THE \ N TEXAS ,\

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A Journal of Free Voices September 22, 1978 500

ALSO: Connally or Bush for president? • Publisher's report II • Briscoe: hounding Zavala County • Corporate gumshoes want your arrest record Texas prisons

By Linda Rocawich Houston, Austin There's no shortage of correctional administrators and ex- The Texas perts in this state and across the country who will tell you that the Texas Department of Corrections runs the best state prison OBSERVER system the nation's ever seen: it's efficient, it's secure, it's c The Texas Observer Publishing Co., 1978 clean; it's cheap. The U.S. Department of Justice has a different Ronnie Dugger, Publisher opinion: TDC is an outrageous violator of Texas prisoners' civil rights. And the department is backing up its claim with a mas-

Vol. 70, No. 18 September 22, 1978 sive lawsuit on behalf of the inmates—the biggest prison case it's ever argued—that goes to trial in Houston before Federal Incorporating the State Observer and the East Texas Demo- District Judge William Wayne Justice on October 2. crat, which in turn incorporated the Austin Forum-Advocate. The case is Ruiz v. Estelle and the trial—which is expected to last at least two months and perhaps as long as six—will climax EDITOR Jim Hightower a legal battle that started about seven years ago when a handful ASSOCIATE EDITORS Linda Rocawich of inmates began filing separate complaints against prison offi- Eric Hartman cials under the federal Civil Rights Act. Their cases were con- EDITOR AT LARGE Ronnie Dugger solidated in 1974 as a class action that challenges TDC practices and procedures of all stripes—and that eventually could force PRODUCTION MANAGERS: Susan Reid, Beth Epstein sweeping changes in the state's treatment of convicted offen- ASSISTANT EDITORS: Vicki Vaughan, Bob Sindermann ders. STAFF ASSISTANTS: Margaret Watson, Margot Beutler, Beverly At issue are the living and working conditions in the 15 Texas Palmer, Harris Worcester, Larry Zinn, Jamie Murphy, Karrie Key, Christy Hoppe, Lisa Spann, Matthew Lyon, Helen Jardine, Karen prisons: the suit charges that they constitute cruel and unusual White punishment forbidden by the Eighth Amendment. Among the CONTRIBUTORS: Kaye Northcott, Jo Clifton, Dave McNeely, Don claims made by the inmate plaintiffs—all denied by the state— Gardner, Warren Burnett, Paul Sweeney, Marshall Breger, Jack Hop- are that: per, Stanley Walker, Joe Frantz, Laura Eisenhour, Dan Hubig, Ben Sargent, Berke Breathed, Eje Wray, Roy Hamric, Thomas D. Bleich, • severely overcrowded living conditions endanger their Mark Stinson, Ave Bonar, Jeff Danziger, Lois Rankin, Maury Maverick physical and mental health; Jr., Bruce Cory, John Henry Faulk, Chandler Davidson, Molly Ivins, • unsafe working conditions on the prison farms and in prison Ralph Yarborough, Laura Richardson, Tim Mahoney, John Spragens Jr., Sheila R. Taylor, Doug Harlan, David Guarino, Susan Lee industries jeopardize their health and safety: • TDC fails to protect them from physical assaults by guards or other inmates; BUSINESS STAFF: Cliff Olofson, Ricky Cruz • the TDC staff is too small, and is insufficiently trained, to maintain reasonable security inside the prisons; A journal of free voices • TDC illegally uses inmates, usually called "building ten- We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as we ders," as surrogate guards—a practice that often results in phys- find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, ical assaults; to human values above all interests. to the rights of humankind as the • prison medical care is grossly inadequate and often inacces- foundation of democracy; we will take orders from none but our own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to sible; serve the interests of the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human • they are denied reasonable access to the courts, public spirit. officials, and their lawyers; The editor has exclusive control over the editorial policies and con- tents of the Observer. None of the other people who are associated • TDC guards and officials retaliate severely against inmates with the enterprise shares this responsibility with him. Writers are who write letters or petitions to the courts or public officials; responsible for their own work, but not for anything they have not • summary punishment for rules infractions is imposed arbi- themselves written, and in publishing them the editor does not neces. sarily imply that he agrees with them because this is a journal of free trarily and due process in disciplinary proceedings is denied voices. systematically.

Published by Texas Observer Publishing Co., biweekly except for a three-week inter- val between issues twice a year. in January and July: 25 issues per year. Second-class In the beginning.. . postage paid at Austin, Texas. Publication no. 541300. Single copy (current or back issue) 50e prepaid. One year. $14; two years, $25; three Though the validity of these claims remains to be settled in years, $36. Foreign, except APO/FPO, $1 additional per year. Airmail, bulk orders, and court, much of the evidence is already in the public record at the group rates on request. federal district clerk's office—the result of elaborate prepara- Microfilmed by Microfilming Corporation of America, 21 Harristown Road, Glen Rock, N.J. 07452. tion and investigation by attorneys and experts for both sides—and TDC's prospects don't look good. It all goes back to Editorial and Business Offices: the early 1970s and a few of the TDC "writ writers," inmates 600 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701 who had managed to teach themselves enough law to petition 10020). F (512) 477-0746 the courts on their own. The more sophisticated among them were turning from the traditional jailhouse lawyer practice of Cover design: Nancy Whittington Cover photo: Danny Lyon, Conversations with the Dead (Holt, 1971). on trial

