FUND-RAISING PHIL GRAMM LOOKS TO '96 Pg. 10

A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES NOVEMBER 13, 1992 $1.75

Remembering the Alamo . Heights

BY NANCY FOLBRE

San Antonio; Amherst, Mass. HERE'S AN ENGLISHMAN, A Frenchman, a Texan and a T Mexican, plus a pilot, on a four- engine cargo plane flying an emer- gency mission. One of the engines conks out and the pilot announces that the plane will crash unless they lighten their load. He asks for a vol- unteer to parachute from the plane. The Englishman quietly says "God Save the Queen" and steps out the door. A few minutes later, a second engine conks out. Another sacrifice is required. The Frenchman leaps out, with a gallant "Vive la France." Then a third engine goes, and the pilot screams, "Act fast, boys, somebody else has got to jump." The Texan yells "Remember the Alamo!" and pushes the Mexican out the door. When I first heard this joke, in the halls of Alamo Heights High School about 25 years ago, I thought it was incredibly funny. For some reason, I was reminded of it when I received Demetrio Rodriguez and his grandson at new elementary school ALAN POGUE an upscale brochure in the mail ask- ing for my donation to the Alamo Heights School Anyway, I didn't exactly whip out my check- Court ruling that struck down the principle of Foundation. "This year," the enclosed letter said, book. What can you expect from someone who "separate but equal" education in 1954, Brown "approximately $4 million of Alamo Heights was elected "most revolutionary" of the gradu- v. the Board of Education, did little more than Independent School District (AHISD) property ating class of 1969? (It was a new category; I set the stage. Although school segregation is no tax revenue will go to other schools in our don't think it lasted beyond that year). Still, I longer enforced by law, it is reproduced by County Education District." The brochure grew nostalgic thinking about my favorite Alamo economic inequalities that are, in turn, repro- explained that private donations to the foun- Heights teachers, and decided to study the Great duced by unequal access to education. This dation, unlike tax revenues, will be used exclu- Texas School Funding Fight. It's a story worthy circular process has been challenged by a series sively for the students in the Alamo Heights of the big screen, with shoot-em-up anger, edge- of state court rulings in Texas, Arkansas, school system. of-the-seat suspense and a grand patriotic theme: California, Connecticut, Kentucky, Kansas, "We don't want people to get the wrong the meaning of equal opportunity. Montana, New Jersey, Washington, West idea about what we're doing," explained the Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The Texas foundation's president last December. "We're challenge will put a case called Edgewood into not trying to get ahead of other people; we're Keep Your. Eyes the history books alongside Brown. just trying to make up for what was taken from on the Prize In 1953, a bunch of African-American stu- us." These words are a bit ironic, because that's dents walked out of a Kansas classroom, protest- exactly what advocates of school funding equal- Many books have been written, and courses ing the poor quality of their education. That's ization are trying to do. I guess a lot depends taught, on the Civil Rights Movement. People how Brown v. the Board of Education came to on who "we" are, and what we think belongs tend to describe it as a thing of the past. Actually, to "us." it's just getting started. The famous Supreme Continued on page 6 DIALOGUE

Progressive Dissent Gov. Richards cannot take that position and neither — re your half-hearted realpolitik rver Ronnie Dugger writes that we should be endorsement — can the Observer. As for ashamed because we are not toeing the line Guerrero, a resignation after election (should for Bill Clinton. Ashamed that we oppose a that come to pass) would be an important step candidate who was in favor of war in the JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES towards her future rehabilitation, something A Persian Gulf? We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to which in her history of political duplicity is the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are Ashamed that we oppose a candidate who long overdue. dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all embraces the North American Free Trade — Rod Davis Oak Cliff interests, to the rights of human-kind as the foundation Agreement? of democracy: we will take orders from none but our own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent Ashamed that we oppose a candidate who the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or cater runs a TV ad saying he's not like the old Editor's Note: Rod Davis is a former Texas to the ignoble in the human spirit. Democrats, he's a new kind of Democrat who Observer editor. The current editor, who Writers are responsible for their own work, but not dumps on welfare recipients and brags about wrote the "realpolitik endorsement," agrees for anything they have not themselves written, and in pub- with Davis. lishing them we do not necessarily imply that we agree supporting the death penalty? with them, because this is a journal of free voices. We're not ashamed. We're proud. Bill Clinton will not solve the fundamental prob- SINCE 1954 lems of this country, and Ronnie Dugger is Publisher: Ronnie Dugger fooling himself — and his readers — by sug- Enough Bad Advice Editor: Louis Dubose gesting that electing Clinton is a crucial part If as you reported (PI 10/16/92), the Dallas Associate Editor: James Cullen of the "great evolutionary search for the Layout and Design: Diana Paciocco, Peter Szymczak ACLU told El Centro College students, available better reality." who were denied permission to leaflet at Copy Editor: Roxanne Bogucka Bill Clinton is not the missing link. Dugger Mexico City Correspondent: Barbara Belejack the downtown Dallas campus, that college Editorial Interns: Paula George, Lorri J. Legge. buys into the great-man theory of history. He administrators have greater authority to con- Contributing Writers: Bill Adler, Betty Brink, Warren believes that if you can just put the right per- fine speech on college campuses under post- Burnett, Brett Campbell, Jo Clifton, Terry FitzPatrick, son in the White House, many if not most of Gregg Franzwa, James Harrington, Bill Helmer, Ellen Vietnam War U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Hosmer, Steven Kellman, Michael King, Deborah our problems will be solved. the Dallas ACLU is flat wrong. Lutterbeck, Tom McClellan, Bryce Milligan, Debbie But that's not how democratic social Further, the Texas Supreme Court has Nathan, Gary Pomerantz, Lawrence Walsh. change occurs in this country. Dugger's made it clear, time and again, that there is Editorial Advisory Board: David Anderson, Austin; beloved Lyndon Johnson did not do good Frances Barton, Austin; Elroy Bode, El Paso; Chandler greater speech freedom under the Texas Bill Davidson, Houston; Dave Denison, Cambridge, Mass; things because he was a good person; he did of Rights than the federal First Amendment. Bob Eckhardt, Washington, D.C.; Sissy Farenthold, good things because millions of civil-rights The battle for civil liberty is tough enough Houston; Ruperto Garcia, Austin; John Kenneth Galbraith, protestors took to the streets to demand without throwing in the towel ahead of time, Cambridge, Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, N.C.; redress. Change comes from the bottom, not George Hendrick, Urbana, Ill.; Molly Ivins, Austin; let alone giving bad advice. Larry L. King, Washington, D.C.; Maury Maverick, the top. —James C. Harrington, Legal Director, Jr., San Antonio; Willie Morris, Oxford, Miss.; Kaye What we need today is to build a grassroots Texas Civil Rights Project, Austin Northcott, Austin; James Presley, Texarkana; Susan Reid, movement in this country that will demand Austin; Geoffrey Rips, Austin; A.R. (Babe) Schwartz, fundamental democratic change. Once we do Galveston; Fred Schmidt, Fredericksburg. that, it will not matter who sits in the Oval 4.„ ...... 0% A€--k Office. %■.4 ea Poetry Consultant: Thomas B. Whitbread There are no shortcuts. Glamorizing Bill iv; • Contributing Photographers: Bill Albrecht, Vic Hin- Horse terlang, Alan Pogue. Clinton is a diversion at best. At worst, it is a Contributing Artists: Michael Alexander, Eric Avery, set-up for disillusionment and despair. Inn Tom Ballenger, Richard Bartholomew, Jeff Danziger, — Erwin Knoll, Matthew Rothschild Beth Epstein, Dan Hubig, Pat Johnson, Kevin Kreneck, (Knoll is the Editor and It Kitchenettes-Cable TV Michael Krone, Carlos Lowry, Ben Sargent, Dan •A Thibodeau, Gail Woods, Matt Wuerker. Rothschild the Publisher of Pool rA i r . The Progressive magazine t beside the Gulf of Mexico oh,,. Managing Publisher: Cliff Olofson in Madison, Wisconsin.) on Mustang Island IC Subscription Manager: Stefan Wanstrom Executive Assistant: Gail Woods odl° Available for private parties rl Special Projects Director: Bill Simmons gii of Development Consultant: Frances Barton .. iniq ue European Charm Realpolitik Endorsement ? , & Atmosphere OA SUBSCRIPTIONS: One year $32, two years 559. three years 584. Full-time ' Special Low Spring & Summer Rates rt students $18 per year. Back issues $3 prepaid. Airmail, foreign, group, and I was glad to see Barbara Jordan call for Lena bulk rates on request. Microfilm editions available from University Microfilms Guerrero to resign if elected so that Gov. Pets Welcome figt- Intl.. 300 N. Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Any current subscriber who finds the price a burden should say so at renewal time; no one need Richards could appoint a successor. I have forgo reading the Observer simply because of the cost. 1423 11th Street 0, INDEXES: The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The Suppletnentmy Index been advocating this position among friends to Periodicals; Texas Index and, for the years 1954 through 1981 The Texas and political colleagues up here in Dallas for Observer Index. i 0 Port Aransas, TX 78373 '$ THE TEXAS OBSERVER (ISSN 0040-45 I 9/USPS 541300), entire contents some time. If the Democratic Party is to have copyrighted, CO 1992, is published biweekly except for a three-week interval between issues in January and July (25 issues per year) by the Texas Observer any claim of leadership or distinction from can (512) 749-5221 Publishing Co., 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. Telephone: (512) SL the corruption within its own ranks or from 477-0746. Second-class postage paid at Austin. Texas. for Reservations of POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE TEXAS OBSERVER, the moral miasma that is the GOP, Guerrero's 307 Wes( 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. op* bald-faced deceptions cannot be smoothed .100101.1mea 46„ 0,1%, ...,,,,tir over. To continue to support a liar to the peo- ple is to become a liar to the people yourself.

2 • NOVEMBER 13, 1992 EDITORIALS „,,,,, THE TEXAS it Ok server Call Your Representative NOVEMBER 13, 1992 VOLUME 84, No. 22 he last time the Texas Legislature con- of a first term beholden to any candidate for Tvened in a regular session the only seri- speaker. John Hirschi, a progressive Democrat FEATURES ous candidate for House speaker faced a crim- from the Panhandle, had run a progressive inal indictment and stood squarely in the campaign and was highly regarded among the Remember the Alamo Heights middle of an ethics scandal that implicated good-government types who refuse to accept By Nancy Folbre 1 a number of House members and lobbyists. the status quo. He had also signed a yellow Yet Gib Lewis, then seeking an unprecedented card pledging his support to Gib Lewis — the fifth term as speaker, was elected in by apro then-four-term speaker who had locked up his Stakes High in Senate forma vote at the opening session of a fifth by pressuring candidates to support By James Cullen and Ken Case 4 Legislature, which even before it convened him before they were elected. Also named had promised ethics reform that would end in Ward's story were progressive good-gov- Bush Through the Looking . Glass the very practices for which Gib Lewis then ernment types like Sherri Greenberg and By Molly Ivins 5 stood indicted. Lewis would latter plead no Elliott Naishtat, both then freshmen House contest to two misdemeanor ethics violations members from Austin. Fund-Raising Phil Gramm and announce that he wold not run for re- "I had people say that if you're interested By Allan Freedman 1 0 election. in being an effective state representative, Two months from now a new Legislature then you ought to go ahead and sign a pledge DEPARTMENTS will convene and the reform movement that card" Naishtat said, "because the speaker was part of a reaction to Lewis's ten-year will be re-elected and he'll look more kindly tenure seems to have run its course. on you if you sign a pledge card than if you Editorials - 3 The open-ballot system that elected Gib Lewis have not signed a pledge card." was enacted in 1963 and seemed reasonable and "If there's no contested race, what's the dif- Journal progressive. ference?" said Greenberg. `Failed Newspaper' Scrutiny; The intent then was to move the speaker's When an extra-constitutional mechanism Unions Win in East Texas race out into the open, ending secret ballots becomes so much a part of an institution that for the third-highest office in state govern- the best representatives we elect cannot in By James Cullen 13 ment. With open ballots came the cards that good faith stand against it, because to do so Books & the Culture have become the essential element in a sys- would be to deny the constituents who elected tem that concentrates power in the hands of them effective representation, opportunities `Roe' Reconsidered the speaker, marginalizes the speaker's oppo- for change are often only momentary. Book review by Nina Butts 14 nents and encourages the almost routine re- One such moment is about to pass. This Weddington Q&A election of incumbent speakers. It is the sys- year, some 30 representatives have joined Interview by Nina Butts tem that kept Gib Lewis in power for 10 years, together to form a "reform caucus." As the 16 despite serious questions about his ethical leading speaker contenders Pete Laney, D- The Morning After standards as early as his first term as speaker, Hale Center, and Jim Rudd, D-Brownwood, By Debbie Nathan 18 and a cavalier no contest plea to financial dis- collect pledge cards, some House Members Beautiful, Tortured Land closure law violations in 1983. are withholding their votes and demanding a Book review by Emily Jones The cards allow a speaker, once in office, secret ballot – which might not be possible 20 to punish those who failed to support him. for this session's speakers' vote but can be Our Veep (Good God!) That punishment comes in the form of poor written into the new House rules for thesnext Book review by Emily Jones 22 committee assignments, the House leader- session. ship's refusal to support a legislator's bills, The "rules reform" movement —which Afterword and diminished campaign contributions. includes other measures — was started by Christian Soldiers In an article published on the day the last Common Cause and is supported by the Texas By Louis Dubose 23 Legislature convened, in 1991, Mike Ward of AFL-CIO. After the election, the outgoing the Austin American-Statesman reported that Legislature will convene in a lame-duck spe- Political Intelligence 24 one former candidate for the House had been cial session on education funding. Laney and told "his campaign contributions hinged — Rudd each will be trying to close the sale, Cover photo by Alan Pogue at least in part — on whether or not he signed working the incumbents who will return in the card.” Lobbyists begin to cultivate favor January and calling on newly elected repre- among those they perceive to be most openly sentatives. As they close the sale, they fore- supportive of their preferred candidate and close the opportunity for reform. obsequiousness becomes, if not a virtue, at The business lobby opposes this reform least an asset. because it would diffuse power in the House. ERRATA As if to underscore how intractable the So the reform movement must be driven from In "Bill Clinton's Detractors" by Ronnie pledge card system is, Ward began his open- the bottom, by constituents calling their rep- Dugger (10/16/92), "internationalized ing-day report with the account of a freshman resentatives, asking if they have signed pledge force, " due to typesetting and editing House member who, based on his campaign cards. Then asking: "Why?" errors, appeared as "internalized force." and political philosophy, had to be counted among those most unlikely to begin a first day —L.D.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 3 Stakes High in Senate

