HOUSTON BOYS & PLUNDERED S&LS Pg. 10

A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES DECEMBER 11, 1992 • $1.75

SUING THE BORDER PATROL THE BATTLE AT BOWIE HIGH

EL PASO TIMES

BY LOUIS DUBOSE also watch Juarenses slide down the concrete Women carrying sacks. of citrus fruit and apron on the Mexican side of the river and leading small children, middle-aged men car- El Paso after a few minutes appear on the American rying hand tools and young men traveling alone,

OWIE HIGH SCHOOL sits on the side, then scramble through , the holes in two they move north in the morning — at about edge of Texas. From its commons you fences and cross the highway that follows the same hour Bowie High students are travel- B can look across the channelized con- the river toward downtown Juarez — by which ing south out of the Segundo Barrio. At the crete Rio Grande and watch the traffic mov- time they will have reached the southern limit end of the day, after most Bowie students have ing west toward downtown Juarez. You can of the Bowie campus. Continued on page 4 Nib kitilifilf* I a i f•T ■ .*C,.'"'.. , , ‘ i ' P;°'if -.• .4.‘‘-=‘ " \ EDITORIALS 1111 1- il ':-■-■."'..----,

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THE TEXAS S server Internecine GOP OW THAT THE REPUBLICAN nomi- judicial races and one state legislative race to N nation is worth fighting over in Texas, Republican candidates. A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES Democrats may be forgiven some amusement State Republican Chairman Fred Meyer cites We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to while, in their newfound fellowship, they watch statewide election results as evidence the GOP the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are the battle lines drawing between the country- has a "very broad cross section of support" dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all interests, to the rights of human-kind as the foundation club set of the GOP and the storm troopers of and he plays down the ideological division, but of democracy: we will take orders from none but our own the "religious right." state Rep. Jack Vowell of El Paso and others conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent The old-time Republicans, who traditionally warn that their fellow Republicans need to take the truth to serve the interests of the poiverfid or cater have stood for free enterprise, less government back their party from the control of the far to the ignoble in the human spirit. Writers are responsible for their own work, but not intervention and lower taxes and thought that right or risk alienating the center, where elec- for anything they have not themselves written, and in pub- qualified them as conservative, are watching tions are won. lishing them we do not necessarily imply that we agree with suspicion and fear the ascendancy of the For seven terms Vowell has represented an with them, because this is a journal offree voices. religious right, which champions moral val- El Paso district where 52 percent are split SINCE 1954 ues at the expense of individual liberty. between Democrats and Republicans and the The Christian "soldiers," most of them fun- rest are independent. Although he considers Publisher: Ronnie Dugger damentalists who were first mobilized by Pat himself conservative, he is considered the House Editor: Louis Dubose Robertson in 1988, stormed the Republican Republican most likely to vote for human ser- Associate Editor: James Cullen Layout and Design: Diana Paciocco, Peter Szymczak conventions this past year, dictated much of the vices and the taxes to pay for them. Copy Editor: Roxanne Bogucka party platform language, including a call for a Despite his seniority, he recalls that four Mexico City Correspondent: Barbara Belejack ban on all abortions, demands for financial years ago he needed the permission of the Pat Editorial Interns: Paula George, Lorri J. Legge subsidies for religious and other private schools, Robertson-inspired delegation before he could Contributing Writers: Bill Adler, Betty Brink, Warren Burnett, Brett Campbell, Jo Clifton, Terry FitzPatrick, vilification of lesbian and gay Americans and speak at his own El Paso County Republican Gregg Franzwa, James Harrington, Bill Helmer, Ellen an end to federal support for what they deem Convention. "Do that once or twice and peo- Hosmer, Steven Kellman, Michael King, Deborah "blasphemous art." ple are turned off forever. They may vote, but Lutterbeck, Tom McClellan, Bryce Milligan, Debbie After the national convention, where Pat they'll never go back (to a convention)," he said. Nathan, Gary Pomerantz, Lawrence Walsh. Editorial Advisory Board: David Anderson, Austin; Buchanan declared the party was in a "reli- George Dutton of Fort Worth, president of Frances Barton, Austin; Elroy Bode, El Paso; Chandler gious" and "cultural war," George Bush, who the Texas Federation of Traditional Republicans, Davidson, Houston; Dave Denison, Cambridge, Mass; was brought up a moderate Republican but who believes in conservative government that stays Bob Eckhardt, Washington, D.C.; Sissy Farenthold, has shown a willingness to run with any pack out of the private lives of citizens as well as a Houston; Ruperto Garcia, Austin; John Kenneth Galbraith, Cambridge, Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, N.C.; of dogs, tacitly endorsed the Bible-thumping strong national defense. "The bottom line is George Hendrick, Urbana, Ill.; Molly Iv ins, Austin; rhetoric in remarks to the Christian Coalition. whether this country is going to be ruled by a Larry L. King, Washington, D.C.; Maury Maverick, Republican governors recently met at a theocracy or a government that remains secu- Jr., San Antonio; Willie Morris, Oxford, Miss.; Kaye Wisconsin resort to discuss the party's image lar," he said. "The 'big tent' philosophy is firmly Northcott, Austin; James Presley, Texarkana; Susan Reid, Austin; Geoffrey Rips, Austin; A.R. (Babe) Schwartz, problem and attempt conciliation, at least until in place in the Republican Party of Texas," Galveston; Fred Schmidt, Fredericksburg. Mississippi Gov. Kirk Fordice referred to the Dutton said, "but unfortunately, it presently is United States as a "Christian nation." When a charismatic revival tent." Poetry Consultant: Thomas B. Whitbread South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell attempted Vowell argues that the party should run off Contributing Photographers: Bill Albrecht, Vic Hin- a correction that the nation has a "Judeo- the extremists. "If you want to build strength in terlang, Alan Pogue. Christian" heritage, Fordice pointedly replied the party, you have to go out and get your mem- Contributing Artists: Michael Alexander, Eric Avery, Tom Ballenger, Richard Bartholomew, Jeff Danziger, that he did not mean to include "Judeo;" he bership from the people who are available, and Beth Epstein, Dan Hubig, Pat Johnson, Kevin Kreneck, later backed off after criticism by leaders of if you start imposing a litmus test or being very Michael Krone, Carlos Lowry, Ben Sargent, Dan Mississippi's Jewish community. exclusive you're going to find yourself in very Thibodeau, Gail Woods, Matt Wuerker. The differences are pronounced in Houston, select company, but never in the majority. And where the party's executive committee, domi- we should be in the majority in this Legislature, Managing Publisher: Cliff Olofson nated by the religious right, stripped County but we're not. Because we're very select." Subscription Manager: Stefan Wanstrom Executive Assistant: Gail Woods Republican Chairman Betsey Lake of most of Can any moderate Republican leader stand Special Projects Director: Bill Simmons her authority after she made overtures toward up to the religious right? The next few years Development Consultant: Frances Barton gay voters and played down the party's offi- will tell. In the meantime, Bill Clinton, who cut cial opposition to abortion rights. Lake has his political teeth on George McGovern's Presi- SUBSCRIPTIONS: One year 532, two years $59, three years $84. Full-time dential campaign in Texas in 1972, understands students S18 per year. Back issues $3 prepaid. Airmail, foreign, group, and countered by forming an independent bulk rates on request. Microfilm editions available from University Microfilms Republican Federation of Harris County. John the need to reach out to a broad section of the Intl., 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Any current subscriber who finds the price a burden should say so at renewal time; no one need Devine flexed the church-based anti-choice orga- country. A winning Democratic coalition this forgo reading the Observer simply because of the cost. past election included liberals as well as mod- INDEXES: The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The Supplemental,' Index nization to collect 39,183 write-in votes in his to Periodicals; Texas Index and, for the years 1954 through 1981.The Texas campaign against state District Judge Eileen erates while Perot split the conservatives with Observer Index. THE TEXAS OBSERVER (ISSN (1040-4519/USPS 541300), entire contents O'Neill, a Houston Democrat who had restricted Bush. If the Republicans are willing to drive copyrighted. 0 1992, is published biweekly except for a three-week interval off their moderates and secular conservatives between issues in January and July (25 issues per year) by the Texas Observer protests at abortion clinics during the national Publishing Co., 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. Telephone: (512) convention. The write-in votes did not threaten in the next election, Clinton will make them 477-0746. Second-class postage paid at Austin, Texas. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE TEXAS OBSERVER, O'Neill, but they swung the outcomes in four welcome. — J.C. 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas MM. Send a friend the Texas Observer

2 • DECEMBER 11, 1992 Gramm Builds a House lop,...., THEserver TEXAS it Gramm's 1996 Presidential campaign in 1983 was "sold at substantially below the Might have come to an early end on market price." And, Gibson loaned Gramm DECEMBER 1 1 , 1992 November 29 when the New York Times: pub- the money to buy the land "at 8 percent at a time VOLUME 84, No. 24 lished a story that appeared at the top of the front the prime rate was 12.5." Gibson was then the page under a headline: "Gramm's Homebuilding director of the First Republic Bank of Corsicana. Bargain Raises Issue of Possible Conflict." The loan from Gibson's bank was paid off in FEATURES That Gramm was the recipient of a large gift cash, according to the Fort Worth Star- from Dallas homebuilder Jerry Stiles is evident. Telegram, in June of 1990, "the same year five The Border Patrol & When, in 1987, Stiles began construction on the top bank officers were convicted of embezzling Bowie High interior of a vacation home the Senator was more than $1 million" from First Republic. By Louis Dubose 1 building on 35 acres of Maryland's. Eastern The Senate Ethics Committee dismissed Shore — flying in craftsmen from .Texas and Parmer's complaint against Gramm, explain- Houston Boys and the S&Ls putting them up in hotels while they worked on ing that because Gramm, in 1983, was a mem- By Jonathan Kwitny 10 Gramm's house — Stiles was clearly provid- ber of the House and not the Senate, the com- ing Gramm an interest-free advance. Later, mittee had no jurisdiction. The House Ethics Swords and Plowshares Stiles billed Gramm only $63,000, although the Committee also declined to investigate. By Deborah Lutterbeck 19 tab for labor, materials, travel and lodging came As George Bush was fond of repeating dur- to $117,000. ing the recent campaign, "It seems like there's Gramm's response, "I came up with the idea a pattern here." Austin-based legislative ana- DEPARTMENTS of getting a couple of guys from Texas who were lyst Kate Fain suggests there is a pattern in out-of work ... sort of the hungry builder Gramm's voting on and shaping of S&L leg- approach," is clearly not as carefully thought islation, too: Editorials 2, 3 out as most of the Senator's public statements. In March 1987 Gramm attempted to delete Stiles was not only a contractor. In 1984 he from a banking bill a provision that exempted Books & the Culture had purchased Hallmark Savings & Loan. regulators from the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings True Confections According to the Times story, Stiles "saw run- deficit reduction act. The amendment, which Record reviews by Brett Campbell 21 ning a savings and loan as a way to provide passed on voice vote in committee but ulti- money for his own real estate ventures." When mately failed, would have, by cutting regula- Afterword regulators set out to close Hallmark in 1989, after tors' budgets and limiting hiring, limited their determining it was insolvent, Stiles called on ability to close failing banks and thrifts Good John Cage Gramm to intervene. In March he visited Gramm In 1990, Gramm's vote on the floor helped By Geoff Rips 23 in Washington, where the Senator, according to defeat an amendment by Senator Tim Wirth Stiles, offered advice on how to navigate com- of Colorado, which would have provided the Political Intelligence 24 plex new rules that would determine which sav- Department of Justice an extra $19.1 million to ings institutions would remain open. investigate and prosecute criminal activity in Cover photo courtesy of El Paso Times Gramm, however, says he advised Stiles as S&Ls and other financial institutions. Wirth had an economist rather than a Senator, warning him even proposed to offset the cost of his amend- regulators inform the public of the terms of set- of bad economic times ahead and suggesting ment by cutting an appropriation providing tlements with directors of failed thrifts, and that Stiles get out of the savings and loan busi- money to promote tourism in Panama. an extension of the statute of limitations from ness (which Stiles eventually did, busting out In 1991 Wirth, a Democrat who is leaving three to five years (designed to provide addi- his thrifts at a cost to taxpayers of $200 mil- the Senate, proposed another amendment, which tional time to prosecute S&L criminals.) lion.) Gramm also intervened on behalf of Stiles, would have required regulators to make pub- In September of this year, Gramm tried again, according to the Times, urging regulators to lis- lic all prior examination reports of failed thrifts this time voting against a Wirth amendment to ten to Stiles' request for aid and waivers from sold as part of the 1988 "sweetheart deals," nego- extend from three to five years the statute of lim- federal rules. Gramm, a member of the Senate tiated by then-chair of the Federal Home Loan itations for professional liability claims made Banking Committee, also forwarded Stiles' Bank Board, M. Danny Wall. The amendment by the RTC. The measure, Wirth argued, will letters to regulators. In one case he requested also would have prohibited the FDIC from enter- save taxpayers billions by providing more time a response "as soon as possible." Stiles, a long- ing into secret agreements to settle lawsuits to file suit against S&L directors and insiders time contributor to Gramm, had provided $7,000 against directors and borrowers at failed thrifts. who profited from failed thrifts. Gramm found to the Senator's 1990 campaign fund. It was a revenue-neutral provision, written to himself on the losing side of a 78-10 vote. Stiles is now being sued by the Resolution provided taxpayers with information on insti- And the 1987 Congressional Quarterly Trust Corporation for making millions of dol- tutions whose failure they were paying for. Almanac credits two Texas Republicans, Phil lars in risky loans to business associates, friends Gramm voted against it. Gramm and then-Congressman Steve Bartlett, and family members while he directed Hallmark. In March 1992 Gramm proposed an amend- now Mayor of Dallas, with rewriting in con- This is not the first time Gramm has been ment to strip from a Resolution Trust ference committee the "forbearance" provisions involved in a questionable land deal. In 1990, Corporation funding act all provisions except in S&L legislation. The work Gramm and Gramm's Democratic opponent, then-state the $42 billion in funding. The Gramm amend- Bartlett did in committee lowered the net worth Senator Hugh Parmer of Fort Worth, requested ment was tabled 58-36. Had it succeeded it required to keep an S&L open from 3 percent an investigation of Gramm's purchase of 3.5 would have removed disclosure provisions to one-half of 1 percent — a change that cost acres in Corsicana. In Gramm's land deal with requiring the RTC to tell the public why an taxpayers billions by prolonging the lives of a political contributor and bank officer, Dr. S&L failed and a provision providing public unhealthy thrifts. Louis Gibson, Parmer saw "at least two ille- access to banking examiners' reports on failed If, as Ms. Fain often says, "they are what they gal gifts." According to Parmer, the lake-front institutions. Other casualties of the Gramm vote," perhaps the above will help define Senator property for which Gramm paid Gibson $25,000 amendment would have been a requirement that Phil Gramm. —L.D.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 3 The Battle at Bowie High

