Evening star., 1948-01-04
Senate, House Leaders
For District 10 Meet
ion AuehincIoss Plan

tee yesterday reviewed the Auch-
incloss plan for an elected Dis
trict Government and pro-
nounced it worth fighting for. .
The Minnesota Republican set the
stage for first-week preliminary ac-
ton in the new session of Congress
on the plan by scheduling a joint
meeting with House District lead
ers for Thursday morning.
Possible further changes in the
tentative report of the Auchincloss
Home Rule Subcommittee of the
House District Committee are to be
considered at the Thursday confer
ence. At that time an agreement
on date for the joint House and
Senate hearings on the self-govern-
ment plan will be considered.
Charter Bill Drafted.
A first draft of the bill to give
the District a new charter has been
laid before the Auchincloss House
group by legislative experts and q
portion OF this has been corrected
and readied for printing.
The omnibus measure calls for an
elected council of IL members te
supplant the appointed board o1
commissioners, and streamlines the
complicated District and Federal
agency arrangement into depart
mentalized new administration.
In addition to creating an elected
council to be the policy-making body
of the city government, the plan also
calls for an elected Board of Public
Education of IL members to control
the school and library systems with
separate superintendents for the two
companion departments.
A city manager would be the
chief administrative officer for all
of the streamlined municipal depart
ments.
Ball Briefed on Bill.
Senator Ball met yesterday with
Chairman Auchincloss of the House
Home Rule subcommittee, and was
given an extensive briefing on the
plan by the House chairman and
his two staff aides, DR.. George B
Galloway and Clarence M. Pierce.
Later he told reporters he had
number. of questions about the
plan but was convinced the basic
scheme was excellent AS tc
criticisms, he said he thought the
proposed system of election of coun.
cilmen was "a little cumbersome
He referred to the proposal that four
of the councilmen be elected at large
and that the other eight be nom-
mated, two each, from four equal
population areas into which the Dis
trict population would be divided
but elected by city-wide vote. He
couldn't understand, he said, why
the election should be by the city
at large when the nominations must
be by what amounts to wards.
Members Of the House group
planned this system as a means of
avoiding the evils of the ward sys-
tenn" Senator Ball, in his COM
ment, discounted the so-called
evils" Offhand, he could see no
reason why the so-called area coun-
cilmen should not be elected by
voters in their own areas.
Urges Dual Suffrage Study.
In this connection, he suggested
tentatively, that the number of area
councilmen. from each separate dis
atgict, might be, REDUCED. frous two to
ne,
81 Also, Senator Ball said the ques-
ton of the proposed dual suffrage
for residents Of the Capital who vote
in their home States should be thor
oughly explored before it was re-
tanned as part of the plan. Mem
bers of the House group have given
considerable thought to this Issue
and have reported their legal ad-
visers found no constitutional bar
and that the Governors Of numer-
Gus States have promised to CO.
operate.
Under this system, as a means OF
getting the widest possible voting
participation in the District, the
plan proposes that any one of legal
voting age CID and a resident of
the District for year be permitted
to vote in municipal elections here
regardless of whether he votes in
State and national elections back
home.
Questions Value of Runoffs.
For another thing, Senator Ball
said he could not see the value of
planning for q runoff election of
District officials instead of having
a requirement for primaries and a
single election.
In spite of these questions, how
ever, the Minnesota Senator de-
clared that the plan was basically
sound and good enough to make
a real fight for it."
A number of changes In the ten
tative report and draft of legisla-
tion before the Auchincloss sub
committee, he suggested, might be
agreed upon easily. One of the
hazards facing the plan. he said.
appeared to be the apathy in the
District to suffrage proposals.
He anticipated there might be a
fight by some Southern members OF