Betting the Ranch Austin Real Estate King Gary Bradley's Circle C Ranch Is in Big Trouble

POLITICALLY CORRECT ON CAMPUS pages 3 & 6

A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES MAY 31, 1991 • $1.50 Betting the Ranch Austin real estate king Gary Bradley's Circle C Ranch is in big trouble. But he has friends in the Legislature — and the Governor's Mansion who may bail him out.

BY JENNIFER WONG

US TIN DEVELOPER Gary Bradley can be criticized for A many things, but thinking small isn't one of them. When he began building on the 4,000-acre Circle C Ranch in the early 1980s, it was considered one of the largest and most ambitious real estate projects ever undertaken in Central Texas. Now that Circle C has become one of the largest real estate debacles in the capitol city's history, Bradley is looking to powerful people to get him out of the mess he finds himself in. To prevent foreclosure on his project, Bradley has asked state legislators to modify the law in ways that could set the banking industry on its ear. Texas Bank- ers Association president Bob Harris denigrated Bradley's proposal as "one of the most special-interest oriented pieces of legislation we've dealt with in several sessions." Harris told legislators that the bill, known as House Bill 2192 or Senate Bill 1211, would compound the cost of See Bradley page 10 LYNNE DOBSON / COURTESY AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN DIALOGUE

Freedom If you want, scream bloody murder about no- of the Publisher - guts, chickenshit smalltown journalism at the bTHEH TEXAS My sympathy goes out to David Wolbrueck, next Texas newspaper conference. But please the [Round Rock] newspaper editor whose leave the First Amendment out of it. The thing server publisher canned him after he ran a front-page gets enough of a workout. interview with a Palestinian American criti- Terry Smith, editor A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES cal of the war against Iraq (TO, 4/19/91). He's The Athens News We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the right to raise hell about being fired for the Athens, Ohio truth as we find it and the right as we see . it. We are type of judgment call that editors make every dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all Defending interests, to the rights of human-kind as the foundation day. If the details as he presented them are of democracy: we will take orders from none but our accurate, his publisher is guilty of gross abuse His Philosophy own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrep- of authority.... At least Wolbrueck should win I am glad that I saw Albert Brooks' movie resent the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or his case for unemployment insurance. Defending Your Life before I read Steven cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. Kellman's review of it in the May 3 issue. I Writers are responsible for their own work, but not Yet, Wolbrueck reveals a pretty rocky un- for anything they have not themselves written, and in derstanding of the First Amendment when he hate to think that I might have skipped one of publishing them we do not necessarily imply that we repeatedly invokes it, suggesting that his fir- the most enjoyable movies that I have come agree with them because this is a journal offi-ee voices. ing somehow violated his freedom of speech. across in a long time had I taken his advice. I'm the editor of a small newspaper, too. Ev- Mr. Kellman tries to give away as much of SINCE 1954 ery week I receive dozens of letters to the the plot and as much of the humor as he can editor. We don't publish all of them, though, before his review deteriorates into a flailing, Publisher: Ronnie Dugger and occasionally some local gadfly accuses misguided attack on what he sees as the Editor: David Armstrong me of abridging his freedom of speech. I movie's materialistic "don't worry, be happy" Managing Editor: Brett Campbell Associate Editor: Scott Henson usually say something like, "Look, Jack, theme. This is where I believe Mr. Kellman Copy Editor: Roxanne Bogucka you've already reached your 100 letters a year is wrong. The theme of the movie has noth- Capitol Correspondent: Jennifer Wong quota. Give other people a chance to the fill ing to do with the acceptance or condemna- Mexico City Correspondent: Barbara Belejack the space." tion of materialism, it has everything to do Contributing Writers: Bill Adler, Betty Brink, Warren Burnett, Jo Clifton, Terry FitzPatrick, Gregg Frequently somebody submits an article with fear. Not the kind of fear one would ex- Franzwa, James Harrington, Bill Helmer, Ellen that's not appropriate for my newspaper for perience during a horror film or in a dark al- Hosmer, Steven Kellman, Michael King, Mary a variety of reasons. I think they're damn good ley, but the kind of fear that people deal with Lenz, Tom McClellan, Bryce Milligan, Greg Moses, reasons, but, whatever the case, it's my pre- every day of their life. Fear of the unknown, Debbie Nathan, Gary Pomerantz, Lawrence Walsh. rogative as editor to choose what goes in the Editorial Advisory Board: Frances Barton, Austin; fear of change, fear of what other people think Elroy Bode, Kerrville; Chandler Davidson, Houston; newspaper. Occasionally, my publisher ex- about you, fear of not being accepted, fear of Dave Denison, Cambridge, Mass; Bob Eckhardt, ercises his prerogative and overrules me. If failure, and more. Washington, D.C.; Sissy Farenthold, Houston; our reading public thinks our judgment stinks, The world, or afterworld, that Brooks cre- Ruperto Garcia, Austin; John Kenneth Galbraith, then they can stop reading us and we'll go Cambridge, Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, ates is intriguing because it is based on the N.C.; George Hendrick, Urbana, Ill.; Molly Ivins, out of business. idea that people should constantly be striv- Austin; Larry L. King, Washington, D.C.; Maury Anyhow, the point is that the person who ing to improve themselves and advance to Maverick, Jr., San Antonio; Willie Morris, Oxford, owns the newspaper has the right — the con- higher planes of existence. Most religions in Miss.; Kaye Northcott, Austin; James Presley, stitutionally guaranteed freedom — to put America teach us to avoid sin or go to hell. Texarkana; Susan Reid, Austin; Geoffrey Rips, what he wants into it, or to designate some- Austin; A.R. (Babe) Schwartz, Galveston; Fred Brooks is saying overcome your fear or stay Schmidt, Fredericksburg. body to do it for him. If the owner or pub- put. lisher doesn't like what the editor puts in the Brooks' movie appeals to me because it Contributing Photographers: Bill Albrecht, Vic newspaper, he can go find another editor. His comes close to expressing my own personal Hinterlang, Alan Pogue. old editor doesn't have any more basis to Contributing Artists: Eric Avery, Tom Ballenger, theology, one that mixes Christianity with the Richard Bartholomew, Jeff Danziger, Beth Epstein, squawk about First Amendment rights than Hindu concept of reincarnation. Over the Dan Hubig, Pat Johnson, Kevin Kreneck, Michael the nut who doesn't get all his letters printed years I have come to reject the concept of hell Krone, Carlos Lowry, Ben Sargent, Dan Thibodeau, in the paper. Status as an editor doesn't con- as being too cruel and vengeful for a truly Gail Woods, Matt Wuerker. fer on a person special constitutional privi- loving god to resort to. Especially a god that leges not enjoyed by other people. Managing Publisher: Cliff Olofson teaches us to be forgiving and love everyone Subscription Manager: Stefan Wanstrom The constitutional problem would arise if including our enemies. The idea that instead Special Projects Director: Bill Simmons some law prohibited people who own news- of being sent to hell we would be sent back Development Consultant: Frances Barton papers from filling them with whatever they to Earth to try again makes more sense to me. please. Yes, it's unfortunate that Wolbrueck SUBSCRIPTIONS: One year$27, two years $48. three years $69. Full-time But this movie would still be enjoyable for students $15 per year. Back issues $3 prepaid. Airmail, foreign. group, and was fired for running a provocative, alterna- people even if they don't share my philoso- bulk rates on request. Microfilm editions available from University Micro- films Intl., 300 N. Zecb Road. Ann Arbor. MI 48106. Any currcnt subscriber tive point of view on his conservative phy. Biooks' humor is usually subtle, more who finds the price a burden should say so at renewal time: no onc need forgo newspaper's front page. But it would be far reading the Observer simply because of the cost. like Woody Allen than anything. Some people more disturbing if folks who run newspapers might have to see the movie more than once THE TEXAS OBSERVER (ISSN (1040-4519/USPS 541300). © 1991. is published biweekly except for a three-week interval between issues in — politically left, right or upside down — to catch all of what he is trying to say. I sus- January and July (25 issues per year) by the Texas Observer Publishing Co., couldn't publish what they wish. Alas, this 307 West 7th Street. Austin. Texas 78701. Telephone: (512) 477-0746. pect' Mr. Kellman is one such person. Per- Second class postage paid at Austin. Texas. type of freedom results in a lot of crappy haps he should go and see the movie again

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE TEXAS OBSERVER, 307 newspapers, but a lot of great ones, too. and this time leave all of his preconceived West 7th Street. Austin, Texas 78701. My advice to David: Complain to your notions behind. state's Department of Labor or somebody, or Mike Thomas else just go for the unemployment insurance. Branford, Conn.

2 • MAY 31, 1991 ,.. eT I* AS EDITORIALS b

307 W. 7th St. On the Question Austin, TX 78701 MAY 31, 1991 of "Political Correctness" VOLUME 83, No. 11 HE CONTROVERSY surrounding exercised their free-speech rights by taking T curriculum reform and efforts to diver- turns swinging a sledgehammer at a beat-up FEATURES sify college faculty reached a climax May 4, car painted with slogans like "Fuck You Nigs Betting the Ranch when President George Bush attacked "the Die" and "Fuck Coons." (See the photo, page By Jennifer Wong 1 notion of political correctness" at a Univer- 4.) In response, the UT Black Students Alli- sity of Michigan commencement address. ance (BSA) presented a comprehensive cur- Insurance Deform Bush complained that "we find free speech riculum reform proposal — "Proposed Re- By Brett Campbell 8 under assault throughout the United States" forms to, Institute Diversity in Education" by "political extremists [who] roam the land, (PRIDE) — that included the expansion of abusing the privilege of free speech, setting the number of black faculty and the number GATT's All, Folks citizens against one another on the basis of and types of courses dealing with black his- By James Ridgeway 15 their class and race." While the notion that tory and culture, as well as the creation of free speech is a "privilege" might surprise one required ethnic-studies class. The BSA DEPARTMENTS some civil libertarians, the President's spe- argued, understandably, that Delta Tau Delta cious dichotomy — free speech versus po- members' actions exemplified ignorance Dialogue 2 litical correctness — mirrors the debates among supposedly educated people, and that Editorials & 6 portrayed in a flurry of press accounts dating education, not retribution, was the correct way Political Intelligence 14 to just before the Persian Gulf war. to approach the Sisyphean task of confronting The President's attack on "political cor- racism. In support of these demands, the BSA Books and the Culture rectness" contributes to the already growing held the largest demonstrations at UT since backlash by the right-wing and the liberal the Vietnam War. Cannes on the Gulf Coast intellectual establishment against a growing The university, however, refused to By Steven G. Kellman 18 student movement aimed at expanding uni- implement any of these well-thought-ou- t versities' curricula and diversifying their lily- proposals. Instead, UT President Bill Another Country white and male-dominated faculties. Several Cunningham banned Roundup, an action for By Bryce Milligan 19 national right-wing organizations, funded by which neither the BSA nor the Black Faculty a handful of northeastern foundations, cur- Caucus had petitioned. The result: Greeks' In High Cotton rently spearhead this backlash (see accom- resentment of blacks, whom they saw as By Mark McKinnon 20 panying editorial, page six). But after articles causing the loss of their party week. But to in Newsweek, The New Republic, The Atlan- this day, UT has not brought forward a single Aesthetic Battles 21 tic Monthly, The Wall Street Journal, The substantive improvement in its achingly By Barbara Belejack New York Times, Time, Fortune, and others, whitewashed curriculum. the critique of curriculum reformers as advo- Certainly UT restricted the expression of Cover photo of Gary Bradley by Lynne cates of "the new McCarthyism" has become white, racist fraternity men, to the extent that Dobson, courtesy Austin American- embedded in the public psyche, with nary a it discontinued sponsorship of their event. But •tatesman. dissenting voice to counter the absurdities and compared to the university's refusal to misrepresentations of these arguments. implement courses teaching black history, anything resembling a diverse curriculum In fact, student reformers' demands not literature and culture, these restrictions are "Marxist" or "Communist." Arguing against only aren't antithetical to free speech, but minor. The more destructive of UT's restric- a proposed syllabus for a freshman English indeed are a precursor to real free speech and tions on speech and thought stem from its course at UT-Austin, a philosophy professor thought. failure to supply students with opportunities labeled the program "Marxism 306" because to study thinkers and writers such as Frederick the class would address issues of race and Free. Speech for Whom? Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Ida B. Wells, gender, including readings from Supreme Concerns about abrogation of free speech Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Malcolm X, Court decisions and a decidedly liberal text. rights stem primarily from universities that Audrey Lorde and Bessie Head. Unlike Newsweek, in the opening national volley implement racial harassment or "hate speech" relatively common sentiments like "Fuck against multiculturalism, on Dec. 24 declared codes, which often include bans on racist, Coons," these writers' speech and thought are "Politically, PC is Marxist in origin, in the sexist or homophobic speech. Invariably such structurally excluded from consideration broad sense of attempting to redistribute regulations grow out of universities' re- within the university. power from the privileged class (white males) sponses to egregious incidents involving to the oppressed masses." Newsweek offered violence or the threat of violence. But these Redbaiting, no source for this assertion, but its fallacies restrictions typically represent university ad- Smear Campaigns are clear. Marxism advocates the redistribu- ministrators' responses, not the desires of and Flawed Arguments tion of political and economic power, and student and faculty reformers. Often, opponents of multiculturalism sys- defines "capital" and the "working class" in For example, at the week-long UT-Austin tematically overstate its threat to free speech terms of economic status, not race and gen- fraternity function called "Roundup" in spring and thought in order to attack it. One of the der. Multiculturalism proponents simply want 1990, members of Delta Tau Delta fraternity first responses by the far right was to label the opportunity to study a variety of topics

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 3 this consensus can only come by excluding divisive issues like race and gender from the curriculum, unless they are taught in ways that "move us toward a more encompassing worldview." By its end, Mark's article reverts td an exercise in reductionism: "The academic in- tegrity of the core [curriculum]," Mark writes, "depends on the pursuit of central ideas. The social significance of race, ethnicity, and gender is one such idea. There are others. All cultures have developed a sense of beauty and