Continued from cover returned home, many of these workaday immigrants return through or around the Bowie Campus, across the highway and through the fences, down the con- crete apron concrete, across the river and up another apron to get back into Mexico. These daily immigration rituals are as old as the history of El Paso and Juarez. Bowie is one of a number of crossing places where people ille- gally enter the country, according to Border Patrol Chief Dale Musegades. "They come to shop, steal or work," Musegades said, adding that 250,066 undocu- mented immigrants were detained in El Paso last year, some 6,000 in this south El Paso neighbor- hood. That is why the Border Patrol has been working around Bowie since the new Bowie High was built 20 years ago. "The Border Patrol has been there for years and we haven't had any problems," Musegades said. "Until this year," was understood. The problems at Bowie, Musegades contends, started with the arrival of a new principal, Paul Strelzin, and the increased URIEL HOFFMANN/BOWIE GROWLER activism of one Bowie High Cartoon from the Bowie High School student newspaper School teacher, Juan Sybert- Coronado. "I don't have a prob- will now be determined by a third party: Federal as reported in Crowder's column, told lem with Bowie students. I have a problem with District Judge Lucius Bunton.) As Musegades Musegades of a number of incidents involving one principal and one teacher," Musegades said sees it, the Bowie Bowie High controversy began teachers, students and Border Patrol agents. in an interview in his East El Paso office. in July, shortly after Paul Strelzin moved to Students are stopped frequently by' agents Paul Strelzin agrees with Musegades, in part: Bowie from an El Paso junior high school. Soon "harassing them, stopping them on the cam- the Border Patrol has a problem with a princi- after he began working at Bowie, Strelzin asked pus in the parking lot, [asking them] what's pal. But Strelzin believes the Border Patrol has his secretary, Grace Hernandez, about Border your name, where do you go to school. And I a much larger problem — with students, faculty Patrol vans and officers on the campus, find from teachers who will come right out and and parents in the Bowie community. A num- Hernandez said, and she, and then other faculty tell you point blank, that they're ... they've ber of interviews — conducted on the Bowie members began to tell stories about encoun- told these people 'Listen, this is my student.' commons, in houses and apartments around the But the Border Patrol agents do not want to school and in Bowie High School administra- ters with officers on or around the campus. hear that." Strelzin related an incident in which tion offices — suggest that Paul Strelzin is right. Strelzin placed a call to Musegades (who in Strelzin, who seems by nature a students' an interview described the high school princi- his secretary, Grace Hernandez, was followed advocate, has become an outspoken critic of the pal's attitude as unyielding and angry.) home by agents, with no probable cause. (He way Border Patrol agents treat his students. El Paso Times editorial page editor David later discussed another incident when Hemandez He also has questioned Border Patrol tactics, Crowder said he picked up on complaints about was rudely treated by agents after she confronted which he claims allow immigrants to enter the Border Patrol officers at Bowie in comments them and requested that they stop driving at high country so they can be caught, thereby increas- at a city council meeting and called Strelzin to speed across the campus.) ing numbers of detentions. "Put a few officers inquire. Strelzin was in a hurry, Crowder wrote, Strelzin also told Crowder that he had and vehicles on the south side of the campus, so "I clicked on my recorder and let him talk." thought he reached an understanding with along the river, and these people won't be cross- Judging from Crowder's August 23 column, Chief Musegades about keeping vans off the ing our campus," Strelzin said. "But if you keep Strelzin's angry conversation was at least 800 campus. But shortly before the column ran them out, you don't have those big [detention] words long. in late August, Strelzin saw a van on the fac- numbers to justify those budgets." Strelzin said he had called Musegades. "I ulty parking lot: "They were in their car using Musegades also says he has a problem "with gave him some accusations and complaints that binoculars ... These gentleman were slouched the media, who got this situation all stirred I had heard. ... He told me he didn't believe down. One of them was looking at what I sur- up." (Just how serious all these problems are they were true," Strelzin told Crowder. Strelzin, mised to be my students in my band and my 4 • DECEMBER 11, 1992 flag girls. I. walked by the car, and I looked told Murillo he had been stopped because of ual harassment, several charges of physical abuse, in their line of sight .. and as best as I could a report that someone carrying a bag "had and what Paul Strelzin characterizes as "real bad ascertain they were ... ogling at people in my crossed." Murillo asked the officer if that gave manners." So here was a Border Patrol sector band, and most of them were girls." Strelzin him the right to pull a gun on an American chief who had no indication there was a problem confronted the officers who told him they were citizen. The coaches and players continued on the campus until one day he was flooded by looking for drug dealers. on to their game and the two officers presum- complaints from dozens of students. "I can't deal ably continued their patrol. No complaint was with two-year-old allegations," he told students // here are 600,000 stories in at a campus meeting early last month. River City, and these are just "After I knew this happened to Coach a feyv of them," Crowder con- Murillo and Gracie [Grace Hernandez], cluded in his Sunday column. Now, one two important people at our school, I said of the stories reported in his column has I would tell what had happened to me," the Border Patrol tied down in a civil rights said Mario Tapia at the beginning of an lawsuit and facing an injunction from interview on the Bowie campus. Tapia's

Lucius Bunton, . a federal judge who in a explanation of his going public is simi- 1982 ruling reined in the Border Patrol lar to that of a dozen other Bowie stu- Ben Murillo is an unlikely plaintiff. dents interviewed for this story. Richard. An amiable bear of a man, he is the defen- Vielma, who was interviewed on the sive coordinator for the Bowie Bears same day, said that before Paul Strelzin Football Team . An El Paso native and son became principal, no one seemed to care of a Methodist minister, he has been coach- or believe the students' stories. And both ing football here for 14 years, the past Tapia and Vielma said that Juan Sybert- seven at Bowie. That he began to lecture Coronado, a history teacher and sponsor two students about the "difficult job these of the Chicano students' MECHA club guys have to do," when he and the stu- (Movimiento Estudiantil de Chicanos de dents were pulled over by the Border Patrol Aztlan), had advised students of their last November 9, suggests a civics rights in dealing with Border Patrol offi- teacher's sense of responsibility. "I thought cers and encouraged them to make pub- maybe I had a tail light out and didn't lic any complaints of abuse. want the students saying anything wrong," And everyone at Bowie High School, Murillo said. As he pulled onto a park- it seems, has a story to tell. Tapia, a junior, ing lot, Murillo said, he even told the stu- tells how last summer he was using a dents where to place their hands to avoid public phone when he observed a Border making the officer nervous. "One of the Patrol agent attack a man who was car- students said, 'Coach, they think you're a rying roses. (Many undocumented immi- wetback,' and I didn't want any joking, I grants sell flowers.) "He was beating wanted them to be polite," Murillo said. this man with a billy stick so my friend "Then I turned around andsaw the muz- asked him to stop. So he hit my friend zle of the agent's revolver pointed at my with the stick and knocked him to the face. I said 'I'm Ben Murillo, a varsity floor. When I went to help my friend, the football coach from Bowie High School. . other officer took me down to the floor I have two varsity players with me and FRANK PEREZ and hit me four good hits, one to the I'd appreciate it if you holster your gun. Ben Murillo head, one to the face and two to the stom- He said, 'I'd appreciate it if you shut up,'" ach." Tapia said he was not detained, Murillo said. The officer, Murillo claims, held filed, no lawyer called. Life on the border. but his friend, a U.S. citizen, was. Tapia said the revolver in two hands, with his arms fully "It bothered me. But I felt like they had made he told his mother what had happened but she extended. a mistake. And, I had been brought up to for- said it would be too costly to file a suit. "After According to Murillo's account of the inci- give and I believe this society is too suit-ori- I found out what happened to Gracie and the dent, he was stopped while driving to a game at ented," Murillo said, explaining why he waited coach, I said, 'We're not the only ones.' another El Paso school. Two coaches follow- some nine months before going public with Everybody got the courage to tell what had hap- ing him had continued on their way, until they the incident. But the encounter obviously made pened," Tapia said. He said he had been stopped saw the agent draw the gun. Coach Jaime him more attentive to his students' complaints six or seven times during the past two years. Amezaga, according to Murillo, jumped from about encounters with the Border Patrol. "I Richard Vielma, a sophomore, tells a similar his car and yelled at the agents "that's Ben began to see that they constantly violate our story. According to Vielma, during March or Murillo, he's a football coach." Amezaga is one kids' civil rights," Murillo said April of the last year he was stopped in the of several witness expected to testify, accord- He added that during the past few years he school parking lot. "The truck stopped 20 feet ing to attorneys representing Murillo, has noticed a change in the way the officers from me and the officer said, 'Hey, come here.' The officer, Murillo said, returned his gun behave. In the past, Murillo said, Border Patrol I said [in English], 'If you want to talk to me, to his holster and ordered Murillo to "assume officers would come into the coaches' offices you come here.' " Vielma said the officer the position." While he was being searched, and politely ask if they had seen anyone who approached him and requested that he walk to Murillo said, another officer, a woman, didn't belong in the area. "Now they go to the the van with him, asking him what was his cit- demanded identification from the students. When, locker rooms first and hassle our kids," he said. izenship and what he had in his bag. When he in Spanish, she asked one student for identifi- pulled the bag away from the officers, Vielma cation, Murillo told her she would have to speak t is easy to understand why Dale Musegades said, he was shoved against the truck. "He got English, the student didn't understand Spanish. is skeptical, not just of Murillo's allega- my bag and they held me against the Suburban," The student, Isaac Villalva, whose father is in 1 tions, but of allegations made by, students. Vielma said. "I said, 'You can't do this' and the Navy, took out a military dependent's iden- Because once Ben Murillo told his story, Bowie he said, 'We can do anything we want to.' Then tification card. The other student, Murillo said, students began to come forward to offer testi- they patted me down and shoved my bag at had no ID card but answered that he was an monials of their own. Stories of incidents that me and said, 'Get out of here.' It was pretty American citizen. occurred two months, six months, one year, two humiliating." Vielma said he was encouraged That was the end of the incident. The officer years ago, stories of verbal abuse, threats, sex- to talk to an attorney by Sybert-Coronado.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 5 Teresa Fernandez, who was crossing by their butt," he said. "Even if they were the Bowie commons while I interviewed illegal, they didn't have the right to touch Vielma, said she, too, is a plaintiff in the them like that," Renteria said. lawsuit. Fernandez told of being stopped Renteria took his complaint to a law by an agent and questioned about her school graduate working with the Border citizenship. After she answered the ques- Rights Coalition, a local human rights tion, she said, "He just stared at me. And monitoring and advocacy group. Through he wasn't looking at my face. He looked the Border Rights coalition, he was down at my body in a sexual way," referred to Barbara Hines, an Austin- Fernandez said. "Then he left." based attorney working for the Texas The Border Patrol's defense seems to Lawyers' Committee fdr Civil Rights. rest on their response that the students' Hines filed a class action suit, which allegations are vague and perhaps fabri- names as its defendants Musegades and cated or exaggerated. Also, Musegades 13 or more un-named Border Patrol told students at a campus meeting he agents. • attended, students are often stopped Musegades said he is not allowing offi- because they bait the officers, playing cat- cers to discuss the case with reporters. He and-mouse when they see a Border Patrol first said there were no specific officers to vehicle. interview because no individual officers But David Renteria's account of an were accused. Then Musegades said that incident that occurred as he walked home even though some officers were identi- from graduation rehearsal last June 3 is fied, none would be allowed to meet with different. Renteria's family took note of the press. However, in a one-hour inter- officers' badge numbers and names and view in his office, Musegades maintained a van number. And several witnesses saw that there is no problem at Bowie High at least part of what Renteria contends school. "You know, we have been there is a type of harassment common in his for years and we have not had a problem neighborhood. His account not only raises until he [Strelzin] took over ... What you serious questions the Border Patrol will saw yesterday [at a MECHA meeting have to answer, it poses the question: where a crew from ABC's Good Morning "Who you going to call?" America was filming] was 40 students Interviewed in the modest but impec- encouraged by their teachers to make cable two-and-a-half-room apartment he FRANK PEREZ complaints." Musegades said that even shares with his mother and his older Paul Strelzin, B.H.S. Principal with recent student complaints, the prob- brother, Renteria said he was stopped lem is small "when you think that 6,000 as he walked home from graduation practice with smacked me." According to Renteria, the police people cross there every month." a friend, Carlos Jacquez. As they walked, an officer told him he had no case against the agent, Asked about specific student's complaints, agent driving a Border Patrol van stopped and who was only doing his job. "Then he said, which came from both interviews and affidavits asked them if they were U.S. citizens. Both `You can't do anything with these people,' " filed in the lawsuit, Musegades said "I can't answered yes, according to Renteria and Jacquez, apparently referring to the witnesses, Renteria imagine any agent doing that."

