VS. JAYCEES' GOVERNMENTAL SEMINAR 669

Finally, the delegates elected as their president H. Vernon Eney, the
man who had piloted the Constitutional Convention Commission
through the two years of essential groundwork which led to Consti-
tutional reform. Mr. Eney, a former president of the Maryland Bar
Association, knew the scope of the massive job to be done and or-
ganized the Convention's work so that it was accomplished efficiently,
thoroughly and on schedule.

The chief objectives for the new Constitution were to strengthen and
streamline all branches of State government; to clarify existing inco-
herencies and discard superfluous detail; to assure all possible flexi-
bility for necessary future development in State and local government.
While the final product cannot be termed perfect altogether, it has to a
great degree succeeded in accomplishing all of its objectives.

The executive branch of Maryland's State government, the branch
most beset by checks within, has been relatively freed from internal
restraints. Under the 1867 Constitution, executive-administrative
authority is eroded by a multiplicity of elected officials and multi-
headed boards lacking unequivocal line responsibility to the Governor.
In addition, the Governor lacked sufficient appointive and reorganiza-
tional powers to forge an efficient or responsive administration. The
draft Constitution — while it has continued the multiplicity of
elected officials — has eliminated their actual power to obstruct guber-
natorial action. The draft document also grants broad appointive and
reorganizational power to the Governor. The provision of this au-
thority alone should allow continuous streamlining of the administra-
tion in response to evolving or changing needs.

In revising guidelines for the structuring of the legislative branch,
the Convention sought not only to strengthen legislative authority
but to free its time to focus exclusively upon state issues and to in-
cisively perform its responsibility to the electorate. The draft Consti-
tution extends annual legislative sessions from the present seventy
days to a period of ninety days and allows Maryland's General As-
sembly to convene special sessions on its own initiative. Omission of
numerous nonessential prescriptive articles in the draft document is
coupled with explicit authorization for the General Assembly to
handle these matters through statute. This move should prevent the
continuous grafting of unnecessary and unwieldly amendments to the
Constitution. The provision of mandatory Home Rule for Maryland's
political subdivisions will also relieve the Legislature from taking
precious time for purely local affairs. Redistricting and reapportion-
ment are required every ten years to assure that representation is kept