• morality, a sense of justice, and practices re- garding use or abuse of power. Across the spectra of time and place, from tribal to international relations, the issue of intergroup conflict has always been a matter of concern. Psychological investigations consistently reveal the importance of perceptual mechanisms and the influence of self-identity, emotion, pragmatic judgement, and varying levels of commitment to religion and other belief systems." Mark detaches issues of race, gender and class from their political and social contexts, AUSTIN HOLIDAY elevates them to the level of "ideas," and then Free speech at UT :Austin; spring 1990 equates them with all other ideas, regardless of content. Plato would be proud of the UT within the university, not to overthrow its Suggestions that people of color or "the Chancellor, but intellectual honesty demands capitalist-dominated structure. left" could possibly dominate policymaking that we not decontextualize social questions. Other statements are, at the risk of myself or "impose orthodoxies" greatly overesti- In addition, Mark's "common understanding" being labeled "PC," decidedly racist. Argu- mates their power; this notion results either would separate issues of race, class and ing against multiculturalism, the president of from intentional misrepresentation or severely gender from "intergroup conflict" or "self- the University of Wisconsin branch of the muddled thinking. Thomas Byrne Edsall and identity," masking the power relations that National Association of Scholars, Theodore Mary D. Edsall, for example, argue in the May create "intergroup conflict" and help deter- S. Hamerow, told Newsweek, "I feel that an 1991 Atlantic Monthly, "In segments of the mine "self-identity." For Mark, a former American student should know American black community the response [to racism and Secretary of the Air Force and nuclear- history before he or she turns to Afro- the perpetuation of the black underclass] is weapons designer, ignoring these relations American history or Asian-American his- often a wounded outrage so extreme that it serves to justify the power structure of which tory." The implication here is that African- precludes all debate." The very thought that he is a part. and Asian-Americans aren't really Ameri- any political idea, however "extreme," cannot cans, and that their history isn't part of be debated can only point to a paucity of in- The Corporate Curriculum American history. tellect on the part of its opponents, or an ad- These are the arguments against diversifying Other opponents of "PC" are less con- mission of the truth of the argument. the curriculum. But how are curriculum de- cerned about history. For right-wing pundit The Edsalls go on to cite as an example of cisions made at the modern "multiversity?" George Will, for example, history apparently such undebatable arguments a black scholar, As a case study, let's look at the University didn't begin until he sat down at his typewriter who thinks that whites will exploit the plight of Texas at Austin, the flagship institution in to attack the "curdled liberalism" of political of the urban black underclass as "an excuse Hans Mark's UT System. When UT-Austin correctness, which he declares "a program for to undo the legal, social and economic ad- expands its curriculum, it does so in defer- the pleasure of bossing people around." In vances made by the black middle class, ence to programs that subsidize industry and Will's addled worldview, as revealed in the plunge the country into a race war, and worst create potential for corporate and individual pages of Newsweek, there's no history of of all, serve as a pretext for genocide." Why profit from patented research. It takes into slavery or racism that might justify an ardent can't we debate that argument? The Edsalls account neither the demands of students nor defense of views other than his own. He never never tell us. We can be certain, though, that even the intellectual requirements of its fac- addresses the question of rape, or of violent, this black scholar cannot summon the police ulty. Because industry is no longer willing to race-based attacks on people of color — both to haul away people who disagree with him, pay for its own capital-intensive R&D or job demonstrably on the rise at universities across as has happened to curriculum reform advo- training, universities have increasingly as- the country — as possible reasons why his cates at demonstrations around the country. sumed this work using public funds set aside enemies support their cause with such fervor. Some well-meaning liberals also fall within for the education of the next generation of The columnist whines that "tenured radi- the reactionary camp in the multiculturalism Texans. cals" are "attempting to make campuses into debate. For example, UT-System Chancellor Take, for example, the UT planning ministates that do what the Western tradition Hans Mark, with his personal assistant document, The Strategic Plan, 1990-1995, inhibits real states from doing: imposing or- Sheldon Ekland-Olson, writes in the Winter which outlines UT's intention to create four thodoxies." Will does not critique American 1990-91 Academic Questions (the journal of new degree programs — molecular biology, orthodoxies like his beloved. Western canon. the National Association of Scholars) that marine science, nutritional sciences and Nor does he criticize de facto orthodoxies "the university exists to develop and pass on Slavic languages — as well as off-campus created when the university excludes or re- a 'common understanding' of the world in and evening programs that "respond to fuses to fund substantial fields of study. This which we live." While George Will complains present and future needs of industry." selective blindness permeates many right- that radicals want to impose orthodoxy, Mark The University's decision to implement its wing arguments about multiculturalism. celebrates such a consensus. But for Mark, molecular biology program, which The

4 • MAY 31, 1991

,, 4,11., h oree. ...rye .esa,• WAt Strategic Plan says is designed "to meet the These arguments should not be construed entry of women into colleges and the work- acute demand for professionals to develop as opposing all scientific or technical train- place. Today disparate and competing inter- Texas's embryonic biotechnology industry," ing at universities — quite the opposite. To ests complicate a once cozy ideology that illustrates UT's priorities in funding for cur- truly implement diversity, engineering and . valued capital accumulation and Cold-War riculum expansion. The molecular biology science programs must be opened up through militarism over more particularistic concerns. building itself will cost $25 million, the same increased financial aid and other mechanisms Meanwhile, corporate powers dominate uni- amount as, say, a new financial aid building. Financial aid has been a continuing problem at UT for at least a decade. During peak periods of demand, students must often relate their families' financial status to aid counselors with other students present, since space constraints force counselors to share offices. Students wait in long lines every semester, and spend hours hoping to get through on the phone, trying to confirm their aid status. At the beginning of each semester, students typically attempt about 22,000 calls per day to the building—only about 700 of which get through. This summer UT will move the financial aid office into a temporary space. A UT representative said the school has no concrete plans right now to build new facilities. KATHY MITCHELL UT President Cunningham defends the to facilitate the entry by people of color into versities' curricula decisions more than ever molecular biology program as a "one-time those fields. But investments in science•that before. expenditure," but a financial aid building benefit students must focus on human de- The times are not just a changin', they have would also be a one-time expense. The total velopment, while most universities, certainly changed. But campus reformers today battle, expense for a new molecular biology program the University of Texas, focus their resources for the most part, the same canon Thorstein is estimated at $70 million over the next seven on developing capital. Capital-intensive R&D Veblen blasted in 1917. The new ideas and years, and of this $51.4 million goes to pur- like that at Sematech — the semiconductor expressions of these segments of the popula- chase research capital. manufacturing consortium for which UT tion deserve their place in the academy — UT's spending priorities are clear: Expen- spent more than $12 million — is the real simple respect for others demands no less. sive research capital takes precedence over obstacle to bettering the college education in The attack on "political correctness" amounts student demands or societal needs. Financial a time of shrinking state budgets. to a backlash targetting the handful of spaces aid is a class issue, and in America — espe- The only non-technical curriculum expan- created in the academy over the last 20 years cially Texas -- class issues are race issues. sion cited by UT's Strategic Plan illustrates for women and minorities to pursue their own The ethnic breakdown of students receiving similarly skewed priorities. UT will shape its scholarship. To this end, rightist scholars and financial aid demonstrates that point. African- new Slavic languages doctoral program to pundits have defined disagreement with these American students constitute 3.7 percent of meet the needs of U.S. industries wanting to newcomers as "repression" of their own ideas. the student population, but make up 6.6 per- compete in newly opened Eastern European But, in the final analysis, losing an argu- cent of students on financial aid. markets. According to The Strategic Plan, ment does not qualify as losing one's free- Similarly, Latino students make up 10.3 "recent studies indicate that the field is en- dom of speech. The more odious repression percent of the UT-student population, but 15.4 tering a period of sustained growth in terms comes when disputants refuse to allow an percent of students receiving financial aid. of both employment possibilities and finan- argument to begin, by fighting to exclude Asian and Native American students com- cial resources made available by govern- large fields of scholarship from the academic bined, account for 7.5 percent of students mental and private sources." curriculum. —S.H. receiving financial aid, while making up only By contrast, the UT Oriental and African 5.9 percent of the student body. The financial language department currently teaches not a aid building clearly serves the needs of stu- single African language. This example em- dents of color disproportionately to their bodies what multiculturalism advocates de- numbers at the university. clare "institutional racism" — while students But rather than spend $25 million to fa- demanding diversity are denied access to cilitate expedient financing for 24,000 stu- African cultural and language studies, UT dents each semester, UT prefers to pay $70 trains students, it hopes, to exploit newly million on a molecular biology program, opening economies in Eastern Europe. • CTARC- N INN which the administration intends to serve at most 100 students. Toward Free Speech According to The Strategic Plan, one ob- The merits of implementing curriculum re- "Best Lodging Location for jective of the new graduate degree program forms and faculty and student diversity can Fishermen & Beachgoers" in marine science will be to "furnish a mod- be argued strictly in terms of free speech. The Group Discounts est flow of students uniquely trained to ad- "common understanding" that Hans Mark dress practical environmental and natural re- relishes began to break down in America with source problems common in the coastal zone, the influx of students after the GI bill in 1945 (512) 749-5555 with an emphasis on Texas bays, estuaries, and with the post-war capital-labor accord P.O. Box 8 and the adjacent continental shelf." The that allowed working-class families for the Port Aransas, TX 78373 Strategic Plan doesn't mention that "envi-. first time to send their kids to college. It di- ronmental ... problems common in the coastal minished further throughout the 1950s and Send for Free Gulf & Bay zone" often result from the very industries '60s, and then disintegrated with the Vietnam Fishing Information UT sees as its mission to subsidize. War, the civil rights movement, and the mass-

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 5 The Campus Right

EORGE BUSH'S RECENT com- G mencement address on "political correctness," written by his new chief speech writer Anthony Snow, foregrounds the in- creasing influence of the far-right in the current administration. Before joining the Bush team, Snow worked as an editorial writer for the Washington Times, a D.C.-based newspaper owned by the political network of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a religio-political fanatic with well-documented close ties to fascists and other ultra-rightists around the world. Bush's attack on "PC" marked Snow's first foray into presidential speechwriting, and indicates the emphasis that Snow and far-right groups like the Moonies place on suppress- ing multiculturalism and the growing student movement on college campuses. The backlash against "political correctness" has a carefully crafted political agenda, one that needs to be clearly understood as a right-wing response to liberal/left gains made at universities since the 1960s. Since a Dec. 24, 1990 Newsweek article launched the attack in the national mainstream press, these arguments have become more widespread, and the motives for making them more diverse. But a small number of national organizations, funded by just a handful of identi- fiable rightist foundations, have been laying the intellectual and physical groundwork for this confrontation since the mid-1980s. The message of these far-right intellectu- als has reached campuses across the country, and the highest levels of government, because their well-funded think tanks can afford a SEAN FRENCH national propaganda campaign backed by attacking "the politicization of scholarship" it turns out, also wrote for the now-defunct dozens of subsidized local organizations. The by the Left. In October 1986, the conserva- Moonie publication, The New York City Tri- most prominent of these national groups, the tive journal Commentary published a similar bune. National Association of Scholars and the but much longer article on "The Tenured By late 1987 and early 1988 the Campus Madison Center for Educational Affairs, Left" by Balch and London. In those articles Coalition for Democracy evolved into the baldly lay out the underlying agendas behind they construct two arguments: First, that "the National Association of Scholars (NAS), with the anti-"PC" movement in their own litera- Left" was well on its way to taking over the London as Chairman of the Board and Balch ture. academy, and second, that previous efforts as President. The NAS treated a new jour-. to check this Leftist takeover — specifically nal, specifically targeting university profes- The National cited was Reed Irvine's notorious Accuracy in sors, called Academic Questions, to provide Association of Scholars Academia — had failed. They called for a a vehicle for publicizing their views. London, The origin of the National Association of new, more effective campaign to kick the who edits the journal, laid out the battle Scholars dates to 1982, when the right-wing Marxists out of academe. ground in that first issue: The enemies were Committee for the Free World, directed by In 1987, the same year Alan Bloom pub- the "radicals" and the "liberal majority" that Midge Decter (wife of neoconservative lished his book-length attack on radicalism had now surrendered the initiative to them. Norman Podhoretz and boardmember at the in the University, The Closing of the Ameri- The prime targets of that first issue were Heritage Foundation) helped found a group can Mind, London intensified his own offen- feminist scholarship, literary theory and pro- called the Campus Coalition for Democracy sive against the Left in a series of far-right grams instituting student evaluation of (CCD), using money obtained from the journals. In the January issue of The World teachers. Since then, Academic Questions has equally right-wing Smith-Richardson Foun- and I, he warned of "Marxism Thriving on carried articles attacking affirmative action, dation. The CCD's chairman of the board was American Campuses." In the May-June issue peace studies, evolution, and "Left" influence Herbert I. London, a dean at New York Uni- of The Futurist, he prophesied the "Death of in African, Latin-American and Asian studies. versity, and its president was Stephen Balch, the University." In the journal — as well as the NAS news- a professor of government at the City Uni- The Futurist is a publication of the letter — there have also been reports from versity of New York. American Family Association, while the Rev. the front lines of the crusade: sometimes la- In spring of 1986, Society magazine pub- Sun Myung Moon puts out The World and 1, menting defeats, as at Stanford where the lished a series of articles, introduced by Balch, as well as the Washington Times. London, as Western Civilization course was broadened,

6 • MAY 31, 1991 and sometimes celebrating victories, as at tary turned drug czar William Bennett, who jective will be to create a ready reference tool Michigan where an anti-harassment code was worked for the Heritage Foundation before for students and parents." successfully challenged. joining the Reagan administration. The guide, to be published by next fall, will In addition to its national publication, the The Institute for Educational Affairs (IEA) be based on a 36-page questionnaire sent out NAS supports and guides the work of its lo was founded in 1978 by Irving Kristol, who last year to NAS members asking questions cal chapters. Its UT-Austin chapter, the Texas publishes The Public Interest, and William like "Are there any groups on campus criti- Association of Scholars, led the widely pub- Simon, Treasury Secretary under Nixon, John cal of the core [curriculum]? If so, which licized smear campaign on a proposed sylla- M. Olin Foundation president and libertarian groups and why?" Or, "Do homosexuals bus for a freshman English class. That attack ideologue. In 1980, LEA began funding right- comprise a vocal, active interest group on resulted in the cancellation of the new course, wing, student newspapers. Today it funds 64 campus? ... What are their objectives?" and will very probably gut the English de- papers including the University Review at UT- Madison also wanted to know whether "there partment faculty, which in a fall 1990 vote Austin and the now-notorious Dartmouth [are] minority and/or women's studies cen- supported the course by a three-to-one mar- Review. The MCEA continues this program ters on campus? If so, what is their role?" gin, as disgruntled and frustrated professors as one of its most important strategies to fight Another question asks, "Are many courses leave for more amiable climates. curriculum reform and affirmative action on used for indoctrination?" The NAS lists as its supporters an impres- college campuses. Clearly from the questions asked and the sive array of rightist scholars. Its board of "Independent" right-wing college papers, people chosen to answer them, MCEA advisors includes: Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick, according to an MCEA representative inter- doesn't intend to create an apolitical hand- former U.S. ambassador to the United Na- viewed last fall, typically receive $1,500 per- book to choosing universities. Instead, the tions; Irving Kristol, neoconservative co- semester grants. The organization also has a academic right will use this "guide" as a club editor of The Public Interest; and John Silber, "hot line" student editors can call for technical to scare universities into caving in to its fired UT Arts and Sciences dean and failed advice on newspaper production, and it con- agenda, for fear of a parental backlash. archconservative candidate for governor in tributes national advertisers. MA for years has Other MCEA projects include the forma- Massachusetts. operated an advertising consortium, where the tion of a "Student Forum," through which it According to its literature, the NAS oper- national association sells advertising — say, hopes to organize black and Latino students ates a "Speakers Bureau on American Edu- to Domino's Pizza or to Coors beer — and against efforts to increase ethnic diversity in cation ... staffed by NAS members who have the student papers run the ads and collect the academia. Sara Diamond, writing in the earned national reputations as writers and money. In addition, IEA funds skills semi- Guardian, quotes the coordinator of the Stu- speakers on a wide range of educational is- nars and its representatives periodically in- dent Forum, declaring that its purpose is to sues." Among the topics listed in this "wide spect and advise local papers in person. counter "the 'politically correct' minority range" are: "Academic Freedom," "Academic In addition the IEA, and its new incarna- students who are the most organized and the Feminism," "Affirmative Action and the tion, has historically funded right-wing loudest." The Forum, though currently only University," "Education and Indoctrination," scholarship on a variety of topics; for ex- 60 to 70 members strong, boasts a monthly "Ethnic Studies," "The Nature of the Core ample, Allan Bloom received an IEA grant newsletter and produces a syndicated column Curriculum," "The Place of the Great Books to write a National Review article that he on campus race issues. in the Curriculum," "The Politicization of later expanded into The Closing of the Next fall, according to a Forum represen- Education," "The Decline of Intellectual American Mind. tative, MCEA plans to produce a new quar- Standards," and "Western Civilization and its One MCEA project attempts to fight the terly magazine devoted solely to race issues. Critics." "liberalization" and "politicization" of college Diamond says MCEA expects the magazine, Speakers in the Bureau include both Balch curriculums by targeting groups outside the tentatively called "Diversity," to start out and London, as well as representatives of the university, particularly parents. According to circulating 75,000 or 100,000 copies. Madison Center for Educational Affairs. a letter received by an NAS member last fall before the merger, "the NAS is now collabo- Following the Money The Madison Center rating with two other organizations, the In the 1980s, four conservative foundations for Educational Affairs Madison Center and the Institute for Educa- — Harry Bradley, John M. Olin, Sara Scaife The Madison Center for Educational Affairs tional Affairs to produce what we think will and Smith-Richardson — funded these and (MCEA) was formed last fall through a be a rather innovative guide to American un- other right-wing inroads into college cam- merger between the Madison Center and the dergraduate education: one that seriously ex- puses. In a March 1991 article in the Institute for Educational Affairs. amines issues relating to curricular structure, Rothbard-Rockwell Report, politics profes- The Madison Center was founded in 1988 intellectual standards, the politicization of sor Paul Gottfried of Elizabethtown College by Alan Bloom and former Education Secre- campus life, safety on campus, etc. The ob- notes that these foundations, which he labels "the four sisters," have funded hundreds of conservative projects, "particularly in uni- Sam Adams' Freedom Fighters versities." Gottfried is a conservative who's a Novel of the American Revolution See Scholars page 23 The freedom-fighter of the American Revolution, as the principal character of this novel, developes swiftly but accurately around the lives ANDERSON & COMPANY of William Mollineaux, one of San Adams' Lieutenants in Boston, and his nephew J.J. COFFEE J.J. diligently searches for Laurie Aldrich, a Quaker mistress to Major TEA SPICES Percy of General Gages' British Forces. She is also the dream girl of TWO JEFFEWM 'WARE J.J.'s boyhood infatuation. AUSTIN% TEXAS 7$131 His quest, kidnapping, and flight with Laurie to the Carolinas is a romantic backdrop to that revolutionary history and the battle of 512 453-1533 Kings Mountain—the critical battle of the revolutionary war which Send me your list. resulted in Cornwallis' retreat through North Carolina into Virginia and surrender—ending the war. Name The history of that time is told in faithful detail, Ilec go,0 Rowlie since the Revolution itself is the principal character. Street

