Evening star., 1954-10-19
pony Getting Most Of State Highway Fees Byrd Charges
Attacks Juicy
Contracts Given
By'Administrotion
A n II
By Alex 4. Preston
Star ssoff cortsspondsnt

AS<A1 A1SAS4tka, wv. 4OS~- 11EG
out Of every four dollars spent
by Gov. McKeldin's administra-
tion for private engineering Of
highway construction have been
received by one firm, the Demo-
cratic gubernatorial candidate
charged today.
DR.. H. C. Byrd listed the pro-
jected circumferential highway
around Washington as one Of
the two largest "juicy consult
ants contracts" handed out to
that firm by his Republican op-,
ponent.
Michael Baker, Jr., Inc, of
Rochester, Pa, received $3.3 mil
lion out of a total of $4.1 million
in fees paid to private consult
ing engineers this year through
August 81, DR.. Byrd said.
Expressway Listed.
Next to the beltway through
Montgomery and Prince Georges
Counties around Washington, he
listed the Northeastern Express
way from Baltimore to the
Pennsylvania line as second
largest. The Baker firm has OBJ
tanned contracts involving super
vision of engineering on between
$40 million and $50 million
worth Of construction. DR.. Byrd
said.
AS in the past, the Democrat
avoided a direct charge of wrong
doing but limited broadly in this
vein when he stated:
"All of the consultants. it must
be remembered. have attorneys.
Are their local attorneys men
with influence in the McKeldin
administration?
Fee splitting between lawyers
is not unlawful How far are
the consulting engineering firms
regular lawyers splitting fees
with Maryland political lawyers
identified with the State admin
istration?"
In previous statements DR..
Byrd has questioned the Cover
nor'S association in a law firm
with M. William Addison here.
Continues Assault,
BY continuing this two-Week-
old assault on the Governors
program, DR.. Byrd ap-
parently chose to ignore advice
of another Democrat who re-
Gently had outstanding success
in an election.
Gov.-Elect Edmund S. Muskie
of Maine, who defeated a Re-
publican about two weeks ago,
told a $100-a-plate Democratic
dinner here last night:
i do not know to what extent
my election was part Of a ma
tional trend, but I do know that
our senatorial and congressional
candidates cut into their Re-
publican opponents usual vote
by about IL per cent, and they
campaigned on national issues.
"They talked sense to the
people Of Maine about tidelands,
the atomic giveaway, the tax
program and our frantic foreign
policy"
There was little reference to
national issues in DR.. Byrd's
speech last night.
Some 786 Democrats enriched
the party's Golfers by dining on
roast ribs of beef in the Emer-
son Hotel. This was the locale of
a bitter Democratic primary
contest at the State convention
last summer when George P.
Mahoney decided to contest DR..
Byrd's nomination by a margin
of eight unit votes.
Mahoney Not There.
Mr.. Mahoney was one Of the
few top Democrats absent. He's
vacationing in London. Richard
K. Lankford, 5th district candi-
date for Congress, also was not
present but he sent a message OF
greetings while he waged his
own political battle against Re-
publican Representative Small.
Conspicuous among the diners
was E. Brooke Lee of Montgom-
cry County, a longtime State
leader.
He dropped out Of the Byrd
campaign organization for a
short time after T. Barton Har-
rington of Baltimore County
became State Democratic chair
MAN pI1f hos hock Y1Ou among