The Observer Changes Hands A Journal of Free Voices March 14, 1980 75 Inside: Bullock . Brilab . Playboy . COPE .. South Toward Home In the sunrise banks of night clouds break up and to the west, away from the sun, where I always look first, the instant of dawn is as palpable as the touch of frost on the hood of my car. The norther came in last night and today, March 2, I return to Austin, to the Observer, to unfinished business. It's freezing, and the coincidence that this is also the anniversary of Texas' proclamation of independence in 1836 is less important than whether my radiator has cracked. (Continued on page 10) Advance /Rod Davis BRILAB Let 'em eat wiretaps Billy Clayton has always been a man of the people — if the people happen to occupy the upper economic echelon of soci- ety, have undergone successful lobotomies and enjoy sitting around fantasizing punishments for welfare recipients. Billy has gotten himself in trouble. He and other public offi- cials in the South have been named by the FBI in operation The Texas Brilab, a fairly ingenious scam for the goverment to have pulled off, considering its record for screw-ups. OBSERVER A number of legal hearings and maneuvers are upcoming but PUBLISHER, RONNIE DUGGER the consequences of Brilab for Texas are going to be most ap- °The Texas Observer Publishing Co., 1980 parent about January 1981. If Clayton is unable to squirm away from his antagonists, we'll be seeing a new speaker in the Texas Vol. 72, No. 5 March 14, 1980 House, a prospect of more than a little felicity after six years of pig-eyed rule from Spring Lake's major anthropological curios- Incorporating the State Observer and the East Texas Democrat, ity which in turn incorporated the Austin Forum-Advocate. Brilab, of course, poses serious questions and we cannot ig- EDITOR Rod Davis nore them in theory. Foremost is possible political intent by the ASSOCIATE EDITOR Matthew Lyon national police force. Our reading so far is that there was no coherent political motivation by the FBI. Had there been, STAFF ASSISTANTS: Beth Epstein, Bob Sindermann Jr. surely the targets would have been bigger: most of the catch in CONTRIBUTORS: Berke Breathed, Warren Burnett, Bob Clare, Jo Clif= Brilab and Abscam are comparatively small fish. Other consid- ton, Bruce Cory. Keith Dannemiller, Jeff Danziger, Chandler Davidson, erations are the questionable "leaks" to the press and the possi- David Guarino, Roy Hamric, Doug Harlan, Eric Hartman, Dan Heard, Jack ble use of entrapment. As journalists, we cannot condemn the Hopper, Dan Hubig, Molly Ivins, Maury Maverick Jr., Kaye Northcott, Hans-Peter Otto, Alan Pogue, Lois Rankin, Ray Reece, Susan Reid, Laura leaks. That's not our job, not in our interests: after all, everyone Richardson, Linda Rocawich, Andrew Saldaiia, Ben Sargent, John Spra,gens involved was a public official or employee. Jr., Paul Sweeney, Sheila R. Taylor. Vicki Vaughan, Lawrence Walsh, Eje . Regarding entrapment, much has already been written and Wray many knees jerked. Unofficial allegations of entrapment surely alert all our sensibilities. Except as applied to the apolitical creatures of the wild, entrapment is not a popular concept. Un- A journal of free voices fortunately, it has a long, sordid history in law enforcement. We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as we Jimmy Hoffa was conficted of jury tampering in Nashville on find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to the basis of a form of entrapment. A Hoffa acquaintance was human values above all interests, to the rights of humankind as the foundation of democracy: we will take orders from none but our own bullied by the FBI into entering Hoffa's hotel room with a tape conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to recorder strapped on his back to draw certain revelations from serve the interests of the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human the Teamster tyrant. (Actually, it had to be done twice — the spirit. first time the recorder failed.) Hue and cry against entrapment Writers are responsible for their own work, but not for anything they have not themselves written, and in publishing them we do not necessar- then? Not much. Everybody wanted Hoffa's ass. ily imply that we agree with them because this is a journal offree voices. In the 1960s, the use of entrapment techniques by agents of the law became exceptionally widespread as an effective means of disrupting the counter-culture, most noticeably via political BUSINESS MANAGER Cliff Olofson infiltrations but most pervasively in the Nixonian struggle against drugs, the most caustic of all anti-establishment sym- The Texas Observer bols. (ISSN 