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THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 7 Insurance Deform Business and Insurance Interests Use Health-Care Crisis to Pad Profits

BY BREIT CAMPBELL ciation. A principal reason for this phenomenon is that, as every policyholder knows, HE NEXT BIG political conflict in insurance premiums have been soaring over this country could be the battle over the last few years ("Unhealthy Profits," TO, 2/ T access to health care. Even this 22/91). Company-paid health-insurance pre- month's Journal of the American Medical As- miums jumped an average of 10 to 15 percent sociation is devoted entirely to a discussion per year during the last decade. of national health insurance, which, one ar- The crisis is particularly acute for employ- ticle says, has "an aura of inevitability" about ees of small businesses, almost 900,000 of it. Large corporations, pressured by soaring whom lack coverage. Most large corporations premium costs for policies offered to their offer comprehensive insurance benefits to employees, have begun nudging the govern- their employees, the very poor are eligible for ment to bail them out by providing a univer- government health care programs such as sal health care system. In addition, both Con- Medicaid, and the middle class can usually gress and the Texas Legislature are studying afford to purchase their own policies, albeit health-care access proposals; last week, in at inflated prices. It's primarily the working fact, the Legislature was considering an un- poor and small-business workers who fall into precedented plan to form a health-services fi- the coverage gap. Will Taylor's plan ease that nancing district in Travis County to address crisis? some working-class health care needs. "No," said Consumers Union staff attorney While such well-meaning efforts are be- Rob Schneider. "The bottom line is that ing directed toward one of the nation's most eliminating mandated benefits doesn't reduce pressing social problems, however, there is a costs." A Blue Cross/Blue Shield study backs darker side to the health-care dilemma. him up. Even if a policy offered none of the Business interests have always noted the mandated benefits, the study revealed, the Chinese language's equation of the term for ALAN POGUE average cost of a premium would drop from "crisis" with that for "opportunity," and there Consumer lobbyist Rob Schneider $137 to $111, less than a 20-percent reduc- is no shortage of unscrupulous operators insurance tailored to their particular need," tion. Since, according to the American willing to turn the health care crisis into an the Waco Republican said. "It's like going to Medical Association, the average annual rise opportunity to make money. If health-care the cafeteria. They'll have the option to buy in premiums is 18 percent, the savings are advocates are correct, this is the case with one what they want. negligible. The more benefits the company piece of seemingly well-intentioned legisla- It doesn't eliminate all or any of the man- chose to include, the less the savings. tion that, as we went to press, was being dated benefits. It's left to the discretion of the But even the low Blue CroSs numbers are discussed in a Senate subcommittee — House employer and the insurance company to almost certainly over-optimistic. (Blue Cross/ Bill 532, by state Rep. M. A. Taylor. The bill provide what's appropriate and what they can Blue Shield testified in favor HB 532.) A passed the House last month with little notice afford." Note that the employee is left out of comprehensive report called Health Insur- and only one dissenting vote, by Rep. Ellott the formula. ance: Rising Costs and Declining Access, Naishtat of Austin. Taylor's reasoning is that if small busi- issued by the Texas Research League (itself nesses are permitted to buy cheaper, bare- heavily funded by insurance companies) last Narrowly Taylored Policies bones policies, more of them will be able to January, examined all other states and con- The legislation would allow small businesses, afford to purchase insurance for their em- cluded that "it is not at all clear how man- defined as having between three and 50 employees. "I'm not going to say it will solve dated benefits are affecting insurance costs." ployees, to offer "bare-bones" insurance all the problems of insurance rates," he con- It cited several studies that found no impact policies to their workers. State law presently tinued, "but I do know that if you keep adding on provision of coverage from mandated requires any business offering health insur- benefits, it will drive the cost of insurance benefits, and a Maryland report that found ance to provide certain "mandated benefits" up. The point is that this is temporary relief mandated benefits responsible for at most 12 in 30 categories, such as reimbursement for until we can find some way" to solve the percent of claims and premium costs. mental health problems and prenatal care. crisis. Since the benefits of Taylor's plan hinge Taylor's proposal would permit businesses to on lower costs of premiums, if those costs offer as many of these — or as few — as they Dodging the Issue don't drop significantly under the bill, em- wanted. The bill would also require policies No one denies that there's a crisis in afford- ployers who presently do not provide their for small businesses to offer only 20 days of able, accessible health care in Texas today. workers with insurance because costs are too hospital care, "reasonable" (as defined by the According to an article in Business Insur- high are unlikely to go out and buy health insurance company) outpatient care, and four ance magazine last month, the state leads the insurance policies, said Dianne Stewart of the physician visits a year — including visits nation in the percentage of uninsured citizens: Benedictine Resource Center. "In Oregon, out while a patient is in the hospital. one in four Texans — over 3 million people of a target population of 200,000 uninsured Taylor says he introduced the bill to ease — lacks health insurance of any kind. An- employees, they picked up less than 4,000 the burden of high premiums on businesses, other 3.73 million are under-insured; they new employees with insurance coverage," and thereby expand the number of employ- can't pay the difference between what they Stewart said — and that program offered ees who receive employer-paid insurance are billed and what the insurance company much stronger incentives for employers to benefits. "This bill will let more people buy pays, according to the Texas Medical Asso- participate than would Taylor's. Perhaps

8 • MAY 31, 1. 991 that's why other states that have tried such bare-bones policies haven't reaped the benefits of more insured workers. "Even in an experimental program in seven states under which the states pay 50 percent of the cost of bare-bones health plans for small firms, employer participation is not very strong," said Dallas Salisbury, president of the Washing- ton-based Employee Benefit Research Insti- tute, in testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee earlier this year. Rep. Taylor said that despite his efforts to generate figures on how many more workers would be covered by insurance if his proposal were enacted, he had not been able to do so. Stewart reports that the Texas Employment Commission has said it is willing and able to perform such a survey of employer needs, but Taylor nevertheless forged ahead with his proposal. Stripped to the Bone If HB 532 won't significantly reduce costs to small businesses, it will certainly endanger hundreds of thousands of Texans who depend on employer-supplied insurance policies to protect them when illness or injury strikes. Some of the benefits the bill would eliminate ALAN POGUE include treatment for drug and alcohol abuse, Dianne Stewart at Capitol press conference breast-cancer screening and treatment for AIDS/HIV infections. Oral contraceptives overburdened state mental health and mental ciation political action committee. He has not, and special infant dietary formulas would no retardation facilities — a cost to the state that in the past, demonstrated a commitment to longer be required to be reimbursed. It repeals Taylor evidently didn't consider when he improving access to health care. the requirement that policies be offered to said, "I think this is the best legislation I've Insurance companies have an interest in employees' spouses on an equal basis re- ever carried because it deals with a serious cutting out mandatory coverage for less- gardless of gender. More ominously,the bill problem and it doesn't cost the state a dime." profitable lines of insurance. Their reluctance would strike at the most vulnerable members The state would also pick up additional costs to cover such services is the principal reason of society by eliminating mandatory con- for newborn-infant and maternitS, care. the state required them to offer the benefits tinuation of coverage during labor disputes, Organized labor, of course, opposes mak- in the first place. Auto dealers are typically if a policyholder becomes mentally or ing employees bear the full burden of the small businesses that would get a price break physically disabled, and for dependents if a health crisis with no comparable sacrifices on on insurance rates from the bill. policyholder dies. the part of the other players: employers and Dianne Stewart believes the motives of As might be expected, this broadside at- insurance companies. Under the plan, em- such businesses aren't to extend coverage to tack on benefits provoked an angry response ployers could pick and choose arming their uninsured workers — but to devastate cover- from a broad spectrum of public-interest workers, excluding members of certain age for workers who already have insurance groups. A coalition of 32 such organizations groups from full coverage. Or they could form by dropping comprehensive policies or let- held a press conference at the Capitol on May a small subsidiary to obtain separate, bare-. ting them expire and then forcing workers to 21 to exprss their opposition. Women's bones insurance policies for high-risk or low- accept the cheaper, bare-bones policies groups decried the elimination of coverage seniority workers. And if a company qualifies Taylor's bill would permit. "In other states for pregnancy-related conditions, maternity as a small business at the time it applies for that have tried this approach, such as Illinois, care, and mammography screening. insurance coverage, it retains the ability to the real market is for people who already have Representatives from three different offer the stripped-down policies even if it insurance," said Stewart. "The true target isn't children's rights groups, noting that 35 per- grows beyond 50 employees. the uninsured, it's the insured. The effect will cent of Texas' uninsured citizens are children, be a huge increase in the number of under- objected to the omission of required benefits Hidden Agenda insured Texans," she said. for immunization, newborn care, and pre- If the bill won't give many more Texans in- "The best evidence the bill is aimed at the ventive services. Counselors and social surance coverage, and will deprive some of insured and not the uninsured is the fact that workers, who see the tragic impact of inad- the state's most vulnerable citizens of a way the business lobby doesn't want a 'mainte- equate prenatal and perinatal care every day, to pay for expensive medical treatment, then nance-of-effort' policy in the bill," Stewart joined the chorus. Church groups, older- what possible motive could be behind it? contended. A maintenance-of-effort (MOE) Texans organizations, and advocates for the One clue lies in the groups that testified in provision, which most other states who have poor expressed similar concerns. favor of the bill, during House committee allowed bare-bones policies require, would Disability groups protest the discriminatory hearings: automobile dealers and insurance prohibit businesses that already offer insur- impact such policies would have upon them, companies. Taylor's campaign contribution ance coverage to switch to the stripped-down and Jacqueline Shannon of the Texas Alliance reports are littered with contributions from version. If the goal is to give more Texans for the Mentally Ill pointed out that the pro- business and insurance interests; he received coverage rather than undermine the coverage posal might force uninsured people with $500 this year from veteran lobbyist Gene most Texans already enjoy, such a require- mental disabilities to resort to the already Fondren's Texas Automobile Dealers Asso- See Insurance page 24