BY JAMES CULLEN

Austin $26,747. He got 72 contributions of $1,000 or district, Republican car dealer Ernest Ancira has ITH A REDISTRICTING PLAN ORDERED by more, with 53 from PACs, including $6,750 raised $188,772 and had $81,096 left. His top Wthree Republican federal judges, the GOP from the Texas Medical Association, $7,000 contributors included $10,000 from the Texas hopes to swing a half-dozen seats in the Texas from the Texas Dental PAC and $5,000 from Restaurant Association PAC and USAA Group Senate, which the Democrats now control with the Texas State Teachers Association. Gene PAC, $6,000 from Texans for a Republican a 22-9 majority. Targeted districts include those Shull, a Tyler contractor, raised $177,124 and Senate and $5,000 from the AUTOPAC. held by Democrats Ted Lyon of Rockwall, Chet had $38,350 in cash on hand in a marginally Democratic Rep. Greg Luna raised $171,073 Brooks of Pasadena, Bill Haley of Center and Democratic district. His top contributors and had a cash balance of $113,838. Bob Glasgow of Stephenville, while the seats included $10,000 from Associated Repub- District 22, a marginally Republican dis- vacated by Democratic senators Frank Tejeda licans, $7,500 from the Associated General trict, incumbent Sen. Bob Glasgow raised in San Antonio and Gene Green in Houston also Contractors-Building Branch PAC and $6,500 $311,360 and had $44,456 left over. He got are contested. from Republicans for a Senate Majority. 89 contributions of $1,000 or more, with 52 from That would give the Republicans 15 seats, District 6 (Houston) is a marginally PACs, including recent contributions of $25,000 one short of a majority, but any gain to more Republican district in which state Rep. Dan from Dee J. Kelly's Good Government Fund, than one-third of the seats would force changes Shelley, a Republican, raised $116,872 and $5,000 from the Coalition for Better in the Senate, which has required a two-thirds had $51,424 on hand. His top contributors Transportation, $2,500 from the car dealers majority to take up individual bills, and would included $2,000 from Houston Industries PAC, and $2,000 from the Liberty Mutual Insurance. give the GOP a sufficient number to block guber- $1,500 from the Texas and Southwest Cattle Republican Jane Nelson of Lewisville, a mem- natorial appointments. With a showdown Raisers PAC and $1,000 from 11 PACs. Don ber of the State Board of Education, raised expected over tort reform, business and pro- Coffey, a Democrat, who raised $14,910 owed $155,367 and owed $116,456. Top contributors fessional interests generally have staked con- $4,686 going into the final month. His top con- included $14,500 from Associated Republicans servative Republican candidates who would tributors included $2,500 from the Teamsters of Texas, $11,500 from EYEPAC, $10,000 limit lawsuits, while trial lawyers who repre- PAC and $1,000 from the AFL-CIO. from H.E. Chiles and $8,000 from Texans for sent plaintiffs and organized labor generally District 9 (Central Texas), a tossup district: a Republican Senate. support Democrats. incumbent Republican Sen. David Sibley, R- In District 25 (West Texas), a marginally (Figures are for the year through Sept. 30, Waco, raised $202,214 and had $103,789 on Republican district, Sen. Bill Sims, a conser- except as noted.) hand. His top contributors included $6,500 from vative rancher from San Angelo, received In District 1 (Northeast Texas), a Democratic Texas Dental PAC, $5,000 from Texas $132,825 from July through September, while district, incumbent moderate Republican Sen. Restaurant Association PAC and $4,000 from Republican state Rep. Troy Fraser of Big Spring Bill Ratliff of Mount Pleasant had raised EYEPAC (ophthalmologists). Dr. Charles raised $48,889 during that period. He got 21 $347,603 and had $136,408 in cash on hand Osborn, a Waxahachie Democrat, raised $20,160 contributions of $1,000 or more, with 11 PACs, Sept. 30. Bob Aikin, a Commerce businessman, and had $6,131 on hand. Most of his contribu- including business, utilities, health and pro- former state representative and member of the tions came from doctors. fessional PACs. State Board of Education raised $372,283 and District 11 (East Harris County): Sen. Chet District 26 (Hill Country), a Republican dis- had $134,934 on hand. He got 35 contribu- Brooks, D-Pasadena, the favorite in this trict, Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio raised tions of $1,000 or more, including $50,000 in marginally Democratic district, raised $203,155 $292,762 but spent $398,424, including a tough cash and in-kind contributions from the Texas and owed $2,320. He got 60 contributions of primary fight and a legal battle to win reinstate- Trial Lawyers Association, $10,000 from Mike $1,000 or more, with 44 from PACs, includ- ment on the ballot. Top contributors included Gallagher and $5,000 each from four lawyers ing recent contributions from beer wholesalers, $6,000 from Associated Republicans of Texas, and law firms. health and insurance PACs. High-dollar $5,000 from Texas State Teachers Association In District 2 (Northeast Texas), a Republican Republicans apparently have written off chal- PAC and $4,500 from Associated General district, incumbent Sen. Ted Lyon of Rockwall lenger Jerry Patterson, who raised $98,403 (with Contractors, Building Branch. Carlos Higgins, raised $389,713 and had $85,017 in cash on no individual contributions more than $1,000) an Austin lawyer, raised $5,074 and owed $7,714. hand. He recieved 154 contributions of $1,000 and had $14,441 on hand. He had no contributions of $1,000 or more. or more, including $6,500 from the Texas In District 17, a marginally Republican dis- District 30, which stretches from Wichita Falls Democratic PAC and $5,000 each from the trict, Democrats have slim hopes that Democrat to the Panhandle, is a Democratic district, but Coalition for Better Transportation and six trial Ronnie Harrison can upset Republican incum- incumbent Democratic Sen. - Steve Carricker lawyers and law firms. He also received strong bent Sen. Buster Brown, who raised $77,900 raised $84,514 and had $50,606 left over. He support from labor, dentists, mental health advo- and had $60,083 on hand. His top contributors ,got 14 contributions of $1,000 or more from cates, auto dealers and trucking advocates. included $4,000 from Texas Dental PAC and PACs, including recent contributions from truck- Florence Shapiro, an advertising executive and Texas Association of Realtors, $3,678 from ers, trial lawyers, car dealers and life insur- Mayor of Plano, raised $437,201 and had AUTOPAC and $3,500 each from BW-PAC ance agents. He is favored over Republican $131,195 in cash on hand in a marginally (wholesale beer distributors) and CPAs of Tom Haywood, who raised $136,040 and had Republican district.. Her top contributors Houston. The district is considered solidly $43,102 on hand. He got 37 contributions of included $31,000 from the Associated Republican although it voted 50 percent for Gov. $1,000 or more, with nine from PACs, includ- Republicans, $5,000 from EMPAC (Dow Ann Richards. Harrison raised $28,326 and ing $12,500 from Texans for a Republican Chemical), TREPAC (real estate) and USAA owed $21,814. He received nine contributions Senate, $2,500 from the Texas Farm Bureau and Group PAC. of $1,000 or more, including $2,500 each from $1,500 from Texas and Southwest Cattle Raisers In District 3 (East Texas), a marginally Drive Political Fund and the firm of Umphrey, Association and recent contributions from busi- Democratic district, Sen. Bill Haley, D-Center, Burrow, Williams and Bailey. ness, insurance and utility PACs. had raised $194,422 and had a cash balance of In District 19 (San Antonio), a Democratic - Research by Ken Case

4 • NOVEMBER 13, 1992

W1+0,1•1■11M,* 000,,P141111.0114ANOW.44,11,1,12001,*VMVJ qwerrjoilelp ■MtipteMilyte04.0040.,”.1 110001.001110000•11Ws.00mb.ftwoom Bush Through the Looking Glass

BY MOLLY IVINS

"There's no use trying," said Alice, "one A;;....* • can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age I always did it for half an hour a day. Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." — Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Austin HARACTER, SAYS GEORGE BUSH, IS THE issue. George Bush. Says character is the Cissue. Character, one supposes, comprises both prin- ciples and integrity. What are George Bush's principles, this man who accuses Bill Clinton of waffling? George Bush has been on both sides of the abortion question. He has been on both sides of civil rights. More recently, he has been on both sides of new taxes. He has been on both sides of Saddam Hussein. He says he is for a balanced budget amendment while the deficit has increased to $288 billion and he has asked for more money than Congress has actu- ally appropriated. He has been on both sides of "voodoo economics." FILE PHOTO In 1964, George Bush campaigned against George Bush and integrity. You may recall the American people have a right to it. If the Sen. Ralph Yarborough as a staunch opponent when he said on national television that Walter truth hurts, so be it. We've got to take our lumps of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the first great Mondale had said our marines in Lebanon "died and move ahead." piece of civil-rights legislation that gave blacks in shame." Mondale said they died in vain. But he went right on with the cover-up and the right to eat in the same restaurants and drink Then Bush tried to prove with a dictionary that is still lying about it today. out of the same water fountains as whites. Bush Mondale meant "in shame." His entire administration is embroiled in a was wrong, he was mistaken and he has never Texans may recall that in the early 1980s massive cover-up of Iraqgate, the illegal use admitted it. Why doesn't he admit it? George Bush tried to avoid capital gains taxes on the of American gain credits by Saddam Hussein Wallace has. sale of his Houston home by claiming that his to buy weapons. To cover up this piece of folly, ' As a Republican, despite his heritage from real residence was in Kennebunkport, Maine. the administration had to interfere in and then both his mother and his father as a moderate The IRS wouldn't let him. Since then, he has botch the prosecution for the largest bank fraud Republican, he first became active in the claimed a Houston hotel suite as his home. in the history of this country. The CIA, the FBI Goldwater wing of the party. Later, he became You may recall his 1988 campaign — a vapid, and the Justice Department are now engaged in a moderate. Then he became whatever he has racist exercise, featuring the flag and Willie investigating one another in the farcical fallout. been for the past four years. Horton, conducted while he carefully concealed It would be more farcical if Americans hadn't Those who were around during Watergate the extent of the S&L fiasco and lied about his died fighting Iraq. may recall Bush's inane, burbling denial of involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal. In this In every campaign speech he gives, George the entire stinking mess. Those who recall his campaign, he has descended into rank Bush is guilty of massive hypocrisy. In every vice-presidential years may recall why the McCarthyism with his unfounded charge that campaign speech he gives, he twists his oppo- Washington Post described Bush in a 1984 edi- there was some impropriety about Clinton's nent's words (as he does on Clinton's stand torial as "the Cliff Barnes of American poli- having visited Moscow during a tour of European on the Persian Gulf War), he twists his oppo- tics — blustering, opportunistic, craven and capitals and with his demagoguery implying that nent's stands and he twists his opponent's record. hopelessly ineffective all at once." • it was unpatriotic to oppose the war in Vietnam. He is guilty of hypocrisy about the Clean Air You may recall why George Will described One reason Bush won in 1988 was his famous Act, the civil-rights legislation he was finally him in those years as the "yapping lapdog of the interview with Dan Rather about Iran-Contra. forced to sign, the tax bill he agreed to Reagan Administration." Bush blustered, he fulminated, he attacked Rather. ("Congress twisted my arm," he whines). George Bush and principle. There is one sin- But he never answered the questions. And the Sure, George Bush is a decent individual. gle issue on which George Bush has been res- reason becomes more apparent every day. He's polite, he's loyal, he's kind to his children olute through the years, despite its unpopular- He was not "out of the loop." From George and he has that endearingly goofy streak (did ity and defeat — a capital gains tax cut that Shultz's memo to the recent revelation of the you catch his reference to "90/90 hindsight" the would disproportionately benefit the wealthy. John Poindexter cable that lists Bush among other night?). But in his public life, George those supporting secrecy and concealment of Bush has been anything but an exemplar of the entire operation. A month after that cable principle and integrity. When has George Bush Molly Ivins, a former Observer editor, is a was written, Bush made a speech saying, "Let stood for anything in his public life except the columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. the chips fall where they may. We want the protection and advance of George Bush? ©1992 Creators Syndicate Inc. truth. The president wants it. I want it. And To suggest otherwise is a sick joke. ❑ THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 5

"110..0)+7.1.41.1. 4r11.4 4410 • 7. to.N1W00.0.'8010., Remembering the Alamo Heights continued from cover be filed. In 1968, a bunch of Chicano students family member or friend of mine ever served too seriously; he and his team went into a ner- walked out of classrooms in the Edgewood dis- there. Researching this article, I met someone vous huddle, but couldn't agree on what to do. trict of San Antonio. Parents met with teachers who graduated from Edgewood the same year Then they got hit hard by an offensive line of and administrators to ask why the school roof I graduated from Alamo Heights. Manuel said men in black robes. was falling in and bats were roosting in the build- that more students from Edgewood than any other State District Judge Scott McCown extended ing. They learned that money was short, not high school in town ended up in the army and he the May 1990 deadline, but stipulated a clear because the local tax rate was too low, but because told me a story about his own experience. penalty for failure to meet it by September. In the district didn't have much taxable wealth. His cousin had been killed in Vietnam, and the absence of legislative action, a court mas- Back in 1950, Texas legislators had recog- his brother was fighting there, so he turned ter (or appointed team of experts) would develop nized the problem, and started to do some- down a scholarship to Columbia University in a plan. Lacking any power to raise taxes, the thing about it. The state guaranteed a mini- order to enlist. Then his brother came home court master would take a pure "Robin Hood" mum for each district to be provided by a on leave and told him he was being a fool. approach based entirely on redistributing tax combination of local and state resources, with Manuel wouldn't change his mind, so his brother money from rich districts to poor ones. Faced more state money going to property-poor dis- brought some friends over to help persuade with this threat, the Legislature proposed a state tricts. Problem is, the state never got around him. Manuel still wouldn't budge, but got so aid package that would have brought all schools to including construction costs as part of the tired of arguing he finally said, "Well if I can up to a higher level of funding, but stopped minimum program (although it originally said fight you and win I can go to Vietnam and sur- short of equalization. Bringing all school dis- it would), so property-poor districts never had vive." They fought and Manuel definitely didn't tricts up to the same level as the richest 5 per- enough money to build or maintain adequate win and there they were on the front lawn when cent seemed, to them, prohibitively expensive. facilities. Also, the state used county-level esti- the sun came up, crying and hugging each other. On Sept. 24, 1990, McCown ruled that the mates of market value to assign the percent- So this Edgewood graduate ended up at San state's response "did nothing to eliminate the age of state aid. The so-called equalization Antonio College. disparities in local wealth." The Texas Supreme effort never did much equalizing. Meanwhile, lawyers for Rodriguez and the Court backed him up. In the meantime, the Gulf The student walkout in 1968 led to the for- other plaintiffs pressed their suit successfully War had started, and Houston Rep. Paul Colbert mation of the Edgewood Concerned Parents until 1973, when the federal Supreme Court devised an acronym for Supreme Court Association. Arthur Kochman, then a San ruled 5-4 that equal access to education is not Unanimous Decisions — SCUD attacks. Antonio lawyer, agreed to back their legal a fundamental right under the Constitution. A new deadline of April 1991 was set. efforts. A parent named Demetrio Rodriguez Two years later the same justices ruled in the Legislators were scared to death of raising taxes was the first to sign the papers, lending his Milliken decision that white suburban districts and many argued that redistribution was plain name to the legal antecedent to Edgewood vs. did not need to participate in desegregation socialistic. But the threat of the court playing Kirby. There's no way he could have known he programs with cities. The Alamo Heights School Robin Hood finally persuaded them to com- was signing up for a lifetime fight, but he prob- district encompasses the suburban townships of promise on a system of County-wide Education ably would have signed anyway. The gracious, Alamo Heights, Terrell Hills and Olmos Park, Districts (CEDs) that would combine increases articulate sheet-metal worker has attended most which, needless to say, are not legally part of in state aid with some redistribution from rich of the hearings over the years, and now sym- the city of San Antonio. to poor. bolizes the Edgewood community's efforts. He Demetrio Rodriguez and his friends refused The basic idea in Senate Bill 351 was a good is to school funding equalization as Rosa Parks to give up. In 1984, Al Kauffman of the Mexican one. The original school districts had been is to the struggle against racial segregation. American Legal Defense and Educational Fund defined in arbitrary ways, often gerrymandered Plaintiffs in the Rodriguez case made com- (MALDEF) filed a new suit in state court. to keep Anglos separate from everybody else. parisons with Alamo Heights from the very Traditional civil rights strategy had generally In San Antonio, for instance, many property start. Even though residents of the poorer dis- relied on federal support to bring states into line. deeds had restrictive racial covenants that didn't trict paid one of the highest tax rates in the But times had changed and the state constitu- permit Mexican Americans or African area, they could only spend 56 percent as much tion, unlike the federal one, asserts that a "gen- Americans to purchase houses. per student as the prestigious school on the eral diffusion of knowledge" is "essential to The establishment of new, larger entities could north side. Alamo Heights was among the more rights and liberties of the people." break down racial and economic segregation, affluent, but even its property wealth per stu- On Oct. 2, 1989, Rodriguez and Edgewood and create a new incentive for communities pre- dent was far exceeded by districts with more oil won the ultimate legal victory. The Texas viously at odds to work together. But wealthy wells than children. A sample of over 100 Texas Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that "glaring dispari- districts, in particular, didn't want to lose their districts showed that the wealthiest 10 spent ties" in spending between wealthy and poor dis- sovereignty. So the Legislature didn't replace about three times as much per pupil as the poor- tricts violated a constitutional requirement that the old district system, but created a new struc- est four. the state support and maintain an efficient edu- ture on top of it. Adequacy, as well as equity, was at issue. cational system. A deadline of May 1990 was Unlike any previous legislation, the new CED Even average levels of per pupil expenditure in set for legislative reform. The court observed system had a Robin Hood component: it explic- the state were well below national levels. Students that Mexican Americans comprised 30 per- itly redistributed money from rich to poor dis- in the poorest schools weren't getting much of cent of total statewide enrollment, but 95 per- tricts, as well as raising many local tax rates and an education. Drop-out rates were high, and cent of enrollment in the poorest districts. increasing state assistance. But the system didn't few students went on to college. In 1968, that That year, the Alamo Heights Mules won one equalize: to placate the wealthier districts; it meant a greater likelihood of being drafted. football game and lost nine, a not untypical allowed them the option of local "enrichment" I started protesting the Vietnam War shortly record. Sometimes parents complain that the -- continued access to some of their own tax after I enrolled at UT-Austin, but not a single school is just too white to win at football. The revenue that would not be shared with others in scoreboard at Edgewood High temporarily their CED. ignored football altogether, to proclaim "We Still, wealthy districts screamed at the fiscal Nancy Folbre is economics professor at the won. Edgewood 9, State 0." Bill Clements, the pain. Those that had previously enjoyed low tax University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She Republican who was governor at the time the rates due to high wealth had to raise their rates. works with the Center for Popular Economics. case was decided, didn't take this legal game Then they had to watch much of "their" revenue