who also participated in the interview. . "When said. Before the agent would release him, he Declarations filed by the Border Patrol place I walked off, the agent on the passenger side said, insisted that Renteria give him his address, a number of officers at locations where students `you better stop before I beat you up so bad which he did. "Three days later the same agent claim they were harassed but offer different you're not going to be able to move,' "Renteria drove up in front of my house, flipped me off accounts of the confrontations. Raul Rodriguez, said. "I kept walking." [gave him the finger] and drove away," Renteria who has worked for the Border Patrol for four Renteria said the same agent who had ques- said. years, admits to stopping Renteria and Jacquez tioned him got out of the van, grabbed him by Witnesses to Renteria's confrontation included after receiving a report from a spotter on the the arm, and demanded to see some identifi- his mother and older brother, Dino, who had Bridge of the Americas who said, "Two sub- cation. "When I told him that I didn't carry an been summoned by Renteria's companion, jects were seen entering illegally and walking ID, he pushed my chest and demanded an ID," Carlos Jacquez. When they arrived, they pro- toward Stevens [street], wearing dark over dark Renteria said. When the officer asked where ceeded to get badge numbers and names. and dark over light clothing," a description Renteria was born, Renteria said he told the offi- Interviewed in his living room, late at night in that matched what the two boys were wear- cer, "I choose to remain silent." The officer told the company of Jacquez who had been dropped ing, Rodriguez said in his declaration. But he him that because he was not under arrest, he had off by his father, Renteria was unwavering in his also described Renteria as belligerent and said no such right and, according to Renteria, offered story. both young men initially refused to answer his to call a police officer. "I told him I didn't want Why had Renteria chosen this moment to questions. He said of Renteria's allegations: him to call anybody but he got his radio and said refuse to cooperate with Border Patrol offi- "I never hit him or beat him. I never threw him `Citizen requests p.o.' " cials? He said that MECHA club sponsor Juan to the ground." Musegades said the incidents The agent continued to hold him, Renteria Sybert-Coronado had told students that they often sound more like a lack of courtesy on said, and took a page of commencement instruc- only have to tell officers their names and that the part of officers. That, he said, is something tions from him and crumpled it. Then, Renteria they are U.S. citizens. But there seemed to be he can improve. But the larger problem, as he said, he was pushed against the van and roughly more to Renteria's decision. Renteria said his sees it, is educational in nature. He has turned searched. When another agent, a woman, arrived family was routinely stopped when they walked the complaints over to the Inspector General's and asked if any help was needed, the officer to church and that officers routinely harass peo- office at the U.S. Department of Justice, which who had detained Renteria said "Este [this] ple in the neighborhood. He also said he had will decide if a further investigation is warranted. Bowie graduate thinks he's a lawyer." seen agents beat a man who offered no resis- Asked if he knew that the FBI had contacted When the El Paso police officer arrived, tance. "They beat him up and pushed him in the Murillo, Musegades said he was aware that an according to Renteria, the officer asked why he Suburban. And they don't obey the stops on the FBI investigation was underway and could offer didn't carry an ID. Renteria asked the officer corner," Renteria said. He also told of a recent no further comment about who is the target of what he was going to do about "this agent who arrest of two young women. "They were wear- the FBI inquiry. He said that if officers were just abused my Fifth Amendment rights and ing mini-skirts and they pushed the two ladies found to have violated agency rules, the officers

6 • DECEMBER 11, 1992 will be disciplined. But of Murillo's allega- ing for a restraining order and monetary dam- Patrol — most of which involve a mutual under- tions, he said, "I cannot imagine one of my offi- ages. He, too, is represented Hines and Robert standing of constitutional rights — it is hard cers acting that way without provocation." Greenblum of the Lawyer's Civil Rights to imagine that the situation described by the Louis Pouliot, the officer who stopped Murillo Committee. Hines and Greenblum are working students will continue. The civics lesson that and the two young men, said in a declaration with El Paso attorney Albert Almendariz. The began in Juan Sybert-Coronado's MECHA Club that he did not recall the stop on November 9, plaintiffs have asked Bunton to enjoin the Border and history class will continue even beyond though a review of the radio log shows a five- Patrol from "stops, arrests and detentions of per- Judge Lucius Bunton's court, where students minute stop. "If the events the witnesses sons, without reasonable suspicion of alienage," confronted INS agents and their attorneys. described had happened, I would recall them," according to Hines. "That reasonable suspicion But Mexican day laborers and illegal venders Pouliot said. "The reason I did not recall the can be difficult to articulate but it cannot be will continue to come and go. "This school sits stop is that it was obviously so routine. There the color of someone's hair." on the Chamizal," Strelzin told reporters at a was no reason to remember the details." Hines complained that this issue was decided MECHA meeting. "Land that was part of Mexico Sherri Althoff was Pouliot's partner on the in Judge Bunton's court in 1982, when he ruled 25 years ago. These kids look across the river day Murillo was stopped. In an declaration intro- that Border Patrol agents could not conduct ran- and see those shacks, they know people over duced as evidence, Althoff also said the stop dom sweeps of El Paso bars. "Here we are 10 there. When it gets cold, these kids know that in was routine. "I remember that there was a Bowie years later and it's not a bar, it's worse, it's a Juarez people are going to die." High School coach and two or three players in school," Hines said. On the morning after the afternoon when the car. Since this was a routine stop, I did not While plaintiffs and defendants await Judge Strelzin made his comments the temperature draw my weapon and neither did my partner," Bunton's ruling on the injunction requested by dropped in the low 20s. Two Juarez dailies Althoff said. She said Murillo's vehicle was a number of Bowie students and faculty mem- reported that five people died as a result of the stopped because spotters on the bridge reported bers (Strelzin is not a party to the suit), all par- cold. ❑ by radio that an illegal alien carrying a back- ties to the lawsuit seem to have reached an uneasy Editor's note: On Dec. 3, as we were going pack was picked by the driver of a car similar truce. The Border Patrol vans have been pulled to the printer, Judge Bunton handed down a to Murillo's. "I find the description [of the inci- back from the Bowie Campus and students inter- 40-page decision, accepting the findings of dent] incredible," Althoff said. viewed said they had not been stopped recently. fact (statements) submitted by Bowie stu- Yet Murillo stands by his story and says he Whatever the outcome of the suit, there is the dents and staff and enjoining the Border Patrol has witnesses to back him up. During the course impression that things have changed at Bowie from unreasonable stops and detentions of of an interview in his office, Musegades said High School, and perhaps throughout the individuals in El Paso. Agents must have "a that while Murillo had two students with him, Segundo Barrio, the South El Paso neighbor- reasonable suspicion based on a specific and only one has come forward as a witness. "Do hood that Paul Strelzin describes as the poor- articulable fact involving more than the mere you think the other one might have a problem est zip code in the United States. After sitting appearance of the individual being of Hispanic with his status?" he asked, implying that the stu- through a Bowie High MECHA meeting and descent," Bunton wrote. Students were also dent is illegally in the country. listening to students' testimonials, and their sug- certified as a class and will continue with Murillo is a party to the federal lawsuit ask- gestions for improving relations with the Border their litigation.

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The Renaissance Man By Bernard Rapoport

That is what I always wanted to be — a renaissance like to see more economists these days declare "I'm going man! I couldn't quite make it; no, a long way from it. What to approach economics philosophically, in a renaissance is satisfying seven and a half decades after wanting to way." We need people who really care about people. have earned the right to be one is the fact that I wanted These few renaissance people have something that is to. I think that is the ultimate, and I believe this for a so vital to ameliorating the quality of life for all of us. in very simple reason. talking about renaissance people, it brings to mind Sister I think the problem in education today is that it seeks to Theresa's apology that she does not do great things; only prepare us for a vocation. What is even more serious is little things with great love. that it appears to be the acceptable norm of our society. Renaissance people share this understanding. Like What is my objection? A renaissance person is one who Sister Theresa, they have a ineluctable commitment to wants to know simply for the joy of knowing. It has been discovering and advocating that which is philosophically a long time since I've heard a doctor talk about the ecstasy necessary to make living a sweeter thing to do. For them, he receives in practicing medicine or a lawyer talking about knowing is a joy in itself. his or her love of law or teachers talking about the joy of Today, we stress knowing in order to better pursue a teaching. particular vocation. Certainly knowing is important for those I wonder about people like Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin who want a vocation, but unless we produce within this Franklin or Sophocles who personify the renaissance pre- society the climate, a place if you please, for the few cept. They sought knowledge and there was joy within who seek knowledge for the joy of knowing, we will be them because they were seeking out knowledge — not forced to accept what a great professor shared with us for material reasons, but simply for the joy of knowing! at a session he held a few weeks ago in which he said, This kind of pursuit is not in evidence today. It was "There is no hope! History is simply a recitation of man's brought poignantly to mind a few weeks ago as I was look- inability to accept confrontation which what is really impor- ing over the curriculum of my favorite school, The University tant and we have had a continual making of the same mis- of Texas. I noted that some of the courses which were takes over and over again." The renaissance mind has no so meaningful to me were no longer being taught. There tolerance for incompetence. was a reason — a "good reason." They were not practi- Let me pose the question in another way — where are cal. What is being taught today is micro and macro eco- our poets? Certainly the greatness of a nation or a world nomics, whatever that means. depends on the quality of leadership in the implemen- I remember a magnificent course I took, Economics tive talents of these leaders. We complain that there is 327. (Of course, I had the world's greatest teacher, E. an absence of them and we wonder why. Well, one place E. Hale.) We studied Marx and Adam Smith and every- to look for the reason "why" is on television. What do body in between and those subsequent to them. Marxism you watch each day? Those are the same programs that has been discredited and the hypothesis which consti- your leaders are watching and concluding that this is con- tuted the predicate of Adam Smith's classical economics firmation of what you think and what you want. does not exist. Yes, again, where are the poets to awaken us. But, what is important about both of them is that they Goodness, couldn't we use a Walt Whitman this very day sought an economic theory that would produce the great- to write a "Leaves of Grass" to shake up our souls and est good for the greatest number. It was not the kind of to sensitize us? economics that related to balancing the budget or doing Today's increasingly materialistic society stresses the things with the economy that promoted the interests of a preparation for making a living. Renaissance people particular politician. reminded us in days gone by, and we need a reminder Whether you agreed with them or not was of no impor- more today than ever before, that it is always time to tance. I mention them simply in order to say that I would focus on how to make a life.

BERNARD RAP OP ORT American Income Life Insurance Company Chairman of the Board and

Executive Offices: P.O. Box 2608, Waco, Texas 76797, 817-772-3050 Chief Executive Officer

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 9 Bush and Mischer: Houston Boys and the S&Ls

BY JONATHAN KWITNY HERE'S A LOT THAT AMERICANS to feel," he says, "the way Mark Twain did Detailed instructions on how borrowers 'could haven't been told about George Bush and when he said that in this world only dead men protect their assets from creditors through trusts T the savings-and-loan catastrophe — can tell the truth." and other means were prepared by lawyers rep- mainly that Bush's friends, his son Neil, and Looking back, more than 150 billion tax dol- resenting one of Neil Bush's biggest benefac- their social circle, caused a major portion of lars into the bailout, what happened in the tors, and apparently were distributed to Neil and the damage, and that the president, by his con- American thrift industry in the 1980s was a other insiders at Silverado Banking in Denver, tinued loyalty to these people, bears some monstrous transfer of wealth from most of us to where he was a director. Silverado and other responsibility himself. a privileged few. Since much of the damage is institutions went bust at taxpayer expense in part In Houston and Denver, the president, his son, unassessed, and hundreds of billions of dol- because of the use of trusts. The distribution of and White House chief of staff James Baker lars in interest on the bailout will continue to be instructions on how borrowers could hide assets were surrounded socially and financially by the paid into the next century, we don't even know seems to confirm the suspicion of lawyers for biggest feeders at the national taxpayers' trough. how much we lost. And Brewton has uncovered the FDIC that insiders running the S&Ls were A repeated pattern appears in which investi- . some of President Bush's longtime friends, sometimes more interested in seeing their insti- gators were called off, proposed fraud charges and their friends, taking part in this, probably tutions looted than in making them profitable. weren't brought, and President Bush continued the greatest theft in history, a theft from the very In some ways, George Bush's cheerful to pal around with investigative targets who got taxpayers Mr. Bush has been sworn to protect bystander status with the S&L culprits parallels off scot-free. for the past 12 years. his extensive relationships with people involved In one case, according to federal trial testi- Like anyone else, the president bears no legal in the Iran-contra scandal; we are asked to accept mony confirmed by an interview, in 1984 then responsibility for what his friends or son did. that he just didn't know what they were doing. Vice-President Bush even called a federal inves- But as the New York Times recently editorial- The difference is, in this case, there can be.no tigator to his Washington office and berated her ized, "How a citizen views the world, how he debate about the effect of their activity on the in front of a savings-and-loan executive, halt- chooses friends ... these qualities matter in a taxpayers. We were getting screwed as never ing a federal investigation into a Florida S&L candidate for President." And Bush has not before. And, unlike Oliver North, the people that was lending big money to a prominent dumped his old crowd, let alone rebuked it. in the Bushes' circle who were getting the S&L Houstonian who didn't pay it back; the S&L To the contrary, Brewton has tracked their con- money can make no patriotic excuse for what stayed open another year before failing at great tinued friendships. they did, even though they sometimes turned taxpayer cost. And, tracing the money that the taxpayers are over some of the loot to the Contras and the Austin-based reporter Pete Brewton has been now being forced to replace, he has found much Republican Party. trying to have this information published for of it went to the Republican Party and to such Brewton has amassed evidence — compli- what seems to him a lifetime. private administration causes as the Contra cated, but understandable — that paints an ugly Brewton, 42, has spent the past five years dog- war, the supply of arms to Iran, and the covert picture of very important people at the pinna- ging the truth behind the S&L scandal. He has support of African dictators, as well as into cle of power in the United States. Yet he .has refused to accept the alibis put forward else- Neil Bush's pockets. To a surprising extent, tax- had a devil of a time getting it to the public. where that blame downturns in the oil-belt econ- payers are paying the bill for past American for- He fell into the savings-and-loan story quite omy, or faulty business judgments, for what was eign policy fiascoes through the savings-and- by accident, the way he fell into journalism in really a massive mugging of the taxpayer. The loan bailout. the first place. The son of a Presbyterian min- story has consumed him, frustrated him, and Brewton has found that some of President ister, raised in a series of tiny Texas towns, forced him to resign his newspaper job rather Bush's prominent friends worked with Mafia Brewton got a bachelor's degree in philoso- than give up. figures on deals that enriched them and the phy from Rice, then a master's degree in astron- But he has assembled a wealth of evidence, mobsters at the taxpayers' expense. Loans from omy from New Mexico State and finally a degree and it's finally being published — some of it failed thrifts run or financed by friends and in international business management from in this article, all of it in a book rushed out on associates of George Bush and his son Neil the American Graduate School of International the eve of the election by maverick publisher went to associates of the Carlos Marcello Mafia Management in Phoenix. It was at this last stop; Ian Shapolsky of SPI Books. Shapolsky has organization or other organized crime groups, while studying to go to work for a U.S. corpo- given Brewton's book a misleading title — and were used, among other things, to help ration overseas, that he began writing for the The Mafia, the CIA and George Bush— though them take over more S&Ls and, through them, school newspaper and finally realized he had he added the more accurate subtitle, The Untold loot the taxpayers. stumbled on his life's calling. Story of America's Greatest Financial Debacle. To hide the money from any attempt to Instead of applying for work overseas, he Still, the heart of the book is Brewton's relent- reclaim it, borrowers — including both Mafia served an apprenticeship on a small daily paper less reporting, and though he's had to make some types and people in the Bushes' high-society in San Angelo. Then he moved to the Houston compromises, there was no other way to get it social circle — appear to have secreted bor- Chronicle, where he covered county govern- published before the election. "I am beginning rowed cash in murky trusts. The trusts were care- ment and city hall. In 1984, the rival Houston fully created in advance by specialist lawyers Post had an opening for an investigative so experienced at cheating the U.S. Treasury reporter and hired him. He wrote exposés on Jonathan Kwitny; a former reporter for the that they have been convicted of it. Some trusts such subjects as sloppy hospitals and charita- Wall Street Journal, is a freelance writer spe- appear to be part of overseas money-launder- ble foundations more concerned with protect- cializing in organized crime. A version of this ing operations also used by cocaine dealers ing the comfort of their wealthy donors than article appeared in the Village Voice. and people with CIA connections. with charity. 10 • DECEMBER 1 l , 1992