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 9

v,yyq „ Bradley . Ann's Buddy, planned to build a highway past their, prop- Continued from page 1 Business partner erty. According to the Houston Chronicle, the savings and loan bailout. The bill If HB 2192/SB 1211 make it through the however, the commission did appoint Legislature during the last days of the ses- .allows the borrower, if taken to court by a Bradley's Baptist minister, Gerald Mann, as sion, Richards will have to decide whether to lender, to try to prove to the judge that he or a voting member, and Bradley himself as an side with Bradley, a longtime campaign con- she defaulted on their loans as a result of the advisory member. Richards' campaign staff tributor and former business partner, or the lender's negligent actions or its insolvency. argued that her recommendation wasn't a fa- banking industry, with which she has equally If the judge can determine that the lender, not vor to a friend, but a decision "based on what close ties. Richards' ties to Bradley were re- the borrower, is at fault for the borrower's she thought would be best for 4hat commis- fiscal troubles, then the court can reduce the peatedly called into question by former At- sion." When questioned about the propriety torney General Jim Mattox during last year's amount the borrower owes as retribution. of her action, Richards dismissed the board Democratic gubernatorial primary. Over the Sponsored by Sam Russell, (D-Mount as "virtually inconsequential," according to years, Bradley has donated or loaned hun- the Pleasant, in the House and Chris Harris, R- Houston Post. dreds of thousands of dollars for Richards' Arlington, in the Seriate, the proposal has Austin environmentalists had long been campaigns for state treasurer and governor. caught the attention of powerful people in outraged by Bradley's deals with the govern- He also contributed free office space, furni- federal government. William Seidman, head ment, accusing the developer of risking ture, and use of a plane to Richards during of the Resolution. Trust Corporation, point- damage to the critical recharge zone out of the state treasurer's race. edly warned Gov. Ann Richards not to sign greed. They were appalled, however, in 1990 The Houston Chronicle reported that the bill in a recent letter. He said he had "grave when they discovered that Richards, who was Richards, as state treasurer, wrote Bradley a concern" that the bill would "add enormously running for governor on a "green" platfOrm, letter of recommendation on state treasury to the price the nation's taxpayers are having held an interest in real estate sectioned out of stationery in February 1986. The letter asked to pay in consequence of the widespread the environmentally sensitive area. A few then-Highway Commissioner Bob Lanier to failures in the savings and loan industry." months after writing Bradley the recommen- Legislators have met several times with lob dation in 1986, Richards invested $50,000 in byists, trying to draft a version of HB 2192 a 2.5-percent share of Slaughter 100 Ltd, a acceptable to both sides. While Bradley waits partnership formed to purchase land at the for lawmakers to decide the fate of his bill, intersection of the two proposed highways. he faces three lawsuits that may keep Circle A federal judge halted construction last year C mired in court proceedings indefinitely — after he determined the project required a one he filed himself, one filed by his bank, federal environmental impact study. After And another threatened by Austin environ- prolonged uproar in the press, Richards sold mentalists, who contend that the development her interest in the partnership back to Bradley never should have been built. last August to avoid, she said, the appearance of conflict of interest. Trouble on the Ranch Bradley's problems with the Circle C devel- Banking on opment began when his lender, Gibraltar Political influence • Savings in Houston, became insolvent in Richards also has been criticized for her ties 1988. At the time, Bradley had received $100 to the banking industry, which donated gen- erously to her campaigns for state treasurer million of what was supposed to be $250 JENNIFER WONG million loan from Gibraltar — a note for and governor. During the gubernatorial race, which Bradley was personally liable. On the First Gibraltar Bank in Austin political action committees from a handful of banks contributed more than a $100,000 to night of Decembe,r 28, 1988, Gibraltar Sav- appoint Bradley to the board of the MoPac Richards. Texas billionaire Robert M. Bass, ings was merged under the Southwest Plan South Transportation Corporation, which who acquired American Savings Bank as part with several other failed thrifts to form First planned to build highways near Circle C. As of the S&L bailout, gave her $55,000. Gibraltar. "After the smoke cleared, First one of the founders of the transportation Bradley's litigants also wrote, checks for Gibraltar representatives told me they had my corporation, Bradley had already played a Richards' campaign: First Gibraltar chairman loan, but had no obligation to fund it," Brad- major role in convincing the state to route two Gerald J. Ford, for $14,500; and $10,000 from ley told House committee members. "It didn't highways through Circle C by donating right the law firm of Lidell, Sapp, Zivley, Hill & matter if the subdivision was .a success." of way to the highway department. Environ- LaBoon, which represents First Gibraltar in Bradley told the committee he found many mentalists claimed construction on the prop- Bradley's bankruptcy case. parties interested in buying off the loans at a erty would jeopardize Barton Springs because Richards' opponents called attention to the price equal to or higher than their appraised the roads — and much of Bradley's devel- fact that United Bank of Texas gave her value, but First Gibraltar was unresponsive. opment — crossed the center of the Edwards .a $250,000 home loan at its prime lending rate The Circle C development group began to Aquifer recharge zone, which feeds the soon after it became a major repository of fall behind on its loan payments, and ap- springs, and would cause non-point source state funds during her term as state treasurer. praised property values plummeted from $100 pollution. Others argued that Bradley's offi- In addition, Treasurer Richards was accused million to a current low of between $20 and cial standing on the board constituted a con- of going to bat for North Carolina National $30 million. Last November, First Gibraltar flict of interest, since landowners stand to reap Bank. The Houston Post reported that began foreclosure proceedings on the prop- huge profits in having highways built adjacent Richards made a "rare" appeararice on the erty when Bradley defaulted on the loans. One to or on their property. Texas House floor to fight amendments ad- local foreclosure expert estimated that it was In her letter of recommendation, Richards versely affecting the North Carolina-based the highest foreclosure posting in the history praised Bradley for his "knowledge and ex- megabank, which donated $10,000 to her of Travis County. Bradley filed for bank- perience in quality development and land use, seven weeks later. Richards' staff responded ruptcy to protect the venture from liquidation, a broad view of the needs of communities," in both cases that the events, while sequen- and a U.S. bankruptcy court judge has been and "sensitivity to the environment." Lanier tial, were not connected, and that all of holding hearings ever since to decide whether refused to appoint him, due to a recent de- Richards' actions as state treasurer were to allow reorganization of the project or or- partment policy that barred landowners from "straightforward and aboveboard." der it into foreclosure. serving on any transportation corporation that Some banking representatives say they 10 • MAY 31, 1991 wonder whether Richards has already helped Bradley's by signing a major foreclosure bill, House Bill 169, into law on April 1. One Capitol source claimed that members of her staff asked Rep. Jim Tallas, D-Sugar Land, to sponsor a bill that would help Bradley by allowing the borrower to be credited for the "fair market value" of a property — rather than how much was bid for it — if his or her property was foreclosed. Curiosity was stirred further when Tallas, chair of the House Financial Institutions Committee, introduced another bill, House Bill 2825, that extended the statute to include foreclosures forced by a judge, as in Bradley's situation. Reta Cooke, Tallas' aide, said the governor's staff came to Tallas' office looking for someone to carry foreclosure legislation, but only because it was Richards' leg- islative liaison Jim Parker's bill before he quit his job as state representative to work in the governor's office. "There was no pressure from the governor's office," Cooke said. Bradley told the Observer he wasn't involved with any of the foreclosure legislation and that it didn't affect him. He admitted he COURTESY AUSTIN EARTH FIRST' spoke with Gov. Richards once about HB 2192, asking her to refer him to somebody Earth First!ers stage a theatrical protest at Circle C on her staff who could help. But he said, "I return, they were given $7.1 billion in good state. "It will really chill the acquisition of never had a detailed discussion with the assets, a $5.1 billion guarantee over the next failed institutions or assets from the RTC," governor about any of the legislation at all." 10 years to cover the thrift's bad assets, and she said. "No one will be willing to take them Bradley hired representatives from four dif- tax benefits worth $900 million. According on because ... it would be like buying a pig ferent law firms to draft the bill, and former to Business, Week, the bank earned $129 mil- in a poke." state senators Kent Caperton and Bob lion on assets amounting to $9.7 billion in According to Harris, the state of Texas — McFarland to lobby for it. 1989. Last year, First Gibraltar, with $8.86 which has taken much of the blame for the billion in assets, received $374.8 million in S&L scandal — would get another black eye Just Bill It government aid last year and earned $95.5 as a result of this legislation. He said that what to the U.S. Taxpayer million (a 34.2 percent return on investment), has happened to Bradley and other develop- According to Bradley, his bill directly chal- according to The Wall Street Journal. ers is a "tragedy, but the bottom line is, who lenges the "sweetheart deals" made when Legal fees are also guaranteed by the is it that's going to pay the deficiency in the failed thrifts were reorganized and sold to government, and Bradley has found that First Circle C development? That's $43 to $63 investors under the Southwest Plan. Under Gibraltar exploits this source of funding to million that has to be picked up by someone. current law, these institutions retained all of the fullest. "There is a fleet of attorneys that We believe the someone in this issue is the the assets of the old thrifts, but none of the shows up against me every time I take a deep RTC and the taxpayers of America." obligations of the old contracts. Bradley ar- breath, paid for by the taxpayer," he said, gued that legislators needed to change the law adding that seven were present at the last Big Developers, Big Money to hold these banks more accountable. In bankruptcy court hearing. According to the Bradley had no problems finding politicians April, he told the story of Circle C to Senate Houston Chronicle, 1,000 law firms col- to take up the bill; many seemed to be familiar and House committees to prove his point. lected a total of $615 million in Federal De- with his situation, if not personally, then Bradley said he and the 500 homeowners posit Insurance Corporation fees from banks through an associate. "The people fighting living on Circle C Ranch have been caught last year. "They enter into a war of attrition this bill represent the interests that lost the in the "ultimate catch-22," in which First with you. They know that ultimately, as the money in the first place," Bradley noted. "The Gibraltar stands to profit more by sitting on law is currently written, with their totally reason it gets labeled as a big development the property than expending funds to help it unlimited resources, they have no risk of bill is that there are only a few people in Texas prosper. Under First Gibraltar's federal as- loss," said Bradley.."You ultimately have to caught in the situation that have the resources sistance agreement, Bradley said that the bank give in and quit." to fight them." receives approximately $850,000 a month Banking lobbyists overwhelmingly oppose At the House Financial Institutions com- from the government just to have Circle C in the bill, charging that it benefits only big de- mittee, Rep. Ken Marchant, R-Coppell, and its portfolio and received $60 million when velopers and multimillion-dollar ventures. former Highway Commissioner Bob Lanier the notes were discounted last year. While "This isn't a bill aimed at John Q. Average (who testified in favor of the bill) traded hor- First Gibraltar attorneys disputed the Homeowner," said Harris. Some argued that ror stories about dealing with banks with. developer's claims, they have refused to dis- changing state statutes wouldn't remedy the House sponsor Russell told the Observer that close how much the bank has made off of situation because federal law would preempt a friend of his asked him to carry the legisla- Circle C. it. To this,Russell replied, "That may be true, tion, but he refused to disclose that person's First Gibraltar certainly hasn't lost anything but there's one way to find that out for sure, name. Russell stressed that the bill addresses on the ranch. When MacAndrews and Forbest and that's to let 'em test it in court." Karen "definitely an inequitable situation, no ques- Holdings Inc., an investment group run by Neeley, representing the Independent Bank- tion about it, regardless of what individual it Revlon chairman and corporate raider Ron ers Association of Texas, claimed that the is, whether it's Bob Lanier or whether it's Perelman, agreed to buy First Gibraltar off legislation would redline Texas, spurring the John Q. Citizen who's got a little five-home the government, they put up $315 million. In nation's financiers to refuse to invest in the development or whatever. ... It could apply THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 1 1 to any situation." on the development and decided that they cently to the FDIC in an effort to resolve the Said Rep. Pete Patterson, D-Brookston, weren't going to "just throw more money Circle C dispute, FDIC officials have refused House Financial Institution Committee down a rathole." First Gibraltar attorneys have to get involved. Rigsbee said he's outraged member: "It's forcing the little builders into argued that Bradley's development failed not by this "bureaucratic stonewalling." bankruptcy. We aren't solving just the big because of their actions, but because Bradley developers' problems this morning. It cuts used Circle C money for himself — a charge Outwittinv the both ways." Jim Paulsen, a Liddell, Sapp at- that Bradley denies; Robertson suggested, for Master of Manipulation? torney who testified against the bill, admit- instance, at the House hearing that Bradley's While the Circle C homeowners are begin- ted such problems existed. He cited a recent $15 million personal loan "might have gone ning to view federal government as yet an- New Jersey case in federal district court where to acquire a 25-percent limited partnership in other blockade on the road to justice, envi- a bank stopped funding the loan of an the Houston Rockets, which he doesn't want ronmentalists see it as maybe their last chance individual's home-construction project half- to sell off to pay his guarantee." In 1983, to save the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone way through. Paulsen said the house had "the Bradley bought 25 percent of the Houston from ruin. On May 15, the Save Barton Creek walls, but no roof. The rain was flooding in. Rockets pro-basketball team from owner Association filed an objection in bankruptcy It was the silliest thing in the world to stop Charlie Thomas, who was at the time a prin- court to First Gibraltar providing any further cipal owner of Gibraltar Savings. According funding to the project, on the grounds that it to 3rd Coast magazine, Gibraltar chairman is prohibited by the federal Safe Drinking Kosberg also owned a part of the Rockets. Water Act. The RTC guarantees federal financial assistance to First Gibraltar, and Save Innocent Victims Say OUCCH Barton Creek representatives argue that under While they originally blamed Bradley for the federal code, it can't fund "any project that development's financial problems, Circle C might contaminate an aquifer that is the sole homeowners now fight alongside him. They or principal drinking water source for the area first organized when they noticed that the so as to create a significant hazard to public management was repeatedly delaying work health." Jackie Goodman, president of the on a swim center, golf course and child care association, sent a letter of notification to the center, and wasn't properly maintaining the RTC and advised that they might file a civil grounds. After collecting information from suit in 60 days against the entity for violating both sides, Ken Rigsbee said the group found the law. Bradley to be cooperative and trustworthy It is an approach that, if successful, would where First Gibraltar wasn't. "First Gibraltar represent a singular victory for the environ- said they couldn't give us anything," said mentalists. "I've been fighting battles with JENNIFER WONG Rigsbee, who heads the Organization of Bradley for eight years," said Bert Cromack, State Rep. Sam Russell Unified Circle C Homeowners (OUCCH). former head of the Save Barton Creek Asso- "Bradley said, 'come on in, the files are open, ciation. "And I've lost every one of them. funding that loan." copy whatever you want.' " He's a master of manipulation." Time and Bank representatives questioned Bradley's Both sides agree that the 500 homeowners time again, Bradley has been successful in characterization of himself as a victim, say- at Circle C are the most innocent parties in- getting his way despite the environmentalists' ing that developers .are aware that banks with volved, and in many ways stand to lose the opposition. Bradley convinced the Austin the most attractive terms are usually the most most. Members of OUCCH estimate that their City Council to approve and back the largest unstable. "We believe Mr. Bradley was so- homes have depreciated more than 20 per- Municipal Utility District in Travis County, phisticated enough" to know the risks in- cent in the past four months while Bradley's according to the Austin Chronicle, by volved in choosing his lender, said Harris. The and First Gibraltar's lawyers argued whether threatening to pump water straight out of the 1984 purchase of Gibraltar Savings by J. the property value of the development was aquifer if they didn't. Thus, developing the Livingston Kosberg, at the time chairman of $20 or $30 million. They face debt from mu- recharge zone area was made economically. the Department of Human Services, was fi- nicipal utility district bonds of more than feasible. He persuaded the city and state to nanced with junk bonds; its primary investor $24,000 per home. They accuse First contribute total of $818,000 to build 6.2-mile was former Democratic party chair Robert Gibraltar of negotiating in bad faith; by their veloway that environmentalists argued would Strauss. According to Fortune, Kosberg — at estimations, Circle C is one of 26 properties pollute the creek bed below. the time Bradley approached the institution First Gibraltar is using as "cash cows," in Bradley has fought proposals limiting the — lent primarily to developers of large resi- direct conflict with the mission of FDIC. density of development in environmentally dential properties and was putting more Homeowner Susan Hoover, in an April 8' sensitive areas, and opposed legislation de- money into buying real estate rather than just letter to the executive director of the RTC, signed to protect the aquifer. Members of lending money to developers. wrote that "I have been told by an FDIC of- Earth First! and Save Barton Creek say that In exchange for a $250 million loan to be ficial that had Mr. Bradley been dealing di- construction on the Circle C property has dealt out over the next 10 to 15 years as well rectly with the FDIC, this problem would gummed up the network of streams to the as $15 million in personal loans to Bradley have been worked out long ago." Craig aquifer and polluted the water, and that fur- and a business partner, Gibraltar Savings Weinstock, an attorney representing First ther development will only worsen problems. officials would receive a third of the profits Gibraltar, told the Austin American-States- Bradley disagrees. "I'm not convinced that of Bradley's real estate development — a plan man that OUCCH was making statements anything we've done at Circle C is detrimen- that Harris charged was destined to fail. Bra- about First Gibraltar that were "inaccurate, tal. ... We've gone to great lengths to look at dley said that when he took out the loan, based in part on lack of information, and it this from an environmental standpoint." Gibraltar Savings was the largest institution appears to be in part based on their efforts to Cromack said he thinks Bradley is to blame in the Southwest and considered "very sol- achieve their agenda." for Circle C's demise. "Gary has overex- vent." OUCCH has sent letters to a plethora of tended himself. The people who bought Jamie Robertson, who represents First federal public servants, including several Gary's dream — it's their dream and now it's Gibraltar in the case against Circle C, said members of Congress, asking for help, but their reality. If the boom had continued, he'd the bank funded almost all of Bradley's re- has not received any to date. Although the be OK, but he got caught like all of them [the quests until it received an updated appraisal group has submitted several proposals re- developers]," said Cromack. Craig Smith, an