6 • NOVEMBER 13, 1992 distributed to others within their CED. According to its fundraising brochure, Alamo Heights lost about $5.5 million in property taxes to its CED and received about $1.1 million from the state, for a net loss of about $4.4 million. Fifty wealthy school districts, including Alamo Heights, immediately challenged the new law. Ironically, they won partly because of the very provisions intended to placate them. If the new CED tax structure had simply replaced the old school districts, it probably would have survived legal challenge. But by superimpos- ing CEDs on existing school districts, the Legislature created something that resembled a state property tax, which is explicitly pro- hibited by the state constitution. On Jan. 22, 1992, the Texas Supreme Court ruled the new law unconstitutional. Concerned about delayed progress towards equalization, as well as the disruption of school finances, it also ruled that the new system should remain in place until the Legislature could come up with a better plan. Those who had struggled for months to satisfy the court's earlier demands were furious at this new, seemingly contradic- tory ruling. But the Supreme Court can't be blamed for the underlying political stalemate. Represen- ALAN POGUE tatives of poor districts generally want equal- Demetrio Rodriguez and Edgewood allies in 1984 ization. Representatives of rich districts gen- erally don't. Representatives of middle districts lower tax rate was adequate to raise the same job is on the west side of town. At Edgewood, want equality but are afraid it will cost too amount of revenue, further enhancing the attrac- 96 percent of all students are Latino, and 89 per- much. Something has to give. tiveness of the neighborhood. cent come from low-income families. The new deadline is June 1993. All of Exactly the opposite process took place in Instructional spending per student there aver- Demetrio Rodriguez's children have graduated communities whose residents were barred from aged about 75 percent of that at Alamo Heights from high school. Two of his grandchildren good neighborhoods and excluded from polit- throughout the 1980s, and test scores were sig- now attend elementary school in the Edgewood ical power. Because they didn't have much nificantly lower (comparing Latino, as well as district. wealth, they had to set high tax rates in order to all students at the two schools). fund good schools. But if they set high tax rates, The economic obstacles to equal opportunity they discouraged businesses and prospective are still too high. Not enough poor people are "The only thing home owners from locating in their community. well educated enough to earn enough money to we did wrong, Their collective property wealth remained low, live in a district where their children can get stayed in the and therefore their educational spending well educated. The economy today isn't like remained low. it was 50 years ago — it's hard to find good jobs wilderness The Alamo Heights Foundation Brochure unless you have a college degree. My father still a day too long" highlights this circular relationship between the shakes his head, but I still shake my finger. tax base and the schools. Local real estate agent Several Alamo Heightsters I talked to said The legal maneuvering and legislative suspense Kathleen Kuper explains the threat that school "equalization is a good idea, but not if it involves surrounding the Edgewood case have distracted funding equalization poses even to those resi- taking money away from rich districts and giv- attention from its larger meaning. The political dents who don't have children: "Property val- ing it to poor ones." But there's no other way atmosphere of the 1980s made people like ues are directly related to the excellence of to accomplish equalization. Even a state income Demetrio Rodriguez seem like relics of the past education in the Alamo Heights School District. tax, if used primarily to aid poor districts, redis- rather than harbingers of the future. But the To maintain that excellence the foundation tributes income. If you want equal opportu- Edgewood case poses a challenge to the country needs the support of our community now more nity and what it represents — fair play and as a whole. Equal rights to education costs more than ever." The taxable value of property in genuine competition — you have to pay for it. than other kinds of equal rights. Are the better- Alamo Heights today, per pupil, is $461,884; One problem is, a lot of people think they educated willing to help pay for these, or not? in Edgewood, $35,288. can't afford it. Declines in average, inflation- Racial, ethnic and economic segregation in My father, a man whose immense patience adjusted family income over the past 20 years residential neighborhoods has actually increased has survived 40 years of argument with his have created new apprehensions. Forget the in the United States since 1970. The lines of most pointy-headed daughter, says, "Well let those Republican slogan of the 1980s, "A rising tide school districts were drawn long before overt Rodriguezes work hard and save until they can lifts all boats." The ship has been sinking, and segregation was outlawed. Families were will- move into Alamo Heights. There's nothing people are fighting over lifeboats. White mid- ing to tax themselves more heavily if they were stopping them from doing that now." In fact, dle-class families are afraid of losing their certain the benefits would be enjoyed by their the demographics of the Alamo Heights school advantage. own children and those of their friends. They district have changed a great deal since I went Average real weekly earnings are now about drew district lines that excluded groups they con- to school there. Today, about 25 percent of all 19 percent lower than they were in 1973. This sidered undesirable and within those boundaries students are Latino and about 2 percent are decline has been unevenly distributed. Workers established good schools. Property values within black. About 22 percent of all students come without high school diplomas have experienced their districts increased, because many people from low-income families. the greatest losses, but even those with high wanted to buy homes there to take advantage But it's still not easy to find affordable hous- school degrees have suffered. Only college of good schools. As property values went up, a ing in Alamo Heights, or to live there if your graduates have held even.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 7 Increased income inequality among adults room and board at Harvard University is lower to me. Quality education for all should be the means increased inequality of educational than the per-prisoner maintenance costs at most important factor, but economic self-inter- opportunity for children, a powerful incentive Huntsville State Prison. In the U.S. as a whole est is playing a pretty important role. Wealthy for protest in communities like Edgewood. At in 1990, 38 percent of Latino children (18 years districts don't want to lose control over revenues the same time, the "protection" of a college old or younger) lived in families with incomes they consider "theirs." Consider, for instance, diploma and advanced professional-manage- below the poverty line, compared to 18 percent their response to proposed redistricting. rial training is now threatened by a shortage for all children. The combination of poverty and The simplest way to provide equity, maintain of well-paying jobs. poor schooling helps explain why only 58 per- local control and avoid any constitutional amend- The current recession is increasing the eco- cent of Latinos ages 20-24 are high school grad- ment would be to redefine local districts, to con- nomic pressure. Last July's Fortune magazine uates, compared to 79 percent for African solidate them into larger units like the current featured a hard-hat worker looking off into a Americans and 85 percent for whites. And low County Education Districts. This would lower parched desert with the banner "Job Drought." graduation rates, in turn, help explain the poverty administrative costs and wouldn't necessarily Last May, Texas Monthly editor Gregory Curtis in store for the next generation. create unwieldy units. sounded downright tearful describing the bleak Opponents of educational funding reform will But districts like Alamo Heights are vehe- economic prospects of new college graduates. continue to argue that money doesn't really make mently opposed to consolidation or redistrict- This is the kind of economic engine failure much difference. Rep. Alan Schoolcraft, a ing. One reason is that they would lose some of that tempts the strongest passengers to push the Republican who represents a suburban San their identity and sense of tradition. But another weaker ones off the plane. Antonio district and serves on the House Public is that they would lose their economic advan- In the 1970s, poor and minority communities Education Committee, often declares that when tage and perhaps even become vulnerable to all over the country began demanding more equi- it comes to school funding, "less is more." The federal laws against segregation. Right now, table school funding. At the same time, white most obvious response to the money-doesn't- schools on the north side of San Antonio are middle- and upper-class voters increased their matter argument is, "Well then, why do rich dis- predominantly white, on the east side predom- opposition to taxation. The legal stalemate that tricts protest equalization?" The fact is, money inantly African American, on the south and has paralyzed Texas has actually been less dam- is a necessary, though not sufficient, condi- west side predominantly Latino. In a unified aging than the economic firestorm that hit tion for a good education. citywide district, such segregation would prob- California schools after a 1977 state court rul- If you want a competitive economy that ably be illegal and might even mandate busing. ing mandated school funding equalization there. rewards hard work, creativity and willingness Consolidation might encourage affluent par- The tax revolt there led to budget cuts that to take risks rather than just family background, ents to withdraw their children from public dragged the whole system down. Once among you have to give everyone a fair start. And that schools altogether and fortify the enclave of • the best in the country, California's "equalized" means you can't let parents define a different elite private schools. Desegregation had that system now ranks 30th among all states in per starting line for their own children. Does this impact in many Northern cities. But "white pupil spending. principle of equal opportunity limit parent's flight" to the suburbs was encouraged by the Does the white middle class really gain from choices? Yes. But it creates new possibilities, system of local school funding that made many resistance to social spending on "other people's and therefore new choices, for their children. public schools virtually "private" in terms of children"? In the short run, it may save some exclusivity. money by drawing a line in the sand around With this link in the causal chain broken, gen- its own schools. It can keep taxes down and pre- "But the one thing uine equality might result — but only within the serve a competitive advantage for its own chil- we did right consolidated districts. Regional differences in dren. But in the long run, this strategy under- the state would remain. For instance, Edgewood mines the quality of all public schooling. It was the day and Alamo Heights might be equalized, but San also weakens the principles of equal opportu- we started to fight." Antonio students would remain worse off, on nity that made something called a "middle class" average, than those in Dallas. possible in this country. No one ever said it would be easy. Equal oppor- That's why most educators would prefer a Ironically, the very persistence of the reces- tunity isn't just expensive. It also comes into state-based funding plan that would bring all sion is beginning to bring this point home. In conflict with some other important principles. students up to the highest standard. But the the 1980s, Republican rhetoric convinced many The ideal school financing system would pro- revenues required to accomplish this just can't middle-class voters that poor people were vide equal access to education, reward tax be squeezed out of the current system. Only a entirely to blame for their own poverty. This "effort" or willingness to impose taxes and new state tax could provide it. A statewide prop- year, Ross Perot has helped Bill Clinton explain offer local control over taxes and budgets: erty tax would require an amendment to the State how economic policies have contributed to Unfortunately, no system yet dreamed up can Constitution. A state income tax would not. It poverty, unemployment and declining incomes meet all three goals. So reform becomes a ques- would only require a complete revision of the for everyone but the very rich. Our lack of invest- tion of priorities. current Political State of Mind. ment in public infrastructure, including public The Texas Supreme Court did not rule that Some combination of state aid with local education, has hurt our ability to compete with expenditures per student must be equalized, only redistribution, like Senate Bill 351 currently foreign economies. that districts must be able to obtain equal rev- in effect, could work if it were "constitution- In education, as in most things, you get what enue for equal tax effort. The plan put into effect alized." But it could be improved upon in sev- you pay for. The United States now has what last year was based on a political compromise, eral ways. Redistribution from wealthy to poor the dean of M.I.T.'s school of management and did not reward tax effort perfectly or pro- districts should take place statewide. This would describes as "a grossly undereducated work vide complete equalization. But most of the promote greater equality across the state, and force," far below the level of Japan and Germany opposition to the plan came from those who dis- minimize local conflicts within County in high school graduation rates, tested educa- liked its redistributive, "Robin Hood" aspects. Education Districts. Taxes should be more pro- tional achievement, and basic levels of liter- Even some of the beneficiaries were uncom- gressive, taking a bigger bite out of "luxury" acy and numeracy. And Texas is way behind fortable with these. Last year a group of stu- real estate and certain kinds of business prop- the rest of the U.S. in expenditures. In 1991, dent-council representatives from Alamo erty. And potential for local "enrichment" should even districts in the top 5 percent of Texas Heights got together with their counterparts from be strictly limited. Otherwise, wealthy districts schools averaged only $4,600 per student, com- Edgewood and wrote a letter to the Governor. will simply re-establish the disparities that pre- pared to the overall national average of $4,800. They didn't like the way they were being played viously existed. The risks of poverty, unemployment and off against each other. "The most important fac- Debates over details like these will litter the crime all increase as levels of education decrease, tor to both communities," they wrote, "is that battleground in the next special legiSlative ses- and these risks impose serious costs. As Ross all students get the best education possible." sion. Unfortunately, the state's newspapers Perot is fond of pointing out, the cost of tuition, This youthful idealism seems sweet but naive haven't done a very good job of explaining the

8 • NOVEMBER 13, 1992 issues at stake. And all the technical jargon makes it difficult for ordinary people to understand, much less involve themselves in the debate. That's why backlash is a real danger: Some representatives of wealthy districts, like sub- urban Houston Rep. John Culberson, advo- cate a constitutional amendment to declare that unequal school funding is fine and dandy. Many conservatives will argue that adult's rights to spend their tax dollars locally should supersede children's' rights to equal education. How vot- ers respond will depend not only on their polit- ical views and economic interests, but also on how they much voters know about the effects of equalization. This is a story is best told on the local level. Last year, for the first time in history, current operating expenses per student enrolled at Edgewood ($4,723), exceeded those at Alamo Heights ($4,601). Edgewood business officer Earl Bolton says, "We've finally got enough money to be a fairly normal district." They received an additional $6 million last year, or about $402 per student. Over half the boost went into construction. Leaky roofs were fixed (including the one that helped provoke the 1968 walkout) and temporary buildings at LBJ

Elementary are now being replaced by a new ALAN POGUE permanent wing. More counselors and nurses Library ceiling at Brownsville intermediate school, 1986. were hired and more resources devoted to rem- edying low achievement test scores. Teacher lessons and pocket money and provided Javier salaries were raised a bit, but still remain below only with minimal food and clothing? Would "Hold on, hold on" the city average. Basically, Edgewood spent we conclude that he had treated both fairly? Among the many grievances that the Anglo- money on necessities. The president of the Alamo Heights Texans listed when they declared their inde- Alamo Heights lost about $4.4 million that Foundation, Warren Wilkinson, is not too wor- pendence back in 1836 were the failure of the it might otherwise have had, about $1,165 per ried about Javier. He doesn't want John to get Mexican government to provide public edu- student. Private foundation fund-raising efforts dragged down. He says, "If we have money cation, and its law against slavery. New histo- contributed only about $170,00,0. The district we're not willing to accept mediocrity," and ries of the Alamo cast some of its heroes in a made about $1 million in cuts, eliminating then explains that equalization is a "demotiva- less than flattering light. Jim Bowie, it seems, funding for its swimming program, one foot= tor," because kids feel demoralized when money was an ex-slave trader. ball coach, a track coach, two half-day aides, is taken away from them and given to somebody But the Alamo still plays heartstrings on an accounting/typing teacher, a drafting teacher else. "What's the point of trying hard," they ask, behalf of those who refuse to surrender, includ- and a half-time social studies position. The "if I'm just going to get equalized?" ing those who keep fighting for civil rights. marching and string bands lost an instructor Butzedistribution doesn't take away money Whether the cause that Demetrio Rodriguez rep- and had their budgets reduced by $10,000. that kids have earned. It just limits the extent to resents wins this year, or next year, or not for The middle school cut its soccer program, a which taxpayers can support one set of kids 10 years, or 20 more, it's a struggle the Texas home economics position and a business and more than another. Talk about "demotivation" history books will eventually celebrate. If it ever office education position. About $270,000 — what about the kids who can't get a decent makes it to the movies, the soundtrack should was pared out of the maintenance budget. education no matter how hard they study? include Tish Hinojosa's guitar, and some lyrics Salaries were frozen districtwide but still remain What's the point of trying hard if you don't have from her "West Side of Town:" the highest in the region. People living in a chance? Edgewood would consider many of these items It all boils down to a question the whole coun- Peregrinos de ayer luxuries. try needs to think about. Is equal opportunity in del destino y la fe Alamo Heights raised its local tax rate about education a violation of family rights, or an They were pilgrims that made 35 percent so that it wouldn't be forced to cut expression of family values? The answer A good life the hard way. back more. Their rate remained below depends a lot on whether Javier is considered In the meantime, let's hope the plane we Edgewood's, which also increased. Still, it's a member of the family. Judge Scott McCown started out on doesn't crash. Let's try to fix easy to see why Heightsters were upset. For the put it this way: the engines. Or at least teach our children how first time that anyone can recall, per pupil expen- The other thing that I have heard people say to design better ones. ditures at Alamo Heights were below the is "our taxes" — why do we have to send "our ❑ national average. A better school finance sys- taxes" to educate other people's children? Well, tem would spread the costs of equal opportu- there are two problems with that. First, its not * * * nity more equitably, and ensure higher quality "our taxes." We expect people who have no for everyone. children to pay taxes and businesses their taxes Note: For an excellent summary of the legal In his September 1990 decision, state District ...1 guess the thing that upsets me the most is and legislative history of the school funding Judge Scott McCown argued that equity required to hear people talk about "our children" — they fights, see Politics and Public Education. more than simply guaranteeing all students an miss the whole point of the Constitution. They Edgewood v. Kirby and the Reform of adequate education. He used a parable to illus- are all our children. Public School Financing in Texas, by trate his point. Imagine a father with two sons, The Alamo Heights Foundation's fund rais- Gregory G. Rocha and Robert H. Webking John and Javier. What if that father provided ing brochure ignores this larger kinship. (Minneapolis/St. Paul: West Publishing John with food, clothing, shelter, a car, tennis Company, 1992.)