fighting an individual conviction or sentence or treatment— their own or a friend's—toward challenging prison conditions in general. (See article, page 6.) Some of them were incarcerated at TDC's Eastham Unit, which happens to be located in the federal court district pre- sided over in Tyler by Wayne Justice, a judge well-known for his willingness to take the complaints of prisoners (and other disadvantaged folks) seriously (Obs., Jan. 20). Seven petitions stating one or more charges of the sort mentioned above found their way to Judge Justice's attention, and he ap- parently saw enough merit in them to keep them alive. Mean- while, the National Association for the Advancement of Col- ored People had come on the scene; NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys Stan Bass of New York, Sam Biscoe of Dallas, and William Bennett Turner of San Francisco took on the writ writers as clients. In April 1974, Judge Justice consolidated the suits filed by David Ruiz, L. D. Hilliard, Ernesto Montana, Herman Randall, Amado Pardo, 0. D. Johnson and Arthur Winchester. It was now a class action on behalf of all state prisoners against TDC director Jim Estelle and the nine members of the Texas Board of Corrections, TDC's governing body. At the same time, he 0 ordered the Justice Department's civil rights division to advise him on the case as a friend of the court; later that year, the C (.6 department decided to intervene on the side of the plaintiffs. CI Since then the government attorneys have, for all practical pur- poses, represented the inmates' interests, spending untold opinions of experts and outside observers, the assertions of amounts of time and money to gather evidence and prepare the inmates and a handful of ex-employees, and the vehement de- case for trial. Civil rights division lawyers Gail Littlefield, nials of TDC officials and employees. The attorneys, who keep Charles Ory and David Vanderhoof are now settled in, having saying they "don't want to try the case in the press," are eva- moved from Washington to Houston for the duration; they will sive or downright close-mouthed when questioned about what be joined next month by the NAACP's Turner, who continues will go on at the trial; so are most of the hundreds of people as attorney of record for the inmate plaintiffs. whose names appear on the witness lists submitted by both The Texas officials, represented by a team of lawyers headed sides. Transcripts of witnesses' oral depositions are not open to by Ed Idar of Attorney General John Hill's staff, have fought the public; they're sealed under a special rule of the Houston the inmates and the feds tooth and nail since the beginning. federal courts. (The Houston Chronicle has filed suit to open They have tried to get the case thrown out of court; they have them, but Judge Justice has not yet ruled on the paper's request.) tried to prevent the federal intervention; and they have tried But, depositions aside, a unique arrangement for the gather- desperately to get the case out of Judge Justice's courtroom. ing of evidence and marshaling of expert opinion has put a None of their ploys has worked, but they have managed to keep staggering amount of material in the public record already. The the case in a procedural tangle for years. feds wanted to bring in a number of professionals with expertise And it did look, for a while, as though they would achieve at on various subjects relevant to the issues in the case— least one of their goals: in May of this year, TDC managed to get penologists, doctors experienced with institutional medical the case moved from Tyler to Houston. Attorneys for the state practices, nutritionists, industrial hygienists, public health con- said the venue change was needed because the Justice Depart- sultants, and so on—and let them inspect the prisons at will. ment plans to call about 200 inmates to the witness stand, all of TDC wanted not only to restrict this sort of activity but to field whom will have to be housed near the courtroom during the its own experts to counter such testimony. The judge ordered a trial. TDC argued that the Smith County jail in Tyler wasn't up compromise. Each side could have its experts, and the experts to the job, that the trial should be in Houston so they could use could inspect, talk to inmates in private, request records they the Harris County jail. Judge Justice granted the motion, at last needed—but they'd have to do it together. These teams—a typ- putting the case outside his jurisdiction. But TDC's stratagem ical team might consist of two experts (one for each side), sev- for getting away from the Tyler judge came a cropper a few days eral attorneys (at least one for each side), perhaps a photo- later when Judge Reynaldo Garza, who controls the assignment grapher or two, and a few TDC employees (some from central of cases in the Houston federal courts, designated Justice to office, some from the individual institution)—spent weeks, conduct the relocated trial. mainly in the summer and fall of 1976, traveling around East The public record Texas inspecting each of the 15 prisons. The experts each sub- mitted to the court reports of their findings and opinions, vary- The case is complex and the trial promises to be long and ing in bulk from a few pages to stacks of paper several inches acrimonious, with the outcome hinging on the contradictory thick, that afford a preview of their coming trial testimony.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER 3 What to expect from another large complexity of the problems at TDC that 2,000-bed prison now under construc- group of witnesses, the 200 or so prison- have prompted inmatt grievances. The tion, and to acquire land and build a sec- ers who are slated to testify, is no secret population of the Texas prison system ond new unit of similar size. (TDC tried either. That's because interviews con- has been growing at a pace so extraordi- earlier this year to buy land in the Rio ducted with more than 500 potential in- nary it has outstripped even the generous Grande Valley for such a prison, but the mate witnesses are also on the record. estimates made by TDC planners. It's up attorney general's office ruled the pur- The civil rights division called in the FBI from 12,000 in 1968 to 17,000 in 1974 to chase wouldn't be legal—Obs., April 28). to help with the screening, and the agents more than 24,000 this summer—a doubl- TDC has also requested $26 million to interviewed each one at some length, ing in just ten years. Only four years ago, build cell-block additions that would add asking a standard set of questions cover- the department was projecting a 1977 1,800 beds at six existing units and $1 ing the inmate's knowledge of incidents population of 19,200, a figure that turned million to build temporary buildings at and conditions bearing upon allegations out to be off by about 4,000. And all six units to house another 1,440 men. made in the suit, and often followed up with investigations of the inmate's charges. The FBI summaries of these in- "D---- advised that the building tenders would harass the terviews typically recite details of re- ported mental and physical abuses or `writ writers' by placing contraband in the writ writers' cells. dangers; much of what's alleged seems The building tenders would then conduct a search or have unbelievable on first reading, but gains credibility as the same sorts of events TDC officials conduct a search, and this contraband would and situations are mentioned again and be discovered, and thereafter the individuals would be sub- again through thousands of pages by in- jected to some disciplinary action." —The FBI mates all over the TDC system and by former Texas prisoners scattered from Florida to Alaska. these people are housed in prisons de- The obvious solution, however, is also A public mission signed to accommodate 19,000. This a simplistic one. It fails to address the makes TDC by far the nation's largest underlying question of why our prisons TDC has always conceived of its first state system, and, according to the Na- are overcrowded. That Texas locks up a responsibility as being to the public, not tional Institute of Law Enforcement and larger proportion of its people than 42 the prisoners—not a bad philosophy for Criminal Justice (a Justice Department other states ought to give us pause. a public agency if the public's long-term research arm), the nation's most What are we doing wrong? For one interests, and not its often-shortsighted crowded. thing, our Department of Corrections re- responses to "the crime problem," are What this means in human terms is fuses to have anything to do with the touchstone of sound policy. Unfor- appalling. Though conditions vary mate- community-based correctional facilities, tunately, TDC prefers to be led rather rially from one institution to the next, the instead housing virtually all its prisoners than to lead; as director Jim Estelle told pattern is to house two men in one-man in what are, for all practical purposes, Corrections Magazine earlier this year, cells or three men in two-man cells (the maximum security institutions. But TDC "All that the citizens of Texas demand of extra man gets a mattress on the floor) is not creating this problem by itself. Our their prison system is that it do two and to fill the dormitories with wall-to- judges make less use of probation than things: hold offenders securely, and wall cots. In at least one dormitory, do those in most other states, mainly be- 'make sure that they work to defray the some men actually have to sleep on mat- cause the probation services are grossly cost to the taxpayers of their own im- tresses placed on a ledge a few feet inadequate in most counties and virtually prisonment." These demands, as Estelle above the room's toilets. nonexistent in some. So more people go sees it, define TDC's mission, and no one Throughout the system, the prisoners to prison in the first place. Then, our sen- disputes that the department satisfies average less than 25 square feet of living tences are among the nation's longest, them. With only three escapes last year, space apiece, and only 21 to 22 square our parole board grants relatively fewer Texas prisons are undoubtedly better at feet in the dorms—figures that take on paroles than boards elsewhere, and Our keeping prisoners inside than any in the meaning if one recalls that the, beds, governor vetoes many paroles that the country. And with a system in which which average six by three feet, take up board does approve. So those who go to everyone works and no one gets paid, 18 square feet of an individual's space. prison stay longer. Any "solution" to the they're also the most economical; in- The latest standards adopted by the overcrowding that ignores these facts is deed, TDC actually used to turn a profit. American Correctional Association, a no solution at all. That this obsession with control and professional group that boasts TDC's Es- production will, in the long run, serve telle on its executive board, call for more Living in fear only to further alienate inmates from so- than double the space Texas prisons Paradoxically, the existence of most of ciety is a matter of "public interest" not provide. the other unacceptable living conditions seriously considered by TDC. At some Federal courts in other states have alleged by the plaintiffs in the Ruiz case point, a public agency with total control found prisons with considerably more will be harder to prove but easier to cor- over the lives of thousands of men and space than Texas' to be unconstitution- rect once the court is convinced some women must acknowledge respon- ally overcrowded, so the plaintiffs remedy is called for. The one about sibilities to them too. These respon- should have little difficulty demonstrat- which many seem most concerned is sibilities are what is at issue in the Ruiz ing that the same is true here. Nor will their physical security. No one knocks case. The prisoners, convicted felons they have any trouble getting TDC offi- TDC's outside security; the department though they are, did not give up their cials to admit it; in their public appear- does a better job of keeping the inmates right to live in a safe and humane envi- ances the last few years—especially be- inside and the public outside than just ronment when they lost their freedom. fore legislative committees—they seem about any system in existence. But, the And that, the plaintiffs maintain. TDC to have talked of little else. But what is prisoners claim, they aren't safe inside. does not provide. to be done about it? Dozens of them told the FBI interview= Wall-to-wall bodies The TDC solution is the obvious one: ers of beatings by guards and other in- build more prisons. The department has mates. And it's not just random The crowded living conditions inside requested more than $55 million for the violence—they allege that TDC policies are a prime example of the severity and next biennium to finish the Beto Unit, a and practices contribute directly to the 4 SEPTEMBER 22, 1978 perpetuation of conditions that cause keys, controlling access to the cells. tank or wing area and his duties was to them to live in constant fear of attack. TDC's position goes like this: using in- care for the inmates and look after the They say TDC fails to classify and assign mate guards is illegal; therefore, there inmates in his wing. He advised that part them in a way that would minimize the are no inmate guards. Which is a bit like of his duties was to keep them in line, to likelihood of inmate-on-inmate assaults. saying burglary is illegal; therefore, there keep the troublemakers from making They say also that the guards aren't are no burglaries. TDC director Estelle trouble, and to keep the writ writers from trained properly, there aren't enough has made precisely this comparison, yet writing writs." guards, and the guards aren't in the right actually seems to think it disposes of the The plaintiffs in the Ruiz case maintain places; worst of all, selected inmates are building tender issue in TDC's favor. that this inmate-guard system and the employed illegally as guards and they Just about everyone else agrees that climate of fear it perpetuates are not only , use their positions to exploit their fel- they are more than janitors. When the illegal, but unconstitutional. Though lows. FBI agents questioned inmates, they both Pontesso and the legislative com- TDC's ratio of personnel to inmates is asked about the building tenders' duties, mittee that investigated in 1974 are con- very low—only about half the national and Edgar Hartung, the agent in' charge, vinced that the system does work the average. Arnold Pontesso, a correctional summarized what hundreds of inmates way the inmates say it does, TDC offi- expert with more than 30 years' experi replied: "[The inmates] state that the cials continue to deny its very existence. ence, including service as warden of a TDC utilizes building tenders to maintain At the trial, it will be the prisoners' word federal prison and as director of the discipline, and that the building tenders against theirs. Oklahoma Department of Corrections, often brutalize their fellow inmates, at inspected the Texas institutions for the the direction of the officials of the TDC. Unsafe and unhealthy Justice Department. He says that "with The inmates state that the building ten- A number of the plaintiffs' other the present archaic system of inmate ders receive special privileges for classification, the plantation syndrome, charges relate to health and safety, and cooperating with the prison officials." the prisoners interviewed by the FBI and TDC's obsession with preventing :More telling are FBI reports of what a escapes and production of farm produce few former building tenders said:* had much to say on these subjects. and factory goods, the number of per- • 4,G. Agent Hartung summarized what they has been a building, tender told the FBI: "Almost all present or sonnel would need to be more than dou- . . . but he resigned because of brutality. bled to provide adequate supervision and former inmate witnesses . . . complain of The other building tenders would make inadequate medical care and/or lack personal security for the inmate popula- him join in beating of other inmates. tion." thereof. They state that the TDC lacks When he got the job, the TDC officers proper medical facilities, competent doc- Fred Wilkinson, a penologist with told him he was to inform on other in- tors, and is generally insensitive to their similar long experience who was the'.de- mates, enforce rules which they set, and complaints." He continued, "They state fendants' representative on the inspec- use whatever means the building tenders that they often suffer industrial or work- tion, disputes the plaintiffs' complaint by thought was necessary . . . Building ten- related injuries due to faulty equipment; citing the very low numbers of assaults ders whip inmates, carry out orders of carelessness, or inadequate warnings. recorded in TDC records. But, as Pon- guards, and inform on other guards." The present or past inmates complain of tesso points out, reported assaults may • "B advises that a building unsanitary conditions in the prison such be low because the guards are in no posi- tender operates the television, keeps in- as dirty and/or inedible food, cock- tion to see them going on, much less pre- mates in line, has power to arrest in- roaches, rats, a variety of bugs and mos- vent them. He says, "The situation is bad in cell houses but is much worse in dormitories where the lack of supervi- sion is most noticeable. Dormitories are "B advised that when he was a building tender, on his often crowded beyond belief and there are no officers assigned inside these liv- wing there was a writ writer and he had to discourage that ing areas. Minimal supervision is pro- inmate from writing so many writs and causing the TDC vided by roving officers in corridors." Pontesso's opinion conforms to the problems. He advised he did get him in line . . . he had to hit findings of the joint committee on prison him to convince him that it would be better for everyone reform chaired by State Sen. Chet Brooks and State Rep. Mickey Leland in concerned not for him to write so many writs." —The FBI 1974: "The cells are arranged in long rows and may be stacked as high as five tiers. Guards in the halls cannot observe mates, keeps order on the tank. He is quitoes in the living quarters, unclean much of what goes on in the wings. Acts like a supervisor over the inmates." cells, shower stalls, and bathrooms." of aggression among inmates go unno- • "C advised he has been a On these issues inmate testimony is ticed." building tender. . . . C 's respon- likely to carry less weight than that of . All of this contributes to undue re- sibilties and instructions were to protect expert witnesses. But the experts—and liance on selected inmates to supervise the TDC employees from the inmates there are a slew of them, each with im- and inform on the rest. Officially known and C — had available clubs, peccable credentials—are split. There as "building tenders" in most of the in- nightsticks, knives and blackjacks to him will be doctors, nutritional consultants, stitutions, their employment as surrogate to be used against the inmates should industrial hygienists, public health offi- guards is illegal, forbidden by a 1973 they become necessary . . . he advised cials, and industrial safety experts on state law that says, "An inmate in the that some of his privileges in • being a both sides of every conceivable issue. Texas Department of Corrections or in building tender were that he was allowed However, though the reports of experts any jail may not act in a supervisory or to get in fights with his enemy inmates brought in by the defendants differ on administrative capacity over other in- without fear of reprisals from the TDC particulars from those of the plaintiffs' mates [nor] administer disciplinary ac- staff. . . ." witnesses, a careful reading leads one to tion." • "B advised that while he was the conclusion that the prisoners have No one denies that the building ten- a building tender, he was in charge of a some legitimate gripes about health care ders exist. But according to TDC, they and working conditions. are sort of like janitors, keeping the cell- * The FBI reports mention inmates by For example, John Willard, an expert blocks clean and, with their rings of name. The Observer chooses not to. hired by the state of Texas, summarized THE TEXAS OBSERVER .5 his findings by writing that "the working conditions within TDC are generally good" and then went on in the same par- agraph to say, "Not counting the field workers, probably 80 percent of the in- mates work under comfortable condi- tions. . . ." That exception he allowed for David Ruiz: profile of a field workers accounts for more than half of the inmates at any given time, and everyone except the medically disabled works in the fields at one time or tiary. "I was wild, running with a gang," another. By Eric Hartman he recalls. The language barrier made it tough for him to get interested in school, Another example: Texas hired Eugene David Ruiz lends more than just his he says; by the time he dropped out of Newman, a former official of the federal name to the legal challenge that now the .seventh grade, he had already made Occupational Safety and Health Admin- looms before the Texas Department of his first trip to reform school at Gates- istration, to make a physical inspection Corrections in a Houston courtroom. vile, where he was sent three more times of prison industries. He found "a total of Against the Texas prison system's opera- before graduating to TDC. 396 conditions which could be consid- tive assumption that regimentation be- ered a violation of the OSHA stan- gets rehabilitation, he brings to bear the Ruiz doesn't say what he expected dards," but added that "only 15 would evidence of an entire adult life spent, when he arrived at TDC, but one gathers have been considered 'serious hazards' save for a few months, as an inmate of that, to a teenaged gang member who'd under OSHA criteria." TDC institutions. The lesson he invites grown tougher and meaner in response to reform school brutality, what he en- "Legitimate gripes" are not necessar- us to draw from his experience is partly a matter of reproach, partly of irony. The countered was familiar—a social system ily unconstitutional violations of civil ruled by force and fear. Privileged con- rights, of course, and many of these are reproach: that TDC's harsh regime of "yes, sir—no, sir" conformism promotes victs serving as guards and informants probably no worse than the hazardous (building tenders) made the system conditions often found in similar indus- both unthinking submissiveness and bit- ter resentment, but never moral awaken- work, controlling the cell-blocks on be- tries outside the walls. But the Depart- half of prison administrators by keeping ment of Corrections does have a special ing. The irony: that his own strides to- ward rehabilitation have been made in their fellow inmates divided and ap- obligation to insure the safety of inmate prehensive. To survive in this environ- workers because, as Willard wrote, "The spite of TDC's efforts to bring him to heel, and largely because of his resolve ment, claims Ruiz, you had to prove you relationship between an inmate and his were strong. "If somebody was weak," supervisor is not quite the same as that to oppose by reasoned argument the ar- bitrary and degrading control prison au- he says, "people stomped on him, and so between an employee and employer in did I." the free world . . . how does the inmate thorities wield over inmates' lives. quit if he finds the demands too severe?" Make no mistake: you'll hear from this But he took his violent self- writ writer no fatuous moralizing about assertiveness too far. He fought fre- What chance for change? the "crime" of punishment by imprison- quently, no-holds-barred, with building ment. Rather, his concern is with condi- tenders and guards, and he tried to es- No one knows what will come of all tions of confinement, and all he asks of cape. FOr these and many lesser infrac- this, even if the prisoner-plaintiffs man- us is what he asks of the courts that re- tions, he wound up isolated much of the age to prove their case in the courtroom. ceive his many petitions—that we weigh time in windowless cells, subsisting on They'd like Judge Justice to order TDC his evidence and heed his arguments. short rations and sustaining himself by to stop doing all the things they say it cultivating his anger toward the people does that violate their civil rights. If they A jailhouse interview* who ran the system. His defiant conduct do convince the judge, they may well get won him a reputation as a hard case. an order mandating sweeping adminis- At 37, Ruiz is already an old-timer at When he got out of prison in 1967, he trative remedies. But if the state's past TDC, a veteran of stints at the Ellis, worked awhile but eventually drifted performance in similar situations is any Eastham, Ramsey and Wynne units. He back to the crowd he'd been part of be- indication, the appeals will drag on for was sent up for armed robbery when he was still in his teens, serving eight years fore. "I didn't know any trade," he years. (Texas' response to Judge Jus- points out, "but I did know how to Morales v. Turman, a of a 12-year term before he got out in tice's orders in handle a gun." He put that skill to use similarly broad challenge of Texas Youth 1967. Within a year, he was back in, again, and was back inside TDC in no Council practices, comes to mind—that again for armed robbery, and this time he case went to trial in early 1973 and is still drew a 25-year sentence. He's done time. not finally settled.) nearly 11 uninterrupted years since then, He resumed his self-destructive course where he'd left off, and might Besides, TDC is notorious for dragging his requests for parole having been re- peatedly refused. never have turned away from it but for its feet in implementing court decrees— Frances Cruz, a prison reform activist even the ones it formally agrees to. Im- Ruiz, who grew up as one of 13 chil- and attorney who was making the cause plementation of the remedies sought by dren in a predominantly Spanish- would re- speaking family on Austin's east side, of inmates' rights in Texas her own. The the plaintiffs in Ruiz v. Estelle dedication this outsider showed as a quire fundamental changes in business as minces no words in describing the be- havior that landed him in the peniten- prisoners' advocate in battles with TDC usual in Huntsville, and it's hard to figure was a new and unaccountable phenome- how the Department of Corrections in its non in David Ruiz's life—certainly a present incarnation could pull them off. * In what. follows, remarks attributed to moral example of a higher order than he For the battle between it and its critics is David Ruiz are drawn, unless otherwise had ever seen within the prison system. not so much a dipute over the facts (al- noted, from an interview conducted on Sep- She impressed him profoundly, he says, though the facts are by no means agreed tember 6 at the Travis County jail. (Ruiz was prodding him to re-examine his "every upon) as it is a dispute over philosophies there on a temporary transfer from TDC's Wynne Unit so that he could appear in a civil man for himself" philosophy and, for the of corrections and moral responsibility. first time in his troubled life, find it want- And such things are not changed with a suit brought by his ex-wife to terminate his parental rights to their daughter.) ing. court order. ❑ 6 SEPTEMBER 22, 1978 writ writer