12 • MAY 31, 1991 attorney for Save Barton Creek, added, "In a dley to modify his development plan for ride. And Bradley, who has built a reputation sense I do feel some sympathy for them and sections that haven't yet been built. in Austin for being a skilled, ruthless politi- for Bradley. First Gibraltar is not subject to • A compromise or accord, however, seems cal player, seems to have met more than his the same market that Bradley is or any other unlikely anytime soon. As bankers and de- match in the RTC. He reflects on all the developer would be. First Gibraltar doesn't velopers point fingers at each other in court people who have fought him in the past stand to lose any money. They only stand to and at the Capitol, Circle C homeowners — knowing full well they "weren't going to beat win." Smith emphasized that his association and taxpayers — are left with the feeling that me Jiecause I was too powerful. Let's say I doesn't want to run the existing homeowners repercussions of the S&L bailout are only just have an appreci4tion for that feeling." off the property; they would instead like Bra- beginning, and that it's going to be a bumpy

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4 ornmission- Is t. at of these ta y so as not to WWCRI) may follow suit if environment alts co "lower> ie countVt bond ratings. Any solution would be better than U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect endangered species that one.But road districts and the adminstrative nightmare they've rrounding a proposed Lakeline mall site. Austin Earth First! ini- created point up the profanity of establishing special layers of goy- discovered two endangered species in the Lakelme, cave ern mein tx4t..,tbi,dize private development. --S.1.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 13 POLITICAL I NTELLIGENCE

✓ UPDATES. Here's an update on the wished. Scattered reports indicate Williams closely at the race -- unless Gib Lewis El. Paso garment workers' struggle described is considering a second run against Richards, doesn't run for re-election as Speaker of the in the Observer last fall ("Bread and Poli- a prospect many Republicans would doubt- House, in which case Madla might seek that tics," TO, 10/12/90). The story recounted the less find distasteful. post. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez has said he will fight by mostly Hispanic, female garment Finally, the lawsuit filed by several news run for Tejeda's seat if the incumbent goes to workers against employers who don't pay organizations, including the Observer, chal- Congress. Meanwhile, former state Sen. Joe wages owed and violate other labor laws. lenging the constitutionality of the Pentagon's Bernal, state Reps. Christine Hernandez and After the story appeared, representatives of restrictions on Persian Gulf coverage, was Leticia Van de Putte, and political science La Mujer Obrera, a garment workers' orga- dismissed by New York federal judge professor Nef Garcia (who challenged Krier nization, met with city, county and state offi- Leonard Sand last month ("Observations," in 1988), are being mentioned as potential cials to discuss improving conditions for the TO, 3/8/91). The judge's opinion said the is- contenders for Krier's Senate seat if she runs workers. Shortly thereafter, federal officials sues raised by the plaintiffs (including "pool" for county judge. cracked down on local factories and fined coverage and military censorship of reports) many for labor law violations. were "too abstract and conjectural" especially ✓ MORE SAN ANTONIO politics — But since then, according to news reports, since the war had ended by the time the de- this time on the bench. Sixteen Bexar County enforcement efforts have slacked off, and cision was rendered. lawyers, using an obscure state statute, have employers have returned to their previous chosen one of their own to fill the vacant 37th tactics. In May, members of Mujer Obrera ✓ SAN ANTONIO SHUFFLE. Two District Court bench. Ten of the lawyers led walkouts at the apparel factories, pick- volatile elements — Bexar County politics elected Rick Woods to the seat vacated by eted the offices of El Paso Mayor Suzie Azar and redistricting — have combined to position John Cornyn when he was elected to the (who was defeated in her re-election race last several present and former state legislators Texas Supreme Court lastfall. The attorneys month after waffling on her commitment to in hot election races. Republican State Sen. were trying to prod Gov. Ann Richards to help the workers), and even went on a hun- Cyndi Krier's future in the upper house has hurry up and make a nomination to the bench, ger strike. The International Ladies Garment looked shaky ever since Bob Bullock as- which, Texas Lawyer reported, was hung up Workers Union has organized strikes at the sumed the Lt. Governorship. Krier supported in a dispute between Sen. Tejeda and other factories. Last week, Attorney General Dan Bullock's opponent, Rob Mosbacher, in the S.A. Democrats. Morales announced an investigation into general election last year, and Bullock later factory working conditions, and the Legisla- knocked her off the Senate Finance Commit- ✓ GOOD HEALTH, 1H? As the story ture approved a bill by El Paso Rep. Paul tee and a worker's compensation subcom- on page 8 indicates, Texas desperately needs Moreno allowing criminal penalties for em- mittee. Rumors began to circulate that Krier a new system of health care delivery.to replace ployers who fail to pay their workers. would run for Bexar County judge after Ann the fragmented, increasingly unaffordable Another hunger striker, Captain David Richards appointed the Democratic incum- mishmash we have now. Two studies recently Wiggins, the conscientious objector who was bent, Tom Vickers, to be her criminal justice released by Public Citizen concluded that court-martialed by the Army for refusing to czar. The Senate redistricting plan, drafted Texas could save up to $8.6 billion by adopt- serve in the military (TO, 12/21/90) has re- with Bullock's oversight, redraws Krier's ing a system such as that prevailing in Canada, turned to Texas and is trying to get a Texas Senate district, making it a relatively safely in which each state administers health care. medical license so he can practice in Austin. Democratic, Hispanic majority area, giving Having been found guilty of three charges and her even greater incentive to leave the Leg- ✓ TOXIC TEXAS, continued. The same fined $25,000, however, Wiggins may find islature for the well-paying county job. day our environmental issue hit the streets two that the state medical licensing board won't Rep. Jeff Wentworth is also said to be look- weeks ago, the Environmental Protection let him practice. A court-martial can be ing at the Republican nomination for the post. Agency released its annual Toxic Chemical grounds for denial of a medical license. Krier failed in her attempt to include Release Inventory, revealing that Texas leads Meanwhile, his wife has lost her job, the Wentworth's home in her redrawn Senate the country in poisonous environmental dis- couple has been forced to sell their home to district — so he could keep her Senate seat in charges. The report said state industries dis- pay legal expenses, and Wiggins must repay the GOP, and perhaps not run against her for charged 793 million pounds of toxic chemi- several government medical school loans as county judge. cals in 1989, a decline from previous years. well as his fine. (Last month, another Texan, On the Democratic side, says the San An- Sgt. Dave Holas of Fort Hood, was sentenced tonio Express-News, former state Rep. ✓ DANCING WITH WOLVES? to six months imprisonment for refusal to Tommy Adkisson, Who lost two close races Kevin Costner, Hollywood's hottest actor, participate in the Persian Gulf war because it for state Senate in the 1980s, is already may be playing Robin Hood on the screen, would violate his religious beliefs.) gearing up for the 1992 race. Adkisson, a but he's supporting U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, Clay Desta National Bank, owned by 1990 moderate-progressive in the Legislature, has who robs the poor to give to the rich. Gramm Republican gubernatorial nominee Clayton a strong power base in South San Antonio, is distributing a fundraising brochure that Williams (remember him?), has agreed to and has named former Gov. Dolph Briscoe depicts Gramm with Costner (who .gave return about $1 million to loan seekers who as his campaign chairman. Gramm $4,000 last year) and asks readers to accused the bank of requiring them to buy The man who beat Adkisson in the 1984 support the "Gramm in '96 Committee." It life and disability insurance as a condition to state Senate race, Frank Tejeda, will run for does not say what office the junior Texas obtaining car loans — a violation of state and the new Congressional seat that is likely to Senator will be pursuing that year -- re-elec- federal law. ("Clayton Williams: Banking on be centered in southern Bexar County, says tion, or the Presidency. The Texas House of Insurance," TO 10/26/90 ) The agreement Express-News political writer Bruce Representatives voted to force Gramm to must be approved by the nearly 900 plain- Davidson — prompting some early posi- choose one or the other by repealing the so- tiffs to the suit, who would be able to keep tioning for a run at his Senate seat. Davidson called "LBJ law" that would permit him to the policies and get a partial refund if they says veteran Rep. Frank Madla is looking run for both in 1996. 14 • MAY 31, 1991 GATT's All, Folks Trade Agreements Are the Real Teeth in the New World Order BY JAMES RIDGEWAY

Washington, D.C. S INTEREST IN the disaster in Iraq THAT'S ROT/ WE SIDE dwindles, it is more than possible that -STEP DivroNmENTAL LAWS the turmoil in the Middle East may AND SAFEIY.STAgDARDS reappear closer to home — in Canada and MoVING Mexico, which are suffering, in a different Facrotim.sotrri4-111E way, from the strain of being asked to toe the &ET tiriumrrED ACCESS TO YOUR line of George Bush's New World Order. CHEAP 1-A EM AND' RESOURCES As with the Opium Wars in 18th-century — AND YoU GET UNUMTED China or the coup in Salvador Allende's ACCESS 1D Cuk tirtJaiutl Chile, the war in Iraq was an example of WAGES AND ToxiC WASTE! Western gunboat diplomacy that set limits on indigenous control of regional resources, in this case letting Saddam Hussein know that he could not unilaterally interfere with the production and distribution of oil. The result is that Saddam remains in power as a sort of hostage in reverse, ensuring that Iraq (since it has not ,reformed itself) will never pump any oil without permission of the United States. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are both broke. The economies of the nations of South Asia, long dependent on the gulf sheikhdoms, are hard-pressed, and the world environment has been irreparably harmed. And just what is the New World Order that MATT WUERKER is causing all this hardship? In essence, it is a calculated effort to reorganize the world's food, for example, to feed all the hungry into their market, the United States put an trading patterns on a North-South axis people in the world, but of ensuring profits eight-cents-per-kilo tariff on Canadian pork, through the General Agreement on Trade and to the corporations and elites who control the costing Canadian pork-processing jobs. Ulti- Tariffs (GATT), an international scheme for flow of food through the world's markets. mately, the Canadian Labor Congress calcu- regulating trade, and through a series of bi- As the major economic satrapy of the lated that instituting "free trade" with the lateral free-trade agreements, most immedi- United States on the North American conti- United States cost Canada 105,000 jobs. ately in the case of the United States with nent, Canada is expected to provide a grow- There was little new investment, and Canada and Mexico. The issue will come to ing share of energy resources for the next Canada's control over its natural resources a head in the next six weeks when Congress century. In recent times we have come to re- continued to ebb. decides whether to continue to confer "fast gard the place as a resource bin into which Next came the "harmonization" of Cana- track" authority on President Bush, which we dip as deeply as need be. dian social policy under the terms of the Free forces yes-or-no votes on these international Following the bitter 1988 election and Trade Agreement. Canadian business at- trade agreements. implementation of the free-trade agreement, tacked its government's social spending at The bone of contention here is trade be- there was a rash of mergers with attendant levels that were higher than those in the tween the developed world and the Third loss of jobs. Small Canadian companies ei- United States, claiming the taxes they were World, between the northern and southern ther closed up or planned for closing in the paying placed Canadian companies at unfair hemispheres, in which the United States and face of competition from much larger disadvantage with United States firms. The other industrial nations attempt to gain inex- American companies, as Randy Robinson conservatives successfully cut social spend- pensive raw materials and at the same time recounted in the Multinational Monitor. Ca- ing, regional development, farm supports, and create new markets for their manufactured nadian branches of American firms closed to unemployment benefits, reducing them to goods and services. This trade has little to do rationalize their operations — it became levels closer to the United States programs. with academic notions of the free market, possible for U.S. companies to increase pro- Hundreds of millions of dollars were cut from since it is dominated by a small number of duction a little, sell into Canada, and close the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and large transnational corporations, nation states, down their Canadian operations. For example, the transcontinental railroad system — a and entrepreneurs. While the press talks about when Gerber Canada announced that it was symbol of Canadian unification. shortages, world trade is organized principally transferring production form its Niagara Falls After Canada and the United States entered around an effort to control not shortages but Canada plant to the company's headquarters into what President Reagan at the time called surplus — in the interests of the developed at Freemont, Michigan, 150 Canadian jobs "an economic constitution for North world. It's not a matter of finding enough went down the drain. The move was attrib- America," they both participated in a confer- uted to "greater efficiencies" at the U.S. plant. ence on the threat posed by global warming. Meanwhile, the free-trade deal did not Nations were called upon to limit carbon guarantee Canadian producers access to emissions by 20 percent by the year 2000. James Ridgeway writes for the Village Voice, United States markets. When American Energy policy was to be reoriented to favor where this article first appeared. farmers protested the export of Canadian pork energy efficiency and conservation. But when

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 15 A public service message from the American Income Life Insurance Co. — Waco, Texas — Bernard Rapoport, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (Advertisement) Religions of Violence by Ralph L. Lynn

In my darker moments, I am tempted to say cred text are much less likely to kill each other. that most of the people who take religion really As Henry Adams said of these billions of people, seriously tend to kill each other. There is so much they "bet on the gods as they do on the horses truth in the statement that it should be examined. — one to win, one to place and one to show." First, it seems that across the religious spec- The Jews at the fountainhead of the exclusive trum, we have two kinds of people who take reli- faiths have shot each other up much less than gion seriously. Second, the world religions differ the Christians and Muslims. This is probably in the degree of tolerance they practice. Third, because the Jews, who may have a legitimate the general culture development of society claim to a clear understanding of their Scriptures, seems determinative in these matters. say that there is not just one but many Jewish The religious of all religions who take religion traditions. I once heard a teacher of rabbis define seriously seem to fall into two groups: those — a Jew as just any sincere seeker after God. the vast majority — interested almost solely in Finally — and however regrettably — it has the theological propositions which define their not been from religion itself but from the devel- faith and the minority, impatient and bored with opment of orderly society, a rising standard of ideology, whose primary interest is in the ethical living and rising educational standards that the teachings of the faith. violence between religious groups has ceased Obviously, the theologically religious are rein Western society. sponsible for the often-murderous record of some "Thou shall not suffer a witch to live" is still in religions. This violent intolerance seems unjusti- the Bible but it is ignored by even the most rabid fiable since theology presumes the impossible of the inerrantists. Trials for heresy have been that finite man can know the Infinite. almost nonexistent among us since the 17th But specializing in theological propositions has century; we now content ourselves with charac- wide appeal. It affords the masses of the mind- ter assassination. less a false but comforting certainty. It frees True, religious war is a reality in the south- people from the necessity of grappling with an- eastern parts of the Soviet Union and in the noying earthly problems. And it offers a degree Middle East. But it is not just a wisecrack to say of safety from persecution since nobody can tell that these unfortunates are in the 20th century what a theological formulation means nor can only by courtesy of the calendar. Their murder- anybody tell how honest any individual may be ous passions will also wane with the develop- with his protestations of theological orthodoxy. ment of orderly societies, a rising standard of The minority, impatient and bored with theo- living and rising education levels for all mem- logical propositions, have chosen a more diffi- bers of their societies. cult path. They have learned to live with theo- The tragedy among us is that the teaching for logical uncertainty and they have no protective tolerance has been available from religious mantle of theological orthodoxy. Their daily con- sources all of the time. We need not have to duct is there for all to see and measure. await political, economic, and educational ad- None of this is to imply that the theologically vances to free us from barbarism. We do not religious do not live clean and decent lives. The even need to abandon interest in theological problem is that their absorption with theological propositions. But perhaps the theologically reli- propositions allows them to give divine sanction gious and the ethically religious need to find a to racism, to the denial of political rights to the common basis for new approaches. weak, to the denial of educational opportunities The much celebrated "old time religion" is just to the poor, and to niggardly social services to not good enough. the needy. Religious people outside the Jewish-Christian- Muslim family who do not regard any religion as Ralph L. Lynn is Professor Emeritus, Baylor uniquely authentic and who have no single sa- University.