TM` 'f .1.06W,VVOIrMI". 4410..40.111.1.7w4P24.1~910,1!•41.1.0*OUNk" iftl,r4eloprik,1140r04,04,•■••■144ev., *-..e.teogseAsq, , Then, in 1987, a business reporter at the Post them to talk and the government has never payers were concerned, the $6 million was never invited Brewton to help him check out Mainland brought the Mainland case to court. Brewton repaid; it was just stolen, through Mainland. Savings, a major S&L that had just failed. also found that the chief New York deposit Brewton found scandal, theft, and outra- Taxpayers would eventually supply up to half broker — Mario Renda — had extensive Mafia geousness almost wherever he traveled — a billion dollars — an exact accounting has connections. Florida, Southern California, Chicago, Albuquer- never even been made public — to cover the The government eventually prosecuted Renda que, you name it. But the heart of the problem money Mainland had lent out backed by col- in New York, Florida and Kansas. He had bro- seemed to be back in Houston. lateral that turned out to be worth a lot less kered as much as $5 billion a year into 130 For one thing, Brewton learned that Raymond than the loans. Management contended that S&Ls across the country, all of which failed. Hill, Mainland's chairman, had since boyhood Mainland's insolvency was brought on by hard Many of these deposits were made on the spe- been a friend of another Houston lawyer, James times in Houston and the impatience of fed- cific condition that the S&Ls would lend money Baker, then Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, eral regulators. But the regulators had criti- out to borrowers Renda would recommend, later Secretary of State, and now White House cized Mainland's lending practices, and the who turned out to be local Mafia people or Chief of Staff. Once Hill even represented Baker Post's business reporter was suspicious. strangers from out of state. Renda, or some- in a legal matter. In fact, the Baker and Hill fam- Brewton did what any good reporter would one he knew, had obviously figured out how ilies had been close for decades, at times shar- do — he sifted through thousands of pages of to use the new savings-and-loan deregulation ing Christmas dinner. (When I interviewed him, records. He searched files from the federal policy to pick the lock on the public treasury. Hill evaded the Christmas dinner question takeover of Mainland, and the land records of Renda negotiated three federal guilty pleas though I asked it five times. He repeated only Harris County. Mainland, he learned, had made to bank fraud and conspiracy in exchange for that he hadn't been in Baker's house except pos- unusual deals with several New York men. He a single, five-year sentence, of which he served sibly in childhood, and that Baker hadn't been checked them out. 30 months; he was also supposed to pay $14.2 in his. He said that Mainland collapsed only Two of the New Yorkers (Mario Renda and million in fines and restitution, but has so far because federal regulators wouldn't let him Martin Schwimmer) had brokered deposits from wriggled out of doing so. (He did give the gov- sell some branches he could have sold.) Eastern sources, particularly Teamsters and other union pension funds, into rapidly growing S&Ls across the country. They had brokered a lot of out-of-state deposits into Mainland, helping triple its lending pool from $308 million in Brewton has amassed evidence ... that 1983 to over $1 billion in 1985 — an explo- sive expansion later criticized by federal regu- paints an ugly picture of very important lators. Then a third New Yorker (Howard Pulver) helped relieve Mainland of much of this money, by selling it $333 million, face •value, in mort- people at the pinnacle of power in the gage notes; the actual value of those notes to taxpayers after the government took over United States. Yet he has had a devil of a Mainland and auctioned them off was as little as two cents on the dollar. They were just plain time getting it to the public. bad debts. Why had Mainland bought them? Brewton went along with the business reporter for an interview with Raymond Hill, a promi- ernment his yacht, but by the time regulators Brewton learned that federal regulators had nent Houston lawyer who had been chairman had paid off the prior liens and sold it, the tax- hired a local law firm to investigate Mainland, of Mainland. Hill was a respected man from a payers wound up losing still more money.) and that lawyers from the firm wanted to file socialite, oil-rich family. Sitting now across the Because the government didn't pursue the suit against Hill and others. They had actually desk from him, Brewton interrupted Hill's prof- Mainland case, the public record Brewton had drawn up legal papers alleging fraud. But sources fered generalities about the economic down- to go on was limited. But he learned Mainland at the firm told Brewton that its managing part- turn's having caused the collapse. Brewton lent $6.25 million to a contractor who had moved ners, consulting with federal regulators, over- asked about the $333 million in mostly bad to Houston from Detroit, where he was closely ruled the lawyers on the case and the papers mortgage notes from Pulver: How much, exactly, identified with leaders of the Detroit Mafia fam- were never filed. The firm was Andrews & had Mainland paid for them? Hill became eva- ily. And it lent more than $10 million to com- Kurth — the law firm of which Hill's good sive, then irate. He demanded that Brewton panies controlled by a man who had recently friend James Baker had been managing partner, leave, and never answered his question. To worked for an associate of Louisianaffexas Mafia until he left for Washington. (The Andrews & this day, Brewton has not received an answer boss Carlos Marcello; $3.6 million of that moved Kurth partner responsible for the decision told to that particular question, the government never to a mysterious Cayman Islands concern: me no suit had been filed because the firm having pursued the Mainland matter in court. Brewton began criss-crossing the country, believed there weren't enough recoverable assets (Hill told me he didn't remember exactly what burrowing into county mortgage and deed reg- to justify litigation: He said he was "100 per- Mainland paid for the notes, but that it was a istries and finding an interlocking network of cent certain" that the matter had never been dis- "steep discount" from face value and subjected S&Ls and banks that seemed to be part of the cussed with Baker or anyone from Baker's the S&L to "minimal exposure as we perceived scandal. They made loans to a circle of privi- office. The White House, after promising to it at the time.") leged borrowers for far more than the value of obtain comment, said Baker was unavailable.) But Brewton has learned of a lot else — the collateral they put up. They lent money to Brewton obtained a copy of the proposed law- including high-level connections that might each other's owners so they could buy still more suit. It said that payments Mainland had made explain why the government never pushed the S&Ls. And they exchanged loans among their to Baker's friend Hill were "unreasonable, Mainland case. institutions, which made bad loans appear to be grossly excessive and not commensurate with Traveling to Long Island to check up on the good. For example, Mainland's $6 million loan the performance of the duties he owed to three New York men, he found that Pulver, to the Mafia-connected contractor from Detroit Mainland." Brewton took the allegations to fed- who sold Mainland the bad mortgage notes, was technically was repaid; but the money came eral prosecutors. They seemed interested only a close neighbor of Schwimmer, who had bro- from Hill Financial Savings Association, an in going after whoever had leaked the papers to kered the out-of-state deposits. Whether they S&L in Red Hill, Pennsylvania, which was him. Federal regulators in the Mainland case knew each other, or whether their involvement holding that and a lot of other bad debts when told Brewton they concurred with Andrews & together was just a bizarre coincidence, hasn't it failed three years after Mainland did, cost- Kurth that the suit shouldn't be filed because been pinned down, because Brewton can't get ing taxpayers $1.4 billion: So, as far as the tax- they didn't think the officers and directors of

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 11 Mainland had enough assets to be worth the Silverado borrowers who were investing part a crime. But without what Mischer and his banks cost of pursuing. of their money in his unsuccessful oil com- did, the American taxpayers would be a lot richer. If that judgment was right, Hill must have pany. From other reporters, Brewton learned And without the American taxpayers, Mischer been spending what was effectively the U.S. that these investors had provided Neil Bush with would be a lot poorer. Much of his contact was Treasury's money awfully fast. During his four a $120,000-a-year salary, hired him as an out- as chairman and major shareholder (over 5 per- years as chairman of Mainland, Brewton learned, side corporate director for $100,000 a year, and cent) of Allied Bancshares, Inc., a bank hold- Hill had been paid $4,320,000 in dividends, given him a $100,000 gift in the guise of a loan ing company. (It was sold in 1988 to a California- salaries, and various legal fees. (Hill told me he needn't, and didn't, repay. Brewton calcu- based national banking network.) that this figure counts all -legal fees paid to his lated that more than half a million dollars was For example, Allied, the lead bank. in firm, most of which, he said, went for overhead, put into Neil Bush's pockets, and lots more Mischer's group, among the largest banks in and the salaries of other lawyers. He Houston, financed Raymond Hill's said the fees, dividends, and salary he stock in Mainland Savings. Altogether, received were modest, though he Mischer's banks provided the capital declined to give specific figures.) for the control of S&Ls whose failure After the collapse, Hill went back to cost the taxpayers more than $1 billion; practicing law and teaching Sunday the figure can't be calculated precisely School at his Episcopal church, though from information so far disclosed by he says he now no longer leads Bible the government. But Mischer's banks classes. He says he is now so "broke" got paid back, selling off their S&L he must wear clothes in need of mend- loans before the institutions collapsed. ing and drive a car with more than The S&Ls that Mischer provided 100,000 miles on it. financing for ultimately provided ben- Hill's friend James Baker used to efits for him. For example, when a bor- play tennis regularly at the Houston rower at Allied Bank went bankrupt, Country Club with another promi- sticking it with $2.1 million-in defaulted nent local citizen, George Bush. Bush oil and gas leases for which it couldn't and Baker were part of a younger find a buyer, Mainland paid Mischer's crowd that revitalized the Houston bank 90 cents on the dollar for leases. C.C. in the 1950s when its more pres- This was a highly unusual deal for a tigious cross-town cousin, the ven- savings and loan. Attorneys in the erable River Oaks Country Club, grew bailout estimated that buying the leases full. Bush and Baker socialized at lost Mainland — and thus the taxpay- the Houston C.C. with Walter ers — at least $14 million. (Mischer Mischer, a developer and banker at says he doesn't remember the trans- the pinnacle of Houston society. action, and that he spent most of his Mischer was and is perhaps the city's time trying to drum up business for his most powerful behind-the-scenes banks, leaving daily operation to sub- political mover and shaker. ordinates.) Bush got to know Mischer well in And George Bush's friend Mischer, about 1962, when Bush was testing like James Baker's friend Hill, dealt the waters for a run at Congress. with mobsters. Mischer acknowledges Baker, Bush, and Mischer also sent having sat down to business once with their children to the Kinkaid School, Carlos Marcello, the well-publicized an exclusive private institution Baker New Orleans-based Mafia boss of had himself attended, where they were Louisiana and Texas since the 1940s active in school affairs. "I saw them and member of the Mafia national all the time," Mischer agrees. By the FILE PHOTO commission; Mischer says Marcello time of the 1980 campaign, they were Friends in wealthy places wanted to buy two Houston motels from close enough that Mischer raised $3.2 him. Mischer also says he turned the million — more than any other American — invested in his company, by borrowers from deal down, though the Houston police told for the Reagan-Bush campaign, of which Baker Silverado who then didn't repay their loans, Brewton that the man who then bought one of was deputy manager (to William Casey). so that effectively the payments to Neil Bush the motels — John Coil, a disbarred attorney The Bush and Mischer families have stayed were from taxpayer funds whose disbursement and convicted pornographer — was part of close. Mischer's son and Neil Bush are friends. he helped supervise as a director of Silverado. Marcello's organization. (Mischer says he was Mischer says the president and Mrs. Bush often But when regulators tried to call the and is unaware of any such connections.) visit his development in Houston's lush out- President's on on this, the Mischer bank's Mischer agrees that while he held the deed to skirts when they return to town; it's right next former lawyer cooperatively testified on Bush's the motel, and Coil paid for it over time, it was to the Houstonian Hotel, where George and behalf, saying a bank director didn't have any converted into a trysting spot with in-room Barbara Bush legally reside. In fact, when the obligation to tell his fellow directors of his videos not rated for family values. Bushes returned to vote in the Texas primary own interest when he asked them to approve a Mischer says he met Marcello only that once. this past March, the president and his wife loan that might secretly benefit him personally. Cops assigned to tail Marcello whenever he strolled over to inspect a home built for sale Bush was let off with a promise to avoid con- came to Houston told Brewton they observed by Mischer's daughter, Paula. flicts of interest at any future S&L meetings. him meeting Mischer more often. He denies In 1990, when the Office of Thrift Supervision Walter Mischer's ex-lawyer had good rea- it. Whatever Mischer's relationship with tried to sanction Neil Bush for his role in the son to take a lax view of responsibility for the Marcello personally, however, there is no ques- collapse of Silverado, the Denver S&L of which savings-and-loan debacle. Mischer himself was tion that Mischer's banks had significant deal- he was a director, the president's son called involved financially and socially with people ings with a Marcello family associate from on the former general counsel of .Mischer's who ran many S&Ls that failed at taxpayer Louisiana, Herman K. Beebe. bank as his expert witness at the hearing. Neil expense. He was always separated by some other In the 1970s, Beebe was one of the first vaca- Bush was accused of not telling his fellow direc- person from anything that smacked of outright tion-home residents of La Costa, the Southern tors about the income he was getting from illegality. And he has never been charged with California resort financed by the Teamsters'