Thus it was that the violent inmate Ruiz began, under her tutelage and with the aid of others she had influenced, to turn himself into Ruiz, the writ writer. Hitherto, his resort to law had been lim- ited to the filing of habeas corpus peti- tions attacking his own convictions. Now, he learned to make use of federal civil rights statutes, state laws governing the operation of the prisons, and some provisions of TDC's own regulations to challenge the obnoxious features of the system. He had finally learned a trade, and he applied himself to it with a will. Ruiz has had a hand in over a dozen of the inmate-initiated cases now pending Z,I3TE-li against Texas prison administrators. He was downright panicky: in 1971, then- Judge Justice may order them to be subjects these officials to a steady bar- director of TDC George Beto had writ stopped when he decides Ruiz v. Estelle . rage of lawyerly correspondence, po- writers, including David Ruiz, concen- The same goes, he adds, for the possibil- litely pointing out discrepancies between trated on one unit where they could be ity that the federal judge will order an TDC's public pronouncements and ac- kept away from other inmates, and he end to the building tender system— tual practices he witnesses at the Wynne denied Frances Cruz any further access which is, after all, illegal under Texas law Unit where he is now confined. He and to them, accusing her of trying to foment already. But, he goes on to insist, "The his fellow writ writers—inmates like Er- an inmate insurrection and stir up litiga- only way you can communicate with nesto Montana, Salvador Gonzalez, tion. Ruiz remembers how he was ap- TDC is through a court order." Allen Lamar, Martha Quinlan, Lawrence proached by assistant warden Billy Pope and numerous others—have gone McMillan of the Eastham Unit with an Of course, TDC officials deny most of about this business of holding TDC to offer of assistance in obtaining parole in Ruiz's particular allegations. As for the accounts with great resourcefulness and exchange for publicly renouncing his ties broad issues raised in the case to be tried to attorney Cruz. Ruiz declined, and a next month, TDC annual reports make relish. much of the progress toward a more hu- Amidst their allegations of serious federal judge later made short work of mane system that's been made compared wrongdoing—medical neglect, beatings, Beto's scheme, denouncing it as a to the way the prisons were run 30 years race discrimination, and the like—they transparently unconstitutional attempt to even find room for a certain dry humor. deny the prisoners their right to sue and or so ago. Example: a May 6, 1977, affidavit signed to deprive Cruz of her rightful access to Ruiz is willing to concede that there's by David Ruiz and others describes how her clients. been significant progress even over the a TDC officer tried to silence him as he Since then, Ruiz says, writ writers 18 years he's been in—"a little more spoke in a low voice to another inmate have been harassed as a matter of tacit, education and training," he says, "and about the parole system. The officer rather than explicit, TDC policy. One in- nowhere near so much outright brutal- pointed to a "no talking" sign in the hos- stance of harassment he alleged in a 1977 ity." He concludes wryly: "Maybe a pital waiting room where the incident letter was at the level of petty vindic- hundred years from now they'll be taking occurred; Ruiz replied by citing a federal tiveness: a painting he made and gave to people through and showing them 'the court order specifically forbidding at- another inmate was confiscated as "con- hole' [isolation cell]. And they'll say, tempts to keep him from talking to other traband." Some of the reprisals he al- `Boy, it used to be rough. That's where inmates. That order, said the officer, did leges, however, threaten his health and we used to keep those writ writers to get not apply in the prison hospital. Ruiz even his life: earlier this year, for exam- them to drop their lawsuits.' " demurred. The affidavit concludes: "The ple, he was given the job of scrubbing Maybe so. And in the meantime, said officer then ordered Ruiz to shut up. shower stalls, an assignment he claims maybe the folks at TDC can take note of Ruiz did not talk further." he refused because of pain he experi- the humane gesture made by Travis TDC has yet to figure out an effective enced while doing the work. Result (as County Sheriff Raymond Frank when counter to the legal attacks mounted he describes it): solitary confinement— Ruiz was temporarily in his custody ear- with such enthusiasm by the likes of and a subsequent diagnosis that he was, lier this month. Frank simply let him out David Ruiz. Prison officials could com- in fact, suffering from gall stones. Solit- of jail for awhile so he could attend a fortably deal with the sort of rebel Ruiz ary confinement was also his lot for re- family reunion. And David Ruiz—that used to be . But what do you do with an fusing recently to accept a transfer to a incorrigible violator of TDC rules, the inmate who attacks you with legal argu- different part of the Wynne Unit—a writ writer whom former cellmate Sal- ments instead of physical violence, and transfer which would have put him in vador Gonzalez calls "the toughest of all whose case is heard in a court you can't close proximity to an inmate he claims of us"—after seeing his whole family control? has openly threatened to kill him. again for the first time in 11 years, promptly turned himself back in at the The burgeoning of the writ-writing Ruiz says he's not naive enough to Travis County jail. Some pressing legal phenomenon clearly caught the prison suppose that TDC will necessarily aban- system off-guard, and the initial reaction don these alleged tactics just because business to attend to, you see. 0 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 7 body's business—it's open only to other criminal justice agencies, certain research organizations (for the purpose of making statistical compilations), and five state licensing boards (which can't issue li- Wanted: censes to felons). If private agencies don't care to spend the years it would take to Manually amass what the state computer can provide in seconds, that's their prob- Easy access to lem, according to opponents of the data dissemination bill. Says Austin attorney Frank Maloney of the Texas Criminal De- fense Lawyers Association:" It's a matter of privacy—if a man has done his time, let your DPS file that be the end of it." "Anything you want" By Sue Duffy (and he says now he doesn't know for sure Suarez and Speir also beg two other what happened to the bank trainee). But Austin questions: who governs the use of the he insisted that her arrest in such bad information they'd now like to dissemi- Unbeknownst to most Texans, the De- company was highly relevant to her fitness nate to private companies, and what partment of Public Safety is working hand for employment. "She must have been guarantees its accuracy or completeness? in glove with private security companies associated with them because she was With a computerized DPS information that are trying to open DPS computer arrested with them," he reasoned. For his system that began as a humble identifica- banks, filled with 2.3 million so-called purposes, it didn't seem to matter that she tion service and burgeoned into a cumula- "criminal history" files, to employers, insur- wasn't convicted of anything or that she tive criminal history file absorbing 500 to ance agents, credit investigators—any might not have known the other party- 1,000 new arrest reports daily, the ques- business interests that might like to snoop goers were fugitives. tion is not an idle one, and the details ofthe into a citizen's past. The state agency and It's this sort oflogic-chopping use ofraw way the system works do not inspire con- the private investigators argue that busi- fidence. nesses need the DPS data to weed out arrest data that has civil libertarians wor- potential criminals, and they sought au- ried about the records dissemination bill. Suppose you're arrested on suspicion of thorization of the easy-access policy dur- Says John Duncan, director of the Texas drunk driving. A policeman takes you to ing the last session of the Legislature. Civil Liberties Union: "It's like creating a the station, books, fingerprints and photo- They didn't get it, but they're back for vast blacklist of unemployables. What's graphs you. Then he fills out a form with all . another try, and a House subcommittee on really frightening is how it would affect the data deemed pertinent: name, sex, criminal records is currently working on a people who are arrested for minor race, date of birth, fingerprints, occupa- new version of the easy-access bill. things—people who've never had any se- tion, address, next of kin and so on. Fi- rious run-ins with the law." His concern is nally, he checks the state and national files Testimony at a subcommittee hearing in to the point, because if you've ever been via computer to get your" rap sheet"—the July made it plain that this is an awful idea charged with any offense, the charge is record of any prior arrests and whether whose time, regrettably, seems to have recorded in the big DPS computer in Aus- you are, in fact, "wanted" for something come. Particularly disquieting was the tin whether you're convicted or not. somewhere else. story the legislators heard from former FBI agent Dale Simpson, who now works Technicalities, the bill's proponents Whether you had a prior record or not, as a private investigator in Dallas and seem to be scoffing, mere technicalities. your arrest will now have been entered After all, Simpson made his discovery in a came to Austin to argue for the opening up into the state information system, and any of DPS files. newspaper's morgue, and the newspaper criminal justice agency in the U.S. can get got its information from the public record your record. (And the FBI can give it on Sensitive material at the local police department. "Why request to certain federal agencies and then," asks DPS general counsel Norman federally chartered and insured banks.) Simpson testified that he was making a Suarez," can't we disseminate it" from the But that is only the official paper trail. routine background check on a female central data bank? Even DPS officials are candid about the management trainee at a prominent Dallas DPS director Col. Wilson Speir takes frequency of unauthorized use of criminal bank when he stumbled on an interesting the argument a step further. "Driving rec- files. Recently, DPS records manager H. news report. It seemed that more than a ords," he says, "have been open to the A. Albert put it this way to a visiting year before, the woman had been arrested public for a long time [in Texas]. I don't see reporter: "I'll bet you know some police at a party where some people were smok- any difference in the concept. In fact, I feel officer or district attorney somewhere ing marijuana. Some of the guests also the social condemnation would serve as a who will get you just about anything you turned out to be " wanted" in California for deterrent to the commission of crimes." want on anybody." Thus, access to infor- murder, robbery and other offenses. Concludes Speir: "If I were a banker, I'd mation about your arrest often depends on "That woman had been hired because of like to know if someone I'm about to hire who operates more than 500 computer the absence of that criminal information," has been convicted three times for thiev- terminals in police stations and said Simpson. "She had access to sensi- ery." courthouses across Texas and thousands tive material . . . to credit files. We were But these DPS officials skirt the impor- more in state and federal offices nation- fortunate and lucky enough that tant issues. While it's true that anyone can wide. newspaper files were open to us." In other obtain current arrest information at the What's more, the recordkeeping is words, it sure would be easier to pick up a police station and conviction data at the sloppy. Say your drunk driving charge is print-out at DPS than to go digging for such courthouse, only the DPS computer holds dismissed. You may be the only one who nuggets on his own. what is purportedly a person's complete knows it. In Texas, no law enforcement The private eye didn't say what use criminal history. Under current law, that agency is required to follow up and include was made of his "criminal information" centralized information is usually no- the fact on the computer record. "The

SEPTEMBER 22, 1978 8 courts now," explains Albert, "handle Schwartz considers Speir the most obs- things so strangely. A man could be ar- tinate opponent of progress on privacy rested on four different charges but by the issues, but allows as how he's a pretty time it gets to court, he's only being tried stubborn fellow himself. He promises to on one. Sometimes the prosecutor introduce a similar bill next session and chooses not to go to court at all. But we again and again until it gets through. "I'll never hear about it, whatever happens. still be here when Speir retires," vows It's hard to get those [follow-up records]." Schwartz, "and I'll be glad when he does, These problems are by no means unique and you can quote me on that." to Texas; the American Civil Liberties Schwartz did manage to push through Union says, for instance, that the national the 1977 Legislature a bill that requires the criminal history files have never been au- purging of arrest records if charges are dited for accuracy or completeness. And dismissed before indictment and if the in- 26 states have seen fit to pass privacy laws (Continued on page 16) specifically addressed to the problem of criminal arrest records. A South Carolina law, for example, calls for the destruction of any arrest record where the arrest does not result in conviction. Texas lawmak- ers, however, have by and large demon- strated precious little sensitivity to the perils of gathering and retaining informa- tion indiscriminately, and giving it out without due respect for the privacy of the individual who may be stigmatized by it. What's in store One exception to the rule has been Sen. A. R. "Babe" Schwartz of Galveston, chairman of the Senate jurisprudence committee. "The computer has become a trash bucket of information," says Schwartz, a longtime foe of anything and anyone who would turn the 20th century's information explosion into a threat to pri- vacy. "Anything said about a person—. they put it on a damn computer whether it's true or not." In that spirit, he intro- duced a bill in 1975 which would have forced any state agency keeping files on a citizen to allow him or her to see it and challenge any incorrect or unverified in- formation it contained. DPS would have had to implement the plan by mailing out notices of the existence of such files along with driver's license renewal forms. The proposal brought a strong and swift reaction. Police officials, sheriffs, district attorneys and other officers of the law from all over the state converged on the Senate hearings to denounce the bill as "irresponsible, an administrative nightmare." Colonel Speir, for one, esti- mated the notification procedure alone would cost the state nearly $16.3 million. End of proposal.

