East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1918-11-01
A MOST UNDEMOCRATIC
~ MEASURE m.

NtHL8 cOUBOliuhLfOu cOmult8SlOUl hD-
pointed by Governor Withycombe, and
which recently made public its report,
make the office Of Secretary OF State
appointive by the governor, but 1t
would also deprive the voters Of the
privilege Of ,electing a State Treas
urer, a superintendent of Public In
struction and an Acknowledgement.
The only offices which would be left
elective are those OF Governor and
State Auditor, new office to be ere
ated. GAll others would be made ap-
pointive.
Before these changes could be made,
it is pointed out. the constitution
would have to be amended. But the
commission finds that the state con
stItution is very much antiquated and
recommends that, in the near future,
constitutional convention should be
called lin order that systematic over
hauling of the framework Of the state
| government may be made"
When alf~the elective offices are
abolished and the governor is given
power to fill them by appointment, the
commission also recommends that he
should have authority to remove any
official at his pleasure without cause.
This recommendation is made, the
commission points out, SO that the
governor might have political control
at all times.
Heads of the principal state ad-
ministrative departments and possibly
one chief deputy in each department"
says the report, should be subject to
political control through removal at
any time without cause, in accordance
with Oregon laws of 1915, Chapter
334."
The chief reason assigned for want
ing to make all the state offices ap
pointive is given as follows:
at would relieve the voter of bur
den which he is not qualified to bear"
Those who give the least thought to
the commissions recommendations
also see where, if they were adopted,
they would place in the hands of the
governor power to build the prettiest
political machine that was ever seen
in this state. which in the past has
had experience with some rather fancy
political machines.
expected to follow If all state officials
were made answerable to the governor
instead of to the people. The expert |
ence of Attorney-General Brown in
connection With the noted Utah water |
power case is cited as an illustration. |
That case had been carried on appeal
to the United States supreme court. |
The issue was clearly one in which the |
great water power interests were on
one side and the rights of the public |
on the other.
Governor Withycombe ordered At |
torney-GeneraI Brown to intervene in
behalf of the water power interests. |
The attorney general did not approve |
throwing the influence of his office |
against the rights. Of the, public and
in favor of a great water power mon
opoly. But he lfad been ordered to in
teFvene by the governor. So what did |
he do? He merely filed in the United |
States supreme court the governors |
letter to him directing him to inter
vene. He filed no brief or petition |
of his own writing, and the court and
the public knew the attorney general
was not in sympathy with the COVER
nDr's stand. 4a +4.
But IL the attorney general. as the
governors consolidation commission
proposes. had been an appointive crea7
ture of the governor he would have |
been compelled to resort to any tactics
the governor requested to aid the
water power monopoly and defeat the
interests of the public in the water
powers of the state.
The governor and attorney general
also were on opposite sides when the
governor stood with those who were
trying to block the government in its
fight to recover the oregon & Califor
MIA railroad grant lands. The attorney
general stood on the side of the peo-
pie and for recovering the millions of
held for years in violation of its GOV.
enant with the government.
But if he had been an appointive
creature of the governor, subject to /
removal at the pleasure of the chief
executive without cause or for political
reasons, he could not be an independ.
ent legal adviser of the state.
Similar influence from a chief exec
utive, who would stoop to use the
power of his office for political pur-
poses or to serve private interests,
would also have a baleful effect upon
other important state officials.
If the attorney general had been
subject to control by the governor. the
Pacific Livestock Company land fraud
case, in which 10000 acres are in
volved, would undoubtedly have been
ordered dismissed long ago. As it is
the attorney general feels confident
that he will recover a large body of
land which will enrich the state com
mon school fund
While the attorney general was
lighting for an appropriation to pay
The expenses of the litigation and was
ioing all he could to keep the case
rom being squelched, the governor t
was seeking to have the case dis
missed. The governor sought to have c
he state land board order the case :
dismissed. The board declined to take q
lction. He then said he would order
t dismissed if Secretary of State OIL
,ott would join with State Treasurer.
<ay in giving vote of approval oil
,ott refused, and the case was not
dismissed.
TQ,,t if the otfnrpav gaparoI lhaa 49,,