The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1951-04-26
Around Town With
The Editor
Purely Political!

The State Legislature, at the re-
cent session, passed a bill over the
Governors veto, which, in my opin-
ion, was purely political in its worst
form.
l am referring to House Bill 81,
which deals with the filling of va
cancies on Boards of County Com
missioners.
l have long advocated that va
cancies on Boards of County Com
missioners should be filled by the
Governor from the same political
party as that of the Commissioner
whose resignation, or death, caused
the vacancy. Such a BILL you will
remember, was introduced in the
Senate by Senator Mclaughlin a
few years back and passed, but when
it reached the House of Delegates,
Howard Ankeney, then chairman of
the Delegation, locked it up in his
desk and refused to let it go to a
vote.
This session, however, changed the
picture since, although both the
House and Senate had Democratic
majorities, the Governor is a Re
publican, and would have had the
power to elect Republicans to fill va
cancies on the Boards.
With this situation facing them,
the Democrats lost no time in doing
an about face and rushing through
Bill 81.
That part of the Bill that referred
to political parties was good and /
am all for it, but when the legisla-
tors saw fit to tack on to it pro-
vision that gives County Central
Committees the sole power to make
appointments to fill vacancies (thus
making rubber stamp of the Gov
ernor), an otherwise excellent piece
of legislation was turned into po-
litical action pure and simple
Normally, when a vacancy occurs,
County Central Committees would
submit list of names, from which
the Governor would appoint the one
he felt would best fill the job. But
under the terms of House Bill 81,
Central Committees only have to
submit one name and the Governor
must accept it.
Governor McKeldin Brightly in
my opinion) vetoed the Bill, solely
on the ground that the provision
forcing him to appoint the one per-
son selected by the Central Com
mittee did not make for good gov
eminent. But the Legislature over
rode the Veto and the Bill imme-
diately became law.
The vicious thing about the Bill is
that it opens the way for Central
Committees to use such vacancies
solely for the purpose of paying off
political debts, without any regard
to the fitness of the person selected
to fill the job.
A synopsis of all Bills passed by
the Legislature and signed by the
Governor will be published each
week, with the first installment APP
pearing in this issue.
If you are interested in an I'M
biased story of the Macarthur con-
troversy, read ''The Great Contro-
versy,'' by W. P. Schoentgen, man
aging editor of the Western News
paper Union, which you will find on
page 6.
Pm. sorry, but my appointment as
an honorary Councilman doesn't give
me the power to get your traffic
tickets fixed, or your streets paved
I can't get my own tickets fixed, let
alone yours.
But while on the subject of paw
ing streets, when is the Council 60
ing to insist that the disgraceful
condition of part of Devonshire Road
be corrected.
/ drive over this road quite often,
many times at night, in order to take
pictures to the MARQUES Photo-En-
craving Company, whose plant is on
that section of the road that is Just
a plain old dirt road, and if 1 am
not careful nearly get thrown out
of my car when 1 leave the paved
section of the road.
Devonshire Road is building up
fast and it's high time the taxpayers
who have built nice homes there get
something else but a mudhole to