0040-4519) In Boulder several years ago I knew a young man, George, Editorial and Business Office who had spent a year in federal prison in Arizona. His convic- 600 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701 tion was for possession of cocaine, a knock-down from sale of (512) 477-0746 cocaine, which had been his principal business in Aspen. Publisher's Office Whether or not you have an opinion about cocaine as an illegal P.O. Box 6570, San Antonio, Texas 78209 drug, consider how George went to prison. (512) 828-1044 after 4 p.m. In Aspen, he had a small, intimate clientele, all friends, all Published by Texas Observer Publishing Co.. biweekly except for a three-week inter- consenting adults, all active in what at that time was an effective val between issues twice a year, in January and July; 25 issues per year. Second.class if baroque alternative culture. One evening, George made deliv- postage paid at Austin. Texas. Single copy (current or back issue) 75 Q prepaid. One year, $15; two years. $28; three ery to Sam, a friend of long acquaintance. They each snorted a years. $40. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. line of coke and George took money for the merchandise. A few Microfilmed by MCA. 1620 Hawkins Avenue, Box 10, Sanford, N.C. 27330. moments later Sam walked into his kitchen and returned with POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 to: 600 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. two DEA narcotics agents. 7,4m,'74:7 41;3 (Continued on page 21) 2 MARCH 14, 1980 Figuring out Bullock Fun and Loathing and Taxes in Texas By Janie Paleschic Austin There isn't anything new to be said about Bob Bullock. If there were, he'd probably have said it himself, leaving you wondering if he meant it or if it was for effect. That's why he's a politician. He could no more change than a snake could fly. But times are hard for politi- cians, especially the distant cousins of Willie Stark. The hard times are showing all over Bul- lock, not merely in the drinking and smoking and loss of a lung and the lines on the once-smooth face, but in the weakening of Bul- lock's real power: his ability to convince you that black is white, right wrong, redneck crassness social grandiosity. THE TEXAS OBSERVER Bullock's legendary grudges, like the spending practices at his office, are part and parcel of the role he has been playing for more than 20 years in state politics. Whether as legislator, lobbyist, assistant attorney general, secretary of state, or comptroller, whether for good or ill, Bob Bullock has been a man of excess and extravagance. Often his extraordinary brand of .poli- tics has been good for Texas; and for a long while it certainly did Bullock him- self no harm politically. In 1975, when he took over the sleepy, little-publicized comptroller's office, succeeding Robert Calvert, a racist and sexist (and of course profiting by the comparison with his own more enlightened practices), Bullock captured the attention and imagination of, a Capitol press corps bored to distraction by frumpy, inaccessible pols like Gover- nor Dolph Briscoe, the phantom of Uvalde. The new comptroller charged into of- fice in characteristic style, leading his forces across the state in media-event raids on delinquent sales tax payers. Further stirring the pot, Bullock fired dozens of employees loyal to the old re- gime and brought in a crew of his own young, energetic, high-powered politicos. Anyone who knew Bullock wasn't surprised at his style; and much of the deadwood at the comptroller's shop was well gone. What Bullock wreaked upon the comptroller's office really was noth- ing more than he had done before as Preston Smith's secretary of state in 1971 and 1972. He took a quiet, somnolent of- fice and got himself famous. Secretary of State Bullock fought with everyone, in- cluding Atty. Gen. Crawford Martin, for whom Bullock previously had worked. Bullock, as the state's chief election State Comptroller Bob Bullock officer, said single-member districts Bob Bullock, formerly secretary of Wild ride wouldn't be any trouble in Dallas and state, currently Texas Comptroller of Well he might. Beginning the winter of San Antonio at a time when Martin was Public Accounts, may be very near some 1978, continuing through the spring of insisting before the U.S. Supreme Court kind of major change in a political career 1979, Bullock's always wild ride through that single-member districts were a heap that has alternately endeared him to and Texas politics got the wildest of his life of trouble. Bullock and single-member alienated him from liberal and conserva- at the hands of a couple of Travis County districts won.