12 • DECEMBER 11, 1992 union under the domination of Marcello's close against peripheral figures, the government didn't connections. Clarke says he doesn't remem- friend, Jimmy Hoffa. La Costa was run by such go to court in connection with Mainland, ber the two big defaulters — or the names of notorious gangsters as Morris "Moe" Dalitz, Continental, San Jacinto or several other any of his clients who wanted the bank orga- part of the national crime syndicate since Houston S&Ls that folded. Many assets haven't nized — and he denies knowing about any shady Prohibition. The resort was widely publicized yet been sold by the government, and in other trusts. Either way, however, it doesn't speak as a gathering place for mobsters. (It has since cases assets from various S&Ls were pooled well of his ability to police the nation's banks. been sold twice, broadened its clientele, and before sale, making it impossible to tell what Nor does his association with Beebe. gained public legitimacy.) Beebe bankrolled a was lost in any particular case. real estate business for the son of the man whom Mischer at first says of Beebe, "I met him one alter Mischer ultimately benefit- Dalitz and the Teamsters brought in to help time ... I never had any dealings with him at ted from the maze of incestuous run La Costa, enabling the son to buy a BMW all." On being told of Brewton's specifics, he W transactions among the interlock- whose license plate read, "THNX BB." acknowledges that his banks may have had ing S&Ls owned by Beebe and others. For exam- In the 1980s, according to government records such dealings, though he insists it was just "a ple, Beebe underwrote the $5.8-million takeover Brewton obtained, Beebe grew to control or little something" and that Beebe "wasn't a reg- of Vernon (Texas) Savings and Loan by his influence more than a hundred banks and S&Ls. ular customer." But in addition to documents friend Don Dixon (who was convicted on 23 Beebe, who served a federal prison sentence for he found, Brewton had extensive interviews federal fraud counts after Vernon fell). Vernon bank fraud in 1988, has always denied a busi- with Dale Anderson, former vice-chairman of then lent $15 million to a group of Texans who ness link to Marcello. He has been convicted of Beebe's holding company (Beebe was chair- bought the Sandia S&L in Albuquerque, New federal fraud charges twice, not counting an man), who discussed Beebe's affairs in detail. Mexico. The $15 million loan, with interest, administrative citation for stock fraud by the One interesting Beebe operation was the First was eventually paid off with a $19 million loan Securities and Exchange Commission. Denial National Bank of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, from Sunbelt Savings Association of Dallas, or not, Beebe's reputation as a mob front was where a government report says Beebe had another of the more than 100 banks and S&Ls well established. "influence or control" through a $1.6 million Beebe came to influence or control. According Since the mid 1970s, Beebe had financed his investment. The shareholders included the chief to a federal lawsuit the government brought and activities with loans from Allied. Mischer gave the lucrative credit life insurance business from many Allied banks to Beebe's Louisiana insur- ance company. (Mischer says Beebe only got some of the business, and that Allied eventu- You begin to get a taste of what Brewton ally started its own credit life company.) And Beebe's insurance company kept hundreds of thousands of dollars at Allied. ("It wasn't large was running up against: Circles, spiraling money or I would have know about it." Mischer says, adding that he didn't.) into other circles, but all within a seemingly When S&Ls became the big sport in the 1980s, Beebe sought — and got — help from closed universe. Mischer's banks. And Beebe wound up con- trolling many S&Ls that were bled dry, to the taxpayers' grief. For example, Mischer's bank put up the required $16 million for a Beebe executive of one of Mischer's banks, and Robert won, Sunbelt lost $284 million, effectively the associate named Carroll Kelly to take over sev- Clarke, a prominent lawyer and investor in, taxpayers' money, through fraudulent loans to eral Texas S&Ls and consolidate them into director of, and borrower from Mischer's Allied John Riddle, a man Mischer knew in several Continental Savings, whose eventual insol- bank. Clarke's brother-in-law was a top officer ways (Mischer's son was a fraternity brother of vency cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions at Allied. Riddle's, and his ex-son-in-law was in business of dollars. Beebe co-signed for the loan, which What makes Clarke's association with Beebe with Riddle). Among other things, Riddle bor- was collateralized by Continental's stock, and in the ownership of a national bank especially rowed on a building that didn't even exist. Kelly later told state regulators he was "Beebe's remarkable is that, in 1985, Mischer's friend Sandia paid $9 million, effectively taxpayer man" in Texas. James Baker, then Treasury Secretary, appointed funds, to buy what turned out to be worthless As in the case of the loan to Raymond Hill to Clarke to be U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, IOUs from one of the same New York men 'take over Mainland Savings, Mischer's bank in charge of monitoring the nation's national who helped skewer Raymond Hill's Mainland unloaded the Continental loan, getting its money banks. When Mischer's friend George Bush savings. And it poured a lot of cash into deals out before the S&L failed. In this case, the bad became President, Clarke — an investor with that made money for Walter Mischer. Sandia debt was bought by San Jacinto Savings and Beebe in the First National Bank of Jefferson bought $9 million in notes owed to. Mischer's Loan, which then failed. Thus the $16 million Parish — was reappointed to another term. bank by a Dallas mortgage company, and lent loan from Mischer's bank to the Mafia associ- (Clarke says he knew of Beebe's investment about $80 million — a lot of it eventually ate's "man" was effectively repaid by the tax- in the bank, but says he never met Beebe or knew charged to the taxpayers — to other people to payers. (As far as he is concerned, Mischer of his Mafia connection until he read about it help satisfy debts to Mischer's bank that prob- says, it was repaid by Beebe.) recently in a book.) ably wouldn't have been repaid otherwise. A San Jacinto was controlled by Gene Phillips, Clarke quit the comptroller's job this February lot of that debt financed the acquisition of parts a partner of Mischer's in a thoroughbred colt under fire from Congress over conflicts of inter- of a 2,700-acre tract west of Houston that was venture financed by Allied, Mischer's bank. est that he denies. But Congress didn't know owned (under various arrangements)' by promi- Phillips also had a number of dealings with the half of it. nent Houston developer Chester Reed and his Beebe. Most notably, just before Beebe was sent Brewton found out that as a lawyer, Clarke son-in-law; the son-in-law was a friend and to prison, Phillips, his holding company (which had also helped organize the West Belt National sometimes business associate of John Riddle. wholly owned San Jacinto), and a partner did Bank in Houston, which was owned in part by The initial loans that put the land into play, the mob associate an enormous favor; they paid two of the country's biggest S&L loan default- financing about a quarter of it, came from $50 million to buy Beebe out of a chain of nurs- ers (more than $200 million each, effectively Mischer's bank, though that money was even- ing homes he controlled. from the taxpayers). West Belt was used to tually repaid with funds borrowed from S&Ls Exactly what we taxpayers lost on these deals send borrowed S&L millions to an overseas trust that then failed. hasn't been disclosed; except for one indictment whose principals controlled a similar trust that You begin to get a taste of what Brewton of an officer at San Jacinto, and a few charges was used by drug dealers and people with CIA was running up against: Circles, spiraling into

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 13 other circles, but all within a seemingly closed Corson got a piece of the action on,the 2,700- been that Corson was able to submit a glow- universe. Reed and his son-in-law managed to acre parcel outside Houston that never got devel- ing testimonial from Jon Lindsay, Harris County borrow $140 million toward a proposed devel- oped. Corson bought part of the land early; Judge. Lindsay is another friend of George opment of the 2,700 acres. Most of the money then, when the heavy action started and price Bush, and headed Bush's 1988 campaign in came from Sandia and four other S&Ls, all of went up, he sold it to Chester Reed's son-in-law Houston. Another member of the city's elite, which failed. The asserted value of the land kept (indirectly, passing the land through John Riddle, Lindsay's former chief assistant in the county rising as Reed and his son-in-law sold parts of their mutual friend and Walter Mischer's) for judge's office, Chase Untermeyer, became it back and forth six times, each time with new profits and fees of $3.3 million. Again, that Bush's White House Director of Personnel. financing. Little was ever developed — even money came effectively from the taxpayers, When Corson was seeking his S&L, Lindsay though Walter Mischer's development com- through the massive S&L loans that were wrote that Mischer's ex-son-in-law "is a per- pany was contracted to put in streets and utili- defaulted. son well known to me to be of the highest char- ties. All there is to show for the $140 million Mischer's bank also provided money Corson acter. I have been personally acquainted with are some underground utility lines, a drainage needed to own an S&L of his own. Corson him for many years and know he enjoys an ditch and an intersection of two roads that go bought the S&L, renaming it Vision Banc, in excellent reputation. ... Mr. Corson has my a few hundred yards and stop. 1986 with $6 million borrowed from another unreserved recommendation as a person who On the other hand, the $140 million certainly bank. A year later Corson paid off a large por- will be diligent in any endeavor he pursues." produced some benefits for a 5,400-acre tract tion of that loan with a new loan from Mischer's He even called Corson "a good family man" — right next door. At the same time Sandia and bank. (At first, Mischer said that Corson "didn't perhaps unaware of the divorce charges his the other S&Ls were making their loans, the borrow any money from Allied because of the wife had made. (Lindsay hasn't returned my larger tract was bought by Mischer's develop- way he treated my daughter," and that he, phone calls.) ment company, the Mischer Corp., and an insur- Mischer, could prove it; asked for the proof, Lindsay, Bush's friend and hometown cam- ance company that Miscber dealt with. (Among Mischer said the Vision Banc loan might have paign head, did well for himself by Corson, the sellers was Robert Mosbacher, whom Bush been approved by a junior officer who was as he has by others. Lindsay's assets while later named Secretary of Commerce.) unaware of his feelings. On further question- working as a public servant have mushroomed from modest beginnings to include large cor- porate stock and land holdings. He received a $10,000 campaign contribution from Corson as he has accepted large contributions from George Bush could watch this vast robbery many Houston lawyers, architects and engi- neers who need his approval to do their busi- ness. Corson held a fundraising party for of the taxpayers from his own legal Lindsay in his home and chartered a jet — using what were effectively U.S. taxpayer funds residence. to take Lindsay to Mexico to hunt and to Las 'Vegas for a boxing match.