16 • MAY 31, 1991 the free-trade agreement was ratified later that The Mexican pact can work from the point emboldened by liberation or nationalism and year, both nations agreed not to impede the of view of the United States if there is a wandered off course (nOt to mention jump- development of fossil-fuel resources for ex- sharply expanding market for food and, most ing ship, into the Soviet camp) was met with port. Subsidies for oil and gas production in importantly, if in the end run the Mexicans gunboat diplomacy. In the Mideast, either country are given special status and denationalize their oil industry and agree to Mohammad Mosadeq's momentary success protected from trade laws of either nation; but American joint ventures in energy. in nationalizing Iranian oil led to his ouster, conservation measures are not provided such Even though drilling in Mexico has de- and a CIA coup installed the Shah. In Latin protection. This will touch off new mega- clined over the last decade with a resulting America, when Allende took control of deals for energy to serve U. S. markets, and decrease in proven reserves, the nation's oil American copper in Chile, the United States guaranteed access to such' huge projects will resources stand at 52 billion barrels, twice participated in a coup that ousted him; the forestall any energy conservation. those of the United States., and close to Iran's Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua brought Free trade has undermined Canadian na- 62 billion barrels. Mexico is thought to have economic isolation and the United States- tional pride; it became an issue during last immense untapped energy reserves that eas- supported contra insurgency; and the mildest year's constitutional crisis, which still could ily exceed those of some gulf producers. One deviation in Grenada led to invasion. cause Quebec, with one quarter of the nation's estimate is 100 billion barrels, equal to those Despite the fact that transnational corpo- population, to leave the confederation. In that of Iraq. rations, many of them headquartered in the eventuality, the four Atlantic provinces, cut This does not mean Mexico has to throw United States, control almost all the trade in off from the rest of Canada, might join the its prized oil industry open to foreign owner- grains, coffee, tea, oil, cotton, timber, tobacco, United States outright. All of this ship, but it does mean that over the long run bauxite, iron ore, etc., these companies want undermines democracy in Canada. it will have to agree to an increased Ameri- to further enlarge their business ventures. So can participation in the form of joint ventures, they want to include under GATT such ser- OW THE UNITED STATES wants to exports, pipeline construction from south to vices as advertising, stockbrokerages, and repeat the process in Mexico. Since the north, and other measures integrating its oil banking. They also want to remove remain- Mexican economy is 3.6 percent the size of and gas business into the United States. If it ing restrictions over investments. the United States', the overall impact would does so, then U.S. companies that already What this means is that foreign companies be small, although a reduction in Mexico's dominate in Canada can, through processing would have free rein in Third World nations. high tariffs might open new markets for and distribution, exert ultimate control over But you don't just have to feel sorry for the United States goods. Labor costs account for Mexico as well, and hence the North Ameri- Third World to be against GATT. It can un- two-thirds of the price of American manu- can market. They would stand ready not only dermine domestic United States environ- factured goods, and cheap Mexican labor to guarantee energy independence for the mental and consumer laws as well. An early could hurt jobs for unskilled United States United States but to offer sales to Japan and Bush proposal would have allowed the im- workers. Mexico could provide 10 million Europe — not to mention hold an economic port of foods such as bananas, potatoes, car- child workers, for starters, with 1.5 million sword over the rest of Latin America. rots, and grapes containing 10 to 50 times the of them destitute and living in the streets. The Canadian and Mexican free-trade amount of DDT permitted by the Food and Mexican children start working at age six. agreements will organize the North Ameri- Drug Administration. That proposal was But the attraction of Mexico for United can continent into a free-trade zone under killed, but long-term commitment to such States companies exists with or without any American sway. The United States then can "harmonization" remains. trade pact. The booming maquiladoras lo- use the continental economy as a lever to get In the meantime, it will require local, state cated right across the border, already export what it wants from the on-again, off- and national governments to prove their con- from their free-trade zones to the United again GATT negotiations. sumer safety standards are based on what States. The new pact could set up competi- GATT framers call "sound science." Re- tion between undocumented Mexican work- T HE GENERAL AGREEMENT on strictions on potentially harmful products ers in the United States and their counterparts Tariffs and Trade is just one of three interna- deemed not to have been proven dangerous at home in Mexico. And it would undoubtedly tional institutions set up by the Western de- as decisively as opponents say, such as irra- give added impetus to industries that already veloped nations during World War II to bring diated food or bovine growth-hormone- have begun to move to Mexico to speed up the existing colonies into line with the indus- treated dairy products, could be found to be their transfer. trial world. The other two were the Interna- okay under GATT. There may be lessons from Reagan's Car- tional Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Stronger environmental standards in our ibbean Basin Initiative. Like the proposed The job of the IMF was to peg currencies to country could be interpreted as nontariff trade free-trade agreement between the United the dollar or to gold, then dominated by the barriers in violation of GATT. U.S. programs States and Mexico; the Caribbean initiative United States. The World Bank set out to re- promoting soil conservation, reforestation, was supposed to increase economic growth construct war-torn Europe and then turned to and recycling could be undermined, with for all involved, but according to Develop- the Third World, building an infrastructure foreign countries arguing that United States ment Gap, a nonprofit development group, it to speed their import of manufactured goods government efforts to achieve these goals actually raised Caribbean and Central and export of raw materials. GATT was sup- constitute an unfair subsidy of U.S. business. American trade deficits with the United States posed to harmonize and liberalize trade — "If we allow the new GATT proposals to The initiative ostensibly concentrated on all the time making sure Third World gov- be adopted, then the entire world will effec- lowering trade barriers, but the expected ac- ernments did not make goods they could oth- tively be transformed into a vast 'free trade cess to the United States market did not ma- erwise buy from the developed nations. zone' within which human, social and envi- terialiZe for products where these countries Inspired by the rise of OPEC in the 1970s, ronmental imperatives will be ruthlessly and had a comparative advantage — in footwear, other Third World, nations tried to get con- systematically subordinated to the purely tuna, textiles, and leather goods. trol over the boom-or-bust cycles in world selfish, short-term financial interests of a few At the same time, they were not able to limit commodities by establishing cartels. Then transnational corporations," writes the access to their markets. As a result, exports they moved toward introducing industrial- Ecologist. "The unprecedented biological, from the United States increased by 59 per- ization, so as to shift jobs and revenues away ecological and social devastation that has cent, while imports into the United States from the First World nations. In the Middle been caused in the pursuit of such 'freedom' decreased by 20 percent. Overall, the initia- East, it even led to promises by the small rich over the past 40 years — the period in which tive led to an ever larger amount of food be- sheikdoms to redistribute oil monies among the development process really got under way ing imported at higher and higher costs, along the poor, populous Arab nations. But these in the Third World — cannot be repeated with reiteration of the traditional insistence ideas never became much more than that. without much of the planet being rendered on the export of raw commodities. Any Third World nation that was unfit for human habitation."' ❑ THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 17* BOOKS AND THE CULTURE Cannes on the Gulf Coast

BY STEVEN G. KELLMAN A former documentary maker ("I am the only Those are two of the reasons that, Todd told festival director in the United States or the the Observer, attendance at this year's WORLDFEST: The 24th Annual world who is by background an award-win- WorldFest was down 24 percent. Its box-of- Houston International Film Festival ning filmmaker," he shyly told the Observer), fice income was only $30,000, while the San Todd seems to have been born, in New Or- Francisco Film Festival, by contrast, took in OR THE FIRST 25 of its 184 leans, with an exclamation point in his mouth. $330,000. "Houston is a very funny town," pages, the hefty program guide to "A film festival as big and exciting as all of says Todd, who does not share its sense of F Houston's 1991 WorldFest is given Texas! A discovery festival for young, inde- humor. While ZZ Top performed in Houston over to the testimonial salutations of power- pendent filmmakers! A film festival that is for four sold-out nights, none of WorldFest's ful dignitaries. Quadrennial Houstonian unique in all the world!" whispers Todd in screenings had to turn away patrons. The George Bush expresses his and Barbara's re- the Introduction to the WorldFest lovely weather this year did not encourage spects to "a world-class event, one that is a catalog. stints in darkened theaters, but Todd has cherished part of the rich cultural life of learned that, with the exception of film buffs Houston." Gov. Ann Richards, Harris County T ODD IS WONT to speak his mind, from Montrose, River Oaks, and West Uni- Judge Jon Lindsay and Houston Mayor Kathy and he very much minds the way that state versity, Houstonians — allergic to subtitles Whitmire weigh in with their best wishes, and local film commissions won't provide the — are not adventurous. "They want to go see while, way out in Hollywood, Houston support he thinks his festival deserves. In an Top Gun or Madonna," Todd said. Last year, émigré Jack Valenti offers the endorsement interview with the Houston Press prior to he expanded the festival to the suburbs but of the Motion Picture Association of America. opening night, Todd railed against the "in- could not attract a large enough audience even Another former home boy, Commerce Sec- competent bureaucrats" of Austin and Hous- to pay the theater rent. One screening drew retary Robert Mosbacher, takes the occasion ton who prefer schmoozing with studio ex- but a solitary viewer. WorldFest is in Houston to note that movies are among the most suc- ecutives in Hollywood to doing anything but not of it. cessful of American exports, accounting for effective to encourage cinema back home: "I Yet no institution can survive 12 years in a a positive trade balance of over $4 billion a think they have little imagination, and even city without absorbing some of its personal- year. Four of Houston's five Congressmen less talent. And I think they could do with a ity. The Houston International Film Festival (doesn't Craig Washington like movies?) little marketing ability, and intelligence. sprawls across the calendar and across a extend their encouragement, as do Sens. Whatever their opinion is of the festival, metropolis that is as fond of urban planning Lloyd Bentsen and Phil Gramm. Commend- and I have no idea what it is, the fact that we as Vatican City is of family planning. At any ing a local film festival is even less risky than gather several hundred filmmakers here in one moment, a pass-holder at this year's kissing babies, since it cannot be mistaken Houston, at their own expense, is a phenom- WorldFest could choose among five different for child molesting. ena (sic). And they do nothing." While features — three of them shown at Greenway Yet, despite all the pro forma profusions, Texas Film Commissioner Tom Copeland Plaza, a triplex buried within an office mau- WorldFest, Houston's annual international conceded some basis to Todd's complaint, he soleum, one at the Museum of Fine Arts, and film festival, is a renegade operation. While suggested that the Richards administration one all the way out in Clear Lake. Meanwhile, a giant balloon puffing Arizona as a produc- will be more sympathetic to and knowledge- shorts and documentaries were being shown tion site and movie market dared to hover over able about encouraging film in Texas. at the Rice Media Center. Since a sizable headquarters of this year's festival, official Houston Film Commissioner Lisa Graziano, .number of offerings were world, North support for film in Houston was mostly hot however, was irate, charging that Todd does American or Texas premieres, spunky view- air. WorldFest ranks as the largest film festi- not understand her job and that he "owes the ers entered screenings blind. Hundreds of val anywhere in terms of number-of entries; film commission an apology." hours of gazing were not likely to improve it screens more than 3,200 submissions in Todd claims to cover all his debts, though the condition. order to end up placing almost 200 finalists his budget is a mere $500,000, minuscule in The visibility of a prestigious prize is a on the screen. But its budget is meager, and comparison to the Toronto festival's $3 mil- strong incentive for filmmakers to show up its attendance is sparse. lion. But in a post-WorldFest conversation, at Cannes, Venice, or.Berlin. But some fes- The 1991 edition — the first, 13th, or 24th, he remained unrepentant and unrestrained in tivals, like New York or Telluride, regard depending on how you calculate — of his comments about "the rank bureaucratic competition as vulgar and consider an invi- WorldFest lasted 10 days, from April 19- stupidity" that refuses to acknowledge the fact tation to participate sufficient honor for a film. 28. This is the first year that the Houston In- that right here in Houston, a tiny, mostly part- Houston offers two competitions — one de- ternational Film Festival has taken on the time, mostly volunteer staff has put together termined by a professional jury and another name WorldFest, the 13th year in which it something that is "better than any other fes- by the general public. At each screening, has been held in Houston, and the 24th in tival in the world." He also castigates the "so- audiences were handed ballots on which they which it has operated anywhere. It is the cre- called" Houston International Festival, an were asked to rate the entry on a scale of one ation and obsession of J. Hunter Todd, who eight-day extravaganza of music, dance, and to 10. The tabulated results determined the started it in Atlanta and later brought it with other performing arts that not only offered "People's Choice" awards, which this year him to the Virgin Islands and then Houston. Todd no cooperation but scheduled its did not differ markedly from those bestowed opening for the final weekend of WorldFest. by the juries. The People's Choice grand Steven Kellman _teaches comparative litera- The Westheimer Fair competed with his prize, with a remarkably high rating of 9.52, ture at the University of Texas at San Antonio. opening weekend. went to Impromptu, a British drama — di-