Illustration by Eje Wray Zavala County co-op: Waylaid again By Lisa Spann for a change, as dues-paying members What these worthies have in common, with a voice in controlling the operation besides their devotion to capitalism on a Austin of a 1,000-acre labor-intensive farm, with grand scale, is bitter enmity toward the Remember when Dolph Briscoe at- higher wages and more job security than insurgent Raza Unida party that domi- tacked plans for a Zavala County agricul- they could get working for Valley grow- nates Zavala County and its county seat, tural cooperative as a plot to establish "a ers. Marketing of the farm's crops was to Crystal City—and that's what has been little Cuba . . . a communal farm . . . be part of a larger export-import opera- behind the campaign to kill the coopera- Socialism" in his home region of tion that would make the co-op a broker tive farm proposal. The vehicle for estab- Southwest Texas (Obs., Oct. 15, 1976)? for produce coming into the U.S. from lishing the co-op is the Zavala County Well, since that outburst two years ago Mexico, providing a cushion against Economic Development Corporation, a this month, Dolph has shown uncharac- economic reverses the farming operation nonprofit operation closely linked to teristic energy and resourcefulness in a might encounter and a source of capital Raza Unida—headed, in fact, by Zavala so far successful effort to abort the pro- for improvements and expansion in good County Judge Jose Angel Gutierrez, the posed social and economic venture by years. A planned savings and loan side- party's founder. The party has done a lot cutting off the federal funds needed to line was also intended to build up in- to upset the local power structure in get it started. Yet somewhat surpris- vestment funds. South Texas, and to put the matter sim- ingly, and no thanks to the lame-duck Now this is plainly private enterprise. ply, Briscoe and company have been op- governor, the $885,000 federal grant pro- albeit of the cooperative variety, but that posing the federal grant to get even. posal for the Zavala co-op is still alive. didn't keep the governor from calling it "un-American" and "un-Texan," nor did Briscoe's first gambit, it may be re- Even Briscoe must have known that it keep a veritable "Who's Who" of called, was to temporarily block the dis- his propaganda campaign, launched at South Texas economic and political bursement of federal money to the cor- the September 1976 state Democratic heavyweights from parroting his line. poration by insisting on his technical convention, was disingenuous. Coopera- Besides Dolph, whose ranching interests right to review and comment on the pro- tive business organizations have been a take in 22,000 acres in Zavala County posal. He prevailed on the point in fed- common feature of Texas agriculture for alone, opponents of the co-op have in- eral court, but the victory didn't get him over a hundred years, thousands of cluded such notables as Congressman all he wanted—he could hold up the Texas farmers are co-op members, and Chick Kazen of Laredo, attorney grant for 60 days, but he couldn't veto it. the Zavala project is just a part of this Hayden Head of Corpus Christ (another So the governor turned from legal tac- tradition. The proposal was simply to Zavala County landowner), and B. K. tics to political maneuvering. He had have farmworkers work for themselves Johnson, a wealthy local rancher. helped Jimmy Carter win the presidency

10 SEPTEMBER 22, 1978 by campaigning to keep conservative sion of the grant on the grounds that the White House blocking of the pretrial set- Texas Democrats within the fold; now, Zavala group had failed to follow agency tlement. Olivarez admitted that there he would call in some of his political instructions and meet CSA conditions in had been repeated White House in- IOUs. No sooner was Carter installed in setting up its program. Traces of Bris- quiries about ways to terminate the the White House than Briscoe began coe's influence on the decision were, to grant, and acknowledged that the Presi- pestering top presidential aides to pre- say the least, substantial. There was, of dent's congressional liaison man, Frank vent the release of the grant. Dolph even course, the record of the White Hou'se Moore, had cautioned her about trouble showed up in person to plead his case meeting and of a spate of complaints with the Texas congressional delegation and also used his clout to line up con- Briscoe had sent to the White House. if the grant were released. She also con- gressional support for his crusade to But also, through a Freedom of Informa- ceded that she had told another agency save South Texas from the Raza Unida- tion Act suit, attorneys for the Zavala official who had dealt with the Zavala tied co-op. group got wind of a whole series of corporation that "Gutierrez had picked The Community Services Administra- White House memoranda on the subject an unfortunate time to very vociferously tion, the federal agency with control over of their grant proposal, and though they criticize the Carter administration's il- the money, suddenly started finding a didn't win release of the details, it legal alien proposals." (Carter didn't whole lot of things wrong with the seemed as though an awful lot of top- mention that at a June press conference Zavala proposal. Details of the transfer level staff time had been spent on the when questioned about the Zavala case, of co-op ownership rights from the $885,000 CSA grant. but he did note that Governor Briscoe ZCEDC to farmworker members be- The ZCEDC sued to force the agency had complained about the grant.) Of came the source of grave reservations to let go of the money, alleging that the course, Olivarez testified, she was totally about the proposal on the part of CSA denial of the funds was a political payoff free of White House pressure as soon as director Graciela Olivarez, a Carter ap- by the Carter administration to Dolph she informed Carter's aides that it would pointee. The Zavala grant proponents . Briscoe. Just two months ago they lost a be impossible to cut funding without a were somewhat mystified, because iden- bid to compel disclosure of the contents reason. It was just coincidence, it seems, tical arrangements in previous grant pro- of the White House memoranda and with that so many good reasons came so posals approved by CSA had sailed it, their best chance to prove their case. readily to hand at about the time Briscoe through without a word of objection. But the legal proceedings that led up to called in his chips at the White House. Inadequacies in ZCEDC's manage- the dismissal of their claim only served Having spent $20,000 on legal fees al- ment also surfaced as an obstacle to re- to confirm the thesis that the real objec- ready, the Zavala corporation couldn't lease of the funds soon after the change tion to the Zavala plan was political. afford to appeal Gesell's ruling, and it in administrations in Washington. U.S. District Judge Gerhard Gesell looked as though the Zavala cooperative Gutierrez maintains that the local devel- was assigned the case and he urged the farm idea had been finished off for good. opment corporation complied with all CSA to settle with the corporation and The federal money which had long been federal regulations, and that the grant so avoid a trial. CSA attorneys then pre- set aside to pay for the project was slated had been okayed by the civil service sented ZCEDC a compromise solution, to revert to the Treasury on July 31, and types in the CSA—only the political ap- under which the grant money would Dolph was gloating. He told reporters, "I pointees refused to endorse it, he recalls. have been released to the organization, have been opposed to it from the begin- CSA officials deny this and say their contingent upon a withdrawal by the ning. I still oppose it. I will always be concerns were based on the work of a corporation's board of directors from a opposed to it, and I will continue to fight congressional oversight committee direct role in running the cooperative en- it in any way possible." which had (interestingly enough) singled terprise. Basically, the CSA insisted only The lame-duck governor's promise of out grants to the Zavala development that the venture operate as a strict undying opposition to a project that al- corporation as being out of compliance cooperative—that is, that only workers ready seemed dead may have betrayed a with regulations in late 1976. should vote on management policy. premonition of what was about to hap- Another criticism the CSA leveled ZCEDC attorneys immediately flew to pen, because the CSA soon made a par- against the ZCEDC proposal was that Crystal City to obtain authority to accept tial about-face and extended for four the cooperative would not go far enough the pretrial settlement. But the next day months the time limit for approval of a in promoting the economic well-being of in the Washington courtroom, CSA at- revised grant proposal and disbursement chicanos in Zavala County—that it torneys astonished everyone by of the money. That puts the new dead- would merely create a "new class of withdrawing their settlement offer on the line just a month or so shy of the day stoop laborers." Gutierrez argues, how- grounds that both Attorney General Grif- Dolph Briscoe leaves office, and the ever, that the corporation would pump fin Bell and President Carter had person- Zavala group is guardedly hopeful that thousands of dollars into the depressed ally objected to the agreement's lan- their co-op will be considered for once local economy, paying more than 200 guage. exclusively on its merits now that he has employees an average of $3.50 per Left with no choice but to proceed expended his political capital. So it could hour—much more than the typical sub- with the trial, ZCEDC attorneys ap- yet turn out that by the time Governor standard Valley wage. And ZCEDC pealed for the release of the Briscoe- Briscoe gets back to being a plain old farmworkers, he adds, will at least' be Carter memos dealing with the grant, but millionaire rancher-banker from Uvalde landowning stoop laborers. Gutierrez to no avail. The President claimed again, he'll have to put up with the Raza also points to the success of another fed- executive privilege, and Gesell con- Unida cooperative in his own backyard erally subsidized community develop- curred, finding "no evidence" of wrong- after all. It would serve him right: it's about time the farmworkers of Zavala ment corporation set up by the Raza doing to justify overriding that principle County got this chance to practice a little Unida party in San Antonio. Managed of non-disclosure as he had in the by the Mexican-American Unity Coun- Watergate case. of the land-owning private enterprise that, as Briscoe preached in that im- cil, the eight-year-old local investment, While Gesell's ruling on the executive health and social services corporation passioned speech two years ago, "built privilege claim may have been legally this state and this nation of ours." currently generates more than $13 mil- sound, his decision that CSA director ❑ lion annually and employs hundreds of Olivarez had "exercised her unbiased Lisa Spann, an Observer staff assis- San Antonians. judgment in the matter" doesn't square tant, is a 1978 graduate of the University Nonetheless, the result of all these with much of the evidence that emerged of Texas. new-found difficulties was the suspen- at the trial, let alone the last-minute

