The Sun's editorial board would have done well to contact us before running its misinformed editorial, "Carroll folderol," (Feb. 6). We could have set the record straight.
We are counsel for the plaintiffs in the suit The Sun complains of. Contrary to the editorial, the suit was not brought to force any particular choice of state senator to replace Joe Getty, the previous District 5 incumbent. It was brought to force the committee and Justin Ready to respect the selection process indubitably called for by the Maryland Constitution.
The editorial suggests the constitutional wording is "ambiguous." That is wrong. It may be awkwardly phrased but it is not ambiguous. As attorney general's opinions in both 1939 and 1977 explained, the constitutional language in question clearly provides that a central committee replacing a legislator who does not serve out a term must send the governor one name and one name only. This means that the county central committee, not the governor, is supposed to designate the successor legislator.
Sending three names would give the governor a role the Maryland Constitution deliberately denies him. Is it too much to ask that our constitution be followed?
Jack L. B. Gohn and H. Mark Stichel, Baltimore