18 • MAY 31, 1991 rected by James Lapine and starring Judy of the Organization for the Propagation of Todd changed the name of the "Houston Davis, Hugh Grant, Mandy Patinkin, Islamic Thought; Todd claims he was able to International Film Festival" to "WorldFest" Bernadette Peters and Julian Sands — about get it because of contacts he made when he because of a new cooperative agreement with the mingled loves and lives of George Sand, directed the American section of more than 100 other festivals. As a jurist at Alfred de Mussel, Frederic Chopin and Eu- the Shah's Tehran festival. Bilbao, Mannheim, and other competitions, gene Delacroix. Trust, American writer-di- Todd was embarrassed by the mediocrity of rector Hal Hartley'. s quirky comedy about ORLDFEST'S LARGE MENU of the American fare. "These people are getting dysfunctional families in working-class sub- shorts, experimentals, and documentaries garbage," he explained. "They had no access urbia, earned enough of the People's trust to could be a festival in itself. They included to American filmmakers as we do." Instead receive a 9.19 and a gold. Silver, for a 9.11, blatantly commercial pitches like of relying on the United States government went to One Cup of Coffee, novice American Detroit...It' s an American Classic, a pro- to provide entries, foreign festivals are now director Robin Armstrong's story of interra- duction of the Metropolitan Detroit Conven- offered the winners of Houston's WorldFest, cial friendship on a minor league baseball tion and Visitors Bureau that celebrates pink and WorldFest has easier access to finer films team. With 8.90, Venus Peter, Scottish di- Cadillacs and Piston point guards without from abroad. Filmmakers benefit from in- rector Ian Sellar's evocation of a lonely boy's ever acknowledging the city's problems with creased exposure and greater potential for fantasies on the gorgeously bleak Orkney violence, unemployment and white flight; prizes more lucrative than Houston can offer. Islands, earned a bronze. exquisitely realized short stories like After winning 117 awards for the 300 films The WorldFest jury honored Trust as best Sharkskin, about a meek tailor's encounter he himself made, Todd claims he is now feature and best screenplay. Robin Armstrong with a Mafia don in 1946; and slices of re- content to be an impresario rather than an was voted best director for One Cup of Cof- markable life, like Stealing Altitude, a glimpse auteur. Though not precisely self-effacing, fee. The winner among documentary features into the clandestine sport of parachute Todd wants to nurture other talents and takes was My War, a compilation of footage filmed jumping off skyscrapers. particular pride in the screenwriting compe- by German amateurs when the Wehrmacht At midnight screenings, WorldFest offered tition he instituted at WorldFest. More than attacked Russia in 1941. Other feature films They Call Me Macho Woman, Bride of Re- 100 entries were received this year. "I'm very receiving jury recognition included Venus Animator, and other new flicks designed to pleased that I'm leaving a legacy of fine Peter, Blood Oath, an Australian fact-based catch a cult. The festival featured enough young filmmakers whose careers I have drama starring Bryan Brown as a military frivolous entertainment to compete with roller launched." Steven Spielberg was signed to his lawyer appointed to prosecute Japanese war derby, and it was strong as well on personal first studio contract while an early effort, criminals, and Wings of Fame, Dutch writer- dramas. But it also included some powerful Amblin, was being shown at Todd's Atlanta director Otakar Votocek's fantasy about an expressions of social concern, among them festival. David Lynch and Randall Kleiser afterlife in which deceased celebrities, in- Requiem for Dominic, Austrian director (White Fang) also received early breaks at cluding Einstein, the Lindbergh baby, and Robert Domhelm's quasi-documentary about Todd festivals. Lassie, yearn to be remembered. a Romanian expatriate who returns to Spielberg, Lynch and Kleiser no longer Among the 500 or so festivals held Timisoara in the midst of carnage and need festivals for exposure, and audiences do throughout the world each year, some are re- treachery; Common Threads: Stories from the not need a festival to see their studio pro- membered for a special focus. The one in Quilt, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey ductions. What those of us who love cinema Tampere, Finland concentrates on shorts, Friedman; Raspad, Russian director Mikhail need WorldFest for it stimulates the heart and though it is held in March, when long johns Belikov's exploration of the effects of the the mind with the foreign, the new, and the are advisable. If that is not funny enough, try Chernobyl disaster on the surrounding popu- unconventional. Like an indomitable turtle, the August celebration of cinematic comedy lation; and Journey of Hope, a Swiss version Todd continues to wax: "WorldFest is going in Vevey, Switzerland. Festivals in Brussels of El None that tells the harrowing story of to be the culmination of everything!" and Trieste specialize in fantasy and science Turkish emigrants. fiction, others in Annency, Bristol, Hiroshima, and Zagreb in animation. New York's Margaret Mead Festival offers eth- nographic films, San Francisco hosts a festival of gay and lesbian cinema, and Washing- Another Country ton offers African and African-American films, while San Antonio's CineFestival emphasizes Latino matter. BY BRYCE MILLIGAN by Chicano/Chicana authors appearing per The Houston festival, by contrast, attempts year. to do everything. With a gala opening night SAPAGONIA For a number of reasons, the contemporary and closing banquet, which this year honored By Ana Castillo reading public, of whatever ethnic derivation, Rod Steiger and Ginger Rogers with lifetime Bilingual Review Press, tends to regard fiction writers as somehow achievement awards, it offers some of the 1990, 312 Pages, $13 paper more "real" than poets. Thus it is not surpris- glitz of Cannes. It also serves as a marketing that these writers stand out among their place at which producers, distributors, and LMOST ALL LITERARY move- more numerous poetic peers. There are at least exhibitors converge. WorldFest offers Hol- ments begin in poetry, for the a couple of hundred recognized Hispanic lywood releases soon to be available on the simple reason that it is the art form poets in the United States, but it is the fiction mainstream theatrical circuit. But it also closest to the oral tradition and the one most writers whose names stand out: Tomas screens foreign works not likely to be seen easily adapted to political ends. U.S. Hispanic Rivera, Rolando Hinojosa, Rudolfo Anaya, anywhere else in the United States but a few literature, or rather the specifically Chicano Aristeo Brito, Max Martinez, Sandra other festivals. This year's festival was par- writing which has appeared since the incep- Cisneros, Lionel Garcia, Alma Villanueva, ticularly rich in features from the Netherlands tion of the cultural, political, and literary Abelardo Delgado, Alberto Rios, Denise and Scandinavia, but it also, offered works movimiento in the late '60s, is no exception Chavez, Nicholasa Mohr and others. We are, from the Soviet Union, Greece, Korea, to this rule; only recently have we begun to thank God, finally past the point when Chester Czechoslovakia, Canada, France, India, see more than two or three works of fiction Seltzer's nom de plume even enters the dis- China, Portugal, Venezuela, Algeria and even cussion. Iran — a film, called The Immigrant that was Bryce Milligan is a poet and literary critic in What virtually all of these novelists have produced by something called the Art Bureau San Antonio. in common is that their work is highly re-

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 19 gional; each has staked a claim on a specific grandfather in Sapagonia, Maximo takes his Many readers familiar with Castillo's work piece of ground and chronicled the Chicano father's advice and heads for New York, expected the novel in hand to focus on those experience in that place. This, too, is a phe- armed with a new suit and the address of one themes, but Castillo will be no one's apolo- nomenon observable in the early phases of of his father's former lovers. gist. There is sex in abundance throughout other ethnic literary movements. And it is this From New York to Chicago to Los Ange- Sapagonia, though there are few if any scenes that makes Ana Castillo's lengthy novel, les, Max follows a truly picaresque and anti- which would qualify as "graphic," and virtu- Sapagonia, groundbreaking. heroic path to fame and self-knowledge, ally all of the sex even mentioned is purely The first question that arises is where and sampling a variety of American minority and heterosexual. At the same time, the only truly what is Sapagonia? The prologue names mainstream cultures along the way. From stable relationship described in the book is Sapagonia as "a distinct place in the Ameri- L.A., Maximo is deported back to Sapagonia, between Pastora and her roommate, Perla — cas where all mestizos reside, regardless of from which he once again flees, this time to which at least one character says is platonic. nationality, individual racial composition, or Chicago. Here he is picked up by a museum Whatever it is, it is infectious. Housewives legal residential status" — which will lead director's daughter who promises him a rapid visiting the pair for an afternoon return to the many readers to assume that the author has rise to fame as a sculptor. She delivers — 13 drudgery of their individual patriarchies with in mind an updated version of Aztlan. months later Max has his first major show a desire to chuck all the macho business at It is and it isn't. Yes, fictional exiled and a marriage to destroy. home and find a kind woman to move in with. Sapagons tend to exhibit the spiritual, politi- Through all of these adventures parades a For all its gallivanting around the globe and cal, and historical connectedness of those bevy of lovers, including the book's female picaresque vignettes, Sapagonia is a well- among us who once sought unity in the vision protagonist, Pastora Velasquez Ake. Pastora textured work — not rich in detail, but suffi- of Aztlan; on the other hand, by a process of is an artist as well, a singer with roots in pro- cient to feel solid. Castillo's strength as a elimination readers can eventually identify test and a magic about her that enchants au- fiction writer lies in her ability to make a Sapagonia the country as a tiny dictatorship diences and can devastate every male for character's interior life visible to the reader.' at the northern edge of the Quechua language blocks. Maximo and Pastora fall under each Her description of Pastora, who wears "her range. other's spells, though each is "a prima donna, beauty like an heirloom pendant," is espe- Castillo's story revolves around Maximo a matador," and we realize that one or the cially strong. On the other hand, the author's Madrigal, a prodigal genius (musician, other must die. And they know it. When Max occasional displacement of the natural se- sculptor, designer, actor) who flees Sapagonia complains that Pastora is "about to crucify" quencing of events succeeds in mirroring the when his best friend's brother, a student him again, she replies, "Why not? You al- chaos of her characters' lives in the textual newspaper editor, is murdered by government ways bring your own cross and nails." For confusion but does little else. agents. Arriving in Paris, Maximo wanders Max, Pastora is "poison." He can only take None of which is to say that Sapagonia south until he locates his Spanish father (ab- her in small doses, he says, if he is to survive lacks either strength or importance. It is only sent since before his birth) in a Madrid jail. her. the author's second-work of fiction and shows Maximo hustles a scant living as a flamenco Castillo was, along with Cheri Moraga, the a great deal of intellectual and artistic prom- guitar player — a brilliant in any city but first Chicana writer to openly address female ise — and it will undoubtedly be ranked as Madrid. When a check arrives from his sexuality, especially lesbian relationships. one of the first major Chicana novels. ❑ In High Cotton

BY MARK MCKINNON paper. You want to own this paper. You're Simmons' passage out of this morass ap- always looking over the next hill." pears in the form of a corrupt state senator, COTTONWOOD Big Jim DeBleaux. Initially, Simmons be- By Raymond Strother lieves DeBleaux wishes him harm because 1991, Dutton, Division of Penguin Books he wrote a story revealing that DeBleaux had USA, $18.95 lobbied for changes in the wholesale cost of liquor by anchoring a riverboat loaded with F THE SETTING WEREN'T Loui- prostitutes across from the capitol building. siana, Raymond Strother's first novel, Instead, the story made DeBleaux recognize Cottonwood, would be totally unbe- the power of the press, and as a result he seeks lievable. But it is set in Louisiana, so the no- out Simmons, hoping talent and "power" will tion that a young political consultant without help elect him to Congress. a moral compass might get a destitute drunk At this point, young Simmons' compass elected to the U.S. Senate doesn't seem so loses its bearing. Realizing that one campaign improbable. Far more curious political events ad by DeBleaux in his paper would fix his happen every day in the Bayou State. Ford and washing machine, Simmons "In split Cottonwood is an engaging and humorous seconds changed from crusading reporter to roller coaster of a read through the lively and advertising salesman and began calculating libidinous landscape of. Louisiana politics. 15-percents." Christian Ahab Simmons, a young dreamer At the heart of Strother's book is the ero- stuck in the gulag of a weekly newspaper, had sion of Simmons' values, both in his personal been fired by the Associated Press and re- relationships and his professional life. To his jected by the local newspaper because, as his credit, Strother doesn't romanticize editor says, "You don't want to work for this Simmons' conversion from young idealist to political pimp. Simmons doesn't play the Mark McKinnon is apolitical consultant based hard-to-get high moralist when seduced by in Austin. the vixen of material well-being. As Simmons

20 • MAY 31, 1991 makes his decision to work for DeBleaux, "He fits to populate the campaign organization. he has established himself as one of the lead- felt he was losing something important but These include: Happy, the paraplegic news- ing Democratic media consultants in the there was no pain. He reasoned that one's paper vendor; a hooker; two young boys who country, working for the presidential cam- personal conduct did not have to be influenced steal hubcaps; and Sonny Clinton, the almost- paigns of Gary Hart and Al Gore as well as by corruption or ignorance." prize fighter. Simmons' plan is to get Conklin Sens. Lloyd Bentsen, Dennis DeConcini DeBleaux loses his race for Congress, but sober, let him experience an "awakening" in (Arizona), John Stennis (Mississippi) and Simmons has been initiated and cannot return an evangelical church and then use the church Russell Long (Louisiana). He has also run the to the world of the mortal and mundane. and its network as the field organization for gubernatorial campaigns of Louisiana's When a Louisiana U.S. Senator gets caught the campaign. Conklin becomes the evan- Buddy Roemer, Arkansas' .B ill Clinton and swimming in a river with more than fish, gelical candidate, and Simmons organizes a Kentucky's Martha Layne Collins. Simmons hatches the plot that will make him sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation But Strother cut his teeth as a reporter, a nationally recognized political consultant. through the church's many branches. Along campaign worker and consultant in the Byz- The plan is to run Hugh Conklin, an itinerant the way to election day, Simmons tries to keep antine world of Louisiana politics. Someone drunk most often found in a stupor on the a saddle on the campaign committee (which, once said, "If you think you know anything steps of the Capitol where, when he is able, like most political committees, creates more about politics, go to Louisiana and get your he sells political trinkets. The idea is not for trouble than it resolves), his candidate and a Ph.D." Strother has spent a lifetime in Loui- Conklin to win, but to have him finish fourth romantic quadrangle that includes his wife, a siana and has drawn from the experience of in a field of 10 candidates so that Big Jim prostitute gone half good and a preacher's countless campaigns to write a very enjoyable DeBleaux can place bets at high odds with wife. and hugely entertaining novel. Strother's lit- bookies and score big. Strother travels through familiar territory erary effort is as rich with character and full Strother assembles an all-star cast of mis- and writes from experience. Over the years, of flavor as Louisiana itself. ❑

ti Aesthetic Battles, Polemical Statements Art and Politics Intertwine in San Antonio's Mexican Art Exhibition

BY BARBARA BELEJACK mixture of neo-Mexicanism, [elements of folk lic to see its collection from the Taller de arts, the great muralists and especially in the grafica de arte popular. Until the McCarthy AQUEL TIBOL IS Mexico's leaing case of Zenil, Frida Kahlo], gay art, phallic era they were proud to have this .work in their art critic. The Observer's Barbara symbolism. Another is Julio Galan, whose collection. R Belejack recently met with her in work is a mix of the same elements, but less Of course, eventually attitudes began to New York in anticipation of the exhibition, obviously so. They are the two artists, in the change, but as you well know, there was still Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries, that generation between 30 and 40, whose work a lack of confidence in the United States with is showing at the San Antonio Museum of has had the greatest success in New York. respect to Latin American artists and intel- Art through August 4. What follows is an lectuals. They were considered a little too edited, abridged version of that interview. So how do you explain the current "wave "red." I would say that lasted until just a few of interest" in the United States? years ago. Now they're in style again and Are we experiencing a "boom" in Latin The situation is different for the simple we're going through another idyllic phase American art similar to the literary phenom- reason that the Mexican-American commu- with respect to opening borders and ex- enon of the ' 60s and '70s? nity has a certain presence there. For example, changing certain products. Art has always I don't think the literary boom and the the wonderful exhibit, "La imagen de been a good adornment, for certain kinds of current wave of interest in Latin American Mexico," was brought to Dallas because a tiny economic projects. art are comparable because there are different group in the Mexican community in Dallas factors at work. The literary market isn't pushed for it. Of course, the interest in The influence has also gone the other way speculative; the art market is inherently Mexican art in the United States isn't a recent around, with respect to U.S. artists influenced speculative. Enough time hasn't passed for phenomenon. The Museum of Modern Art by Mexican movements. There's a connection us to know whether Botero [Colombian artist held an important exhibit back in 1940. even with Jackson Pollock, no? Fernando Botero, known for his outsized Pollock first approached Siqueiros in '32, human figures] is worth what he's currently Then there seemed to be a time when all '33, when Siqueiros was forming his group worth. this mutual admiration stopped. in Los Angeles. Siqueiros worked on three With respect to Mexican art, what we're This is very important... because these murals in Los Angeles. One is still intact, currently seeing is a neo-Mexicanism that has cyclical periods don't just happen because of because it was built in a private home, for a attracted attention and patrons in the United divine providence. There are economic, so- movie director. One was destroyed immedi- States. It's a mixture of post-modernism a la cial and political factors at work. Now there's ately, and there's another, very interesting mexicana, a mix of styles that can be read talk of a Latin American common market or mural in the Plaza Arts Center, called with sarcasm, with irony, black humor, ordi- a free trade agreement with the United States "America Tropical." What's unusual is that nary humor. One artist who is identified with and Mexico. Going back a few years, you can it was done in 1932, when there was no gue- this trend is Nahum Zenil, whose work is a explain the decline in interest in Mexican art rilla movement in Latin America. Sandino with the rise of McCarthyism. They covered was dead. And there was Siqueiros, painting Barbara Belejack is the Observer's Mexico up [Rivera's] murals in Detroit. The National the imperial eagle from constructions that City correspondent. Library in Washington didn't want the pub- look pre-Hispanic, pyramids like Chichen

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 21

- I ' Itza, he painted in guerillas. They didn't destroy that one, but they did cover it up for decades. Now it's being restored.

