Council Seeks Constitutional Changes

Beginning within the next few weeks, signatures will be collected in, an attempt to place on the fall ballot a proposal calling for a constitutional convention in Massachusetts, Norman Greenwald told the Harvard-Radcliffe Young Democrats Wednesday.

Greenwald, a political science professor at Brandeis and chairman of the Council for Constitutional Reform in Massachusetts, said the Council hopes a six-month convention can be called within three years to investigate a variety of constitutional issues.

While the Council has no specific proposals at the present time, Greenwald indicated the convention should deal with some of the structural problems that might be causing corruption in the state. Greenwald said that Massachusetts voters view the problem in, terms of individual personalities. The prime difficulty, he suggested, lies in the general political climate; eliminating a few individuals will do little to alleviate the situation.

Three major constitutional changes, Greenwald said, could case the problem. He hopes that all will be taken up if a convention is convened.

First is a transfer of state administrative officers to the quasi-judicial category, a step that would permit the governor to appoint all his administrative officers. Greenwald said the major fault with the present system is that the governor does not have the time to battle with each antagonistic administrative head. As an example, he pointed out that if Gov. Peabody wanted to remove a powerful official of the turnpike authority it would take practically his entire two-year term to do the job.

Another improvement Greenwald suggested was a four-year term for the governor. This is a proposal that Gov. Peabody has given expressed support.

Finally, Greenwald asked for a reduction in the size of the state legislature. He pointed to New Jersey, a state with a comparable population, but only an 30-man legislature, as a possible example. It is a lot easier to establish responsibility with 30 people rather than several hundred, he noted.

Greenwald's visit to the policy meeting of the YDCHR was unexpected. Also at the session was Rep. Homans, state representative from Cambridge, who discussed some problems in state highway construction, and the controversial speaker of the House, John Thompson.