Evening star., 1953-06-17
District REORGANIZATION Ordeal

In 1947, extensive hearings were
held for six months on the Auch1n-
Gloss bill to provide for District home
rule and reorganization. Many changes
were made to comply with the requests
of citizen groups for the very best plan
for streamlining our city government.
Two municipal experts were employed
by the House and Senate District Com
mittees. and their recommendations
and the thinking Of the citizens re-
suited in very comprehensive presen-
tation to the Senate in the form of the
Kef4uver-Taft bill. This passed the
Senate, the first reorganization and
home rule bill to do so.
Representative Auchincloss succeeded
in getting approval for similar bill
in the House District Committee, but
it was impossible to get rule to bring
it before the House. A petition almost
got it to the floor, but, unfortunately,
it lacked sufficient signatures to make
the grade.
The then Commissioners were quite
alarmed at the closeneSS to victory of
this measure and authorized Budget
Officer Walter Fowler to prepare q
plan for reorganization which might
become part of the Presidents re-
organization program. Mr. Fowler and
subsequently the Budget Bureau very
wisely took the well-studied reorganiza-
tion plan contained in the Kefauver-
Taft bill (omitting, of course, the
elected city council and substituting the
commissioners, but including the city
ho nf
of6cer.
Since Senator Case by this time had
decided to divorce the home rule fea-
lures of the Kefauver-Taft bill from
reorganization by introducing a sepa-
rate home rule bill, the citizens had
everything to gain and nothing to lose
by supporting the Fowler and Budget
Bureau plan. But for some reason
known only to the then new Commits
Sioners, Robinson and Donohue, they
did not like the Fowler-Budget Bureau
plan.
So. with very little regard for what
had gone before, they set out to write
their own plan and then carried out a
whirlwind campaign among the citizens
to scrap the Fowler-Budget Bureau
plan. One citizen group after another
jumped on the band wagon. And so the
Commissioners plan for reorganiza-
tion was adopted. There was general
rejoicing.
Now gone are Commissioners Dono-
hue and Robinson. The three new
Commissioners are faced with the ac-
tual putting into effect of the reorgani-
Zation Of the District government as
adopted by the majority Of the citizens
and Congress. We see before us each
phase of reorganization as presented
being fought by two groups: First, by
those who are to be shifted and don't
care for their new status-an attitude
in which they are supported by the very
citizens who accepted the Commits
sioners' plan. Second, by the Commits
sioners, who are new and have had
little or no opportunity to familiarize
themselves with volumes of research as
to the why and wherefore of reorgani-
zation.
Two major changes which are being
suggested concern the Departments of
Health and Public Welfare. Both the
Commissioners and the Fowler plans
provide for these departments. Each
of the departments may or may not
have advisory boards. All trends point
away from administrative boards. For
years we have done well with a De-
partment of Health. with the director
held responsible to the Commissioners.
Now a so-called citizens committee has
made a study of health needs and de-
cided we need Board of Health. with
the major representation on it to con-
sist Of doctors.
The Board of Public Welfare, in every