peaking of ringside seats, George Bush Helped by all the S&L money pouring into ing, he acknowledged that Corson "maybe bor- could watch this vast robbery of the the promised development next door, the land rowed a little money" from Allied on other 5 taxpayers from his own legal residence. owned by Mischer and his partner went from occasions after the divorce.) Joe Russo, his pal and landlord at the swank $15,000 an acre when they bought it in 1984, At Vision Banc, as you might expect by now, Houstonian Hotel and Conference Center, to $87,500 an acre when they sold 800 acres six Corson lent the depositors' funds to friends of joined the crowd exploiting the deregulatory months later. his to buy real estate from other friends at grossly atmosphere in the savings-and-loan industry So the $140 million in loans that the tax- inflated prices. So Vision Banc failed, in 1989. in the 1980s. Like Robert Corson and others payers wound up eating fed real and paper prof- Federal examiners cited "a number of large, who bought their own S&Ls, Russo was both its of several hundred million dollars for Mischer speculative loans ... tainted with conflicts of a borrower and a lender (Polonius, who advised and his partner, even though they didn't borrow interest and other violations of law and regu- to be neither, never would have understood the $140 million themselves and weren't respon- lation." Less than one dollar in three lent by Houston), and the taxpayers were screwed sible for paying it back. (Mischer says the rest Corson's S&L was repaid. both ways. of the deal hasn't worked out so well, and that The rest of us taxpayers lost $63.5 million Russo and his companies defaulted on loans he gave the insurance company his interest in paying off Corson's depositors. A year later, totaling tens of millions of dollars (he says he the remaining land in exchange for 80 acres, having moved to Phoenix, Corson was arrested can't remember exactly how much) from five which he retains. No charges have ever been for hosting big card and dice games at the $3 S&Ls that failed. Meanwhile, he acquired filed against Reed, who hasn't returned my million home he rented, where raiding police Ameriway Savings in Houston. As with other phone call. Reed's son-in-law pleaded guilty to counted among his belongings 30 pair of cus- failing S&Ls in Houston, the government hasn't lying on loan applications at another Beebe- tom-made exotic-skin cowboy boots, dozens of gone to court specifically over Ameriway, so financed S&L, and got two years' probation.) custom-made suits and the usual Rolex watches. we can't say exactly what the taxpayers lost. Its Corson beat the gambling charge, but after the assets, including at least $137 million in loans f you've digested that — you don't have IRS started questioning him about how he that federal regulators considered bad, are still to catch all the details to get the picture — acquired his personal wealth, he fled to Belize. being sold by the government, which hasn't dis- I let's turn to Mischer's former son-in-law, When the IRS quieted down, Corson returned closed what it received for what it has sold. Robert Corson. Corson's ex-wife, Paula Mischer to the U.S., where he faced trial on a 1991 fed- ,But the taxpayers certainly lost, just as they (now Paula Watson), is the one who built the eral fraud indictment over loans his S&L made. had on the S&L loans Russo didn't repay. home George and Barbara Bush visited last Corson on November 4 was found dead in an Afterward state examiners filed two criminal March when they were back in Houston to vote El Paso hotel room. Autopsy results were pend- referrals on Russo with the Justice Department, in the primary election. Paula Mischer divorced ing with the El Paso County Medical Examiner, suggesting that the President's friend and land- Corson, a Houston developer, in 1977 after 12 but police speculated that the cause of death was lord might be indictable. The Justice Department years of marriage, claiming he beat her and a heart attack or drug overdose. didn't take any action. Russo filed personal smoked marijuana in front of their children. That, Why did regulators let a rascal like Corson bankruptcy papers, but only after transferring however, hasn't seemed to dampen her father's buy an S&L, even if Mischer's bank would his ownership rights in the Houstonian to trusts banks' interest in doing business with Corson. lend him the . money? One reason may have for his relatives. Still, in July 1990 — two months after said, and the official interviewed by Brewton's Bush's encouragement) bankrolled Neil Bush Ameriway went under and the taxpayers' expo- associate confirmed, that Bush wasted no time in the oil business and was Silverado's biggest sure was obvious — Bush returned to Houston making sure this hemorrhage of taxpayer funds borrower; W. Michael Adkinson, a rising young and treated Russo as if nothing had happened. would keep flowing; the Vice President called Houston home builder whose business activi- The occasion was the economic summit of the the unwelcome regulator to his office as Jacoby, ties had been backed financially by Mischer; Big Seven industrialized nations, with Bush the banker, looked on. Bush then "reprimanded and a man named Jack Bona who invested in hosting his counterpart chief executives from her" and told her to back off. a Teamster-affiliated casino, and borrowed from Europe and Japan. As a local S&Ls for which Mario Renda, the reporter described it in print, Bush Mafia-connected New York man, and Russo beamed at each other had brokered large deposits. Four when they discovered they were of the five megadefaulters were wearing identical elephant-embla- directly tied to the Houston-Denver- zoned Hermes neckties and had a Bush-Mischer circle, and the fifth great time over the joke. Couldn't was indirectly tied — a truly the guy we taxpayers have hired remarkable concentration. to protect us at least have been a lit- By this time, Brewton was com- tle angry at Russo? (Russo didn't paring notes with other reporters return my phone calls.) around the country who were inves- It doesn't stop there. The White tigating the S&Ls; most important House assistant whom Bush had were Stephen Pizzo and Mary assigned to organize the big sum- Fricker, who (with Paul Muolo) mit in Houston was Fred Malek, the wrote the first probing, streetwise manager of Bush's re-election cam- book about the S&L crisis, Inside paign. In the 1980s, Malek helped Job: The Looting Of America's found a Washington bank, Palmer Savings & Loans. National, with two men who The reporters Brewton talked to worked on Bush's 1980 campaign. shared his frustration at not being One partner, Harvey McLean Jr., able to track the fortune the tax- a Louisianan, was, in turn, a good payers lost in the S&L scandal. friend of Herman K. Beebe. Beebe's There were too many swaps of land bank lent $2.85 million of the $3 packages and debt, to many trans- million capital that Palmer National fers to mysterious offshore trusts started with. When Beebe was sen- that couldn't be penetrated without tenced to prison, the loan was taken legal assistance. Most of the figures over by a Texas S&L with two mob- involved stonewalled the press. And connected directors. (Beebe's bank the FBI and S&L cleanup teams, later failed.) which could legally compel dis- McLean, as you might expect, closure, weren't doing so. Was that also borrowed heavily from S&Ls. because the trail was so often led to When he filed for bankruptcy in the Houston Country Club? Rightly 1989, the taxpayers were left to HOUSTON POST or wrongly, Brewton began to think make good on more than $40 mil- Walter M. Mischer it was. lion in defaulted loans. McLean sold his shares of Palmer National in 1986, Apparently, she did. A year later, Sunrise omething else intrigued Brewton about but Malek, Bush's campaign manager, con- failed, costing taxpayers $680 million. Jacoby the story: the frequent interplay between tinues to be a shareholder. (Control has flowed was convicted of 15 counts of bank fraud, con- 5 the developing cast of S&L characters to new investors.) Malek hasn't returned our spiracy and misapplication of funds, and is who were friends of Bush, and the CIA, which phone calls. now awaiting sentencing. Among the biggest Bush once headed. At the least, Brewton could see, George Bush defaulting borrowers, with more than $15 mil- For example, there was the case of Jim Bath. Was not very vigilant in his defense of the tax- lion in outstanding loans, was John Riddle, who At the Air National Guard in Houston, Bath, payer. In one case, though, Brewton seems to wasn't from Boynton Beach or even from an ex-fighter pilot, became very good friends have found a smoking gun evidencing Bush's Florida, but from Houston, 1,100 miles away. with both George W. Bush, son of the President direct hand in derailing a federal investigation Riddle would eventually default on several hun- and co-owner of the Texas Rangers baseball that could have saved the taxpayers a lot of dred million dollars in loans from various S&Ls. team, and Lloyd Bentsen III, son of the Senator money at the expense of his Houston circle of Remember Riddle? He was (a) connected and former Vice-Presidential candidate. In friends. to Walter Mischer, (b) the business associate of 1972, Bath formed a real estate partnership The story comes from testimony at the 1989 Chester Reed's son-in-law who pleaded guilty with Lan Bentsen, another son of the Senator; federal trial of Robert Jacoby, former chief to lying on applications for S&L loans, and as of 1990 it was still managing and sometimes executive of Sunrise Savings in Boynton Beach, (c) a partner in real estate deals of his friend selling properties. Brewton uncovered other Florida, and two other Sunrise officers; Robert Corson, Mischer's former son-in-law. close ties between Bath and the Bush and Brewton's associate confirmed the story for him A year's delay in the regulatory action against Bentsen families. in a tape-recorded interview with an official Sunrise Savings kept open Riddle's line of credit, According to court papers filed in a civil law- close to Sunrise. According to testimony by a which was ruinous for the taxpayers. suit by a former business partner of Bath's, Bath government witness — a convicted white-col- Riddle was one of five borrowers Brewton disclosed in 1982 that he was a CIA agent; he lar criminal who had worked with Jacoby at found in all of America who had left the tax- said he had been recruited by George Bush him- Sunrise — Jacoby, in 1984, used a "strong polit- payers to repay more than $200 million they had self, in 1976 when Bush was CIA director, to ical friend" to get an appointment with Bush "borrowed" from failed S&Ls. The others were keep track of some Saudis who were investing in his Vice-Presidential office in Washington Trine Starnes Jr., of Houston, who borrowed in Houston. The former business partner was to complain about federal regulators who were $77.5 million of his total from Silverado; Richard Charles W. White, a Naval Academy graduate trying to investigate the bad loans that would Rossmiller, friend and former business part- with a Harvard MBA to whom Lan Bentsen eventually cause Sunrise to fail. The witness ner of Bill Walters, the man who (with George had introduced Bath. White has said, including

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 15 in a television interview, that once when he — forgave the $260,000 loan. Take it on the $500,000 single-borrower limit. This was hid- and Bath were eating at the Ramada Club in chin, taxpayers! Exactly how much we lost den from regulators by simply cutting the loans Houston, then-Vice President Bush walked in depends on the price the government got for the into many pieces, each within the $500,000 and greeted Bath with a hearty "Hi, Jim!" property, which isn't public information; but limit — a device that offered no comfort to the White said Bath also introduced him to Walter if other cases are a guide, it probably wasn't any taxpayers when Indian Springs failed. Mischer, who, as it happened, had (through $5.46 million. While financed by Indian Springs, Global his banks) backed Bath's enterprises with performed such tasks for the Reagan-Bush about $1 million in loans. (Bath says he White House as flying Liberia's grisly hardly knew Mischer.) Bath's enterprises dictator, Sergeant Samuel K. Doe, around had an eerie continuity of connections to the the world on a "goodwill" mission to meet CIA and covert American military opera- international leaders. tion. At the same time, they intersected with Brewton also learned that Global was a the interests of the du Pont family, which, major customer of an aircraft supplier, as we'll get to, was a major beneficiary of Response Air, based at Richards-Gebaur bad loans by S&Ls to Mischer's circle. Air Force Base south of Kansas City. That Bath opened and ran the Houston office raised the possibility that Response, too, of an airplane company owned by the du was in the CIA loop. And Response Pont family, run in part by a du Pont who welshed on a $19.5-million debt on a parts supplied aviation work for the CIA. Bath shipment from a supplier who had bor- negotiated a distributorship for Al rowed the money from Sunbelt Savings, Schwimmer, the Israeli arms dealer who another institution that failed while con- played a central role in the arms-for-hostages trolled by a Beebe associate. It seemed as shipments exposed in the Iran-contra scan- if the Contra war, the Angolan war, sup- dal. Bath started an airplane company, Jim port for various dictators, and other inter- Bath & Associates, in partnership with national schemes of the Reagan-Bush Johnson M. "Jack" Taylor, a du Pont administration were being taxpayer- employee who later was an important part financed secretly through the savings-and- of the Contra support system. Bath him- loan window rather than openly through self owned a mysterious Cayman Island Congressional appropriation. And the aircraft leasing company set up by thesame Administration had needed the Mafia's help Cayman Islanders who set up Oliver North's to get this secret financing. Contra supply front there. Global went bust, defaulting on its loans Bath became U.S. trustee for several and owing the Defense Department hun- wealthy Saudis, including two of major polit- dreds of thousands of dollars. Brewton learned that just as the Justice Department ical importance: Sheik . Salem Binladen, whose family owned the largest construc- sought to prosecute Global's owner — an tion company in the Middle East and who Iranian named Farhad Azima — the CIA was a close associate of Adnan Khashoggi; called off the investigation. He also learned the arms dealer and major intermediary in that Azima had contributed $81,000 to HOUSTON POST Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party the Reagan administration's secret and ille- Harris County Judge Jon Lindsay gal Iran deals; and Sheik Khaled bin (and $15,500 to the Democrats). In the end, Mahfouz, whose family owned the largest the contributions didn't cost Azima, how- Saudi bank and was involved with the Bank When I asked him, Bath didn't deny that he ever; ultimately, thanks to the loan defaults, his of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), might have "done government service that was company was getting its money from its cred- the multi-billion-dollar fraud operation that also clandestine or covert," but said that if he had, itors, including the FDIC, which made good on moved money for U.S. covert operation. Bath, it would be wrong for him or White to "go the bank failure. bin Mahfouz, former Texas governor and trea- around blabbering about it." But he said it was Then there's Walter Mischer's own prox- sury secretary John Connally, and Gaith Pharoan, "absurd" that any such relationship would have imity to covert operations. As with Jim Bath, another major BCCI official, invested together gotten him favorable treatment on loans. He said the evidence is circumstantial. But only a great in a Houston bank (it has since been bought he had carefully made sure than his loan agree- faith in coincidence could dispel the feeling that by a larger company). It was to watch the activ- ments with Lamar forbade the S&L to do more it adds up to something. ities of these Mideasterners that, according to than seize the property in case of default. He Back in 1952, Mischer, then 30, the son of his former business partner, Bath was recruited didn't recall the details of the Mainland loan. a small-town lawman killed in a barroom gun- into the CIA by George Bush. But there were other cases where bad S&L fight, was just starting out in business with a Bath's former partner, Charles White, said loans led to people with national security con- couple of dump trucks. One of his first moves that when he and Bath needed $5.2 million nections. Brewton learned of the multi-million- was to buy 26,000 remote acres in West Texas, financing to buy and develop a piece of prop- dollar S&L borrowings of Global International near Big Bend National Park. In the 1980s, erty, Bath sent him to a contact with an office Airways, a CIA charter service flying secret this property was still mostly undeveloped. at Raymond Hill's Mainland Savings. The con- weapons caches to places like Angola, where But an airstrip next to it was used for supplying tact, who Hill says mush have been on his staff, the CIA was running a bloody, covert war and training the Contras. Brewton found a Texas turned out to be a visiting Italian businessman ("covert" in the sense the war was undeclared lawman, a CIA contract pilot, and two other with connections to the Detroit Mafia. He got by Congress and the taxpayers couldn't learn people involved in military operations who the loan for Bath and White through another what they were spending or what their money say it was also used by drug dealers working friendly S&L, Lamar S&L of Austin. When bought). Global borrowed from tiny Indian with the Contra supporters. (Drug dealers are Bath and White fell into arrears, Mainland lent Springs State Bank in Kansas City, Kansas, known to have worked with the Contras else- them another $260,000 to keep the Lamar loan which got big deposits from Mario Renda. where.) The airstrip, designed not just for small current. Eventually — as will come as no shock Before it failed the bank also "lent" money to ranch planes, but big enough to take off in a by now — Bath and White didn't repay the loans. a whole roster of Midwestern Mafiosi, includ- C-130, was on property owned by a Florida But they didn't have to go into bankruptcy, ing the son of the Kansas City godfather. widow who told Brewton (after he spent two either. Lamar simply foreclosed and took title Indian Springs' loans to Global Airways and weeks tracking her down on a small island) to the property, and Mainland — incredibly related entities grossly exceeded the little bank's that she had inherited the property and never