THE TEXAS OBSERVER 11 Who'll own Alaska? Lower 48. One newspaper editor in An- the strengthening amendments that will chorage even warns that one result of be offered." • A major conservationist battle is this bill could be that "children begin Tower has said he doesn't want any- bubbling in the U.S. Senate, and freezing in the dark in Chicago." thing like the House version to get the issue has seeped into the political Those for preservation counter that through the Senate, predictably mouth- contest between Sen. John Tower and not only do these happen to be ecologi- ing the industry line about fuzzy-thinking his Democratic challenger, Bob Krueger. cally unique areas of pristine beauty, but conservationists thwarting the national At stake are 110 million acres of federal also the acreage. little in the way need for energy independence. Bentsen land in Alaska. Oil, timber, mining and of commercially exploitable, resources. says that he will oppose any filibuster construction interests want the land "This' bill is simply not a question of effort (Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel has available for development; assorted con- energy and mineral resources versuf4 threatened one to block the bill), but he servation groups want it set aside as na- preservation," says Nancy Juck of Tex- will not take a position on the measure tional parks, wildlife refuges, wild and ans. for Alaska, adding that "95 percent until it is reported from committee, scenic rivers and wilderness forests. Un- of the oil land in the state and 70 percent , which should be later this month. surprisingly, Tower stands withhe in- ''of the mineral lands are not at all touche dustrial interests. Somewhat ris- The Chamber of Commerce of the by the bill." U.S. is lobbying against the measure in ingly, Krueger has sided with the n- The House passed the Alaskan con- servationists. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen is sit- Washington, and a couple of oil com- servation bill last May by a nine-to-one panies are using their resources to gen- ting on the fence, though leaning toward majority (277 for, 31 against). Four those who would preserve the land. erate opposition from their shareholders Texas congressmen were in the minority and customers. ARCO has mounted the Dozens of environmental and other (Burleson, Collins, Hall and Poage), most sophisticated campaign, sending a groups from all across the country*ve while an uncommon alignment of 11, notice of the bill to its shareholders in the formed the "Alaska Coalition" to baa Texans supported the measure: Archer home states of senators who serve on the bill, the Alaska National Interest Lands Brooks, de la Garza, Gammage, Gon committee. The ARCO mailer terms the Conservation Act, and they have made it zalez, Jordan, Kazen, Mahon, Mattox,k Hous'e-passed bill "too all- their number one legislative priority this 4,..-Piekle and Wibon. Rep. Krueger was encompassing" and "not in the best year. A Lone Star delegation, calling it- absent for the vete but he had an:=4.4,1 ter of the entire country," and it self Texans for Alaska, is part of the co- nounced his siliatiort of the bill before he ients to send a Mailgram to alition. Leading the opposition to the co- departed. TheMaska Coalition consid- the rs. As a little incentive, the alition are most commercial interests ers the Hpuse-passed version an com•vites the shareholders to Alaska, major oil refiners an adequate" -bill, but the group is not at charge t of the Mailgram to At- Alaska's politician s...4%a line of argu- all pleased with what the Senate energy lantic iving them ARCO's ment is that these lands are needed for and natural resources committee is doing Western unt number to use. the state's economic health, that untold to it: "They're catering to developers," a Not to be e, Exxon has also energy and minerals within this land source in Washington said, adding that jumped on the onservationist measure, must be extracted lest all America go "the bill that comes to the Senate floor enclosing in its August bill to company bankrupt, and that Alaska is sick and By will be crummy, so the test for Bentsen cardholders a not-so-subtle flyer titled God tired of being told what to do by the and Tower will be whether they support "Will a law lock up Alaska?" The rich are different directly allied with that industry. Bank- percent; and George Mitchell, of Mitch- ers comprise the next fattest group— ell Energy & Development, was the big seven of their rank make the best-paid winner, gaining on Old Man Inflation • It may be lonely at the top of the business world, but being there list, and, not incidentally, they head our with a 122 percent boost in his pay. does seven largest bankholding companies. have its compensations. For its Corporate executives generally have September issue, Texas Business Nor is it just a matter of the top dog of been enjoying pay increases of at least 10 magazine pored through proxy state- each firm hauling off the riches; strictly percent for each of the last several years, ments, SEC documents and other finan- within the confines of the executive and there is no real evidence of a slow- cial materials to piece together the total suite, there's a certain sharing of the down, despite federal inflation czar Bob remuneration paid to chief executives of wealth. For example, Tenneco's Strauss's personal request to some com- Texas' largest corporations, and they chairman, Wilton Scott (now retired), pany heads that they limit their appetites found that the 50 highest paid made off was the second highest paid corporate this year as a symbolic gesture. Business with an average of $325,000 in 1977, rang- chief last year, making $496,000 in salary managers measure their status in terms ing from the relatively meager $172,000 alone (he had nearly $300,000 in other of gross compensation, and you'll be taken home by Texas Oil & Gas's compensation); but five other Tenneco hard-pressed to find any who will admit William Hutchison to the cool $816,000 executives also had salaries that aver- to being overpaid or undeserving of pocketed by Charles Tandy of Tandy aged $320,000. another big raise. Corporation. These pay levels reflect more than In unintended irony, another article in The chiefs of oil and gas firms, the your normal cost-of-living increases. For the same issue of Texas Business decried very ones carping that Jimmy Carter's example, American General Insurance's two inflationary "sore points" in Texas' energy policies just don't provide them Benjamin Woods'on's pay was up 16 per- otherwise bullish economic prospects enough incentives to produce, are the cent this year over last; John Bookout, this year: (1) a 25 cent raise in the mini- best-paid bunch of all-17 of the big 50 head of Shell Oil, was 28 percent better mum wage and (2) an increase in taxes are with oil and gat production com- off this year; First City Bancorporation for social security payments. It all de- panies, and fully half of those listed are hiked J. A. Elkin's remuneration by 38 pends on where you sit.

12 SEPTEMBER 22, 1978

404.,-.0104*.makraraWiN, 1111**Stre.40,yz. ..litpkaprfpvwsloo Heat the press Poor old Gerald Ford just can't • seem to get the hang of campaign- ing in Texas. In his losing 1976 bid for election to the presidency, Ford made a political swing through the Lone Star state and astounded his local supporters by trying to eat a tamale with the shuck still on it. Two years later, out in San Angelo, the titular head of the Republi- can Party has managed to create another Club reception. It is common for jour- It was suggested by reporters that just PR disaster for himself. nalists to attend these affairs, but Ford one of their rank be allowed into the The former president was coming to wasn't having any of it—apparently, he executive gathering, but Ford vetoed this metropolis of the rolling prairies to doesn't want any low-life reporters ming- that too. For his part, Loeffler said he boost the Republican candidacy, of Tom ling with him and the well-heeled. To the was not in charge and knew nothing Loeffler, who is running for Congress chagrin of the Loeffler campaign staff, about it. In an effort to calm reporters, against Democratic nominee Nelson some reporters had to be "disinvited." many of whom were traveling some dis- Wolff. The specific occasion was an Au- To make the faux pas worse, it was de- tance to record the news event, Loeffler gust 17 fundraiser for Loeffler at San cided that four local media executives staffers pointed out that an airport press Angelo's exclusive River Club. San who had been invited would be allowed conference was scheduled when Ford ar- Angelinos, who hadn't seen a president to come ahead after all, since they "act at rived, and they could at least query him in the flesh since Lyndon quit the hust- the managerial level" rather than as re- there. It was 102 degrees the afternoon ings, generally were "up" for the visit, porters, according to a Loeffler PR aide. Ford arrived, and the ex-president was and 21st district Republicans were This same aide tried to rationalize the running late, keeping the assembled re- downright giddy at the thought of a pres- "no press" dictum by explaining that the porters waiting more than an hour. He idential blessing of their man. Then Ford reception was a fundraiser and that the gave them less than four and a half min- struck. Loeffler contributors in attendance utes of his time before rushing off to the He found out that members of the "may or may not want to be identified River Club. working press were invited to the River with him or with Ford." Hill in these precincts were a decisive this year is a mere shadow of its poten- Voting power factor in his clear-cut, May 6 victory tial. Only 58 percent of those eligible are In his re-election bid this spring, over the incumbent. registered to vote, and in this year's • Dolph Briscoe was counting on a In the Democratic contest for U.S. gubernatorial primary only 29 percent of strong showing in Mexican-American Senator, the Mexican-American pre- those registered turned up at the polls. precincts. He didn't get it, according to cincts gave 53 percent of their votes to "If Mexican-American voters actually data released by the Southwest Voter Bob Krueger, with 47 percent going to registered and voted at rates comparable Registration Education Project, based in Joe Christie. In the primary battle for at- to the general community, they would San Antonio. John Hill took 60 percent torney general, Price Daniel Jr. won 53 have tremendous political weight," Vel- of the vote in the state's 247 predomi- percent of the Mexican-American vote asquez said. nantly Mexican-American precincts, and Mark White took 47 percent. while Briscoe had to settle for only 33 SVREP director William Velasquez Copies of the full report are available percent. In its exhaustive study SVREP points out, however, that the political from SVREP, 212 East Houston Street, points out that the 102,280 votes cast for punch delivered by Mexican-Americans San Antonio 78205 all the heavier in July with a stormy fir- natorial candidate went on: "You can Meanwhile, ing of his only Mexican-American aide, look at it in the philosophical sense and who later told the press that Clements's say, 'Is this area of Texas more product- back at the Alamo campaign staff was making a token effort ive, more fulfilling of God's purpose— to win the chicano vote. are we playing our role of destiny with Another candidate who is counting this broad expanse, of Texas?—than • on a substantial showing in the Then, in August, the Dallas millionaire when there were let's just say 5,000 In- Mexican-American precincts is Bill tripped on his infamous lip by dians here eatin' insects?' These ques- Clements, the Republican offering for wholeheartedly embracing the white tions sort of answer themselves.". governor, who has boasted that chicano man's notion of noblesse oblige— Later during this same South Texas voters this fall will provide his margin of according to Dallas Morning News re- campaign swing, Clements was being victory over Democrat John Hill. He porter Lloyd Grove, who was there, pressed for details about issues of con- claims he will get 25 percent of their bal- Clements made an unscheduled cam- cern to Mexican-Americans and he lots. paign stop at an historic mission outside blurted, "I'm not running for governor of That will take some pretty high step- of Goliad, where he delivered an im- Mexico, you know." For their part, John ping, since no statewide GOP candidate promptu history lesson to all within ear- Hill partisans are hoping that Clements except John Tower has ever pulled as shot, extolling the Spanish fathers who will get out and speak personally to much as 10 percent of the Mexican- had rounded up the local Aranama In- every Mexican-American voter in Tex- American vote. As if that were not chal- dians and "domesticated them—kind of as, and they'll even be willing to pay lenge enough, Clements made his burden like you tame a wild animal." The guber- their share of his travel expenses. .

THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13 Inquest in Odessa: findings seemed to leave open the possi- subpoenaed the tapes of the KMID bility that excessive force had been used broadcast. He then quickly opened and the DA's offensive deliberately. closed a local grand jury inquiry into the The coroner's verdict was still good Lozano case, once again pronouncing a • Ever since newsmen and state and enough for the district attorney, but not definitive end to the matter. federal authorities started inves- for Attorney General Hill, who joined But the main thrust of Green's coun- tigating the violent death of Larry with Mexican-American leaders in urg- teroffensive was now political rather Lozano in the Ector County jail on the ing a federal grand jury probe. Much to than legal. He fired another broadside at night of January 22 (Obs ., March 17), dis- Green's dismay, they got their wish—a Hill, deriding him as "a sawed-off Dem- trict attorney John Green has been rais- federal grand jury convened in Midland ocrat" willing to let local law enforce- ing a mighty ruckus against the intruders on July 17 and heard testimony from ment officials be "railroaded" to ad- on his turf. His complaints have de- scores of witnesses (including Sheriff vance his political fortunes. He repeated flected public attention occasionally Faught). The outcome is still in doubt, a characterization of Ruben Sandoval, from the main issue in the case—what but reliable sources say that indictments the activist attorney retained by the happened to Larry Lozano while in the of some or all of the men who confronted Lozano family, as a "fat enchilada .. . custody of county lawmen. But the Lozano on January 22 are likely. who drank too much tequila." Most im- obstreperous prosecutor, who has closed Green was predictably disturbed that probable of all was his charge, in re- the Ector County books on the case the inquiry had passed out of his control, sponse to reports of White House inter- twice already, hasn't persuaded state and and a broadcast news report by Midland est in the investigation, that "the only federal officials that the jailhouse death station KMID-TV gave him a chance to reason why the President is taking an should be of no further concern to them: lash back while the federal grand jury interest in the Lozano case is because he federal prosecutors, having concluded a proceedings were still underway. The wants to take the heat off the dope users grand jury inquiry of their own in July, broadcast quoted sources close to the in the White House . . . it's frightening." are now deciding whether to seek in- investigation as saying that several in- Having thus burned his bridges to the dictments for civil rights violations dictments had already been prepared in Democratic officeholders who wouldn't against county sheriff's deputies and the Lozano case and that "Ector County respect his position as the arbiter of others who allegedly brutalized their government officials are among those crime and punishment in Ector County, Mexican-American prisoner. named." KMID added that Hill was "the Democrat Green proceeded to endorse DA Green went on the warpath as mastermind" behind the federal probe Republican gubernatorial candidate .Bill soon as Texas Attorney General John and that Green "appears to be the main Clements. Hill announced last February that his of- target." One index of the decline in the DA's fice would investigate charges (reported The day after the newscast, Green got fortunes due to his handling of the in several newspapers) that Lozano had busy: he announced that he might inves- Lozano case may be the response that he been beaten to death by his jailers. The tigate Hill's office for withholding evi- got from the Clements camp: a spokes- DA denounced Hill's move as a ploy to dence from him, castigated reporters as man welcomed Green aboard, but em- win Mexican-American votes. But (by and large) "dumb asses," warned phasized that "Clements does not know Green's own best effort to weigh the that witnesses who testified at the April Green personally" and "didn't solicit merits of the evidence—a local coroner's inquest might be liable for perjury if they Green's endorsement." inquest—left some critical questions un- told a different story to the feds, and answered, even though the coroner's —Mark Vogler and Eric Hartman jury returned a quick verdict of "acci- dental death" in April. That verdict hinged primarily on an Intraparty squabbling a bit unfortunate, the party standing for autopsy by Houston medical examiner open dialogue and all. And a liberal Joseph Jachimczyk, who contradicted For the past two years the Mod- member of the SDEC said he was per- the earlier "homicide" conclusion Cons, a conservative band of fectly willing to take any heat the Mod- reached by another pathologist. How- Democratic Party activists, have been in Cons wanted to give him over the ever, Jachimczyk's findings also laid to a deep pout over their defeat by more Chavez invitation, but he did think they rest the "suicide" theory originally of- progressive party members at the 1976 ought at least to spell the farmworker fered and later abandoned by Sheriff state convention. Now, with Democrats leader's name correctly—the flyer had it Elton Faught. The Houston pathologist convening in Fort Worth for their bien- as Chaves. concluded that the immediate cause of nial session, the conservatives are mak- Lozano's death was suffocation due to a ing a comeback bid, trying to get more of crushed larynx, and surmised that the in- their own rank elected to the State Dem- The consumer's friend jury resulted from a restraining hold ocratic Executive Committee. This session of Congress has been • placed on Lozano by an antagonist in a They are off to a shaky start, very much to the liking of big busi- struggle that occurred just before he however—in a flyer sent to all delegates ness lobbyists, and precious few mem- died. Sheriff Faught conceded that and alternates going to Fort Worth, the bers have had the mettle to stand up to Lozano died during a jailhouse brawl Mod-Con caucus rather shrilly de- them on behalf of consumer interests. with deputies who entered his cell to nounced the current SDEC as being Nonetheless, Consumer Federation of subdue him after he "went berserk." dominated by "extreme liberals" as evi- America has identified 25 of the 535 Along with persistent reports that de- denced by that body's audacity in having members as folks who warrant the or- puties had a grudge against the inmate invited Cesar Chavez to come speak to ganization's support and might need because of the bloody fight he'd put up at them. Even some of the conservative some help in this fall's elections. Among his arrest and booking, the inquest delegates thought this line of attack was the 25 is Bob Eckhardt of Houston.

