Theodore M.
Water Department, and Clyde Ellis, a public power man and former
congressman from Arkansas rounded out the group. I think they were well
balanced politically, three Democrats and three Republicans, and nobody ever
knew where Ray Linsley fit in, but I remember he supported Common Cause.
None of the original commission's work ever had anything to do with partisan
politics.
National Water Commission
How did the committee interpret its charge? What did it set out to do?
A: I don't know what they did at the first two meetings of the commission in the
fall of 1968. I don't think any record was made because they didn't have a
staff. I met with Chuck
for the first time when he telephoned me and
asked me to come and talk about the commission. He was staying at the old
Park Hotel, now the Park Sheraton, in a very nice suite looking out
over the trees. At that time, I hadn't applied for the position of executive
director. I can't remember ever applying for a job after I took the civil service
exams when I was in college. Somebody always asked me to come for an
interview. And then I'd fill out the application blank. It was funny, but I never
really did apply for a job, except unsuccessfully during World War II when I
was unhappy at the Bureau of Reclamation.
So I went and talked to Chuck
without any commitment because I did
know a lot about the legislation. I was still at the Library as deputy director of
the Legislative Reference Service and we were getting ready to plan for our
new offices in the Madison Building which had just been authorized, and I was
having fun doing that.
One thing had happened which made me think I would not be interested in the
job with the commission. For one thing, there had been a disagreement on the
compensation of the staff when the first draft of the bill was sent down to the
executive branch for comments and the Civil Service Commission had
demanded that it be given control. The Congress didn't like that for a
term presidential commission but finally compromised by putting in the
legislation that the Civil Service Commission shall determine the compensation
of the executive
Then the executive director could fix the pay for the
rest of the staff without regard to the civil service rules and regulations.
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