The Daily Alaska empire., 1951-03-08
PORTION OF REEVES BILL
 UNDER FIRE

Certain provisions of H. B. 141- the bill to reorganize the financial control structure of the Territorial government came under fire this morning in the House of Represent atives when the bill came up for further consideration in second Ireading.
 I Asserting that this gives the ap- pointive governor of Alaska more power than he ever had" Rep Step ovich moved to strike a portion of the bill that says:
 Tn executing the power and du- ties prescribed herein the Commis- sioner (of Finance) shall be subject to the executive direction of the Governor The Governor may in his discretion seek the advice of the Board of Administration but shall lnot be bound by it except as pro- vided by law"
 "The thing that is wrong with | tion is that little or no responsibil- ity is placed in any one person, Rep. Stepovich said. What we want to do is to place responsibility. That , is what MT. Reeves came here for. That is what this bill was supposed 1 to be drawn for, to place responsi- bility in the hands of officials sub ject to our control.' Stepovich contended that the bill as worded divide the responsibility so that we are no better off than we were before. It defeats the whole purpose of reorganization and puts the final responsibility back in the hands of an appointive governor who cannot be removed by the Board of Administration or the peo- pie"
 Mingled Functions
 The effect of the Stepoyich amendment, Rep. Kay said, would be to place administrative functions in the hands of members of the Legislature, where they do not be- long. afa "This section does not mean that , the Governor is going to direct all 0. the details of the work of the De- partment of Finance" Kay con- tinued. Tt merely places boss over the Commissioner of Finance to see that he does his job The Board of Administration can stil remove the Commissioner if it SC desires"
 we can't expect the Board oi Administration to ride herd on tht Commissioner of Finance" com mented Rep Franklin, especially when four of the members vii probably be scattered between ses- sions of the Legislature. I thinl the section should stand as it is." Elective Governor l While it is unfortunate tha r Alaska cannot elect it's own gov. ernor, this is no fault of Governor Gruening's," said Rep. McCutcheon Tn 1943 Governor Gruening die. tated a memorial which I introduc. ed, asking that Congress provide for the election of the Governor o1 Alaska. He still believes that thi. should be done"
 Il The Stepovich amendment los on a 7-17 vote with Barnes, Laws Locken, MacKinnon, Miscovich Stepovich and Wilbur supporting it.
 A motion by Rep Gasser to limit debate on future amendments te this and other bills to two minutes for each member was voted dowr 9-15. The House did agree, how ever, to hold sessions from g am until noon, pm. until 5 pm. anc 7:30 pm. until whatever time they ,agree to adjourn during the remain der of this week and on Monday. ] MOnQdy VIII pC CilC COIli Qdy Ol the session and the last day upon :. which bills may be transmitted be- tween the two houses except by 8 suspension of the rules.
 l The Rules Committee will meet each morning during the next foul days to set the House calendar fol the day and decide which bills shal be considered first.
 Jensen Affair Again
 | The subject of recent joint exe- cutive sessions at which former Legislator Marcus F. Jensen ap- peared, again flared briefly in the House this morning with the read ing of letter from Jensen.
 Jensen took issue with statements attributed to Rep. McCutcheon ir story that recently appeared ir the Anchorage Times He said he thought McCutcheon revealed mat ters that were supposed to have been secret and therefore believed
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