14 SEPTEMBER 22, 1978 scrupulous professionalism, you see. by asking whether there really was a Lies, damn lies, and.. . Well, six days after this Tower man- choice this year.) The poll was commis- ifesto appeared, Krueger's people sioned by a Houston television station, Political rivals used to have a lot of • cranked out another press release reaf- so Baker cannot be accused of the sin he fun calling each other liars and firming the conclusions of the first poll. attributed to other (unnamed) candi- fools—everybody expected it, it was Campaign manager Garry Mauro, dis- dates: setting up a "puff job— often entertaining, and it helped think- playing a new poll showing Tower and orchestrated by campaign staff for self- alike candidates acquire separate iden- Krueger dead even at 41 percent (with 1 serving purposes." tities in the minds of the voters. But this percent for La Raza candidate Luis de However, he may be "prematurely year's major-party statewide candidates, Leon and the rest undecided or not re- overjoyed," according to John Staples, who run the usual gamut from reaction- sponding), pronounced the Tower results the Houston pollster who ran the ary to moderately conservative, don't not "statistically within possibility." survey—which showed Baker trailing seem to have the stomach for good old- Furthermore, said Mauro, just ask Dem- Democrat Mark White by a 37-to-22 fashioned name-calling. (Bob Bullock ocratic candidates Bob Gammage, Mar- margin among those who had decided. may be the exception, but he's unfortu- tin Frost, Marvin Leath or Nelson Another polling expert termed Baker's nately running unopposed and therefore Wolff—you'll find Krueger ahead in all optimism "whistling in the dark," and unprovoked.) Instead, they mutter of their district polls, and they wouldn't explained, "Everybody is always happy darkly about each other's statistics. kid you. (Stay tuned for Tower rebuttal about the undecideds when they have Polls, that is. The latest round of kid- number two.) nothing else to be happy about." glove sparring began when Democrat Meanwhile, Republican Jim Baker was Sandy Dochen, White's press coor- Bob Krueger claimed that he was catch- pronouncing himself "highly encour- dinator, had what should but certainly ing up with Republican Sen. John Tow- aged" by the results of a poll showing 41 won't be the last word on the subject: er. He based the assertion on data col- percent of those queried were undecided "Big deal. What do polls mean anyway? lected by Washington, D.C., polling whiz on their choice for state attorney gen- I think polling is just a sniping contest." Patrick Caddell and Henson-Hopkins eral. (He didn't say how many responded Associates of Austin. According to the —Jo Clifton July results, which Caddell described in glowing terms in an internal memoran- Bush league with Title IX of the Civil Rights Act by dum that was obviously intended for allowing Jacobs to play. public consumption (it ended up as part ai Seems that "play ball" means Undaunted, the UIL's Marshall fired of a Krueger press release), the New "boys only" in the University In- off another letter to the Wells school Braunfels Democrat was less than two terscholastic League. This spring the superintendent insisting that Jacobs's percentage points behind the UIL's director ruled that Pamela Jacobs, presence on the baseball team "is a vio- incumbent—enough to make Tower a sophomore at the high school in Wells, lation of the League rules." "Please keep jumpy if he believed the poll, and more Texas (pop. 739), was ineligible to play in mind," he stressed, "that there are as to the point, enough perhaps to shake on her school's only baseball team solely many interpretations of Title IX as there some cash loose from the moneybags because she's a girl. are interpreters. There is only one in- who haven't decided which candidate Wait a minute! Didn't a federal judge terpretation of the UIL rules." they want to invest in yet. in Houston just recently award a female Marshall conveniently neglected to Of course, Tower didn't believe a high school student there the right to mention that federal law just might take word of it, and in August, after some play on the (formerly) boys-only baseball precedence over his outfit's prescrip- haughty sniffing at the unseemly parti- team? Sure, said UIL director Bailey tions, but the Texas ACLU has filed a sanship Caddell had displayed and the Marshall, but that ruling applied to that class action sex discrimination suit on sampling techniques he had used, the case only. Claimed Marshall: "This does behalf of Pamela Jacobs to remind him of Republican trotted out his own pollster, not mean that girls are eligible for boys' this possibility. V. Lance Tarrance of Houston, to say baseball teams." Wells school officials, Of course, the UIL doesn't think it's that Tower was in fact 13 points ahead of who'd kind of like to keep Jacobs on the discriminating. After all, the UIL lets Krueger. And just to show how un- team, asked the Texas Education girls play softball—it's just too bad that tainted his sampling methods were, he Agency to clear up the ensuing confu- the little high school in Wells doesn't added 21 pages of background informa- sion, and the word came back from Aus- field a softball team. tion to the press release that announced tin that the school was simply complying —Sherry Smith the good news. Included in the packet were such .to- kens of scientific authenticity as a map showing the sampling distribution of the August Tower survey; a diagram show- ing shifts in votes among 500 persons queried by Tarrance on two different oc- casions (the diagram was labeled Game No. 5—part of the overall Tower presen- tation of poll gamesmanship); three pages of curriculum vitae for Tarrance; and the code of professional ethics and practices for pollsters. This last was in- tended to help reporters weigh Caddell's biased presentation against Tarrance's

THE TEXAS OBSERVER 15 Good books in every field JENKINS PUBLISHING CO. DPS. . . from page 9 The Pemberton Press John H. Jenkins, Publisher dividual has not been convicted of a felony in the previous five years. "That would Fine Food Draught Beer Box 2085 g31 Austin 78768 cover wrongful arrests," says Austin at- Outdoor Patio torney Mark Cohen, legal counsel to Schwartz's committee. "And as small a victory as that might seem, it was a ten- year fight to get it passed. You see, it's HALF 1 political suicide to be considered soft on PRICE THORPSPRINGS law enforcement in Texas." For now, the legislative initiative seems RECORDS MAG Az IN ES to lie with the private security outfits that are lobbying hard for wide-open data dis- IN DALLAS: PRESS semination. Cohen blames their success 4528 McKINNEY AVE. so far on DPS, and he's pessimistic. "It's 209 S. AKARD, downtown is in the forefront of the bureacratic mentality," he says. RICHARDSON: 508 LOCKWOOD publishing "They say, 'We've got all this (west of post office) Texas fiction. information—now, let's get it all out FARMERS BRANCH SHOPPING CTR. there.' " SW CORNER, VALLEY VIEW But there's still some hope—the private IN WACO: 25TH & COLUMBUS security companies' bid for easy access BOOMER'S GOLD — a novel of has met with surprising opposition among IN AUSTIN: Borger, Texas, as a boom town 1514 LAVACA members of the House subcommittee on 6103 BURNET RD. by Jack Walker, $10 criminal records. For instance, Rep. Bill

IN FORT WORTH: Ceverha, a conservative Dallas Republi- SUGARLAND — a tale of Texas can, takes the view that "it's unfair to use 6301 CAMP BOWIE BLVD. prisons (Ridglea Shopping Center) this information against someone in a by Paul Foreman, $7.50 • job." And all members agree that DPS and the courts should be required to get ANDERSON & COMPANY follow-up information into the record. COFFEE forthcoming: Of course, there are still those, like sub- TEA SPICES THE COLLECTED STORIES committee member Bob McFarland ofAr- TWO) JEFFERSON SQUARE lington, who unreservedly support the AUSTIN, TEXAS 78731 OF AMADO MURO idea of opening up criminal records to all 512 453-1533 comers. By way of dispositive argument, Send me your list. McFarland offers the following: "I don't Write for catalog: believe employers should be required to Name THORP SPRINGS PRESS hire a baby-sitter who. has been arrested Street 3414 Robinson Avenue five times for child molestation." Austin, Texas 78722 Remarks like that help explain Cohen's City Zip pessimism, but the prospect is that some balanced recommendations may actually emerge when the subcommittee rejoins the full House judiciary group soon to draft a policy for the next Legislature to consider. There's considerable sentiment Providing Professional for confining disclosure to conviction Graphic Services and Consultation records—even Colonel Speir says he for today's "would not be adverse" to keeping other Reproduction Methods data off limits. Some on the subcommittee favor a clause requiring an applicant for access to DPS records to demonstrate some sort of "need to know." Others can be expected to argue for a purge of stale records from state files. Before legislative penny-pinchers re- ject such suggestions, they should realize that a lot more than money is riding on their reaction to the bad idea the private security outfits would like to enact into In the business of repro- law. To quote Cohen again: "If they do it duction. the quality of the copy is commensurate with the with criminal records, it's just the begin- quality of the original. Let us improve the appearance of your ning. Watch. They'll be back tomorrow copies by preparing quality originals or by showing you how to. Either way wanting to add divorce judgments, loan you save at Ginny's. defaults—it's endless." ❑ Sue Duffy, a former reporter for The Trenton Times in New Jersey, recently signed on as an editorial assistant with Texas Monthly magazine. 16 SEPTEMBER 22, 1978 (Advertisement)

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) was founded in 1968 in San Antonio, Texas by a group of attorneys who were impressed with the legal gains of Blacks in the South in the 1960's.

Since MALDEF's beginning, it has sought to protect the rights of the Mexican American community. It can be proud of the record:

• Ninety percent of the civil rights suits filed on behalf of Mexican Americans were filed by MALDEF.

• The first court-ordered bilingual education program was secured by MALDEF.

• The illegality of at-large voting methods in Texas was established by MALDEF.

• Seniority rights were extended to seasonal workers, the majority Chicano and female, in the California cannery industry, affecting some 70,000 workers.

• Extension of the Voting Rights Act now protects Mexican Americans, particularly in Texas which has meant that it is now possible for La Raza Unida Party candidates to appear on the ballot in Texas.

• MALDEF has secured desegregation orders for some ten school districts in the Southwest.

Many people have made this fine record possible. You can help too. If you are interested, please write us at: MALDEF 145 Ninth Street, San Francisco, California 94103

Bernard Rapoport, Chairman of the Board P.O. Box 208, Waco, Texas 76703 American Income Life Insurance Company

THE TEXAS OBSERVER 17 Which way to the White House? Travels with Bush and Connally

By Harris Worcester Forum, formed about a year ago and di- rected by former Texas Republican Austin Party finance director Doug Lewis. Bush Among the dozen or so Republicans has two ways to fly: (1) with the Fund for already sniffing around the country, Limited Government, organized on his readying for a run at their party's presi- behalf late last year by Houstonian Jim dential nomination in 1980, two come out Baker, President Ford's 1976 campaign of Texas (or, more exactly, out of Hous- manager and current GOP nominee for ton): John Connally and George Bush. Texas AG; and (2) the Congressional Connally, the "Old Blue" of the GOP, Leadership Committee, put together by and Bush, the party's aging corner, are top Ford fundraiser Bob Mosbacher of Relax, and take a break promoting their pre-candidacy can- Houston and chaired by Bush. for lunch or dinner, didacies more aggressively than any Officially, these are multicandidate and watch the river other competitor except the man on the PACs, formed under the same law as inside track, Ronald Reagan. go by. The those of corporations and labor unions, Each has been on the trail steadily with the stated purpose of saving the Re- drinks arc since spring, with Connally concentrat- public by financing the election of a host ample, and ing on the Republican fundraising circuit of Republicans. As Connally put it in a the cheesecake to show his box-office appeal and to recent JCCF letter to the faithful, "It demonstrate workaday loyalty to his is our own. We takes a lot of money to provide our Re- adopted party. Bush is cultivating the publican candidates with the direct cash have sandwiches to support of the moderate, Gerald Ford assistance they need to convince voters seafood, from 11:30 wing of the party and is concentrating his of the dangers we face from the Carter/ effort in New Hampshire and other parts until 11:30 every day of liberal Democrat policies. And that's the of his native New England, the scene of whole reason I have established the the week ; open till the early 1980 primaries. [JCCF]. . . ." midnight in the Metro There's nothing new about these The most recent report by Connally's Center, San Antonio, exploratory sojourns—Jimmy Carter in PAC to the Federal Election Commis- '74 and George McGovern in '70 were on Texas. sion suggests another story, however. Of the campaign trail two years before their $362,000 that JCCF has reported raising first primary contests, too—but one dif- since its start, $224,000 has been spent, ference this round is that rather than but only five direct contributions of cash forming the usual "so-and-so for presi to other candidates have been made (in- dent" committees to raise campaign cluding $1,000 to John Tower), totaling funds, Connally, Bush and some of the just $4,500. Bush's main channel, the Fund other Republican contestants are bank- for Limited Government, has as poor a rolling their early moves indirectly, record—in the first six months of '78, creating what amount to dummy political FLG brought in almost $99,000 and spent action committees. more than $46,000 of it, but Bush doled The idea is that these outfits raise out only $2,500 to his party's needy. money in the name of Bush, Connally, or Bush's other PAC, the Congressional some other unselfish "sponsor," and Leadership Committee, is under the joint they in turn channel the funds into the oversight of Senate minority leader campaigns of various Republicans cur- Howard Baker of Tennessee and House rently seeking state and local offices minority leader John Rhodes of Arizona, around the country. But precious little of and it has been more generous with its the money ever gets to the intended ben- bounty, dispensing $500 each to 21 Re- eficiaries; instead, the bulk of it is being publican office-seekers. spent on the sponsor's presidential bid, Indeed, Connally says he will need going to pay for staff, office, mailings, $750,000 just to run his operation this travel and such. year, not counting payouts to candidates Connally is doing business under the (each month JCCF must get 11 contri- banner of The John Connally Citizens butions of $250 each—the top category

