Milford chronicle., 1959-06-12
G0U. J. C. B0ggs Calls
For Constitutional
Convention

CONTINUED from page one)
sure to make possible consti-
tutional convention at which the
present, outdated constitution can
be modernized to meet your
needs" Gov. Boggs told the radio
audience. "All the legislature has
to do is give you, the people, the
chance to decide. Is that asking
too much?"
State Representative Charles S.
Klienbach of Newark, who ap-
peared on the program with the
Governor, said the constitutional
convention measure-HB % has
been in the Revised Status Com
mittee since January II, and I
certainly think there is little rea-
son for its being bottled up much
longer. After ALL" Rep Kleinbach
said, 'it merely boils down to whe-
ther the legislature feels it should
give the citizens the right to de-
eide whether or not a constitu-
Since the problems involved are
those of the people, why shouldn't
they be allowed to decide?"
A second guest on the broad
cast, former attorney general H.
Albert Young, president of the
Delaware Bar Association, ex-
planned that even action by the
General Assembly during the cur
rent session would not permit a
constitutional convention to be
held before 1868. The legal pro-
cedure for calling such a conven-
tion starts with a two-thirds ap-
proval of each of the house of the
General Assembly of referen-
dunn in the 1860 general elections.
If approved by the voters, the
next General Assembly, in 1861.
would provide for the election of
convention delegates at the fol-
lowing general election, in 1862.
The Constitutional convention
could not. be convened until the
following September, in 1868.
Gov. Boggs said that while
there are many areas of our con-
stitution (which need thorough
rewriting, there are a couple of
glaring weaknesses which must be
considered"
There's the basic question of
governmental organization and its
responsiveness to the people. Our
constitution is SO outdated that it
has permitted your state govern
ment to drift farther and farther
from the people. The Governor of
Delaware has practically no au-
thority when it comes to operat-
ing many phases of government.
Each agency in the state, he said,
leach commission or board can do
pretty much what it wishes be-
cause most of the people who serve
in these agencies are not serving
at the pleasure of the Governor
and are therefore not responsible
to the Governor.
Il would strongly urge con-
stitutional convention to consider
a revision of our present form of
state government to provide a
cabinet-type government in which
the Governor, elected by the peo-
PIE, WOulu dppOHlL dll the OpeTdl-
ing heads of the state depart
ments. That way, he. said, there
would be no question as to the re-
sponsibility of the Governor in
running the state.
For one, we should consider
the question of how deeply in
debt the state should go". Pointing
out that our present debt is "a ma
jor factor in the financial mess we
have today" the Governor said
our present constitution places no
limit on the debt we can run up.
"And so, when a session of the
legislature thinks we should have
money for some purpose, bonds
are issued, and with the passing
years we find ourselves with too
many l. o. us that make us cut
down on other important services
to YOU.
Gov. Boggs suggested that al