cur mother tongue? 1t is c%ontended
that the appointment Of Gutierrez and
Sanches by the legislative enactment
complained of, was local and special,
regulating the affairs of Bernalillo
county. The appointment by the legis-
lative power of Gutierrez and Sanches
as county commissioners of Bernalilio
county was certainly special and To-
cal legislation. In the very nature of
! things it had to be; but we cannot
| concede that It was regulating county
o. affairs" The duties of county com
missioners are specifically prescribed
? by the statute of the territory: When
a county commissioner complies with
: the law. he acts as a county commits
? sioner; when he does anything else
S he is not a county commissioner, but
! acts as an individual. The affairs
business and machinery-of the coun-
| ty is not affected or regulated differ
. emily by a change of county commits
sioners. There is but one way pre-
| scribed for all county commissioners
e to act, and that is in compliance. witt
= the law of the territory When one
: commissioner dr34soT and another
!, takSsSnfs- place. there is no change il
2 the affairs of the county. A county
y commissioner is no more a part of the
e affairs of the county than is the en-
gineer a part of the locomotive. lie
r us concede for the sake of argument
e that the act was an interference witt
Q or regulation of county affairs: If sc
|, would ii have been less so had the leg
d isIative power, instead of acting ant
d using the power vested in it by con
gress directly, delegated ii to the gov
ernor to appoint, or to the people t
e elect? Would using that power sec
ond handed, free it from the objection
urged? Had political parties nominal
ed, and of the nominees two indivio
uals been elected, would not the II
e d~ividuals thus elected have been grant
ed special and exclusive privileges
immunity or franchise tf it be a frar
chise)? For power to fill vacancies d
e we not and are we not compelled to g
It back 10 section 1857, r. s.. supra, an
a either take it direct or filter it throug
some agency provided by the legisli
e tive power? After all it is the legii
n lative power that does it. The sole
1t tor general. through his learned repr'