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 9 Fund-raising Phil Gramm

BY ALLAN FREEDMAN

Washington, D.C. T WAS ALL ANYBODY COULD TALK ABOUT: THE Speech.. Phil Gramm's moment to impress I us all as the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention. Pundits from Washington to Texas gathered around their television sets and prepared to be dazzled. Reporters considered the expectations. The question: Could Gramm shine on the national stage? After all, Gramm is an accomplished Texas pol. In 1984, helped by Reagan's second land- slide, Gramm was elected to the Senate, trounc- ing Democratic state Sen. Lloyd Doggett of Austin. In 1990, he followed up by smash- ing lackluster state Sen. Hugh Parmer of Fort Worth — despite Parmer's macho but unlikely pronouncement that he would kick Phil Gramm's butt. But Gramm watchers — the reporters and pundits who are fascinated by the meteoric rise of the junior senator from Texas —have long wondered if Gramm had the makings of a successful presidential candidate. The GOP keynote was Gramm's opportunity to define a vision, a Mario Cuomo-like sense of national community. Gramm could serve notice to his critics and his detractors that he was going places. Yet on that steamy August evening in FILE PHOTO Houston, Gramm's address summed up what provide constituent services. what they were up against. He raised enough was to become obvious in the fall campaign Even if Gramm lacks a reinvigorated mes- money early on to discourage big-name — the Grand Old. Party had a sense of past but sage — a must for any presidential candidate Democrats from stepping into the ring, and no grasp of its future. The themes in the Gramm — he is busy laying the foundation for the White brought nearly $16 million into his re-elec- speech — the end of Soviet tyranny, the failure House. He is building a national campaign just tion bid. By contrast, Parmer raised a mere of the Carter presidency, etc. — had grown out of the public view, attacking the task with $1.7 million. stale. And Gramm's manner — his Georgia the fundraising acumen that has made him a Gramm has accepted money from a variety drawl, his round, fleshy face — made for awk- prodigious force in Texas politics. Money is the of sources, following the money at the ward television. lifeblood of politics and Phil Gramm always Republican National Convention from one cor- has a knack for raising dollars. porate-financed event to the next. One of his ven Gramm understood that an important Gramm has been proving his fundraising top contributors has been Houston-based First moment had been lost. In October, he told ability from the day he arrived in Washington City Bancorp, which granted an Iraqi bank a E a gathering of Washington reporters that in 1979, as a newly-elected Democratic $50 million loan in February 1989 to purchase he had considered reading from his keynote Representative from College Station. He agricultural commodities, according to Roll speech. He quipped, "I know many of you impressed colleagues in the House by boast- Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper. slept through it the first time." ing that he had netted $40,000 in contributions While Gramm's re-election finance com- Phil Gramm failed a crucial test in August one day by starting on the top floor of an office mittee was pocketing some $25,000 from bank and it is easy to dismiss him as a national can- building in his district and working his way to officials and First City's PAC, Gramm himself didate — if only for his loyalty to an anachro- the ground floor. took to the Senate floor in 1990 to argue that nistic conservative agenda. But Gramm's A decade later, the Democrat-turned-Repub- withholding agricultural aid to Iraq would be strength has never only been about his ideas, lican had become absolutely decadent in his useless, "like responding to a bully by pulling despite his pronouncements to the contrary. He fundraising, as he pulled off a lavish 1989 out a gun, petting it to your head and saying if may be the Gramm of the Gramm-Rudman Astrodome fundraiser. It was the largest of its you keep threatening me I'll shoot myself." deficit reduction bill that, for all its ballyhoo, kind, taking in more than $2 million, and fea- Indeed, Gramm seems to have taken a spe- failed to reduce the deficit, but his political tured a tribute by George Bush and praise from cial liking to banking contributors. During the power stems from his ability to raise money and Charlton Heston. To bring in more dollars, 1980s, he received $86,098 from S&L interests, Gramm used a 900 number to make giving according to a Common Cause report. Only five easier. senators raised more money from S&Ls. When Allan Freedman is a former Observer editor The Astrodome hoedown was about raising thrift reform legislation passed, Gramm hob- This story was funded by the Institute for big dollars as well as scaring off challengers — bled the bill with amendments that made it Alternative Journalism. a pre-emptive strike to show potential rivals impossible for regulators to seize bankrupt

10 • NOVEMBER 7-13, 1992 thrifts, according to one report. to matter that Gramm was booted from his posi- personal gain. It was no secret that Gramm And Phil Gramm backed a measure to leave tion for spying on House Democrats and report- sought the top spot at the National Republican a $50 billion thrift bailout bill out of the cal- ing details of closed-door Democratic caucus Senatorial Committee (NRSC) in 1990 in order culation of the budget deficit. "Senator Gramm meetings to the Republican White House. to collect the chits and contacts that could serve wants to mask the full scope of the deficit so What the appeals have in common is the him later as a presidential candidate. there is no pressure for taxes so we can get thread of right-wing paranoia, which Gramm The NRSC raises money for GOP senato- through 1992 with 'read my lips' intact," has always had a knack for exploiting. During rial candidates and Gramm was elected to the declared Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C. the Democratic National Convention in New post in part because he has proven such a prodi- In fact, Gramm, like many of his colleagues, York, for example, Gramm was both ingenious gious money-raiser at home. Gramm needs the continues to be rewarded for his position on the and disingenuous when he sent a letter to con- post because to run for president he must expand Senate Banking Committee. According to an tributors in the form of a mailgram, to provide beyond his Texas financial base. In 1990, 83 analysis performed for the Observer by the the illusion of urgency. In the letter, Gramm percent of his large financial contributors called National Library on Money and Politics, Gramm stated that "in a sense, the Democrats this week Texas home. Gramm had the highest percent- has received nearly $18,000 in finance, real- are doing us a favor by telling America how age of in-state contributors of any member of estate and insurance PAC money since the 1990 much they hate our president, but we cannot the Senate. And among the top 10 locations that election. He counts among his contributors the allow their one-note complaint about George provided cash to Gramm's campaign, the only likes of Nationsbank, which provided him with Bush and America to stand unchallenged." out-of-state location to make the list was New $5,000 in PAC contributions. He adds in a postscript, "We must not permit York, ranked ninth between Amarillo and Waco. And banking dollars, more than $200,000 the Democrats to get away with their vicious Even in politics, however, discretion has its in the 1990 election cycle alone, are only a and personal attacks on our president without value, and Gramm has done strikingly little to small part of the senator's huge campaign fund. standing up and speaking the truth." A fundraiser conceal his use of the party committee he heads Gramm's campaign pocketed nearly $1 million for George Bush? A solicitation for the for something other than its intended purposes. in oil and gas money in 1990, including $21,000 Republican Party? No. This is a campaign appeal The committee, for example, routinely gathers from Bass Brothers Enterprises of Fort Worth. for the "Gramm Senate Club." The not-so-veiled political intelligence for candidates around the Defense contractors, such as Rockwell message: The Republicans are in trouble, so country. When the committee conducted sur- International and Northrop Corp., provided send money to Phil Gramm. Be damned if veys in various states in advance of the 1992 more than $100,000. Gramm isn't running in 1992, and this is a tight 'elections, Gramm's name was sometimes added year for campaign fundraising. "Every dollar to questionnaires. According to a story in the ccording to Gramm's latest campaign you send will allow me to air the truth about our Fort Worth Star-Telegram, potential voters were finance report, there. is little doubt that Republican accomplishments and goals, and asked their opinions of Gramm on a scale from Aie is amassing the kind of campaign dol- help force the Democrats to campaign on the "strongly in favor" to "no opinion." The aim was lars that would allow him to run for both issues," Gramm concludes, without mention- to get a reading on Gramm's favorable rating. A President and the Senate in 1996, as did Sen. ing that it is unlikely that he will air these mes- committee spokeswoman said the purpose of the Lloyd Bentsen on the Democratic ticket in 1988. sages until 1996. poll was to gauge whether Gramm was the right At the end of June, Gramm had $5.6 million on That Gramm is a tireless self-promoter does man to recruit candidates, but political opera- hand, and his re-election bid is still four years not in itself set him apart from his over-achiev- tives suspected Gramm's self-interest. off. In 1990, with four years remaining in Lloyd ing colleagues in the U.S. Senate. But Gramm So far there is no strong evidence. that Bentsen's term, the senior senator from TexaS is taking flak these days from some Republican Gramm's campaign fund has benefitted from had about $150,000 in the bank. senators for using his official party position for his role at the committee, but there are strong To be sure, Gramm is an effective money raiser because he works hard. According to Karl Rove, a long-time Gramm political con- sultant in Austin, Gramm is a meticulous fundraiser, not above checking to make sure that the address or name on a fundraising let- High-handed and Lowdown ter is just right. With more than 60,000 active contributors, Gramm could very well have a IN 1989, SEN. PHIL GRAMM ANNOUNCED that in Dallas, and lawsuits against commission larger donor file than any other politician in his 1984 campaign committee had settled members as individuals. Texas history. a lawsuit filed against it by the Federal FEC spokesman Scott Moxley criticized Part of the reason for Gramm's burgeoning Election Commission (FEC) five years ear- the Gramm campaign, saying it is not often contributor list is the effectiveness — not to lier. The FEC had investigated $690,000 the agency must go to court in the course of mention creativity — of his direct mail cam- in campaign contributions to determine if an investigation, "and it is even less often that paign. In his numerous fundraising letters to they were outside the $1,000 per person the commission is sued, and especially if constituents, the Gramm pitch has always been limit allowed in federal elections. When the commissioners are sued in their individ- about loyalty to the conservative cause and Gramm's campaign committee provided ual capacity." According to Moxley, an aver- opposition to the left. During his re-election bid documentation on the questionable contri- age FEC investigation lasts eight months, in 1990, he reminded potential contributors: butions, the FEC determined that $675,000 though some cases have taken longer. "So "At stake is our vision of America, a vision you was within the limits and required that the something that draws on for four years is and I share." remaining $15,000 be donated to charity. unusual," Moxley said. He described the In another letter, Gramm wrote that what The FEC also determined that $9,708 in fine as one of the largest ever in .a congres- "differentiates me from many other corporate funds had been erroneously sional race. Conservatives in Congress is I haven't just accepted and the money was returned to Gramm spokesman Larry Neal said the fought, I have won on issues important to us donors. Gramm agreed to pay a $30,000 errors the federal agency documented were and to those who oppose our vision of America's penalty, instead of taking the FEC to court technical violations made by volunteers. "In future.... The liberals not only hate me, they fear "to prove their charges wrong." essence, we felt that some of the bureau- me." And Gramm is still recounting how as a According to an Associated Press story, crats the FEC dispatched to handle this audit conservative Democratic sponsor of the Reagan the Friends of Phil Gramm fought the were high-handed and lowdown," Neal told budgets, he was stripped of his "position on the agency's investigation of federal campaign the Associated Press at the time the Gramm Budget Committee in reprisal for having stood violations with tactics that included a lawsuit campaign committee agreed to pay the penalty up for what the people of my district and the against the commission in U.S. District Court to the FEC. —L.D. people of America believed in." It doesn't seem

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 11 suggestions that Gramm is doing the best he can House candidates. He has been sighted in Gramm already is facing a potential chal- to serve his own cause where collecting money Indiana, here he helped raise more than $10,000 lenge for the GOP Senate Committee post is concerned. In a South Carolina Senate race, for U.S. Rep. Scott Klug, and of course Iowa, from Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, who Republican operatives strongly believe that where he appeared on behalf of U.S. Rep. Jim is sure to use Gramm's lack of election day Gramm is using the campaign of Fritz Hollings' Ross Lightfoot, helping to raise about $5,000. victories against him. McConnell is also likely Republican challenger Tommy Hartnett "to Gramm' s demanding travel schedule has to use the anger in some factions in the party feather his own nest for a 1996 bid," in the meant less time at home, although he has played where it is claimed that Gramm is using his words of one observer. a small but visible role in a handful of con- position to launch a presidential campaign. Hartnett campaign workers reportedly grew gressional and state house races. In September, None of this would be problem in a better year suspicious of Gramm when they were asked Gramm made a point of showing up at a for Republican Senate candidates. to send to Washington the names of all state and fundraiser on behalf of Henry Bonilla, the San But what remains clear is that if Gramm holds local contributors to their campaign. They balked Antonio Republican TV executive challeng- onto the post, he could swiftly emerge as a when Gramm declined to state why he wanted ing Rep. Albert Bustamante. And Gramm has strong presidential contender in 1988. With the list. Gramm's move reportedly so angered cut a commercial for Donna Peterson, the Bush's loss, Gramm's strongest opponents — campaign staffers that they are not likely to sup- Republican challenging Charlie Wilson of Jack Kemp, Dan Quayle, etc. — would be left port a Gramm Presidential bid in 1996. Lufkin. In her second attempt to unseat Wilson, without high-visibility government positions But the committee post has allowed Gramm Peterson is running a hard race and watching from which to conduct their campaigns. And to follow the old business adage to never use how Bill Clinton affects the polls. Gramm would be in the advantageous posi- your own money when other peoples' is avail- But Gramm has played a much less visible tion of opposing a Democratic administration able. Gramm is notoriously stingy with his own role in Texas than he did in 1990, when he and perhaps emerging as one of the more force- campaign funds, and ,a search at the Federal offered strong backing to three high-profile con- ful spokesmen of the opposition party, a role Election Commission showed that Gramm has gressional challengers who went on to be played by Jim Wright before he was toppled by not personally contributed a single dollar to a soundly defeated. This year, the GOP is look- conservative Republicans. Congressional candidate in this election cycle. ing to Bonilla as their best hope for picking up Still, in running a presidential campaign, That means the senator has relied on official another House seat. Yet because of Gramm's money is not enough. Just as the Bush campaign party monies to cultivate the favor of candidates. marginal involvement in the race, the senator has been hobbled by its lack of a clear message, hat money Gramm does have at his will not be able to take credit for the victory, Gramm has yet to fashion a standard stump disposal he has used in a very cal- should Bonilla defeat Bustamante. speech that sounds like anything more than Wculated fashion. He has thrown sig- On election day, however, the question for warmed-over Reaganism. Perhaps this kind of nificant backing, for example, behind Iowa Phil Gramm is not how well he does in Texas, conservative-think will be the rage in 1996. But Sen. Charles Grassley, despite the fact that but how well he does in the nation as a whole. if the keynote flop was any indication, Phil Iowa's senior Republican senator is virtually Gramm has not received high marks for his Gramm must do more than raise a trailer load assured re-election. Gramm's backing of role directing the campaign committee, largely of cash during the next five years. He must

Grassley is widely seen as a waste of commit- because the GOP has fielded so many weak chal- figure out what he has to offer. ❑ tee resources and a clear move to cultivate lengers and appears no closer to capturing a Republican core support in Iowa, where a cau- majority in the upper chamber than when cus victory in the 1996 primary would provide Gramm signed on as NRSC chair. With the Gramm with a strong start in the presidential prospect of disappointing GOP losses, Gramm primary — if he decides to run. Grassley played may take the fall for failing to deliver more seats ANDERSON & COMPANY a pivotal role in Sen. Bob Dole's 1988 primary into the Republican column. COFFEE win over George Bush, who placed third, and The Dallas Morning News reports that Gramm TEA SPICES Gramm could be counting on Grassley to play might be sensing some election-year changes, cit- TWO JEFFERSON SOUARE a similar role for him in Iowa in 1996. ing the senator's comments on NBC-TV's "Meet AUSTIN, TEXAS 78731 In contrast, Gramm has withheld money from the Press," where Gramm said he is not sure he 51,2 453-1533 Republican candidates who seem to have little will pursue the committee chairmanship again. Send me your list. political future. In Florida, Gramm personally "I want to get through the election, see how we Name recruited Democrat-turned-Republican Bill do, see whether I want to undertake it again," Grant to run against Democratic Sen. Bob he said. Asked about his designs on the White Street Graham. In early October, Grant was openly House in 1996, Gramm said "I know there's City Zip complaining that the NRSC had withheld much- going to be a presidential race in '96. I don't needed campaign dollars, with a committee know whether I'm going to be part of it." spokesman responding that Grant was too far down in the polls to warrant a contribution. At the same time, Gramm has used his cam- paign travel on behalf of senatorial candidates to raise money and meet with financial back- ers of House candidates in states that are con- sidered crucial to primary election politics. During a recent trip through New Hampshire, Gramm was the featured guest at a fundraiser on behalf of Republican House candidate Bill PEOPLE Zeliff, helping Zeliff raise as much as $60,000. Make a world of difference Like the Iowa caucus, the New Hampshire pri- We're proud of our employees and their contributions to your mary, of course, is another of the first important success and ours. Call us for quality printing, binding, mailing steps toward a presidential nomination. The morning after he appeared at the Zeliff and data processing services. Get to know the people at Futura. fundraiser, Gramm met with financial back- ers of New Hampshire Republican Bob Hatch P.O. Box 17427 Austin, TX 78760-7427 and, according to a campaign official, delivered FUTUM 389-1500 a pep talk to the troops. Gramm estimates that COMMUNICATIONS, INC. he has helped raise money for as many as 15