Turning to younger Mexican artists, what do you find among the current generation? This is something we talk about a lot in the arts. I think in the past Mexican artists wrote a lot, discussed issues. They had a very solid, intellectual background and were very com- bative. Today they don't speak up and what they're most interested in is in seeing their prices go up.

Are yod saying that the artist has to deal with political themes? No, not at all. When I talk about polemics, I'm not just referring to political ideology, but to aesthetic arguments. We all know Rivera and Siqueiros were Marxist-Leninists, that Orozco was an anarchist, leftist. But Tamayo, for example, has never been an artist whose compositions have relied on political themes. No, what I'm talking about are aesthetic battles. In the '60s, there was the battle around abstract art, around [Mexican artist Jose Luis] Cuevas , who used to produce very combat- ive writing. Now Cuevas writes these little COURTESY SAN ANTONIO MUSEUM OF ART picturesque things for the public. Self-Portrait, 1945 by David Alfaro Siqueiros There's also the example of Francisco To- somewhat of a departure from abstract art. competing among themselves to see who has ledo, who is so quiet he refuses interviews. There are four Castro Lenero brothers who the best collection of new artists. They are But Toledo is a separate case. He's re- are artists: Alberto, Jose, Miguel, Francisco. the ones who have made Zenil so successful, served, but look at what he does. He donates Miguel is also excellent. Another fine artist not to mention Julio Galan. He's not from collections. He has the Toledo Editorial which who also works in ceramics is Sergio Monterrey, but that's where his success publishes books on art, poetry. He lives this Hernandez, who lives in Oaxaca. comes from. ideal of using art to serve a community. He's Toledo is an artist who has created a whole Now they're building a museum of con- very committed to sharing his cultural wealth. thematic repertory. At times he repeats him- temporary art. It's private enterprise, not Toledo is simply an extraordinary human self, but he's very creative; he works in ce- public funding. In that sense, Monterrey has being. In contrast, Cuevas makes a lot of noise ramics, draws; does prints, paints. He's al- imitated the United States. In Mexico City, about a museum but he doesn't take out his ways renewing himself and at 50, is spiritually public promotion and funding is still pre- pocketbook. very young. dominant. There's the Centro de Arte There are many fine women artists. One I Contemporaneo, Televisa's museum, but they Are you afraid that this preoccupation with especially like • is Georgina Quintana, who don't take risks. Until recently, the public monetary success on the part of younger art- deals with women as a theme, sort of an sector here used to take risks, but now they're ists will have a long-term negative effect? apocalyptic kind of way. Someone who deals more timid. No, because increased appreciation isn't with the city, with massive urban themes is just a matter of price. It never hurt an artist to Susana Campos. Patricia Tones is a graphic Will people who see the Met exhibit get a sell for a good price; if they're really artists artist whose prints have won international sense of all this current activity in Mexico? like Tamayo, whose art has never depended acclaim. Helen Escobedo, who lives half the There's been a lot of criticism about the fact on monetary success. On the other hand, an year in Hamburg, and half in Mexico City, that the Met exhibit, Thirty Centuries of artist can become stuck in a familiar style, recently received a Guggenheim fellowship. Splendor, ends with Tamayo. which is what has happened with Botero. He's She does a new kind of art, something on the Well, there are also other exhibits in pri- been following the same little formula over idea of "happenings," an environmental art. vate galleries, in other museums. What I want and over again. Tamayo, in contrast, is al- What's characteristic of the present era is to know — because it's not yet been resolved ways changing. You can put two works to- that there is such a great number of artists, — is what happens when you mix prehispanic gether, side by side, from different decades not only in Mexico City, but in Oaxaca, art with contemporary art. The prehispanic and it looks as if they're from two different Guadalajara, Mazatlan, Mexicali, Veracruz, art of Mexico is so powerful, so intense. First planets. etc. It's a whole national phenomenon. In of all it has this sense of mystery around it. contrast to the '70s, however, you can't talk For all the anthropological studies, etc. we Going back to younger artists, what do you about schools or movements. There are no still haven't been able to decipher it. There's see that interests you? groups, but individuals. There are also many going to be a great Olmeca head at the en- There are two currents: the neo- fine galleries in Monterrey and the best art trance to the Metropolitan Museum, then Mexicanists and the transvanguardistas, market in Mexico is now in Monterrey. Mayan, Teotihuacan, Mexica, Aztec, etc. art. whose work revolves around a sense of trag- It's all so powerful. Let's see how well edy, melancholy, desperation. An example is The influence of the Monterrey rich? Tamayo holds up, along with Siqueiros, Mauricio Sandoval. Another excellent artist Well, I think the rich people in Monterrey Orozco and Rivera. is Alberto Castro Lenero, whose work is take a certain pride in discovering artists, in

22 • MAY 31, 1991 is an Olin-funded fellow at the Hudson Insti- the NAS received $300,000. In 1989, IEA Scholars tute, whose head, Leslie Lenkowsky, is vice received $60,000 from Scaife. Continued from page 7 chairman and executive committee chairman R. Randolph Richardson, the president of critical of the narrow political focus of these of the Madison Center, as well as a former the Smith-Richardson Foundation, sits on the foundations' philanthropy. officer at the U.S. Information Agency. The board of directors of the Madison Center. The Olin Foundation, which boasts as its Bradley Foundation funds "scholarly activi- While no figures were available at presstime president IEA-founder William Simon, do- ties" nationwide at about $23 million annu- concerning Smith-Richardson 's funding for nated $85,000 to the NAS in 1988 according ally, Gottfried writes. MCEA, Gottfried cites the foundation as a to its 990-F tax return, and the next year upped The Sarah Scaife Foundation lists as its major funder of the pre-merger IEA. Smith- its donation to $125,000 according to the 1989 president Richard Mellon Scaife, heir to the Richardson ' s board of governors includes Olin Foundation annual report. In 1989, Olin Mellon fortune and funder of the New Right. former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, gave $123,402 to the IEA, including $89,782 According to a landmark July/August 1981 Jeanne Kirkpatrick and neoconservative au- "to support the Campus Journalism Program." Columbia Journalism Review article, Scaife thor James Q. Wilson, all "neoconservative The Madison Center that year received teamed up with Joseph Coors to provide seed `reliables,'" writes Gottfried. Bork doesn't $30,000. money for the Heritage Foundation in 1974. receive Smith-Richardson funding, but does In his bestselling book A Time for Truth., The president of the Heritage Foundation takes an annual fellowship of $162,000 from Simon lays out his Ayn Randian philosophy since 1977, Edwin Feulner, sits on the board Olin. concerning philanthropy: "Business must of trustees at the Scaife Foundation. That a national conservative crusade on cease the mindless subsidizing of colleges and Scaife owns several media outlets, includ- college campuses should be heavily backed universities whose departments of econom- ing newspapers in the northeast, and during by right-wing foundations is not surprising; ics, government, politics and history are the late '60s and '70s operated Forum World it merely illustrates the character of the en- hostile to capitalism." Simon fears that Features, a London-based news agency. The terprise. Progressives in Texas, as well as "capitalism is no longer the dominant ortho- CJR article said "Scaife shut down Forum in nationally, can't afford to dismiss these highly doxy" in universities today, and believes that 1975 shortly before Time Out, a British political attacks on the "politicization" of pro-capitalist philanthropy can save the uni- weekly, published a purported 1968 CIA education. versities. "Business money must flow gener- memorandum, addressed to then-director —S.H. ously to those colleges and universities which Richard Helms, which described Forum as a do offer their students an opportunity to be- CIA-sponsored operation providing 'a sig- come well educated not only in collectivist nificant means to counter Communist propa- Note: Much of the information contained theory but in conservative and Libertarian ganda.' The Forum-CIA tie, which lasted into in these editorials was updated from articles principles as well," he wrote. the seventies, has been confirmed by various co-written with Austin writer. Tom .Philpott The Bradley Foundation began as the lo- British and American publications." Scaife's Jr. The "Corporate Curriculum" section of cal philanthropic arm of the Allen-Bradley foundation funds right-wing organizations the first editorial is based on the article, "On Company; the national foundation was from Accuracy in Media to Freedom House the Political Economy of Institutional Rac- formed, according to Gottfried, in 1985 when to the Committee on the Present Danger. ism," which appeared in Polemicist, May Rockwell International Corporation acquired Apparently the Scaife Foundation feels it's 1990. The second editorial grew out of re- the parent organization. Bradley in 1988 getting its money's worth from the National search for the article "NAS: The New Right conferred $475,000 in seed money on the Association of Scholars—in 1988 Scaife gave and UT," Polemicist, September 1990. Madison Center, then headed by neo-con- NAS $50,000 according to its tax return. In Thanks to Tom for thevital help and insights servative darling Bill Bennett. Bennett today 1989 according to the Scaife annual report, that contributed to this work.

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THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 23 Postmaster: If undeliverable, send Form 3579 to The Texas Observer, 307 West 7th, Austin, Texas 78701 ness lobby naturally opposes. Others propose starting a state insurance fund, which would cut into private insurance companies' market. Other reforms would address the high cost of medical care, which itself is caused by expensive but profitable high-technology treatments and physician price-gouging. Stewart cites an American Medical Associa- tion study that determined that doctors' pre- tax income rose 73 percent after expenses (including malpractice premiums) during the last Insurance you a banquet, we're not even going to let decade, to an average of $155,800 —this dur- Continued from page 13 you have the blue plate special.' The pub- ing a period when high-income profession- ment appears essential. Even including an lic-interest groups, though, claim that als' taxes were being drastically lowered. MOE policy seems a troubling idea, however, Taylor's real intention is to allow insurance A third major factor, cost-shifting, refers because it would set a bad precedent by es- companies to throw everyone only table to the shell game by which paying patients tablishing a two-class system of coverage. scraps. are overcharged for things like aspirin to com- Taylor disputes the prediction that busi- Asked why, if he's not afraid businesses pensate hospitals for the charity care they give nesses will downgrade their current coverage. will downgrade their current policies, he to those who can't afford insurance. (Texas "It's not designed to cause people to drop their doesn't support a maintenance-of-effort re- doctors and hospitals provided $1.8 billion in coverage," he told the Observer. "It's de- striction, Taylor replied, "That's a hunt for a uncompensated care in 1988.) The terrific signed to appeal to companies who have al- ghost. I wouldn't want to force [employees] irony here is that under Taylor's bill, the ready dropped their coverage. I. don't think to go without insurance for a year in order to uninsured population will almost surely people are going to drop their benefits if they qualify for [the bare-bones package]." (States increase dramatically, which will cause hos- can afford it. If I were a businessman, I that impose a MOE policy require that a pitals to charge paying patients still more to wouldn't run the risk of making my employ- business have gone without offering insur- make up the difference. This will, in turn, ees unhappy by dropping coverage if I could ance for one to three years to qualify for the cause insurance companies to raise insurance afford it. But if I had to choose between los- stripped-down coverage.) rates yet higher, which will cause more small ing my current coverage and replacing it with The trouble with this argument, however, businesses to drop coverage. And the vicious something less, I'd choose something less, is that Taylor is trying to have it both ways: cycle revolves again. because something is better than nothing." He says businesses won't drop comprehen- Told that many of the groups he . says his pro- sive coverage just to get cheaper policies be- No Piecemeal Solutions posal will benefit are opposing HB 532, cause that would irritate employees; but he The complexity of the insurance crisis de- Taylor replied: "They're saying, `we know says they will drop the coverage if an MOE mands a systematic study of the problem, and you're hungry, but even though we can't give requirement is put in, even though that re- an equally sophisticated, integrated attack on quirement won't cost them a penny more. If all fronts. That's why human-services and business interests aren't just trying to sabo- consumer advocates are pushing for a com- Burn the libraries, for all tage existing policies, Stewart asked, "then prehensive study of the problem, to identify why are those businesses the very ones who causes and solutions. Such a proposal is now their value is in the Koran. refuse an amendment to prohibit companies working its way through the Legislature. It from downgrading current coverage?" may be just this careful, considered assess- —Caliph Omar, 641 A.D. ment that the insurance lobby is trying to head The Real Steal off — before everyone realizes how much Omar never read the Public-interest advocates speculate that the they are contributing to the problem. business lobby is trying to place the burden The public-interest groups have an ally. Observer. of insurance reform on consumers in order to "Thelovemor has called for an interim study head off real reforms that will address the true of health-care access and delivery which is ,.. T.... 4,7)bse causes of skyrocketing insurance rates: the going to look at the questions in detail," said greed of employers, physicians and the in- Deece Eckstein, Richards' director of regula- surance industry itself. "HB 532 does not tory policy. "I think she'd prefer that we hold address the hard issues that we must tackle to off on HB 532. She would prefer to address 307 W. 7th St. slow the dramatic increase in health care questions like that in the context of that study." Austin, TX 78701 costs," said Schneider, of the Southwest Of- The bill was pending in a Senate subcom- fice of Consumers Union. "Instead of scruti- mittee as the Observer went to press. Propo- Subscribe now and get one nizing the role of the insurance industry, nents are trumpeting Taylor's bill as pro-small year (25 issues) of The Texas health-care costs and cost-shifting from the business, a powerful credential that could uninsured to the insured, HB 532 takes on make the legislation difficult for lawmakers Observer for just $27. the least powerful and most vulnerable group to vote against — especially with the entire involved in this issue: the consumer. Cutting Senate running for re-election next year. Name benefits is the easiest thing for everyone po- Even if HB 532 is stopped, whether at the litically, but it will not solve the problem." Capitol or the Governor's Mansion, it will be What will? Stewart notes that small busi- just the first skirmish in what threatens to be Address nesses suffer high insurance rates because the a long, bitter battle over the vital issues of small number of employees makes it harder insurance and health care. It is rumored that City State Zip to spread the risk; reforms that would make Gov. Richards will call the Legislature into it easier to pool those groups would cut costs, special session next spring to address health- but would also reduce insurance company care access. The fight over Taylor's bill could 307 West 7th, income. Many insurance-reform advocates foretell who will eventually prevail in the Austin, Tx 78701 call for a law requiring businesses to provide struggle: insuranceconsumers, or the insur- insurance for their employees, which the busi- ance lobby. ❑

24 • MAY 31, 1991