16 • DECEMBER 11, 1992 been there. Three of Brewton's sources told him Maybe one or two of these intersections could ping center property and learned that after they thought the airstrip was Mischer's. Mischer be explained by chance, Brewton thought. But Adkinson's company bought it, a pair of strange denies knowing the strip was there, or ever all of them? And there was another matter: trusts on the Isle of Jersey, one of the Channel planning any of his business activities With The final-straw Joan default that caused Corson's islands that lie between France and England, intelligence agencies. He says he doubts any Vision Banc to fail benefited the du Ponts. That traded the land back and forth, increasing the airstrip in the area could accommodate a C-130, massive loan default lavished what was effec- price each time. And each time, financing was though Brewton measured the strip in ques- tively taxpayer money on this rich, elite family, obtained from the familiar ring of savings-and- tion and concluded it could. in one of the biggest crooked land deals in loans in the U.S. Eventually, S&Ls in the Also back in 1952, young Mischer (and a part- American history. It happened in Florida. The American Southwest had lent $150 million on ner) bought several paper mills in Honduras. man who signed for the monumental loan was this $25 million property. The taxpayers got the Why? Mischer says he was offered the mills by Corson's friend, Mike Adkinson, who, this July, bill when the loans were defaulted. a North Carolina man as a business opportunity. was convicted of fraud in the matter in federal Brewton was unable to learn who got most Honduras also happened to be where the CIA court in Pensacola. But Brewton didn't think of the money that was sent overseas to the trusts, trained the army that overthrew the democrat- for a minute that Adkinson was in it alone. and the federal government never tried to find ically-elected Guatemalan government at the Adkinson had been backed financially by out. The attorney assigned by the government iequest of United Fruit Company just two yeais Walter Mischer's bank group. And, like to wind up one of the worst-hit S&Ls in the mat- later. Mischer has said he sold the paper mills Mischer's friendJim Bath, Adkinson wound up ter, who might have been expected to go after in 1954 or 1955, which would have been right representing the American interests of wealthy the trusts, was another old Mischer friend,' who after the overthrow. Arabs, in his case Kuwaitis: Soon, Adkinson had represented Mischer as a lawyer. No crim- Then there were his operations in nearby had come to own two mansions, a yacht and two inal charges were brought against anyone over Belize. Mischer helped start a shrimp business jet planes,— which flew regularly to Belize and the shopping center case. Some civil lawsuits there in 1984, just when Congress was cutting Panama. People who knew Adkinson well told were filed on behalf of the S&Ls but they failed off aid to the contras and Oliver North was Brewton he sold arms to various Middle Eastern to recover any money. arranging for them to be trained in Belize with governments. Apparently. Adkinson .-- or his But Brewton learned that the Jersey trusts had private, financing. North's designated trainer was Carl Jenkins, a retired CIA career officer, whose helicopter company was supplied with parts by a Louisiana concern owned by two buSiness associates of Herman Beebe, and A group of privileged insiders some with financed by Beebe's banks. In 1985, Mischer and three partners bought 700,000 interior acres, 12 percent of the entire crime or CIA connections had looted the country of Belize. Despite the country's lush coasts, Mischer's property was landlocked, on U.S. Treasury of many billions of dollars. the Guatemalan border. In interviews, Mischer has given various accounts of how he and his partners came to buy the land, but consistently denied it was used for covert operations. He advisers — had found a way to have the tax- connections to the CIA and Mafia. In fact, denied to me that he had ever been involved payers finance their extravagant lives. Lawrence Freeman, the surviving law partner in any covert ops anywhere. Brewton learned about one particularly telling of the late Paul Helliwell, a prominent 'CIA 011ie North's declassified notebooks show case involving Adkinson from Leota Meyer career official and Florida Republican, was a telephone call in 1984 reporting that S. Cass- Hess, the aging matriarch of the Meyer clan, a convicted in 1989 of laundering cocaine money Weiland, counsel to the Senate Permanent wealthy Houston family. Hess said that her old through a trust on the Isle of Jersey whose prin- Subcommittee on Investigations, had relayed friend Walter Mischer mentioned one day that cipals were also involved in the shopping cen- word that "White House [underlined twice] is the Meyer family ought to sell a shopping cen- ter case. Tracing Freeman, Brewton found some interested in moving on project in Belize." A ter it owned. A few weeks later, she said, island banks operated in the 1970s as tax dodges few days later, North's notebooks show a sched- Adkinson showed up saying Mischer had sent and money laundries by Helliwell. Burton uled meeting with Weiland and his boss, com- him, asking no questions and offering $35 mil- Kanter, a Chicago lawyer who represented mittee head Senator William Roth; Roth, a lion for the shopping center. Not only did his Mafia-connected clients, was also involved. Republican, of Delaware, is a member of the abrupt offer without any investigation surprise When the Justice Department sought to pros- du Pont family by marriage. her, but she doubted the shopping center was ecute the principals and wealthy clients of these Weiland denies the meeting ever took place, worth nearly that much. And, in fact, no one banks for hiding money from the IRS, the CIA or that he ever met North that he can recall. else would offer. more than $25 million for it. intervened and the prosecution was thwarted. It He says he can't remember the men whose So the family accepted. turned out that the banks had also been used names are in North's notebooks as having talked Mischer agrees he suggested that Ms. Hess' to move money for CIA operations, and the to him or met with him. Brewton could never family sell the shopping center. (He says she agency feared an investigation would expose its establish what happened. But what struck him asked his advice; she told Brewton he volun- operators. The crooked banks themselves were was that Weiland, after leaving the Senate staff teered it.) But Mischer says he's never talked exposed in the American press, however — by, and going into private law practice, represented to Adkinson; or asked his staff to do so, though among others, Mike Wallace on "60 Minutes." — of all people — Mischer's borrower and he acknowledges knowing who Adkinson is and That happened in 1976, while George Bush former son-in-law Robert Corson on various that Adkinson borrowed from his bank group. ran the CIA, so he would have learned about legal matters, both before and after Corson's Adkinson's accountant — a witness for the Helliwell and Kanter (if he hadn't known of Vision Banc S&L failed. Weiland says another federal government in its case against Adkinson them before). lawyer referred Corson to him, but he can't — says he's seen records of meetings between Beginning a few years later, two principal remember who. Moreover, Corson himself made Mischer and Adkinson. Ben Beard, the assis- borrowers from Neil Bush's Silverado Banking some trips to Belize in this period. Brewton tant U.S. Attorney in Pensacola who eventually (Kenneth Good and Larry Mizel) became clients found sources, including an eyewitness, who prosecuted Adkinson on another matter, says of Kanter's law firm, which set up trusts fOr told him Corson and Mischer had flown to Belize Mischer's name was on documents uncovered them. Where these trusts are domiciled hasn't together, though Mischer denied it. When the in the investigation, but won't be more specific. been disclosed. Another big borrower from IRS got after Corson and he fled the country, At any rate, Brewton traced the deed and Silverado, Bill Walters, traveled to the Isle of he went, of course, to Belize. mortgage records for the Meyer family shop- Jersey, where a friend from Denver (attorney

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 17 John Dick) was a business associate of the men many billions of dollars, and that these people Headlines on the first two stories read, "S&L who ran the Jersey trusts. Walters' wife received were George Bush's friends, or their friends. probe has possible CIA links" and "Evidence at least one $80,000 check from a Jersey trust. So powerful were these people that when finds CIA operatives may be implicated in fail- Walters' lawyer says his client was on Jersey Brewton went to publish his articles in the ure of 22 S&Ls." But documentation for these for social visits, and that the money was pay- Houston Post, he ran into problems both from links was largely unsatisfying. There were ment for a car. FDIC officials are still trying his editors and from the Post's big, prestigious anonymous quotes from such people as "one to crack those trusts and find the money, and law firm, Fulbright & Jaworski. Newspapers former CIA operative" and there were exten- are complaining that the Justice Department normally show sensitive stories to libel lawyers sive attributed quotes from arms dealer Richard • isn't cooperating. in advance of publication and the lawyers — Brenneke, who is know to have made false as One of the Jersey trusts was also used to hide the good ones, anyway — advise on how to well as true statements about his dealings with money from the Florida loan that wiped out get the facts across without dangerous over- the CIA. Corson's Vision Banc. Corson was awaiting statement or gratuitous pejoratives that can't be On top of that, the Post's editor, David Burgin, trial on fraud charges in the case at the time of defended on grounds of accuracy. What Brewton was determined to play the story as Watergate his death. His friend Adkinson, who had been has come to question in this case, however, is had been played when Burgin was city editor represented in his dealings by Lawrence the choice of lawyers. of the Washington Star. Rather than publish Freeman, Helliwell's former law partner, has Only months after his expurgated articles were everything Brewton had learned at once, he already been convicted on six counts of con- published did he learn that Fulbright & Jaworski wanted the stories trickled out, hoping to spur spiracy and fraud in it. had represented Palmer National Bank (the an early Congressional investigation that would This is what happened in the Florida trans- one Bush campaign chairman Fred Malek helped go hand in hand with the publication of fur- action: Adkinson's company bought 21,000 found); a foundation exposed as laundering ther stories. When Congress didn't oblige, the beachfront acres on the Florida panhandle from funds for the CIA; County Judge Jon Lindsay Post's vague, irregularly spaced stories about St. Joe Paper Co., owned by a du Pont family (whose glowing recommendation helped Corson the CIA and the savings-and-loan crisis just pro- foundation. The property was then traded back get Vision Banc); a company owned by Howard duced confusion. The struggle over what would and forth among sham corporations to inflate Pulver (the New York man who, among other be printed was still going on when Burgin — its value,with the help of ever-increasing loans things, sold the overpriced mortgages to who says he fought the lawyers and tried to from friendly S&Ls. Eventually, the S&Ls had Mainland Savings — Fulbright & Jaworski get everything he could into the paper — left put up $100 million, making it the most expen- particularly objected to Brewton's reporting the Post for another job. sive purchase of raw land in Florida history. about Pulver); and, of course, the Mischer Corp. Brewton became the center of a minor pub- (The previous record was the purchase of the Fulbright & Jaworski was defending a lawsuit lic contretemps over whether mass news out- Disney World property, which was handled for for Mischer at the very time Brewton was told lets should report about his work. He had his Disney by Paul Helliwell.) Who got all the it had no conflicts of interest. And Fulbright advocates — mainly in the alternative press money seems impossible to find out. The loans, & Jaworski had itself at one time been repre- — but the mainstream press, like Congress, said of course, were never repaid and all of the S&Ls sented by William Casey, before he took over it couldn't find the handle on Brewton's sto- involved failed. the CIA. ries. Brewton appeared on Donahue, signed a Records do make clear that the du Ponts' St. But more important than anything that might book contract with Simon & Schuster (which Joe Paper got $86 million cash and then, by fore- qualify in legal terms as a conflict of interest, paid him $50,000 up front), and eventually closing a mortgage, reclaimed the most valu- Brewton found the intertwining friendships quit the Post. able beachfront land before the FDIC could get and daily business associations that so promi- Brewton had called me early in his work, to it. Brewton was quick to check how St. Joe nent a law firm would inevitably have with the since I had written about the institutions he spent this money, which effectively came from city's most prominent citizens. For example, now confronted — the Mafia, the CIA, the the American taxpayer. Supposedly, the du the Fulbright & Jaworski partner who handled President, and the savings-and-loan industry, Pont trust that owns St. Joe Paper operates the the Post's work was a good friend and golfing though in my case not usually in the same company for the benefit of a charity — the companion of Mischer's personal lawyer and sentence. Brewton complained that his editors Nemours Foundation — that runs homes for dis- close friend. And many of Fulbright & wouldn't let him print the essentials of the abled children. But Brewton found that practi- Jaworski's clients had business and personal story. But he never confided in me what was cally none of the money from the Florida land relationships with Mischer. being left out. sale was passed on for the benefit of the chil- (The Fulbright & Jaworski partner says he This spring, after a long hiatus, he called dren. Most of it was spent instead on more plants can't name clients publicly but that the firm has me again, upset. Simon & Schuster wouldn't and equipment for St. Joe Paper and the pur- procedures for identifying conflicts of inter- publish the book, certainly not before the chase of securities. est, and that its client in this case, the Houston election. Brewton suspected a political fix. Millions of dollars from the land sale were Post, hasn't complained; Brewton says he didn't He sent me his 600-page manuscript, which sent to a trust on the Isle of Jersey after being learn of the law firm's other clients until after I read. Hoping to resolve the impasse, I talked laundered through the West Belt bank in he left the Post). to the editor at Simon & Schuster, Alice Houston, which represented the trust in the Besides being a friend of the President of Mayhew, whom I knew and admired. She U.S. West Belt had been started by Adkinson the United States, Mischer had been appointed convinced me she was rejecting the book and a few other people, including Trine Starnes, to various state government agencies to var- solely because she thought it was hard read- the major borrower from Neil Bush's savings- ious state government agencies by various ing and wouldn't sell. My entreaties that it and-loan and, like Adkinson, one of five governors, was chairman and largest stock- was maybe the best job of reporting I had Americans Brewton could find who beat the holder of the third largest bank in Houston ever seen, and that the information it contained S&L system for more than $200 million. The and regularly appeared on any list of the most was vital, didn't budge her. lawyer who helped set up West Belt, includ- powerful Texans; Brewton considered him the I went to Shapolsky, who I knew could get ing getting government approvals, was Robert most powerful man in Houston. But the the book out quickly. He has. And I lined up Clarke, the Houstonian whom James Baker lawyers ruled that Mischer and some other journalistic treatment for the material, which and George Bush appointed to be U.S. matters should be soft-pedaled or not men- you are now reading. Comptroller of the Currency. tioned at all. This mass of land deals, stolen money, and Circles, spiraling into other circles, but all Legal objections prolonged the editing pro- cover-ups boils down to a sense, not just of within a seemingly closed universe. cess through the end of 1989 into 1990. The greed or fiendish conspiracies, but of arrogance, paper's editors still wanted to make a splash held by a class of people that seems to be hat had become clear to Brewton is with what was left of the story, and wound up accountable to no one. And George Bush, while that a group of privileged insiders accusing two generic entities, "the Mafia" and not part of the stealing, is part of the reason they W had looted the U.S. Treasury of "the CIA," of being behind the S&L scandal. are not accountable. ❑ 18 • DECEMBER 11, 1992 Swords and Plowshares

BY DEBORAH LU1TERBECK New York City is going to be smaller. No one expects another force has produced a preliminary blueprint on hen the Berlin Wall came down in FY 1986, when Pentagon spending in Texas how the state plans to go after the federal money. 1989 and nations across Eastern peaked at $17.1 billion. For example, Washington will make avail- W Europe began to embrace democ- The task force also concluded that in FY able about $686 million available for worker racy, lawmakers in Washington began talking 1990 the defense sector accounted for about 4.3 assistance. About $42 million will be used to about the "Peace Dividend." That dividend was percent of the state's revenues. That put defense create voluntary early retirement incentives. The soon carved up in policymakers' minds. Some on par with health and business services sec- act also will provide early retirement benefits saw it as the cure for the budget deficit. Others tors, the report said. Defense revenue in the state for some military personnel who enter public thought it would fill the education gap. In short, falls behind trade, which contributes about 15.5 service professions such as teaching or law the "Peace Dividend" was supposed to help cure percent of the state's revenue, and the oil and enforcement. "Texas institutions of higher edu- whatever ailed society. Instead, cutbacks in gas industry, which contributes 13.2 percent. cation, such as Austin Community College, defense spending have contributed to a reces- The expected cutbacks in defense could cost, Tarrant County Junior College and Texas State sion and a burgeoning unemployment rate. So or as bureaucrats like to say, "impact," some Technical College in Waco, in conjunction with policymakers are looking for ways of offsetting 148,000 jobs between 1992 and 1996 the Texas Department of Commerce Work Force the impact of defense cuts and some think they Government and business leaders in the state Division, would jointly apply for these defense have found it with "defense conversion." will to do anything that they can to save the job funds," the report says. Defense conversion — the process of turn- base and are looking to conversion as a possi- The Federal Defense Authorization Act also ing the factories that supply the Pentagon into ble solution. provides about $100 million for defense man- plants that feed the civilian sector = is nothing The problem with conversion is that it has a ufacturing extension programs to support con- new. Many experts on the topic become all mixed success record. Conversion often is bet- version efforts. Jean said, "We can hopefully starry-eyed, as only those reminiscing about ter suited to smaller defense operators and sup- use this money to create new markets, create World War II can do, while they tell you about pliers rather than the giants. Moreover, there new products, and create new jobs." the post-war era when factories that had once is relatively little money to persuade defense A good portion of these funds probably will made tanks were converted into car plants and contractors to convert. be targeted to the 38,000 or so defense sub- soldiers traded their khakis for varsity sweaters. For instance, the federal government has contractors, Jean said. "We're concentrating on Opponents and skeptics, however, cast a cool begun to direct more resources towards con- the subcontractors because here is a group that eye on such daydreaming. After all, the defense version. The FY 1993 defense authorization is very flexible. They can move a lot quicker sector thrived because it was nurtured in a pro- includes about $1.6 billion for conversion. Texas, than the big guys, if you want to compare a tected atmosphere protected by government, however, is having trouble raising the money big oil tanker to a shrimp boat. They want to which is quite different from the atmosphere for conversion. According to Winsome Jean, stay in business; they will produce toasters, in the unprotected commercial sector. the Governor's Policy Council Director, who refrigerators, whatever it takes. They do not But the contrarians might find themselves coordinates the action from the task force: "The have a real preference for defense." shut out by the new President, because a num- state budget right now is just so tight there is That, of course, is not the case for some of ber of conversion proponents are secure in not a whole lot of room for more programs. The the defense giants. There are a variety of their positions as Friends of Bill Clinton. Of citizens in the state right now do not want to see approaches among the largest manufacturers, course, the specifics of conversion on the any growth in the budget." That means most and much of their strategy depends on how national level and how it will take place are not of the state budget money available for con- diversified they already are. According to Jean, known. But in Texas, the groundwork is already version must come from existing federal funds, companies like Texas Instruments are better being laid to take advantage of whatever con- such as community development block grants. positioned to convert because they already have version might offer. Aside from the money there, the task force substantial commercial production. Others, like In Texas preparations began in June 1991, encourages the state to do whatever it can to get General Dynamics, have no immediate plans when Gov. Ann Richards established the a greater share of the federal conversion money. for conversion. Governor's Task Force on Economic Transition. The federal money has been earmarked for William Anders, chairman and chief execu- The mandate of the Task Force was to "inves- a variety of projects, ranging from special early tive officer of General Dynamics, made his tigate and recommend ways in which the state retirement benefits for military personnel who company's stance clear last fall when he said: could assist workers, businesses, and commu- become teachers or police officers, to some "We believe the collapse of the Soviet Bloc has nities in making a smooth transition from mil- modest incentives to encourage manufacturers removed the primary force behind the defense itary to civilian functions." to convert. Jean said the state is looking care- budget's cyclic upswings. We are projecting The Task Force first focused on how signif- fully at those programs to see how Texas can overall defense budgets to drop further — but icant a role the defense sector played in the position itself to benefit from them. "We are try- still be a pretty sizable mark-et." At General state's economy. The early findings show that ing to develop a plan that will allow us to have Dynamics, Anders said, "our objective evalu- the Pentagon has been very generous to Texas. access to federal money that is available for ation of what our management team really could Texas stands behind only California and defense transition," she said. bring to the table told us that we had a better Virginia in attracting defense dollars. In fiscal But as hard as the state might try, only $1.7 chance by doing what most good businesses year (FY) 1990, the state received about $15.8 billion will be available for all states. How should do in a stormy, highly competitive sit- billion, or 7.5 percent of the defense budget. Texas' share of conversion dollars will com- uation. We should focus on what we know best: While Texas is expected to continue to bring in pare with its share of the cuts in the defense bud- Our core defense competencies." a healthy portion of defense spending, the pie get is unclear. "Anything is better than noth- As a result, General Dynamics will not diver- ing," Jean said. "We are happy that there are sify or convert. "Since our high win rate sug- Deborah Lutterbeck writes on economics and at least some federal dollars that will be avail- gests defense is not a 'leaky boat' for General government from her base in New York City.. able for this mission that we have." Dynamics, we are reducing our potential for the At least Texas is getting prepared. The task redeployment of valuable funds for diversifi-