12 • NOVEMBER 13, 1992 JOURNAL

"Today only 18 American cities still have fully `Failing Newspaper' competitive daily newspapers, with 18 others Unions Win existing under joint operating agreements Scrutiny Sought (JOAs), in which most operations are com- in East Texas bined. And a number of those newspapers are U.S. Rep. John Bryant, D-Dallas, called on the in immediate jeopardy," he said. After at least 18 failed attempts by various U.S. Department of Justice to enforce federal The House Judiciary Subcommittee on unions to organize Tyler Pipe Co., the United antitrust laws and stop the takeover of the San Economic and Commercial Law, which has Rubber Workers parlayed a hometown advan- Antonio Express-News and the Honolulu jurisdiction over antitrust matters and on which tage as employees at the Tyler plant recently Advertiser by their competitors. Bryant serves, will soon review Justice voted 974-751 to accept the union as its bar- "Just two weeks ago the Justice Department Department files relating to the purchase by the gaining agent. allowed the takeover and closure of the Tulsa Dallas Morning News of the Dallas Times Labor officials hope the hard-fought vic- Tribune by its competitor — the latest of 17 Herald, which stopped publishing last year, as tory, the largest in recent years, represents a daily newspaper closures in the past year in well as filings which may lead to additional turning point in industrial organizing in Texas Louisiana, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Texas, newspaper shutdowns. after 12 years of union-bashing under the Reagan Tennessee, New Jersey, California, Florida, U.S. House Judiciary Chairman Jack Brooks, and Bush administrations. Oregon, Virginia, Alaska, Washington, New D-Beaumont, is considering Bryant's request Danny Parker, president of Rubber Workers York, Georgia and Oklahoma," Bryant said in to hold hearings to investigate the question. local 746, the union at the nearby Kelly- a prepared statement. "Under the Bush Charles Dale, president of the Newspaper Springfield plant that assisted in organizing the Administration, the Justice Department has Guild international union, which represents edi- Tyler Pipe plant, credited the involvement of taken a totally passive approach toward the torial, clerical, pressroom maintenance and other unions in the Tyler area with the success acquisitions, mergers and closures of daily news- circulation truck drivers at the Light, welcomed of the four-month organizing campaign, which papers, rather than acting aggressively to pro- the congressional attention, but he noted that diffused the usual management criticism that tect competition." elected officials are reluctant to move against the organizers were outsiders. "This time they Bryant, a member of the House Judiciary powerful media owners. "Major newspaper were dealing with neighbors, even family," Committee, last year launched an inquiry into owners seem to be able to get away with what- Parker said. A new local 1159 will represent the circumstances surrounding Justice ever the hell they want to do," he said. workers at Tyler Pipe, which manufactures soil Department approval of the takeover of the Dale said union representatives and attorneys and drain pipes and associated fittings for the Dallas Times Herald by A.H. Belo Corp., which are still examining their options and said the Dallas-based company. owns the Dallas Morning News, virtually every union would be willing to invest in efforts to Ron Hoover, a representative of the Akron, suburban newspaper in Dallas County and the organize the Express-News or other remain- Ohio-based international union who helped in largest TV station in the Dallas area. ing newspapers in Texas. "We're going to try the organizing and now is assisting in negoti- "As a result of these takeovers and merg- to organize that paper, but our experience in ating the first contract, said the company ran a ers, in cities throughout America the situation Texas is that we've spent hundreds of thousands "traditional" anti-union campaign, warning has become like that in Dallas: There is only of dollars at the Hearst paper and we've been employees of the potential loss of benefits, for one place to advertise and one source of news. stymied over and over there," with a manage- example, but Hoover added, "The company had The price of newspaper advertising has increased ment that has sought to decertify the unions and a lot more integrity than a lot of companies dramatically and diversity of opinion has been a National Labor Relations Board that under the I've dealt with.... They didn't use the blatant lies eliminated. If you want to advertise, you have Reagan and Bush administrations has been that I've seen some companies use." only one choice; if you want to read the news, unfriendly to unions. The union stressed the traditional issue: "Do you have only one source; if you want to speak Dale said it is difficult to organize in today's people want to have a collective bargaining out, there is only one outlet," Bryant said. troubled economy. "One hell of a lot of peo- agreement so rights are protected and consis- In San Antonio, he said, the Hearst Corp., one ple are terrified by the economy and the real- tent," Hoover said. "That's really the issue." of America's largest media conglomerates, ity is that there aren't that many newspaper Christopher Cook, a spokesman for the which currently owns the Light as well as the jobs and they perceive that this is a bad time Texas AFL-CIO, said unions have had more Houston Chronicle and four other newspapers to get involved in union organizing efforts success in organizing during the past year, win- in Texas, proposes to purchase the San Antonio because they might lose their jobs as a result." ning approximately half of the dozen orga- Express-News from Rupert Murdoch's News But tough times are precisely the times that pro- nizing drives. "We think it's due to 12 years Corp., another huge media conglomerate (See tection is needed, he said. "I would think it of Reagan and Bush administrations knocking "Hearst to Light: Drop Dead," TO 10/30/92). would be damned important for people at the out laws that protect workers and ... not enforc- "Hearst is attempting to label its newspaper a Express-News to organize," he said. ing labor laws," Cook said. "Conditions have `failing enterprise' to produce a self-fulfilling Tom Honeycutt, president of Guild local 25 degraded to the point where workers are fight- prophecy so Hearst may be permitted to buy the in San Antonio, said it is possible that the ing back." competing Express-News. Hearst is really try- Express-News might organize because of the While the rubber workers' victory at Tyler ing to buy a monopoly, not another newspa- union history in San Antonio, but he questioned Pipe fits the classic mold of organizing large per. The result would put 600 employees out of whether the international union would want to plants, he said unions have seen more activity work, rob America's eighth largest city of news- devote more money to save the union in Texas, among service workers and government work- paper competition, leave businesses with only a "right to work" state where conditions for ers while other locals have had success in one place to advertise and readers with only one unions are "difficult at best"; he believes Hearst expanding their established unions. source of news." would fight "tooth and nail" any attempt to "Young people understand when they go to The Honolulu Star-Bulletin is also in danger organize the newly-acquired paper. work for $5 an hour rather than the $10 or $12 as a result of a deal by Gannett Co., another The Guild has 80 locals that represent 40,000 an hour their dad or mom used to make it is media conglomerate, to buy the dominant com- employees at approximately 200 publications. not a temporary thing. That's the way it's sup- petitor, the Honolulu Advertiser, Bryant said. —J.C. posed to be from now on." —J • C • THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 13 BOOKS & THE CULTURE Roe Reconsidered

BY NINA BUTTS

A QUESTION OF CHOICE By Sarah Weddington. 306 pages. New York: Grosset/Putnam. $21.95

HE PAIN STARTED FAR AWAY, AS IF IT WERE only an echo of itself. It advanced unavoid- T ably until it took over my gut — the worst pain I had ever felt. My only defense was to breathe long and hard and grip my husband's hands and stare into his eyes. As the pain sub- sided, the midwife told me to let go of it, forget it, rest until the next one came on. I was huge and sweaty and naked under a thin hospital gown, waiting for my first baby to be born. As I lay in the dark labor room, a clear thought appeared: No one should ever go through this against her will. Sarah Weddington's A question of Choice is a book that you must read. If you can afford to, you must also buy it and keep it on your bookshelf where your children and grandchil- dren will see it, and, perhaps with a nudge from you, pull it down and read it for themselves. Weddington's story of the Roe v. Wade abor- ALAN POGUE tion rights case, which she argued successfully Weddington celebrates her election and ERA passage in 1972 before the Supreme Court in 1971, is an essen- tial piece of American history and of the chron- phone books or newspapers; this was all under- The articles ... cautioned women about the icle of the liberation of women. It is a wonder- cover. You had to find someone who knew a dangers of inserting solids or fluids into the ful story, full of drama and inspiration, and name, a place — and I refused to tell anyone uterus, such as knitting needles, artists' paint- Weddington tells it well. my situation. brushes, telephone wire, packing gauze, In addition, her analysis of the ongoing attack catheters, curtain rods, ballpoint pens, chop- on reproductive rights and her conclusion that Ron found out about a doctor across the bor- sticks, slippery elm bark, and coat hangers. Roe will be overturned by the Supreme Court by der in Mexico, Where abortion was also forbid- These could pierce the womb and bladder, and 1994 will move you to action if you are a femi- den. Weddington spent all of her savings on an often cause death from infection or hemorrhage. nist. I hope that you are. illegal abortion there. • The story begins in 1967, when Sarah As the anesthesia took effect, she thought, "I Durden, Smith and a few others, organized an Weddington was a third-year law student at the hope I don't die, and I pray that no one ever underground abortion referral project to educate University of Texas. She became pregnant. She finds out about this." women about birth control and refer women to was neither married nor engaged to be married. She and Ron married the next year. He began safe, non-degrading abortion clinics. Some clergy Weddington had grown up in tiny Texas towns, law school as she graduated. In the top quarter were providing a similar service. Methodist min- where her father was a Methodist minister. "My of her class and "a hard worker," she was not isters Robert Cooper and Claude Evans in Dallas parents would be very disappointed in me," she offered a job after months of interviewing. and Bob Breihan in Austin were counseling writes. She was supporting herself through law Weddington explains without emotion, "I women with unwanted pregnancies and referring school by working "several jobs." And she was believed the reason I could not get a job with a those wanting abortions to safe clinics in and out overwhelmed by fear. law firm was that I was a woman." of Texas. Another student, Ron Weddington, was the She went to work for a favorite UT law pro-. Weddington began legal research for Judy man she was "seriously dating." He did not want fessor, John Sutton, and joined a consciousness Smith and Bea Durden because they wanted to children. She and Ron discussed abortion. raising group. In the group were two scientists, know if helping women get abortions was ille- Bea Durden and Judy Smith. Durden had two gal. Weddington's research revealed that the orig- If we decided on abortion, the next prob- children and a doctorate in biology from Yale. inal state laws against abortion passed, in the lem was: Where to go? There were no ads in Smith, "the first self-described feminist I ever 1800s, not for religious or moral reasons. The met," had majored in chemistry at Brandeis. laws were to protect women from what was then Austin writer Nina Butts divides her time Both wrote for The Rag, an Austin underground a dangerous surgical procedure and to help put between caring for her two-year-old daughter newspaper, often on the subject of contracep- midwives, who often did abortions, out of busi- and teaching at Austin Community College. tion and abortion: ness. Weddington read Griswold v. Connecticut,

14 • NOVEMBER 13, 1992

err v - '1 = . _

the 1965 Supreme Court case that overturned the S.G. Johndroe Jr., was proud to have hired the She concurs: "I saw Roe as part of a much Connecticut law against birth control. ("I ran first woman assistant city attorney. But when he larger effort by many attorneys. I was the one to find Ron.... 'Can you believe that birth con- found out that she was taking Roe to the Supreme who, through a series of quirks, stood before the trol was actually illegal?') She also discov- Court, he called her into his office and silently Court to represent all of us." ered that state abortion laws were being chal- scribbled a note: "`No more women's lib. No But I realize now that this notion masks lenged in federal courts across the country. more abortion.' Weddington's individual brilliance and dedi- It was Judy Smith's idea to file a lawsuit in fed- After much discussion, she and Ron quit their cation. She must receive credit for her very delib- eral court challenging the constitutionality of the jobs, returned to Austin and set up a law prac- erate decision to litigate and for her tremen- Texas anti-abortion law. Smith, who was excited tice together. dous work, courage and sacrifice. by Weddington's legal research and despairing of Weddington spent the summer and fall of Weddington's writing is consistently clean, ever changing the Texas abortion law through the 1971 preparing to go to the Supreme Court that interesting and alive. Her book is filled with detail Texas Legislature, presented her idea to December. She and Ron wrote the legal brief; but never burdened with it. She knows how to tell Weddington and her husband in the UT law school she typed it herself. They studied the justices, a story. She has a gift for explaining legal proce- snack bar. It was the fall of 1969. Smith asked whom they called "the Supremes." She exam- dures and arguments in layperson's terms. I never Weddington to take the case and to work for free. ined every new court case on abortion and prac- tripped over or felt left out of her narrative. Weddington was 24 years old. She was two ticed endlessly in moot court, often with UT law The book loses some of its fire after Roe is years out of law school and had never argued a professors: "I am not sure whether all of them decided, but that is not Weddington's fault. Her contested case. Her legal experience was a few wanted me to win, or whether they just enjoyed years with the Carter Administration and working simple wills, uncontested divorces for friends, one pretending they were on the Supreme Court." to protect reproductive rights simply cannot have adoption for relatives and "a few miscellaneous Her account of the Supreme Court hearing the drama of a landmark Supreme Court victory. matters." She was "not really practicing law." of Roe v. Wade on Dec. 13,1971, is full of plea- A few spots in the book chafed. Twice she And that is one reason she took the case "I was sure for the reader, whom she lets in on how refers to her former husband, Ron Weddington, restless," she wrote. She was terrified of losing she slept the night before (badly), what she wore as smarter than her. I could not buy it. And her such a crucial case, but she wanted to use her (a dark suit and pearls), how she wore her hair condemnation of Clarence Thomas is too tepid legal training to help other women. She ticks off (long and down), and exactly what the courtroom — she feels that only Thomas and Anita Hill the reasons it made sense to take the case: She was like ("absolutely packed.... there was elec- know the whole story of "what happened between and Ron lived frugally; she did not think that her tricity in .the air ... on the lectern was a 'cheat them," implying that Hill was dishonest. I found "mother and daddy" would object to her doing sheet,' with a diagram of the justices' seating the title of the book uninspiring, and for some abortion rights work; she felt that her UT law arrangement"). When she stood and fac'ed the reason the editor dropped the standard top-of- professors would help her (many of them did). justices, she argued constitutional rights, the right page notation of the chapter title, which is irri- Weddington recruited a co-counsel, Linda to abortion as basic to women's control of our tating to the reader. Coffee of Dallas, and enlisted the help of Ron lives and the absence of states' interest in out- In the last third of the book, Weddington and some friends as researchers. lawing abortion. She pointed out that self-induced recounts with chilling detail the erosion of the They needed a plaintiff — a pregnant Texas abortion was not a crime in Texas and that abor- right to safe abortion won in 1973. Congress' Hyde woman who wanted an abortion. Linda Coffee tion was not murder; the woman was considered Amendment denies publicly funded abortions to found Norma McCorvey, a young waitress and the victim. poor women and the Department of Health and mother in Dallas, who became "Jane Roe." Jay Floyd, an assistant Texas Attorney General, Human Services gag rule forbids federally funded Weddington met her in a Dallas pizza place and argued the other side. He tried to establish that clinics to inform women about abortion; both "found her street-smart and likable." McCorvey Jane Roe, as she was no longer pregnant, had no have been upheld by the Supreme Court. Roe sur- signed a one-page affidavit and never appeared right to sue. vived by only one vote in June of this year when in court. A justice asked him how any pregnant woman the Supreme Court decided Planned Parenthood Jane Roe sued then-Dallas District Attorney in Texas could ever test the constitutionality of of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Henry Wade, who enforced the abortion law, the state abortion law in court (assuming that Weddington notes that if Robert Bork were in federal district court on March 3, 1970. The by the time the case reached court she would on the Supreme Court now, Roe would be gone. case was heard on May 22 by a panel of three no longer be pregnant). In a final chapter, Weddington writes, "Already judges, one of whom was "legendary Texas "There are some situations in which no rem- people are talking about the best arrangements woman" Sarah T. Hughes, the progressive fed- edy is provided," answered Floyd. "Now, I think for women if abortion becomes illegal.... I hear eral judge appointed by John F. Kennedy. she makes her choice prior to the time she talk about setting up a new abortion underground Weddington won. The judges declared the becomes pregnant. That is the time of the choice." ... (and) smuggling in supplies of the abortion Texas abortion laws unconstitutional, but they "Maybe she makes her choice when she pill RU-486." refused to enjoin the district attorney from enforc- decides to live in Texas!" the justice replied. Before I became a mother, I had wondered if ing the law. Henry Wade immediately announced After the argument Weddington went home being pregnant and bearing a child would change that he would continue to prosecute doctors who to Texas, not to wait around for the decision, but my view on abortion. I knew all of the good did abortions. to run for a seat in the Texas House of reasons for safe, legal abortion — that all meth- Henry Wade, the drawling, cigar-chomping, Representatives. She was the first woman rep- ods of birth control fail some of the time, that the big-bellied Dallas D.A., had unwittingly done resentative elected to represent Travis County answer to the question of when human life or the abortion rights movement a huge favor. and served three terms. consciousness begins is too nebulous to legis- Weddington explains, "It was procedurally pos- She was sworn in on Jan. 9, 1973 at the age late, that we must have control over our repro- sible to go straight to the Supreme Court if a of 27. On Jan. 22, at 10 in the morning, the ductive systems or they will dictate our lives. lower federal court had declared a state law Supreme Court announced its decision in Roe A man I met once who was a child-abuse inves- unconstitutional yet local authorities continued v. Wade. "By a vote of 7 to 2," Weddington tigator told me that he had concluded that safe, to enforce the law." writes, "the Texas anti-abortion statutes had readily available abortion (such as poor women The appeal was filed, and Weddington rejoiced been ruled unconstitutional as violating the con- no longer have in this country) was the only when Roe v. Wade was set for argument before stitutional right of privacy." Abortion was legal solution to the horrors he had seen. Even then, the Supreme Court in its 1971 session. in the United States. I thought that perhaps, as a new life grew in my Support came quickly from dozens of peo- I have always assumed that it was inevitable own body, I'd feel different about abortion. ple around Texas and the nation, who provided in the early 1970s that one of the several state The opposite happened. Throughout my preg- research, money and encouragement. anti-abortion laws would be challenged as uncon- nancy, which was joyous and miserable, I knew By this time Weddington and her husband had stitutional in the United States Supreme Court with utter certainty that a woman should only moved to Fort Worth, where she was hired as an and that if Sarah Weddington had not done it, carry a pregnancy to term because she wants to. assistant city attorney. Her boss, a man named someone else would have. Praise be to Sarah Weddington. ❑ THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 15 INTERVIEW Sarah Weddington Q&A