18 SEPTEMBER 22, 1978 i. requested by the latest Connally servers say he is "going nowhere." His Bush, on the`other hand, looks surpris- mailer—just to pay the rent on its of- forceful style makes him a favorite ingly good in the early going. With at fices). Bush's budget for FLG is a bit speaker at fundraising banquets, and he least the tacit approval of Gerald Ford, more modest—$186,000 for this year. continues to mesmerize East Coast many of the former president's political editors, but he is not that warmly re- backers have been won over by Bush Where does this money come from? ceived as a candidate (in one national and form the nucleus of his organization, Texas fat cats, mostly. All but 13 of poll of Republicans to determine their particularly in New Hampshire. The JCCF's givers this year have been Tex- early favorites, Connally challenged Sen. former Houston congressman maintains ans, making an average donation of $800 Bob Dole of Kansas for last place). For a summer home in Maine and uses that each. Among them are executives of the one thing, it is doubtful that even the base for frequent forays into New Vinson & Elkins law firm (where Con- GOP wants to nominate such an un- Hampshire. National political columnist nally is a partner), First City National abashed defender of big business as David Broder reported in August that Bancorporation, Texas Instruments, the Connally has become. Not only does he Bush has already established himself as HEB supermarket chain, the King currently sit on the boards of the clear favorite of that state's GOP Ranch, Texas Eastern Corporation, Greyhound, Dr. Pepper, First City Ban- moderates and has become the main Underwood, Neuhaus & Company, and corporation, Falconbridge Nickel, and rival at the moment to frontrunner the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Simi- Justin Industries, and serve as counsel Ronal.1 Reagan. In the tradition of presi- larly, nearly half of the 54 contributors to to many more big-name corporations, denti'l aspiraP. ts, Bush is soon to come Bush's FLG are Texans, chipping in an but also he is given to doing such things out with a book, this one written in col- average of more than $2,000 each. They as traveling to Johannesburg to defend laboration with State Rep. Chase Un- include top executives of Pennzoil, Hag- both the white government of South Af- termeyer and detailing his experiences as gar Slacks, McCormick Oil & Gas, rica and American corporate investment head of the GOP, CIA director, and am- HoUston Oil & Minerals, and Texas In- there (a move that led Austin humorist bassador to China. struments. Bush also received backing Cactus Pryor to suggest maybe Connally from executives of such out-of-state was searching for his Brown & Roots). Still, the first presidential balloting is a firms as Exxon, McDonnell-Douglas Of course, the Democrat-turned- year and a half away, and whether Aircraft and Clairol. Republican is not without some Bush's and Connally's early maneu- Are Bush's and Connally's early ef- supporters—the Christian Science verings actually will produce delegates forts doing them any good? Yes and no. Monitor recently reported that former- for them is, as Eric Sevareid actually Connally said in July that he had traveled president Nixon personally favors Con- said once on another subject, "on the 37,600 miles to 19 states, but party ob- nally as the GOP nominee in '80. misty, distant horizon of hypothesis." 0

THE TEXAS OBSERVER 19 13oolcqBooka.„

The literary question, obviously, was what happens to Daryl, the young hero, SUGARLAND larger than literature itself. The past ten could happen to anyone, at least to any- By Paul Foreman years have placed the human imagina- one who is not a member of the Texas Thorp Springs Press, 1978. $7.50 tion in jeopardy. Establishment. The past is relevant, as always, from The purpose of the prison guards, Plato's "Ion" to John Gardner, from Daryl soon discovers, is to brutalize, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle to Paul humiliate, break. There is no interest in Foreman's Sugarland; but the central reform. Prisoners must be made into By Max Westbrook question is what is the citizen to believe? work-slaves. The human spirit must be What is the shape of belief? Is the totally degraded. Paul Foreman and his Sugarland—a novelist displaced by the investigative novel about Texas prisons—represent an As for the prison system itself, its pur- journalist? Are the two in league against pose is to make money. Who in the energy that deserves attention. Sup- corruption? posedly, the costs of book production Texas Establishment reaps the benefits are so inflated that major companies, Or specifically, locally, what is the of the enormous profits? Daryl doesn't with sales in the millions, enjoy a truth about the Texas prison system? know, but the costs of labor and the monopoly. The truth is that the regional Can the truth be told in a straightforward prices of food are easy to compute. literary industry is thriving. The mortal- work of fiction? And therein lies the power of Sug- ity rate is high, but I have seen Fore- According to Foreman, Sugarland is arland and perhaps also something about man's counterparts in the Dakotas, the based on the notes of a close friend. little presses and the traditional novel. `Rocky Mountains, the Oregon territory, What happens in the novel is what hap- Foreman is not writing about a holocaust New Mexico, and New York. In Central Texas alone there are so many little presses that a separate publishers' direc- tory is needed. The people behind this industry vary, of course, but Foreman is typical in his total commitment. Foreman is a Texan who studied physics on a college scholarship and then turned to literature, in all its phases: he has written two vol- umes of poetry, there are plans for a used book store, he is founder and editor of Hyperion Poetry Journal, his Thorp Springs Press in Austin is doing well, and he is now a novelist. Foreman's literary birth took place in Berkeley, during the 1960s, which should have made him a radical of one fashiona- ble stereotype or another; but he writes like an upbeat populist—if a stereotype must be provided—and he is, above all, decent. In Sugarland, he exposes hor- rors in the Texas prison system, but he exposes with the precise and gentle scal- pel of a pre-Vietnam humanist. What makes Foreman tick? What are the sources of regional energy? A single Andrew Curry in Sugarland answer, at this early stage, would be premature; but one part of the explana- pens at Sugarland. The difference be- beyond the imagination. He is telling a tion may well be that Foreman and a tween the novel and actual history—and story about this time and this place, and good many of his counterparts are, like this is fiction's claim to reality—is that he tells it fair: Daryl is released, given John Gardner, unwilling to raise the flag the novel puts the reader on the scene. another chance and some hope, and his of moral surrender, Not everyone, it Instead of reading history's abstractions two best friends escape, successfully. seems, is ready to submit to atomic, about "cases," we become witnesses. The end, like the beginning, makes us plutocratic, or relativistic despair. Foreman's story-voice is disarming. think of ourselves, at least of neighbors Ten years ago we were told (by critic With some motivation, but not too much, or friends. Louis D. Rubin, for example) that the a teenaged Texan commits a minor But in between is our own present hor- novel was dead. Actual life was too crime. With some cleverness, but not ror, a shocking story that needed to be bizarre. After the CIA--a combination very much, the local sheriff solves the told, a regional and contemporaneous of 1984 and the Three Stooges—who crime and makes the arrest. The judge is story which is also timeless and univer- needed fiction? How could the writer's willing to be lenient, but, almost casu- sal. 0 imagination outdo the monstrous lie of ally, he opts for a prison sentence on the Vietnam? How could anyone create a sat- premise that it's better for his political Max Westbrook is a member of the ire better than the Watergate tapes .. . future. English department faculty at the Uni- played straight? The quiet telling makes it seem that versity of Texas at Austin.

20 SEPTEMBER 22, 1978 what I am trying to communicate. For once again, in the last 18 months, mem- bers of the Observer family have given of their substance to match the Observer workers' giving of theirs. The trouble with naming anyone is there is no one or hundred who could make the Observer last; what makes it laq is the commu- nity's knowledge that the Observer won't sell out, the community's patience during our less exciting years, and its support Publisher's report when we have had to have that support. Thanks now also to especially significant Part II help from two persons who have never failed us, our current bills are paid, we have the means to continue funding the expanded Observer under Jim High- tower at its present level, and we can fund Cliff Olofson and his business staff in a substantial program for subscription expansion. Our circulation increase from January 1977 through June 30, 1978— San Antonio years has been as important cumula- accomplished during a period when there The Observer itself and the members tively as was that of Mrs. R. D. Ran- was very little cash available to invest in of the Observer community are phenom- dolph in our first 12 years; Ben Reyes, a promotion—was very encouraging. The enal. Nowhere else in the country has great person and truly important chicano percentage of subscribers we lost due to so vigorously humanist a regional period- leader from Houston; Ben Ayres, the normal attrition declined slightly, and ical of dissent survived for long. We ap- humanist Democrat I always know is in more than 4,300 new subscribers signed proach the beginning of our 25th year in Floydada, although I've never been to on. That's twice the number of new sub- good condition—once again as a result of Floydada; Zeke and Nelda Zbranek, scribers acquired in the preceding 18 the remarkable combination of workers keeping the faith in Liberty; Ernie Cor- months. We have instituted quarterly who put unfettered service to their val- tez, the most important organizer of the budget meetings of the entire staff at ues ahead of highest available pay, and urban poor in the United States, now which we will continue to monitor the support and patience of that family of working in Houston. I think of the ones carefully our income, spending. and connected people I really do not know gone. Charles Hughes of Sherman was promotional plans and results. how to specify or describe. one of my close friends for 25 years. In I continue to be profoundly pleased by My frustration, formulating these the Legislature in the '50s he suffered the work Jim and his associates and con- thoughts, is knowing there is no way I and fought thanklessly for the poor— tributors are doing. Where else in Texas can here adequately communicate with, with Maury Maverick Jr., who still does but from the Observer, in a Buck Ram- much less in what I say represent, that it in San Antonio, and Don Gladden, who sey piece, are we going to learn that nu- community. I think helter-skelter of Otto still does it in Fort Worth. Charley's clear weapons are assembled at the Pan- Mullinax and Nat Wells and Chris Dixie death, like the death of Jim Sewell, like tex plant 17 miles from Amarillo and are and Bob Hall; Franklin Jones, the crusty the death of Fagan Dickson, like the shipped from there, "ready for detona- sage of Marshall, and Huldah; Walter death of Frankie Randolph—these are tion," to the military? Jim never lets us and Helen Hall, who practice small-town deaths we feel in a family that shares no forget that Texas ranks 49th among the banking in the highest public spirit; J. R. house but the house of hope and con- states in jobless pay, 46th in public Parten, the Madisonville oilman and science, the family of Creekmore and school spending, 48th in aid to dependent rancher, once a Democratic national Adele Fath, Lloyd and Libbie Doggett, children, 49th in old age pensions—yet committeeman and chairman of the UT Babe and Marilyn Schwartz, Hec- he also, with Susan DeMarco. seeks out regents, a liberal maverick who dis- tor Garcia, Subie and Phil Green, the state's one independent brewery to proves the liberal stereotypes about oil- Craig Washington, Bob and Clau- celebrate business independence and men; Carl Brannin, the faithful dette Mullen, Jose Angel Gutierrez, true independence. Roger Baker's work nonagenarian idealist; Albert Perla, serv- Mendel Kaliff, Ruth and Harris Kemp- keeps us current on the Endangered ing and leading the causes of the poor in ner, Jack Hopper, Mickey Leland, University, UT, and its corporate San Antonio; Gertrude Barnstone, weld- Michol O'Connor, Bob and Celia Eck- polluters. In one special issue we learn ing not only her metal sculptures and hardt, Bernard Lifschutz, Malcolm the truth that ten big corporate chains whatever welders weld for a living but McGregor, Chris Harte, David Allred, own seven out of ten Texas daily also the multiple feminist and humanist George and Hundy McAlmon, Joseph newspapers—and which owns what. causes within her ken; Ralph Yar- Jamail, Cordye Hall, Lance Lalor, Herky Julie Ardery and Bill Bishop, with Pro- borough, as unfailingly the alert public and Loretta Bernard, Shannon and Bob fessors David Perry and Alfred Watkins citizen out of office as in; printer Bill Armstrong, a family with kinfolks in fur- in tandem and Professor Donald Huddle McAfee and his wife Anne, loyal friends rin parts, Joe Rauh in Washington, John riding outrigger, give us basic studies on from the first to now; Warren Burnett, Kenneth Galbraith and David Reisman the overconcentration of wealth and who fights the people's fight from his at Harvard, Paul Taylor in Berkeley, power in Texas. Chandler Davidson base in Odessa, and wins; Jess McNeel, Larry King in New York City, W. H. gives Robert Coles a well-deserved the San Antonio rancher and merchant "Ping" Ferry in Scarsdale, Willie Morris drubbing for Coles's crucial flaking in his who has never forgotten that the New in Long Island, Larry Goodwyn in North Children of Crisis, Volume V. Susan Deal helped him succeed; Bernard Carolina, Dan Noyes in San Francisco, Reid opens up what must become a Rapoport, whose understanding and Walter Morrison in Utah, Katherine passionate crusade in the late '70s—Stop practice of free enterprise, if widely emu- Anne Porter in Maryland. . . . the Nuclear Fission Power Industry— lated, would produce again a system Some family. Not those I name but the with a cool, unanswerable review of the healthy in real competition, and whose futility of trying to characterize the knowledge about that industry's inde- support of the Observer through the community by naming any of us—this is structible carcinogenic wastes; Lisa TH,E TEXAS OBSERVER 21

