Evening star., 1953-06-24

cratic predecessors.
That is not to say that the
commissioners of the past and
Fourth of a Series.
present have not been qualified
to assume the responsibility.
Some of them-such as T. How
ard Duckett, chairman of the
board of Suburban Trust Co..
who was associated with the
utility from it's beginning in 1918
until 1851 as commission mem
ber and chairman and general
counsel-become almost profess
sional water and utility mana
gers after a time.
The commissioners are ap-
pointed every six years by the
Governor, who usually follows
the recommendations Of the
State central committees of his
party in Montgomery and Prince
Georges Counties. There are no
qualifications for sanitary COM
missioner written in law.
Politicians Playground.
That puts the sanitary COM
mission in politics, whether it
likes it or not. And one of the
most persistent criticisms of the
agency is that it is too often
used as a politicians playground.
Commission Chairman Ray
mond w. Bellamy said in a re-
cent speech: II vowed I would
take politics out of the commits
sion."
What he meant, he went on to
explain, is that the commission
is not asking the employees it
hires whether they are Demo-
Gratis or Republicans.
He obviously did not mean that
he and his two colleagues are
taking politics out of the COM
mission entirely. That is impos-
Sible as long as the commission
ers owe their jobs to political
State central committees.
On the surface, it would seem
that politically all would be
peaches and cream with the
present Republican commission
A Republican Governor sits in
the Statehouse. All five Prince
Georges County commissioners
are Republicans. Five out of
seven members of the Montgom-
cry County Council are Repub-
licans. The two State Senators
from Montgomery and Prince
Georges are both Republicans.
as are all six State Delegates
from Montgomery and four Of
the six from Prince Georges.
Plenty of Disputes.
Yet no commission in recent
years has had more clashes with
local governing bodies and State
legislators.
This stems from differences
about the commission within the
party itself. One wing of the
G. o. P, particularly in Mont
gomery, wants the commission
brought more under local control.
The commissioners themselves
are fairly controversial figures
politically and do not command
personal support of many of the
party leaders in the area.
L. s. CTed) Ray, a member Of
the Montgomery Republican
State Central Committee, is as
Sociated with the So-called con-
servative bloc in the party and
is not popular with the charter
ties and other more liberal Re-
publicans.
The two Prince Georges men,
bers, Mr.. Bellamy and j. Nor
man Ager, did not have the
complete support of the county
central committee when their
names were sent to the Governor
for appointment.
These diSagreements within
the Republican family caused
the sanitary commission some
difficulty at the 1853 session of
the Maryland General Assembly.
Delegate j. Douglas Bradshaw,
chairman of Montgomery Coun-
tvs all-Republican House dele
cation, voted against all the
sanitary commission bills. Mr..
Bradshaw, an ardent charterite,
was the most extreme opponent,
but other members of his and
the Prince Georges delegation
went along with the commission
on some issues with great re-
luctance.
Brought to a Head.
The bill granting the three
commissioners a pay raise
brought these differences to a
head. The measure as it was
originally introduced would have
raised Mr.. Bellamy's annual SAL
ary from $4,000 to $500, Com
missioner L. S. CTed) Ray from
$4,000 to $1,000, and Com
missioner j. Norman Ager from
So, 200 to $4,000.
The bill was introduced by
Delegate Albert r. Hassall, Re-
publican. chairman of the Prince
Georges delegation. He intro
duced it in the name of the
Prince Georges delegation-al- l.
though most members of the
delegation said they knew moth
ing about it until afterward-
and he said it was requested by
the commission.
The commission, however, de-
MED it had anything to do with
the pay raise bill, although Mr.,
Ager told reporters it had been
discussed. Because of opposition
from all six Montgomery dele
gates and all but two of the
Prince Georges delegates, the
measure was amended to limit
the increase given each Of the
commissioners to $500.
Virtually all sanitary commits
sion bills introduced at the 1853