BY NINA BUTTS

INTERVIEWED SARAH WEDDINGTON IN HER national conference on family planning issues Austin law office early on a bright October (in Mexico City), the U.S. announced that they I morning. Her office is in a small old house would not allow funds to go to any nation that on a quiet street near downtown. Purple flow- used its own funds to pay for abortions for its ers bloom along the sidewalk to the front porch. own citizens. So in a country like India, where On her desk are a couple of stacks of brand-new abortion is available, we won't help them with copies of her book, and on top of a filing cab- their family planning efforts even for ... con- inet is a black mesh cap that bears the words traception.... It's a policy that has left us out of "Maine Yankee." She told me that she had being a leader, a helper to other nations des- arrived in Austin late the night before, com- perately dealijig with their own environmen- ing from a rally for Bill Clinton in Greenwich, tal problems and social problems, which are Conn. often really problems of too many people try- TO: What will a Clinton administration mean ing to live in too small a space with too few for abortion rights? resources. Weddington: First as you can tell I'm sup- TO: Tell us some of the things that you're porting Bill Clinton all out, first because I've doing for the Clinton campaign. known him and I've known Hillary for years. Weddington: Mostly fundraising (she I worked with them when I was in the White laughs). It seems like that's what they need most. House. One of the pictures on the wall in the I went out and did a full day of activities with hallway is the Clintons and myself at a State Bill Clinton in California. I've done fundrais- dinner at the White House. So just on a personal iers for Clinton/Gore in Washington state, Maine, level, I think he's a good person, and I think California again, and so as I travel . I'm trying Hillary will be a wonderful person to be in to combine a series of events. One is something charge of the East Wing. for Clinton/Gore any place they can use me. Second, he is pro-choice. Not only did he give Other activities are for women who are pro- me (an endorsement) for the book ... there are choice running for office, particularly EMILY'S a number of things he could do. The first are List (Early Money Is Like Yeast) for their rec- the Supreme Court appointments. Assuming ommended candidates. I've done things for Lynn that Blackmun will resign fairly soon, and I ALAN POGUE Wolvery in California, Marsha Cantwell in think he will, certainly in the next four years, Sarah Weddington Washington state, Lynn Tabersack in Con- even that appointment would just keep us even. necticut. I'm working for Oscar Mauzy here on But if it were given by Bush to someone who's fetuses with some defect that that could help. the Supreme Court ... for Stacy Suits, the (Demo- opposed to abortion, it would mean that we There's a whole variety of administrative cratic candidate for) sheriff [in Travis County]. would lose the case almost the day after or things. So far, every time we try to make abor- I'll be out doing a benefit this Sunday for Mel when a case got there. tion services available for women in the mili- Carnahan, who is running for governor of So I think the appointments to the Supreme tary, not even to pay, just so they themselves Missouri against William Webster of Webster Court are critically important; in fact, I'm say- could pay in military hospitals, Bush vetoes. v. Reproductive Health Services.... Last week ing to people when you elect a President this Clinton would be the opposite. (I was) two days in Florida, one day was Illinois, year you're electing a Supreme Court. In terms of Roe being weakened, we proba- one day was Kansas, one was Portland, Maine, In Greenwich, Connecticut, which is George bly are going to need to pass the Freedom of and one was Connecticut. Bush's hometown where he went to school, Choice Act, even if Roe is not overturned, just TO: You must feel like you're a candidate (we) had a great crowd. It was the first politi- to strengthen the current situation. Right now yourself. cal rally ever held in Greenwich, and there Bush has said he will veto it; we don't have the Weddington: Well, in fact, I'm really glad were so many people who said this issue (abor- votes to override a veto. If we can get some I've done that because the stamina I learned tion rights) is critical and I will not vote for more votes this fall, we'll have a good chance as a candidate is wonderful. George Bush. of making that Freedom of Choice Act stronger, TO: Do you think that a state pro-choice The other things Clinton could do would be keeping amendments from going on it, and referendum would ever stand a chance in Texas? to reverse the gag rule, which is just adminis- then of course Clinton will sign it. Weddington: It makes me tired to think of trative, and he could change the Mexico City The book I wrote really tells the history of it. And I think it's partially because I look at the Policy so that once again we as a nation would the abortion issue up until this summer. But the other states, like Arizona. I was out in help other nations to control their own popu- future of it will really be written on election day. Washington state helping them last year, and it lation. He could put a lot of effort into chang- And that's why I'm spending time all over the takes such an incredible amount of time and ing the rules against the use of some fetal tis- country urging people to vote ... pro-choice ... effort and energy to do that. sue in research, both for those with Alzheimer's all up and down the ticket. The other problem of course is that it's and Parkinson's, and also for women trying TO: What is the Mexico City Policy? much easier for those who are opposed to to carry pregnancies to term who are carrying Weddington: A few years ago at an inter- organize in a sense because they can organize

16 • NOVEMBER 13, 1992 through certain fundamental churches and ized that if I traveled every day for the rest of a whole other book left from what was cut through the Catholic hierarchy, urging peo- my life, the number of people you can reach from this one. ple to do certain things. And it's like the that way is so limited, that I was looking for a Part of what got cut were the chapters on Sunday not too long ago, when people lined way to expand my ability to reach out.... the White House years [when she was an aide a very long route (along Lamar Boulevard The second thing is history. It will be the to Jimmy Carter] and the years in the Texas in Austin)—that's just easier to organize twentieth anniversary (of Roe) this year, and I Legislature ... I had always wanted to write a through certain churches. think it took some years for me to have a per- book called Some Leaders Are Born Women. They have their people together once a week, spective about the issue. I wanted something People had told me that nine months to a and they can leaflet the cars. We don't have any that would put this piece of history into a per- year was minimum to publish a book, even place our people are together once a week, and manent record. after editing. I really wanted the book out before so we have to reach them through mailing lists The third thing was that I thought that there the election, because I didn't want to just write and phone calls, and those are both time- and were a lot of people who were involved with about history; I wanted to help create it. So money-intensive. And we don't have an orga- this from the beginning who had never really Putnam's was the group that agreed to turn up nized source of money in the same way that the been recognized very much; their names had all burners and get it out in the fall. It was out opposition does. never been known. And while I couldn't name Sept. 16th. If we really had a pure system where every- everybody in the book — I tried, and the edi- TO: You do not use the term- "pro-life" in body went to vote, and it's not a tug of war tor marked out a lot of them because they your book. You call anti-choice people the between two sides and who can mount the great- became lists of names almost — it was that sense "antis." est effort and money, then it (a state referen- that what will save Roe v. Wade is lots of peo- Weddington: That's right. I don't think they dum) would be an idea I'd be much more ple getting involved; that they don't necessar- are pro-life more than we are pro-life. We are attracted to. But the way it is, most people don't ily know how their own energies or efforts all pro-life; it's how we define it that's so dif- vote. A lot of people aren't sure of the issues will have a long-term impact, but Roe v. Wade ferent. Planned Parenthood has done some charts when they do vote. In Washington state, the was, to me, won by lots of people doing what that show that those legislators who most vote opposition kept saying if you pass this, it will they could. against abortion are often the ones also voting increase your taxes by millions of dollars to pay And that was the message I was trying to against various programs that would benefit for abortion. Well, the truth was Washington get out now: that it's going to take lots of peo- pregnant women who want to continue preg- state was already paying for abortion for ple doing what they can. It will be a fight over nancy, and benefit children. I do think those Medicaid women. But to have the money to who gets, first, appointed and then confirmed who oppose abortion are simply anti-abortion answer that is really very difficult. to the Supreme Court. There are going to be or pro-mandatory birth. So I guess what I fear is the distortions [of fights over federal legislation. There are going TO: Do you do some lobbying now? the truth], and the distortions in terms of orga- to be fights in every state over rules introduced. Weddington: I do. nizational strength. Our people are live-and-let- There's the problem of how do you help women TO: I understand that you are a lobbyist for live people. I'm not trying to tell anybody else get access to services? There are so few places Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, and I hear what to do. I'm just trying to get them to leave that actually do abortion now. How do you grumblings in the anti-nuclear community in people alone. It's much. easier if you're pas- defend the clinics? Austin about that. • sionate about saying, "I've got the one true There are so many issues that there's lots of Weddington: First, I think there is no ques- way and you should live exactly the'way I tell room for anybody to work. The book was to tion that the issue is not are there going to be you." remind people that we didn't wake up one morn- additional power plants. I would never be work- And so our organizational problems are ing and say, "Let's win a Supreme Court case." ing for that. It is how do we responsibly dispose tougher. Nobody knew it would end up where it did of the waste that is already generated. TO Being on the trail with the Clinton-Gore when we started it. We just all did what we In this case there is federal law that says if campaign, what feel do you get? could. Now we really need everybody pitching a state compacts with another state, that would Weddington: It is so positive it scares me. in to do what they can. protect the first state from having waste from It's like I'm afraid I'll jinx it if I say out loud: TO: The book must have been a tremen- any place else put into its state. It was a scheme I really think we're going to win. (She laughs.) dous amount of work. that Congress came up with because what they So we're whispering it to each other! Weddington: It was. Of course it took me didn't want was 50 sites for low-level nuclear But it really feels good. It feels good partially a long time to live it. I had voluminous files, waste—not nuclear rods, not things that are because there's a real sense of momentum and even if I gave some away when I went to highly radioactive but rather things like boots energy, there's a lot of interest in the debates— Washington. and shoes and building materials which may that's a big topic of conversation—and then I About two-and-a-half years ago I started have been exposed to some radiation. That's think there's just such disappointment with researching the book. I went back and found why it's called low-level. George Bush at both a personal and professional my old calendars from that early time period. They didn't want 50 sites because those are level. I had kept scrapbooks of articles and that kind much harder to watch over, to be sure they're My own feeling is that he really made a bar- of stuff, and I could go back and see what I was done well, and a lot of states don't really have gain to sell women out in 1980. I can't proye saying at different periods. I talked to the other any place that's really good from a geological it, but my guess is, somebody said to him, you women here in town and some who were away, point of view to store anything. Maine is one won't get the nomination for President and did some traveling to interview people. No of those; their water table is right under the sur- you won't get to be Vice President unless you're one person remembered everything, but I would face.... opposed to abortion. And I don't think it took go and interview people and take what they told Now there are some people who say the fed- him two minutes to say, "well, okay, that's me and send it to other people involved at the eral government won't make the states do that more important to me than any equity issues for same time period, and that would trigger their (accept other states' nuclear waste). I disagree; women or the impact of this on them." And memory for other things. I think they will, because I think it would be so I think he stuck with that bargain he made, A year ago I spent the whole summer here better to have a few sites that you could really and I hope it buries him. writing, and by the end of the summer I had a manage, that the bigger states are more capa- TO: What moved you to write your book? version that was 22 chapters, twice the size ble of managing it well, instead of having every Weddington: The book was a variety of of the.current book, and sent it to an agent, and state with a different site. I think Maine is a very motivations. One was out of desperation because never even heard from her. Then I went back environmentally conscious state, doesn't have as you could see the judges leaving, it looked and rewrote it and shortened it a good bit and any place in its state that works as well as the worse and worse from the standpoint of what then found a publisher that was interested, places we have, and they have a low amount of was the Supreme Court going to do. I was trav- and they said it needed to be more reader- waste material. I think they're very conscien- eling all over the country (speaking), but I real- friendly, so I edited some more. Probably I have tious in how they handle their own stream of

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 17

-4,1•74****101,10 4.0"swrom."614 4,.•••;"*.r., ....*A4.04411000...10.F. , n, material, and so I think if Texas is looking Barbara Bush confided her belief in choice. women who won't vote for George Bush for a partner that Maine would be the best. Weddington: I don't think it was simply because of this issue. In the past it had not We have to recognize there is nuclear waste, happenstance that Barbara Bush after 12 years mattered as much to them (pro-choice and it's better for us to find a way to store it of living with Bush saying "No abortion, Republicans) because they didn't feel it was well and as safely as possible. Let's make it illegal, Let's have a human about to be lost. This is the alarm bell ring- And the other thing of course is that Maine life amendment against it, Let's ask the Justice ing in the village square. And people are run- is willing to put up a whole lot of money, Department to ask the Supreme Court to over- ning to help. The Republicans were reading which would help the people in the area in turn Roe" — I don't think it was coincidence the polls that said they're losing a lot of votes Hudspeth County (the proposed dump site) that one morning she woke up and decided on this issue. So they decided to try to be a which is desperately in need of economic aid.... to say something, the week before the Re- lot more fuzzy. Maine is offering millions of dollars. publican convention. So I think what really It's an exercise in trying to deceive the pub- TO: Moving back to the abortion rights happened is that they were reading the polls lic. But there's no question where George

Bush stands on this issue. ❑ issue, I'd like to know your reaction . when that said there were a lot of Republican

Post-Roe Options

BY DEBBIE NATHAN

FTER THE SUPREME COURT'S MISSOURI V. ing the fate of RU486, the French-manufactured pills will lower your chances of getting preg- Webster ruling, I compiled a list of herbs "abortion pill" which is unavailable in the U.S. nant from 14 percent to about one percent — Aand chemicals — everything from apiol because of intense pressure from anti-abortion if you start taking the pills no later than 72 to kitchen matches — that women often used, groups. Even in countries where it is obtainable, hours after coitus. Obviously, if the pills are not back when abortion was illegal, to end their RU486 is not sold over the counter. But if admin- taken until after you miss your period, they pregnancies (TO Oct. 27, 1989). Following that istered within seven weeks of conception, it won't help. In fact, to use the morning-after list was another, of the various sepses, abscesses makes the embryo separate from the uterus, end- treatment effectively, you must be alert enough and shocks those substances sometimes pro- ing pregnancy. The simplicity and non-inva- to know you have a potential pregnancy prob- duced, and which often led to death. siveness of this method are what infuriate anti- lem immediately after you have had sex. Then I had found this information at a garage sale, feminists. After all, it promises to render abortion you must be willing to act quickly. in a medical text that had fungus on it. The a medically rather trivial practice; an increas- If you are this kind of woman, chances are that contents were hardly moldy, though; the book ingly private affair at a time when conservative you are also alert and willing enough to be using was published between the Depression and moralists are trying to shackle women's lives birth control. This being the real world, though, World War II. Not so long ago. It occurred to in the public stocks. we know that couples' condoms or diaphragms me that if things kept going downhill for legal What would happen if they succeeded via the occasionally tear; their rhythm gets out of kil- abortion, we might soon be seeing reprints of Supreme Court? When a second term for Bush ter; coitus interruptus neglects to interrupt; absti- these barbarisms in freshly minted texts. seemed possible, pro-choice health activists were nence has a bit too much to drink; or one So it was hardly reassuring to read this pas- talking about teaching women to do underground enchanted evening two people meet, are swept sage from last year's updated edition of Current abortions as safely as possible, with simple tech- off your feet, and the drugstore is already closed. Practice of Emergency Medicine: niques such as menstrual extraction. This method If you're the woman in this dilemma, you can uses a mason jar, tubes and a syringe to suction save yourself weeks of anxiety and a possible "Since government funds for abortion are very a woman's uterus around the time she expects her abortion by using a morning-after treatment. restricted, some economically disadvantaged period. If she's not pregnant, the extraction But you'll be hard pressed to get one if you women who want to have their pregnancies ter- removes the period; if she is, it takes out the depend on doctors. The postcoital treatment has minated may resort to illegal abortion ... done embryo. A pregnancy test isn't done beforehand, been around for at least 20 years; currently it's with abortifacient, irritant chemicals ... that may so no one really knows whether what occurs is an sold in the appropriate dosage in British and cause infections ... cramps, bleeding, shaking abortion or just menstruation. If abortion is out- German pharmacies. Yet in the United States, chills, fever, and pelvic peritonitis." lawed and this becomes a home procedure, author- few medical providers offer it. Recently I called We are talking here about dangerous, des- ities will be hard pressed to prosecute any par- 12 of El Paso's 51 OB-GYNs (including all the perate remedies that no woman should have to ticular woman who cranks up her mason jar. women). I told their receptionists I'd had unpro- swallow. But that's not all we're talking about. The problem is, learning to do menstrual tected sex the night before. "Does the doctor Reading this passage, you would think Roe v. extraction correctly requires months and an give a morning after treatment?" I asked. Wade was already completely down the tubes. unskilled woman who tries it runs big risks of Unfailingly, I was told to go someplace else Note how the passage automatically labels a injuring or infecting herself. (although where, no one could say). One office procedure attempted with household products There is another method, though. It is fan- insisted that no such treatment exists. Later I — i.e., outside a doctor's office — "illegal." tastically simple, safe, currently available in this called the same five offices, identified myself Oh, really? What if the pregnant woman her- country — yet almost unknown. Called the as a journalist researching postcoital anti-preg- self administers the draught? Since when is it "morning-after" or postcoital treatment, it is nancy treatments, and left messages asking the forbidden in this country for her to take abor- nothing more than a few Ovral pills, taken over doctors to respond so we could discuss why they tifacients (at least before fetal viability)? the course of 12 hours (see box for dosages, don't offer them. I got not one callback. Such questions suggest dark portents, includ- warnings and other details). Family planning and abortion clinics are a Ovral, a popular birth control pill, is also better bet for both information and treatment. highly effective as a postcoital anti-pregnancy Reproductive Services in El Paso, for instance, Debbie Nathan is a freelance writer living in El treatment. If you have unprotected sex in the offers it (for $85). Routh Street Clinic, in Dallas, Paso. middle of your menstrual cycle, four Ovral also provides morning-after Ovrals. But