lopItaxega,,emiworawtketlre nANT4.112$147R1 VAI)W vs-1 Vow%i!/W.SrPiell-r r AtiNyvit. 4.4 Spann brings the subject down to the ik.wi# case of the 'South Texas Nuclear Proj- ect's power lines endangering a residen- tial development. Vicki Vaughan ably investigates and reports the arrogant alienation of the Lower Colorado River Authority from the people it serves. Betty Anne Duke gives us the truth about strip mining as the probable future for tens of thousands of acres of lignite- bearing Texas land. Matthew Lyon, a brilliant young Texan at Amherst Col- lege, penetrates, by interview, Texan John Stockwell's gloves-off knowledge of the CIA, and Jay Brakefield, with Lyon, gives humanist Texas editor Bob Barton some long-overdue attention and appreciation. Jamie Murphy and David Guarino tell us how Texas pols are build- ing up "legal slush funds." Bruce Cory's work on the timber companies' under- valued holdings in seven Texas counties, reprinted full-page by the Lufkin News, provokes a facing-page response from Arthur Temple, the chairman of Temple-Eastex, Inc. And Jim, first ex- plaining, in work with Tim Mahoney, the unfairness of Texas property taxation, 414 BARTON SPRINGS AT SOUTH 1ST then, in work with Helen Jardine, holds AUSTIN, TEXAS each and every Texas legislator perma- nently accountable, vote by vote, for his 512/476 - 4838 or her role in the fraudulent shell game that was Briscoe's and Clayton's special session—a session that asks the people, in the lying name of tax relief, to give some more tax breaks to the rich. All this—in the last year. I believe that the Observer continues to be fully worth each of the sacrifices each of us has made for it. I cannot imagine Texas without the Observer; it would be like an unreported rape. Reporting these social Printers — Stationers — Mailers — outrages, the Observer has not stopped Typesetters many of them, nor has the Texas pro- gressive movement; but we still have the — High Speed Web Offset Publication Press — future. —R.D. Counseling — Designing

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22 SEPTEMBER 22, 1978 Sept. 23 / Sat. / Corpus Christi: Sept. 30 / Sat. / Austin: The Oct. 3 / Tues. / Austin: The Pub- rural health care services seeks The Army Corps of Engineers Austin chapter of the Sierra Club lic Utility Commission hears the public comment on the best way conducts a public hearing on the holds a legislative workshop to application by Houston Lighting to implement the federal act de- application by Nueces County plan its lobbying efforts for next & Power Company for a rate in- signed to get better medical care Navigation District for a permit to year's legislative session. Infor- crease. At 9 a.m. in Room A, 7800 to residents of rural parts of the begin development of a deep- mation: Natalie McClendon (512) Shoal Creek Boulevard. Informa- state. For information, or to tes- water inshore port terminal near 451-5578. tion: Philip Ricketts (512) 458- tify at the hearing: Sen. Carlos Port Aransas. At 9 a.m., Corpus Sept. 30 / Sat. / Austin: The 0100. Truan (512) 475-4279. Christi Memorial Coliseum, 702 local chapter of the American West Shoreline Drive. To make Civil Liberties Union honors Ben Oct. 6 / Fri. / Corsicana: The an oral statement, contact Col. Sargent at a membership party. Texas Senate's subcommittee on —Vicki Vaughan Jon C. Vanden Bosch (713) 763- At 8 p.m., 7208 Running Rope. 1211. Admission: $4 (or bring a new member and get in free). Informa- This calendar is an" information service fb.r Observer readers. Notices Sept. 26 / Dallas-Fort Worth; tion: (512) 345-0201. must reach the.Observer at least three weeks before the event. Sept. 27 / Houston; Sept. 28 / San Antonio; Sept. 29 / Lub- bock: The Comprehensive Plan- ning Institute holds one-day workshops around the state on the fiscal impact of the proposed "tax relief amendment." Speak- ers include House Speaker Billy Clayton and Reps. John Bryant and Tim Von Dohlen. Registra- tion information: (214) 328-3224.

Sept. 29 / Fri. / Austin: The Texas Rape Prevention and Con- trol Project hosts a seminar on treating the sex offender. From 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Stephen F. Austin Building, 17th and Con- gress. Information: (512) 476- 9922, or write the project at 701 West 15th Street, Suite 300, Aus- tin 78701. Sept. 29 / Fri. / Austin: The Friends of Texas Farmworkers hosts a film fest to raise money for its strike fund. From 7 to 11 p.m. at the Catholic Student Center. classified

CHINESE BOOKS, greeting cards, BACKPACKING - MOUNTAINEERING - Box 50667, Dallas 75250. bookmarks, wheatstraw cards, silk weavings, RAFTING. Outback Expeditions, P.O. Box HELP START A COMMUNE. Box 1770, cassette tapes, posters, etc. The distributors 444, Austin 78767, (512) 442-8036. Anthony, NM 88021 of Chinese publications in the South and Southwest. For further information, write WANTED. Addresses of Texas artists and FANTASTIC Jamaican Curried. Chicken $1. Prairie Fire Bookstore, 3221 Main Street, slides of artwork and, hand-made goods. Will SASE to Curry, Box 3406, Corpus Christi Houston 77002. sell in exclusive Galveston gallery to be orga- 78404 nized. Virginia Lukefahr, 116 Pompano SPEAK UP FOR RURAL AMERICA. Join TYPING. Can't do it yourself? Or don't have Street, Galveston 77550. Rural America, Inc., the only national mem- the time? Professional typing at reasonable bership organization working fulltime to get rates in Austin or by mail around the state. rural people an equal break. A $15 member- SUPPORT CAPITAL EYE. Send donations (512) 477-5420. ship entitles you to monthly newspaper plus to 1005 International Life Building, Austin "Platform for Rural America" and current 78701. FREEWHEELING BICYCLES. 2404 San Gabriel, Austin. For whatever your bicycle fact sheets on rural housing, health, needs. transportation, the elderly, other vital issues. TEXAS FLEA MARKETS ASSOCIATION Write: RURAL AMERICA, 1326 Connecticut DIRECTORY. Exclusive! $2. Box 0, Cor- sicana 75110. JOIN THE ACLU. Membership $20. Texas Avenue, NW, Box M, Washington, D.C. Civil Liberties Union, 600 West 7th, Austin 20036. BOOK-HUNTING? No obligation search for 78701. READ THE GUARDIAN. Most widely read rare or out-of-print books. Ruth and John independent radical newspaper in the U.S. McCully. ARJAY Books. (512) 263-2957. Rt. Classified advertising is 300 per word. Dis- Special 6-week trial subscription: $1 (1 year: 8, Box 173, Austin 78703. counts for multiple insertions within a 12- $17). Write: Guardian, Dept. TO, 33 W. 17 month period: 25 times, 50 percent; 12 times, Street, New York, N.Y. 10011. BINGO A FELONY? Send S.A.S.E. Tasar, 25 percent; 6 times, 10 percent.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER 23 Postmaster: If undeliverable, send Form 3579 to The Texas Observer, 600 W. 7th, Austin, Texas 78701

1-177X. '7N -Nssss" 1s's

"ss '2 ' 44

Dialogue

Rubber chickens roosting? his congressional constituents were con- tributing to a fund to provide him with a Those rubber chickens Bill Clements standard of living to which he was not has been crudely tossing about could accustomed? And how in a tearful na- well bounce home to roost. FARM INCOME tional broadcast he enlisted public sym- is the According to the July 24 issue of Busi- pathy for himself, his family and his "lit- ness Week, Pentagon officials are dis- tle dog Checkers," and even won from SAME turbed about some $30 billion unac- Eisenhower, who was at the point of in 1977-78 as it was in counted for by the various services in kicking him off the ticket, the accolade their foreign arms sales programs. At the "That's my boy!"? 1974 prodding of the White House, General By these modern slush fund standards, while the price we ALL Accounting Office, and Congress, Penta- Ben Barnes was a victim of narrow- pay is inflated by gon officials are urging the services to minded bigots who criticized him and come up with some answer to questions voted against him just a few years ago 33% about the missing money. The story in- because some of his farmer and small UP OVER 200% ON SOME FARM dicated these accounting discrepancies businessman legislative constituents date back some five or six years, which ITEMS contributed $10 a month to a fund to help THE would bring Clements into the picture WWO UK/ TO CPIANIIIS Ben pay extracurricular legislative activ- COS THAT TO ASAP and raise some doubts as to the adminis- IIVIMAYNOOT SATING ity costs. Now we find that Ben was a PRICE trative record he now claims entitles him piker! Little wonder that people become to the governorship of Texas. cynical concerning their government and Texas Li-si Clements boasts that he could find mil- distrustful of their public officials. Farmers LAMA lions of dollars to cut from the state Robert W. Calvert Union mk budget, but one might ask if he should Austin ■ 817 772-7220 not start out by telling Pentagon officials 800 LAKE AIR DR. I WACO, TEXAS 76710 where that $30 billion is. When he was Robert W. Calvert served on the Texas Boss up there, lots of those arms sales Supreme Court from 1950 to 1972 and were to Mideast customers of Clem- was chief justice from 1961 to 1972. F YOU ARE an occasional reader and ents's multinational oil service com- -Eds. I panies. would like to receive The Texas Observer regularly—or if you are a subscriber and One has a right to wonder if SEDCO Small change? would like to have a free sample copy or a accounting with these customers is as one-year gift subscription sent to a friend— sloppy as Clements allowed the federal Thanks for your commentaries on the here's the order form: government's to be. inequities in the Texas taxation system, SEND THE OBSERVER TO— W. 0. Cooper but you may have done a disservice in Austin implying that things may get better with the departure of Mr. Briscoe. It is worth name one's skepticism to ask: a) who is the Slush funds: beyond belief Attorney General who, during the past few years, has failed to enforce the con- address To one who was a small potato politi- stitutional law against unfair taxation? cian in a bygone era, your article on po- and b) what will he be doing next year? city state zip litical slush funds is almost beyond belief Perhaps he will be better than his im- (Obs., Sept. 8). Is it really possible that mediate predecessor, but it takes a heap ❑ this subscription is for myself such funds are now not only regarded as of believing to expect much of a change. ❑ gift subscription—send card in my name ethical but that they have also been sample copy only—you may use my name J. Derral Mulholland ❑ legalized? Why, one wonders, should the • • • • Austin accumulation and use of such slush ❑ $14 enclosed for a one-year subscription funds by state officials be legal and ethi- ❑ bill me for $14 cal and similar funds accumulated and • • • • similarly used by U.S. Sen. Herman Rejoice! MY NAME & ADDRESS (if not shown above): Talmadge be illegal and unethical? The STC thanks and requital fund is so The legalized slush fund is nothing less close to success that, even for reasons of than a modern concept of what was once economy, I don't see how I can any regarded as "kept" public officials. longer delay. Herewith my $250. May Have we so soon forgotten the 1952 Texas libraries rejoice, and Shivers, saga of Richard Nixon as the Republican Tower and Connally too. vice-presidential nominee? The public John Kenneth Galbraith THE TEXAS OBSERVER outcry when it was learned that some of Cambridge, Massachusetts 600 W. 7th, Austin, Texas 78701 24 SEPTEMBER 22, 1978