18 • NOVEMBER 13, 1992 implantation. That is another reason why phar- maceutical companies and doctors don't want to touch postcoital treatments. "From the point The Morning After of view of the political flak they could get, it's just not worth it," Policar says. O LATER THAN 72 HOURS AFTER UNPRO- safe, discontinue it and see a doctor imme- So how does a woman in need get the pills? N tected intercourse, take either: diately if you experience chest or arm pain; Pagels and Policar say that if you can't find a • Ovral (total four pills): Two pills in the shortness of breath; unusual pain or swelling willing medical provider, it is safe to dose your- first dose. Repeat 12 hours later. Or: in the legs; severe headaches; vision distur- self. In a pinch, one way to do this is to seek out • Lo-Ovral (total eight pills): Four pills bances; abdominal pain; yellowing of the skin a friend with a birth control prescription for in the first dose. Repeat 12 hours later. or eyes; severe depression. Ovral and ask her to "lend" you a few. Read before beginning treatment: • Nausea and vomiting are normal, but In the longer run, Texas women should think • Do not take this treatment if you have a can be lessened or avoided by taking the communally and think Mexico. Next time you history of blood clots; inflammation of veins; pills on a full stomach. It is a good idea to or your friends go across the border, everyone liver disease; unexplained vaginal bleed- have an extra dose of the pills to take in case should stock up on Ovral. You can get them ing; cancer of the uterus, cervix, vagina or you lose one from vomiting. without prescription there at any large phar- breasts. • Bleeding should begin within 21 to 30 macy; a package with enough pills for four morn- • Do not take this treatment if you have a days. If it doesn't, see a doctor ing-after treatments costs only about $2 (com- positive pregnancy test; if you have had other • The morning after treatment is not to be pared to $28 in this country — but that's another unprotected intercourse following your last used often. If you need a birth control method, story). U.S. Customs lets you import most period; or if your last period seemed differ- see your reproductive health care provider. medicines for "personal use," meaning you can ent from those you usually experience (You might want to start with an IUD — bring back scores of birth-control pills with no • Do not take this treatment unless you are inserted within five days of unprotected inter- questions asked. Back home, keep Ovral in your willing to have an abortion if it doesn't work. course, it, too, will prevent pregnancy.) medicine cabinet. Note the expiration date and • Though this treatment is considered very —D.N. replace old ones with a fresh supply. Keep them for your friends and neighbors, just as you would a cup of flour or a set of jumper cables. Of course, this is only one tiny, regional, Fairmont Clinic doesn't. El Paso's Planned Dr. Michael Policar, Planned Parenthood self-help answer to a huge crisis — the back- Parenthood just started a program in September Federation of America's Vice President for lash against contraception R&D, against and nationwide, morning-after treatment is Medical Affairs, thinks that none would be women's ability to control their reproductive offered in about two-thirds of Planned found if the research were done. lives, against the essence of gender equality. Parenthood's 169 affiliates. That leaves several Who will do it? Apparently not Wyeth-Ayerst But at least it's something; and it's something where it's not, including the Planned Parenthood Laboratories, which makes Ovral. The company all women should know about. Not to mention clinic in Manhattan. has long declined to do safety and effectiveness their doctors. Not even in Manhattan? What's the problem? studies needed to get FDA approval to use the If yours doesn't offer the morning-after treat- The most obvious one is that, though Ovral product as a morning-after treatment. Audrey ment, "Ask him why not? Ask him why he'd has the Food and Drug Administration's OK for Ashby, Wyeth-Ayerst's public relations man- rather subject you to an invasive procedure use as a daily contraceptive, it is not approved ager, acknowledged that the company is aware like an abortion?" Pagels urges. as a morning-after pill. Doctors may legally pre- Ovral is widely used as a morning-after treat- While you're waiting for answers, read and scribe FDA-approved drugs for any purpose ment. But she would not comment on the situ- clip the attached box. Pull out your Spanish- whatsoever. But many worry about being sued ation. "Ovral has been around for a long time English dictionary. Get some Ovral. Then do if anything goes wrong. and it's only indicated as an oral contraceptive. politics, in whatever language, around the big- There is a "real litigious sort of climate," says It's very difficult to go through the testing that's ger problem. Patti Pagels, former director of Reproductive required" to approve it as a morning-after treat- Services in El Paso and currently a family plan- ment, Ashby said. Note: The Observer does not endorse the ning consultant in the Dallas metroplex. "Clients Pagels thinks Wyeth-Ayerst feels that spend- use of Ovral or any other prescription drug who choose [the morning-after treatment] tend to ing millions of dollars on FDA research would without proper precautions and understanding be educated. They ask a lot of questions, and not be cost effective: "Women who use Ovral of the potential risk entailed in the use of the that makes doctors nervous. You have do coun- for birth control buy a package of 21 pills, month substance. After this article was submitted, an seling before you give the pills. You have to say in and month out," she says. "But the morn- article appeared in the New England Journal to the woman, 'If this doesn't work would you be ing-after treatment is a one-shot purchase, and of Medicine describing a study that determined willing to have an abortion?' You have to spend you only use four pills." that the French RU-486 pill also functioned time with her, then follow her up. For many doc- Still, hospital emergency rooms nationwide as a "morning-after" pill, prohibiting the tors, that's too much trouble. And what if the treat- routinely give those four pills to rape victims to implantation in the womb of a fertilized egg. ment doesn't work and the women goes on with prevent pregnancy. Pagels says the assumption the pregnancy? If she ended up with a deformed is that these women are in such dire straits and baby you might have a suit." so grateful for the pills that they would never think Pagels' mention of deformed babies reflects of suing later. But as popular as this emergency- concern created by the hormone diethylstilbes- room practice is, it is kept rather hush-hush; prob- This publication trol (DES), which studies show caused genital ably because of the argument about whether post- is available in anomalies in daughters whose pregnant moth- coital treatment constitutes abortion. microform ers took it in the 1950s to prevent miscarriages. Policar says it doesn't. "It's not like RU486, That finding has led to suspicion about similar which aborts a pregnancy by causing the embryo from UMI. estrogen hormones like those in Ovral. So far, to detach from the uterine wall after implanta- though, the closest study done — on babies inad- tion," he says. "With a morning-after dose of UMI vertently exposed in utero to birth-control pills Ovral, the egg never has a chance to implant, 800-521-0600 toll-free — has shown no increased incidence of birth so pregnancy doesn't occur." This distinction 313-761-4700 collect from Alaska and Michigan defects. No one has checked into the risk posed is irrelevant to many anti-abortionists who 800-343-5299 toll-free from Canada by a day or so of morning-after treatment. But believe life begins at conception rather than

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 19 From a Beautiful, Tortured Land

BY EMILY JONES

I ... RIGOBERTA MENCHU: An Indian Woman In Guatemala By Elisabeth Burgos-Debray. 251 pages. London: Verso Press. 1983. $10.95.

HEN RIGOBERTA MENCHU'S BOOK appeared 10 years ago, I thought W that the terrible plight of Guatemala's mostly Indian population might finally get some attention from the American media, whose views of Central America seemed limited to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the war in El Salvador. I was wrong. Most of us know little about Guatemala, despite more than 30 years of war and terror unleashed on its people — war that started with the U.S.- sponsored overthrow of reformist President Arbenz in 1954. Though Amnesty International has named the government of Guatemala the worst human rights violator in the hemisphere, little infor- mation is available to those who might like to know more. I was reminded of that when Rigoberta Menchu won the Nobel Peace Prize. Reading the book again after all these years con- firms that not much has changed in Guatemala in the last decade. The majority of the popula- tion still experiences suffering and brutality like that described in the nearly unbelievable tales that fill the pages of Rigoberta's book: the pub- lic torture and murder of her mother and younger brother at the hands of the army; the death of her father and many other Indian peasants in the infamous burning of the Spanish Embassy; and the deaths of two of her brothers on a plan- tation due to the landowners' brutal disregard for human life. The story of Rigoberta's, family is just one among many. Such is life in Guatemala. And if these stories were all that Rigoberta shared of her life, the reading might be only sad and depressing. But her people survived the attempted genocide of the early 1980s and continued to resist the army's terror as they have resisted ethnocide for centuries. Rigoberta's book (which according to the pub- lisher is still available, though finding it might require a special request at a book store) is rich PATRICIA MOORE with the stories of a proud and absolutely deter- Rigoberta Mencha, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize Winner mined people whose culture survived because they kept themselves apart from the ladinos, "This is why Indians are thought to be stupid. For the descendants of the Mayan hero, (those of mixed heritage) who ran the coun- `They can't think, they don't know anything,' Tecun Uman, there has been no conquest, only try and because they continued to keep the they say. But we have hidden our identity 500 years of invasion and occupation. Faced secrets and honor the practices of their ances- because we needed to resist, we wanted to with the dual threats that all Mayas face, iso- tors. Many Indians refused to learn Spanish protect what governments have wanted to take lation and assimilation, Rigoberta ultimately or attend ladino schools, recognizing the threat away from us. They have tried to take our things decided to learn Spanish. She told her story to their survival as Mayas. away and impose others on us, be it through to Burgos-Debray in Spanish only three years religion, through dividing up the land, through after learning to speak the language. Burgos- schools, through books, through radio, through Debray presented the book as a monologue, Freelance writer Emily Jones lives in Austin. all things modern." and to remain true to Rigoberta's voice, it con-

20 • NOVEMBER 13, 1992 tains the tense irregularities common to a myself in depravity, so I didn't have to think Continued from page 24 speaker learning a new language. Rather than or bear life.' Well, the meeting with my little black. With retirements, the number of black distracting the reader, the language is a reminder sister was lovely. She was 12 years old. She said: circuit judges has dropped from 11 to nine since of what this woman has overcome to tell to the `What has happened is a sign of victory. It gives Bush took office. world the story of her people. us reason for fighting. We must behave like rev- Rigoberta tells, through her own experience, olutionary women. A revolutionary isn't born ✓ ANOTHER WAY. Central Texas pro- the story of the Mayas' struggle to survive. out of something good,' said my sister, 'he is gressive organizations are mounting an alter- Even before the army terror reached Rigoberta's born out of wretchedness and bitterness. This native to the United Way campaign, starting mountain village, life was brutal and short. The just gives us one more reason. We have to fight Nov. 2. Another Way, a non-profit corporation, basis of life for the indigenous people of without measuring our suffering, or what we has been formed to raise funds through pay- Guatemala is corn. Mayan heritage taught that experience, or thinking about the monstrous roll deduction campaigns to benefit 19 com- the people were made from corn. Rigoberta's things we must bear in life.' And she made me munity-based, non-profit organizations that share people ate tortillas, salt, chile and, when they renew my- commitment completely..." a commitment to social and economic justice. could, plants they grew or gathered in the moun- In the end, Rigoberta decided not to take up The organizations address issues such as health tains. Frequent and successful attempts by local arms. She worked with the Vicente Menchu care, AIDS, women's issues, homelessness, wealthy landowners to take the people's land Revolutionary Christians, named for her father, poverty, racial and economic equality, low- reduced peasant holdings to small plots not organizing her people until she was forced into income housing, peace, nuclear radiation and sufficient to sustain their families. Rigoberta's exile after the army began to hunt her. But she elderly and disabled people's concerns. Another family neighboring families were forced to seek had no reservations about supporting the guer- Way plans to work cooperatively with United work on cotton or coffee plantations where they rilla movement in her country. "We have put Way and other federations, including the were paid pittance wages and treated "worse our trust in the compalieros in the mountains ... Environmental Fund of Texas and the Black than animals." They spoke no Spanish, could They go through what we go through, and they United Fund. For information, contact Sue not read or write, and were constantly cheated have adapted to the conditions we live in. We Johnson at the Texas Fund for Change, 611 S. by bosses, merchants, landowners, and judges. can only love a person who eats what we eat." Congress, Suite 505, Austin 78701. For months at a time, members of Rigoberta's Because of experiences both bitter and inspir- family and community left their homes in the ing, Rigoberta became one of those exceptional ✓ FOUND: GOP. Dick Mallory, a mountains to work on the plantations, trading people who offer hope in the face of seemingly Republican challenger for the state House in one impossible situation for another. Forced hopeless conditions. "The world I live in is so central Austin, apparently has experienced a by circumstances to work as a maid in the city, evil, so bloodthirsty, that it can take my life away battlefield conversion. He recently appeared on Rigoberta suffered isolation and mistreatment from one moment to the next. So the only road the Donahue TV show with his opponent, state in an alien culture. Her way of telling her story open to me is our struggle, the just war. The Rep. Glen Maxey, D-Austin, the only openly makes the reader constantly aware that her expe- Bible taught me that. ... We have to defend gay legislator in the Texas Legislature, who riences were not unique to her or even to a par- ourselves against our enemy but, as Christians, noted that Mallory sought the endorsement of ticular period. She related the story of a people we must also defend our faith. within the revo- the Austin Lesbian and Gay political caucus subjected to levels of repression that most of lutionary process. At the same time, we have before the Republican primary. "Since then he us cannot imagine. to think about the important work we have to says he's found Jesus," Maxey said. "I think As the repression increased, Rigoberta and do, after our victory, in the new society. I know he's found a Republican consultant." her brothers and sisters followed their par- that no one can take my Christian faith away ents into more organized resistance. After orga- from me. Not the government, for fear, not ✓ GENTS AGREE. The Sierra Club has nizing the defense of their own village, each weapons. And this is what I have to teach my strongly criticized a proposal by the Texas family member left to organize other com- people: that together we can build the people's Attorney General to weaken a 1991 enforce- munities so they could defend themselves Church, a true Church ... a real change inside ment settlement with DynaGen, an Odessa against the army's attacks. Leaving the village people. I chose to stay in the city among the peo- crumb rubber manufacturing plant with a long and separating the family were actions that vio- ple, instead of choosing to take up arms, as I history of violations of Texas environmental lated the traditions of the people. But by delib- said. We all contribute in different ways, but we protection law. The "gentlemen's agreement" eration among family and neighbors it was are all working for the same objective." between the AG and DynaGen would waive all decided such desperate action was necessary In the decade since the book was published, civil penalties for any of the company's viola- if the people were to survive. As their political the ranks of the guerrillas swelled with the sur- tions of the Clean Air Act during the last year awareness and understanding deepened, so vivors of the army's genocidal counterinsur- following a $1.4 million fine against the com- did their commitment. gency program that wiped out 400 villages. pany for serious air pollution problems. Traveling through her country, Rigoberta Within the last two years, the guerrilla united saw firsthand the many obstacles dividing her front, the URNG, has forced the government ✓ COMING AT YA. Pat Buchanan has people. More than 20 Mayan languages divided to begin peace negotiations. Two civilian pres- been making the rounds on behalf of Republican the indigenous majority and frustrated attempts idents have been elected, allowing the disin- candidates for Congress and the statehouse. to solve common problems. Racism created a genuous to proclaim Guatemala another tri- Buchanan bashed Congress and Rep. Pete Geren barrier between the Mayas and the poor and bru- umph for democracy while, in fact, the army still in Fort Worth as he spoke on behalf of David talized ladinos who counted their blessings acts with impunity. To be sure, the negotia- Hobbs, Geren's challenger in the 12th because, at least, they were not "dirty Indians." tions hold some amount of hope for a desper- Congressional District. Hobbs also has received The Catholic Church was divided, essentially, ate people, but the talks are stalled by the gov- help from Barbara Bush and Dan Quayle. into the church of the rich and the church of ernment's intransigence. Buchanan referred to Geren ranking sixth among the poor, and the two struggled for ascendancy. Rigoberta, the child of a peaceful people the 435-member House in costs incurred for Rigoberta grappled with her own decision forced to fight for survival, came to understand running his office. Geren spent 99 percent of of how best to participate in her people's resis- that there can be no peace without, at least, a the amount allocated to him. He later cited Sen. tance to the army massacres. Her sisters joined measure of justice. Her book offers an inspiring Chet Brooks, the Pasadena Democrat whose 30 the guerrillas. Rigoberta became ill and example of commitment to justice and the human years in the Texas Senate demonstrate the need depressed, almost losing hope when her mother's ability to use our own experiences to grow for term limits for public officials. "The last time death by torture closely followed the losses of beyond them. With the newly-gained recogni- Republicans controlled the state Senate, Santa her father and brother. She then had an oppor- tion that comes with the Nobel Prize for Peace, Anna and the Mexicans ran Texas," the Houston tunity to talk with her little sister about her dis- Rigoberta Menchu continues her efforts to focus Chronicle quoted Buchanan saying at a rally tress. "I even wished that I had some vices. I the attention of an often-indifferent world on the in Clear Lake City for Jerry Patterson, the said; 'If I had some vices, perhaps I could lose reality of her beautiful, tortured land. ❑ Republican challenger. ❑

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 21 Our Veep (Good God!)

BY SAMUEL HUDSON II

IMPERIAL CADDY: The Rise of Dan to be president. Does anyone seriously believe ety-clack, as the object he's knitting away at Quayle in America and the Decline and Fall that Jimmy Carter enjoyed being pushed out grows thinner and thinner and fuzzier, vaguer, of Practically Everything Else of the way by future-fugitive-from-justice Bowie clickety-click, clickety-click, clickety-clack, By Joe Queenan Kuhn so that the commissioner of baseball could until finally, finally, all effort spent, he has New York: Hyperion Books, 1992 present the World Series trophy to a bunch of knitted a gossamer-thin dust cover for an empty 232 pp. $22.95 sweaty, inebriated black men who didn't seem football stadium, an empty stadium filled with to know who Carter was? Of course not. Why plastic piffle, and the problem with this kind HORT, BOTTOM-LINE REPORT FOR NON- did he do it? Because he wanted to be president. of writing is that it wanders so far away from partisan readers: This is a shaggy, baggy Does anyone seriously believe that George Bush its subject and that its connection with anything Sbook — a couple of magazine articles enjoys listening to Loretta Lynn records, enjoys actual becomes so tenuous that it sooner or force-fed until they bloated up into a book-sized eating pork rinds, enjoys reading Bassmaster later occurs to a wondering reviewer if Joe object — about a dull and uncultivated man. For magazine, enjoys shopping at Penney's? Of Queenan is using every rhetorical dodge he Democrats: With any luck, by July of 1993, course not. Then why does he do it? He does can think of to keep from having to write at this will be yet another quaint and curious vol- it because he wants to be president." book-length about (good God!) J. Danforth ume of forgotten lore, filed under Nevermore. Nicely cadenced, but with the kind of racist Quayle. But Imperial Caddy does have its moments, overtones and snotty baseline which used to Alas, it is worth the strain to write at book- such as this litany on page 119: "Does anyone gladden the ears of the editors of Spy magazine length about (good God!) J. Danforth Quayle seriously think that William Henry Harrison, — to which author Queenan a whilom con- because J. Danforth Quayle is (good God!) Vice a dignified old gent from Old Virginny, actu- tributor was, cha-cha-cha. President of the United States of America, lub- ally enjoyed wearing a coonskin cap and smok- Although the contents between the covers a-dub, lub-a-dub, lub-a-dub, and may the healthy ing a corncob pipe? Of course not. Then why of Imperial Caddy are cut into chapter-sized heart of G.H.W. Bush beat steadily on, lub-a- did he do it? He did it because he wanted to be slices — pp. 77-89 are designated "To the dub, lub-a-dub. But I think a style and narrative president. Does anyone seriously think that Hoosier Station" and sometimes are about method like Nathaniel West's is required to con- Richard Nixon enjoyed appearing on the same famous Americans from Indiana — you can pick vey the incandescent banality and phospho- dais as Sammy Davis, Jr., where he suffered up this book anywhere and read to the end of rescent strangeness of J. Danforth Quayle and permanent corneal abrasions from being exposed any paragraph and shop through it at will. Author those who surround him. Within the text on to that many mood rings? Of course not. Then Queenan's method is disparative and digres- the pages between the covers of Imperial Caddy why did he do it? He did it because he wanted sive, and it has to be, because Queenan is like are enough references to useful reporting and a determined knitter who has enough wool to accurate chronology to enable the right biog- make a mitten, but for contractual reasons must rapher to begin work. I hereby nominate Thomas Sam Hudson is afreelance writer in Fort Worth. keep at it, clickety-click, clickety-click, click- Pynchon for the job.

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22 • NOVEMBER 13, 1992 AFTERWORD Christian Soldiers

BY LOUIS DUBOSE The Lord Jesus Christ holds the record for heaven and earth, only to rebuild a new heaven, try is filled with sycophants and trash," Thieme slaughtering the enemy. At His word, the a new earth and a New Jerusalem, "one that will writes in Divine Establishment, "as well as Assyrian Army of 185,000 was destroyed in not be conquered by the Palestinians." short-sighted mothers who think their sons will one night (Isa. 37:36). He will break His own And today the colonel is in a hurry. Before get hurt if they enter the service. ... When the record in this application of righteous violence he concludes, by correcting an improper trans- men of high character fight and die to defend at the close of the Tribulation (the seven years lation of a Bible passage, he will enumerate and cowardly parasites who remain behind to prop- which comprise the conclusion of the Jewish discuss briefly — if my notes are correct — agate more parasites, eventually the people Age), when He will decimate the military 39 points. Only one short passage of the Bible who are establishment-oriented cease to exist invaders in the Middle East, and the blood will is discussed and corrected today, as congregants and the surviving leeches destroy the nation." run as high as the horses' bridles (Rev. 14:20). make margin notes. This sort of textual criti- (This must discourage believers from closing — From Divine Establishment cism is Robert Thieme's forte. It is as a mas- ranks behind Bill Clinton, or even Dan Quayle.) by Rev. R.B. Thieme Jr. ter student of languages of the original texts that Literal corruption of blood is also a com- he lays claim to a special authority. Bible doc- mon Thieme theme. Just as parasites beget par- I do find Thieme very good and enjoy lis- trine, Thieme contends in his writing and in ser- asites, sinners beget sinners. The Old Sin Nature, tening to his tapes. — Marilyn Quayle mons, is essential to salvation and improper (OSN on the overhead projector) inherited from translations have made the proper understand- Adam is "imputed" into our cell structure. Only Houston ing of the Bible impossible. by placing ourselves at the end of the grace OMETIME DURING THE PAST FEW YEARS "God's complete and coherent message to pipeline "which is billions and billions of light someone removed the dramatic color print mankind was recorded with perfect accuracy in years long" can we, albeit undeservingly, receive Sof the "Death of Admiral Yamamoto" from the original language of the Scripture," he says. God's grace and be saved. the vestibule of the Berachah Church. That's too Most agree, because it is unlikely that many among Today's lecture is a fast one, much of it in the bad. It was already a church poor in icons and the 1,000 people in attendance at the morning ses- colonel's own code which seems influenced by since the designers' renderings of modern tac- sion — there are two services every Sunday — the military practice of reducing any compound tical aircraft were also removed, all that is left have devoted as much time to study of the lan- term to initials or acronyms. If you don't know now are battle scenes from the Civil War — guages of the Bible as has Bob Thieme, a pastor that "OSN" is Old Sin Nature or that "RIF" is which seems fine for religious traditionalists. who has convinced his flock that the road to sal- reduction in force (which destroyed the Jewish I have been dropping in at Col. Robert vation wends its way through two languages that Nation, Neh. 4) now is not the time to consult Thieme's Berachah Church since before Marilyn they don't understand. Remember, he says, as your glossary. The only digressions here are Quayle discovered the dispensational premil- members of his congregation annotate their Bibles, those of the pastor, who on occasion corrects lennialist, who until Garry Wills tracked down "There is no English translation in existence today English translations of the original languages the truth, claimed to have directed the training that recognizes a substantival relative clause." of the Bible. Then, as quickly as today's service of Army Air Corps cadets on the eve of the Do Marilyn Quayle, her parents and the elderly began, it is over and what looks like a University second World War. (Thieme wrote two train- Quayles — all coreligionists —worry about of Houston downtown campus crowd moves ing manuals.) Call it anthropological curiosity grammar? It seems unlikely. Probably it is the quickly out of the building. As does Col. Thieme, or a fascination with the truly unusual. Because, colonel's theology that won them over. Except of whom his son, the apparent heir-apparent, other than the Orange Show, on a Sunday morn- for his defense of abortion (human life does not has said "does not like glad-handing." ing in Houston there is nothing more strange begin until birth,, he argues), Thieme has devel- I'm the last one in the building, still looking than what goes on inside the church in the oped a designer theology for the extreme right. for the old print of the Death of Yamamoto. I shadow of the Transco Tower. And like the fundamental Christians who seized , find instead, in the library, a color photograph Services begin with a hymn, a discrete col- control of the Republican National Convention, of the 1983 reunion of Congressional Medal of lection and prayer that all present will avoid here it's hard to distinguish where religion ends Honor recipients. In the photo, they're stand- talking and unnecessary movement that might and politics begins. ing on the deck of the deck of the U.S.S. Intrepid. distract serious students of the Word of God. Before we even get to Christ crucified in one of Will Thieme's 30-year-old ministry survive the Then the overhead projector is turned on, almost Thieme's 100-page tracts, we have to fall in as end of the Cold War? Will the son being groomed all in attendance take out notebooks or stenog- he tells the story of the Twenty-sixth North Carolina to replace the 74-year-old colonel continue to raphers' pads, and the sermon, which is really Regiment's charge against the federal Iron Brigade, fill the 1,200-seat church two times each Sunday? a lecture, begins. the death of an American trumpeter in the Boxer Will Bobby Thieme teach his followers, as does For at least a full hour, Col. Thieme, wired Rebellion, and the British Army's performance at his father, to substitute "Jesus Christ" when they for sound, spells out the minutiae of his particu- the battle of Majuba Hill in Southwest Africa. Most read "Jehovah" in the Old Testament, thereby turn- lar brand of fundamental Christianity, which of Col. Thieme's theology is framed in mus- ing the Prince of Peace into the angry bellicose holds, in part, that "saved" Christians will be swept cular, military language. One category of God's God once required to instill fear into wandering, up into the air before the time of trial or grace is "logistical." Believers are enlistees in warring tribes of the Middle East? Tribulation. Saved Christians who have already the Royal Combat Battalion and the Royal Are we really expected to believe that the died live as spirits in Heaven, awaiting the Second Family (the ministry of believers) advances to Christ who healed the sick and raised the dead Coming, the Rapture and the resurrection bodies take the high ground. The state, Thieme con- holds the record for human slaughter? Walking with which they will be provided. tends, is divinely ordained and a Christian's away from Col. Thieme's angry congregation, At this Sunday service, Thieme explained that defense of country is therefore personal sacri- I think of John Berryman, a thoughtful and at the end of the millennium God will destroy fice in defense of a divine institution. "This coun- agonized believer, and "I pray, after all." ❑ THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 23 Postmaster: If undeliverable, send Form 3579 to The Texas Observer, 307 W. 7th St., Austin, Texas 78701

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE

✓ EARLY VOTING. Democrats figure to V ABORTION FIGHT. The Texas Abortion congressmen included Solomon Ortiz and Kika be the beneficiaries of stepped-up early voting, Rights Action League has marked 1992 as a de la Garza, both 80 percent; Jack Brooks 71.4 as the Texas Secretary of State found voting in critical election year. With the possibility that percent; Henry Gonzalez and Ron Coleman, both the first week of the general election about dou- the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. 70 percent; Chet Edwards, Greg Laughlin, 60 ble the pace of the 1990 election in the state's Wade next year, which would restore the 1898 percent, Albert Bustamante, 55.6 percent; Jim urban counties. Both parties operated telephone anti-abortion statute in Texas, the matter could Chapman, Charlie Wilson, Jake Pickle, Bill banks urging registered voters to cast their bal- go back before the Texas Supreme Court and Sarpalius, Martin Frost and Mike Andrews, all lots during the early period, which ended Oct. the Legislature. TARAL has endorsed numer- 50 percent. Ralph Hall voted 44.4 percent; Pete 30, and election officials reported the number ous legislative and judicial candidates, but the Geren 40 percent; Charles Stenholm and Larry of ballots cast in peron was more than double "TARAL 10," or "the most crucial races in Combest, both 30 percent; Joe Barton and Sam the number cast in the same period in 1990 in protecting the right to choose in Texas," the Johnson, both 20; Tom DeLay 11.1 percent; Jack Houston, Fort Worth and San Antonio. Craig group supports Bob Aikin of Commerce against Fields, Lamar Smith and Dick Armey, all 10. Sutherland of the Clinton/Gore campaign said Sen. Bill Ratliff in District 1, Don Coffey of Sen. Lloyd Bentsen scored 33.3 percent. polls that show the race in Texas to be a tossup Baytown in open District 6, Sen. Chet Brooks a week before the election encouraged the of Pasadena in District 11, Ronnie Harrison of V EAST TEXAS MUD. U.S. Rep. Charles Democrats to buy more radio and TV airtime Houston against Sen. Buster Brown in District Wilson, D-Lufkin, facing a tough re-election fight in Texas. "At this point it depends on who does 17, Gregory Luna of San Antonio in open from Republican Donna Peterson of Orange, is a better job getting people to the polls," he said. District 19, Sen. Bob Glasgow of Stephenville questioning the military and work history of the in District 22 and Jeff Wentworth of San captain in the U.S. Army Reserve who claims to be an honors graduate of West Point. Wilson, ✓ IF NEWSPAPER ENDORSEMENTS Antonio, TARAL's lone GOP choice, in DiMrict are a gauge of a candidate's respectability in the 26 (although Democrat Carlos Higgins also is under fire for his 81 overdrafts at the House business community, Bill Clinton is doing bet- pro-choice). In court races, TARAL endorsed bank, also complained that Peterson is hiding ter than Democratic Presidential candidates Justice Oscar Mauzy and Rose Spector for the behind the Republican Congressional Campaign in recent elections. By press time he had picked Texas Supreme Court and Morris Overstreet for Committee, which has produced many of the up endorsements from the Austin American- the Court of Criminal Appeals. attack advertisements airing in East Texas. Statesman, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, the Transportation is an issue in the race: Peterson's El Paso Times, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, ✓ COURT NODS. Texas Lawyer reported surrogates contend that Wilson has spent the Longview News-Journal (its first Democratic that Texas Supreme Court Justice Oscar Mauzy $500,000 in tax money on two vans which he has endorsement since LBJ) and the Waco Tribune- got the endorsement of only two daily news- used as mobile congressional offices for 13 years Herald. President Bush received endorsements papers, the Austin American-Statesman and the and Wilson questions how Peterson, who reported from the Amarillo Globe News, Beaumont Waco Tribune-Herald, by Oct. 22 while 13 $14,000 in income last year as general manager Enterprise, Bryan-College Station Eagle, Dallas dailies opted for Republican Craig Enoch. Rose for a plumbing company, paid at least $36,000 Morning News, El Paso Herald-Post, Houston Spector got the endorsement of three dailies, the in cash in January 1991 for a new Italian-made Chronicle and Post, Lubbock Avalanche- Statesman, the El Paso Times' and the El Paso car, as reported by Dan Wallach in the Beaumont Journal, Midland Reporter-Telegram, San Herald-Post, while 14 went for incumbent Enterprise. Wilson, 59, is known as a progres- Antonio Express-News and Light and Tyler Republican Justice Eugene Cook. Conservative sive on social and economic issues and a hawk Courier-Times-Telegraph. Democratic Justice Jack Hightower got the on military matters while Peterson, 32, who came endorsement of nine dailies, while six opted for within 7,600 votes of unseating him in 1990, appeals to conservative Christians and anti-abor- ✓ FAIRER SHARE. Ross Perot, whose eco- Republican John Montgomery. Democratic nomic plan calls on the nation to participate in incumbents got the bulk of the newspaper tion groups. a "fair share sacrifice," plays a smaller share endorsements for the Court of Criminal Appeals. of his income in taxes than most Americans and V WHITE MAN'S JUSTICE. Federal stands to pay even less under his proposal, ✓ WATCHDOGS VS FATCATS. When judicial nominees remain predominantly white, according to a study done for Newsday. Citizens it came to bank and S&L bailouts as well as male and wealthy, a review by People for the for Tax Justice, a labor-funded group, found that financial deregulation, Rep. John Bryant, D- American Way found. President Bush has made Perot pays about 6.8 percent of his earnings in Dallas, and Craig Washington, D-Houston, were 248 judicial nominations, including two to the federal taxes, as upwards of two-thirds of his among 17 House members who voted 100 per- Supreme Court, 49 to courts of appeal and 197 income is sheltered from federal income taxes. cent for the interests of everyday consumers, to district courts, and 88 percent of the nomi- He would pay about 6.7 percent of his income, farmers and small businesses while Rep. Bill nees were white. The Senate has approved 189, a savings of $200,000, under his tax proposal, Archer, R-Houston, was among 25 House mem- one has been rejected and the rest were not for- which would increase gasoline and cigarette bers and Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, was among mally acted upon. The study noted that two- taxes, raise the top tax rate, limit mortgage inter- 11 senators who scored zero, promoting the thirds of the judges on the courts of appeals were est deductions and tax some health benefits, but interests of big banks and the securities indus- appointed by Reagan or Bush, but only three of his plan would give tax credits for investment try, according to the Financial Democracy the last 132 appeals courts nominees have been and research and reduce the capital gains tax, Campaign, a nationwide alliance of community which are likely to benefit Perot. groups, headed by Jim Hightower. Other Texas Continued on page 21

24 • NOVEMBER 13, 1992