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 19 cation outside the defense industry. In fact, we at Dallas and a vice chairman of the Governor's for a post-Cold War, 21 st-century peacetime have decided to lean toward `un-diversification', Task Force, agrees. But conversion has the best economy or simply an amber light for arms if that's a word — to ' de-.conglomerate.'" chance to succeed when the company makes the sales across the water remains to be seen. What Un-diversification and de-conglomeration decision, he said. "The fundamental conversion is clear is that Texas may be one of the first states have consequences for Texas. In Fort Worth, has to occur at the corporate level. State, local to to clear the intersection. E where General Dynamics produces its F16 or the federal government cannot figure out what fighter aircraft, at one time there were about to do. The federal government should help with 30,000 employees. Now, however, General the retraining." P1 Continued from pg. 24 Dynamics employs only about 20,000 in Fort Without specific goals and coordination, Worth and by the end of 1994 another 5,800 retraining also can prove to be a futile exercise. had been investigated and her criminal justice jobs will be cut. General Dynamics thinks that "You can't just retrain people in a void," Dumas adviser, Doyne Bailey, had been tailed by prison by the end of the 1990s it will be producing as said. If the actual defense contractors are unwill- investigators when Bailey met with an internal- few as four aircraft a month, compared with the ing or unable to convert, he proposes an arrange- affairs "whistleblower." Richards has ordered peak level of 30. This downsizing has led to ment with other commercial enterprises that James Lynaugh, executive director of the prison speculation that someone else might be buy- would agree to hire displaced workers once system, "to get to the bottom of what was going ing the company. General Dynamics' response they were retrained. "If you can get deals like on," an aide to the governor told the Chronicle. to those rumors is that "We have said consis- that, you are way .ahead of the game," he said. Former Criminal Justice Board chairman Selden tently that we would consider buying, selling, Of course, others argue that the free market, Hale of Amarillo quit the board after he admit- merging, spinning-off or whatever might make without interference from state and federal gov- ted he ordered Jim Gant Jr., the internal affairs sense in enhancing these businesses and pre- ernment, should alone determine what type of chief, to investigate board member Joshua Allen serving the defense industrial base." industry is most suitable for investment. This of Beaumont. Chronicle sources theorized the General Dynamics and some of the other view ignores the political impact of the difficult probe stemmed from complaints last year that a defense giants have been pushing for greater transition from defense to civilian production, 30-year-old convict got special treatment after export ability. On the campaign trail, President Dumas argues. Letting market forces decide claiming he was the governor's son. George Bush opened the gates for such sales what should be done with unemployed defense when he agreed to let Taiwan buy an estimated workers is something that "we can't afford to ✓ TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL Dan $4 billion worth of F-16s. do. We can't afford to do it economically and Morales has agreed to join talks about a pos- Others believe the government should be it is personally cruel," Dumas said. sible settlement of a 4-year-old lawsuit chal- pushing defense contractors to take more aggres- On the federal level, President-elect Clinton lenging the at-large selection of state district sive steps on conversion. Sen. Claiborne Pell, hopes to fold some conversion into his $150 bil- judges in urban counties. Sen. Rodney Ellis, D- a Rhode Island Democrat who has watched lion infrastructure investment program. When Houston, got 15 fellow senators to co-sponsor over plant closings in his home state, said: distributing these funds, a Clinton a resolution instructing Morales to settle with "General Dynamics has steadfastly refused to Administration will consider giving prefer- the plaintiffs in the case of LULAC vs. Mattox, prepare itself for a peacetime environment and ence to converters. The Clinton team also which seeks to increase the number of minor- has made no plans for diversified production.... believes that infrastructure programs — aimed ity judges in Texas, after five of six black judi- That surely is not responsible corporate citi- in part at encouraging the development of high- cial candidates lost in Harris County (See "One zenship, and it is not in the public interest. I tech industries — will naturally attract com- Vote, One Judge, TO 11/27/92). U.S. District believe that defense contractors should be panies once involved in defense and absorb Judge Lucius Bunton of Midland ruled in favor required to plan for alternative, diversified pro- the scores of highly skilled workers who have of the minority plaintiffs in December 1989, duction as a condition of further procurement." been or will be laid off as defense cutbacks but an appeal is pending at the 5th Circuit U.S. Lloyd Dumas, a professor of political econ- take effect. Court of Appeals in New Orleans. ❑ omy and economics at the University of Texas Whether conversion turns into a green light

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BOOKS & THE CULTURE True Confections

BY BRET!' CAMPBELL

Candyland, James McMurtry learn that not only have McMurtry and Williams acoustic guitar, and whose band arrangements Columbia Record dodged the dreaded sophomore slump, both were occasionally undermined by pop-rock Sweet Old World, Lucinda Williams show evidence of considerable artistic growth clichés in the style of Wasteland producer (and Chameleon Records — albeit in opposite directions. And despite the McMurtry mentor) John Mellencamp. Culture Swing, Tish Hinojosa hard and sometimes depressing truths these There's one more difference. A couple of Rounder Records albums reveal about their characters, both pre- Candyland numbers seem to be warmed some- sent their tart observations in a musically appeal- what by the emotional heat ofpersonal expres- Austin ing and accessible fashion. Along with sion, something McMurtry has always avoided. T THE END OF THE 1980S, three Hinojosa's consistently appealing offerings, That small fire throws off just enough light to albums from three unknown Texans they're true confections. enable listeners to catch a glimpse of the singer A shook up the singer-songwriter field, lurking in the shadows, pondering new love and drawing ecstatic reviews from critics and other From Wasteland old journeys. songwriters. James McMurtry's Too Long in the to Candyland The shift could reflect changes in McMurtry's Wasteland experience. In his songs, as well as in his life, was that rarest of creatures, a first Like his previous album, album put out by a major record company that Candyland dis- McMurtry's played the perpetual outsider look- wrapped insightful character studies and thought- plays James McMurtry's subtly alluring gifts: ing in, keeping a painter's distance from his sub- ful lyrics in a sheen of electrifying guitar-based a voice and vision as dark as an east Texas jects, seldom getting involved in the dramas rock. And though Lucinda Williams' epony- pine forest on a moonless night, simple yet playing out around him. But he seems to have mous release had been preceded by two records telling metaphor, evocative imagery and col- finally settled down in Austin, and the man- loquial idioms — occasionally illuminated by released on a tiny label years earlier, almost agement hassles that delayed the Candyland unexpected bursts of real poetic beauty: no one heard them, and the singer herself said release and tour enabled him to spend much she considered She walked on tiptoes more time at home with his wife Elena and Lucinda Williams her real debut. On a gravel bar Across the country, critics praised her combi- newborn son Curtis than otherwise would have Wet skin pale as the evening star nation of blues, folk, country and rock music, been possible. For the previously-itinerant singer, spiced with some of the most compellingly poetic The North Platte winding like a silver eel whose parents divorced early in his life and who stanzas anyone ever put on a pop record. Hands like rain on August fields. never lived in one place for very long, the new- "Hands like Rain." With her sublime 1989 release, Homeland, found stability was a welcome change. Tish Hinojosa established herself as one of the Having earlier deftly rendered his under- The last song on Candyland may portend great voices in Texas music. The album, her sec- standing of small-town life into penetrating por- this new dimension in his music. traits of rural America and the people who live ond, was a winning caldo of country-western This place we've come to commerciality, border balladry, Tex-Mex lyrics, there, McMurtry has now turned his sharp eye It's a brand-new world subjects, and flavors, and social commentary for detail and ear for dialogue to the suburbs, With a whole new set of rules.... the "Candylands" of the American dream — worthy of the folk music scene from which Would you be my friend through the ages Hinojosa first emerged. , and, like so many who rive there, found the Watch the decades drifting by In all three cases, the Austinites' apparent pre- bitter taste of despair tainting the promised And read to me from dusty pages cocity was somewhat misleading. They had sweetness. Songs like "Safe Side." "Good Life" All the echoes of our lives? spent years playing folk and blues covers in bars and the title song skewer (not always subtly) the James McMurtry, who's made a career of around the country before their breakthroughs, sterility and paranoia pervading many privileged being (in the words of one of his songs) "on so it wasn't surprising that their songs spoke neighborhoods — while never neglecting the the outskirts, on the fringes," may at last have to grown-up concerns in experienced voices. In humanity of the people who "tend their mani- come in from the Wasteland. part because they did not smell like teen spirit, cured lawns." The characters in both lands in part because of their prior anonymity, none inhabit the shifting territories of an America that's changing — often for the worse. The Woman of the World of the artists garnered album sales commensu- Candyland rate with their critical accolades, but all three characters, huddling behind their The sweetness in Lucinda Williams' old world were invited to appear on prestigious shows like chain-link fences, are just more stubborn in their isn't the artificial flavoring McMurtry tastes refusal to accept this reality. Austin City Limits and Mountain Stage, and in the Candylands. She means it, even craves it. They hide in sheltered enclaves Though both songsters share a literary lineage became stars of the rapidly rekindling song- Up around Olmos Park writing scene. Follow-up efforts were announced, (James's father is Larry McMurtry; Williams' and all three appeared poised for stardom. They've gbt their own policemen is a prominent Louisiana poet), Williams has So they can stay out after dark been a more straightforward singer. While Then — silence. Follow-up albums were "Safe Side" delayed by management and label disputes. McMurtry adopts the cool perspective that dis- Finally, however, James McMurtry, Lucinda The album represents a musical progression, tance from characters can provide, what made • too. The newer songs boast longer melody lines, Lucinda's 1988 album so powerful were the Williams and Tish Hinojosa have issued new and McMurtry actually CDs, and their impatient fans will be pleased to sings them more than blazing confessions, demands and explorations just biting off the more staccato stanzas of his of a woman who has seen — and felt — a lot. earlier material. And the songs nestle more Her unflinching revelation of those passions and Brett Campbell is a former editor of the Observer snugly in the ensemble format than their pre- ambivalences, strengths and vulnerabilities, and is a freelance writer based in San Antonio. decessors, which were originally written for expressed in the limpid lines of superb writer,

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 21 made for listening that was by turns wrenching, stronger and even more expressive than before, on a political issue in a way no broadside ever exhilarating and ultimately cathartic. It's still transporting listeners into the worlds. Plaudits could, yet the writer's anger burns through. one of the best albums ever released in Texas, also go to her band, especially remarkable gui- "The Window" is another effective example and the exquisite "Side of the Road" may be my tarist Gurf Morlix, which supplies solid yet of writing from another's perspective, this one favorite song. tasteful backing. Like Lucinda Williams, this is an imprisoned murderer. Nothing on Sweet Old World quite scales an album you'll be listening to years from now, Horse sense: Tish doesn't let her liberal sen- those heights, but that's because Williams is try- and it'll sound better every time. timents obscure her C&W roots, a genre that, ing something a little different. While retaining It's often said that we live in post-literary cul- despite its redneck excesses, is still the closest the immediacy, authenticity and honesty of ture, with most people looking to MTV and FM thing to populist music this country has pro- her first-person work, many of the new songs for insights they used to seek in books and great duced. "San Antonio Romeo," which sounds look to the people around her — friends, rela- magazines. Maybe so. Which makes it all the like a long-lost Bob Wills swinger, is a fun tives, lovers — and tell their stories, as well as more rewarding that Texans have in their midst and clever retelling of "San Antonio Rose" her response to them. Some of those stories perceptive, expressive songwriters like Lucinda from the woman's point of view, one of several are tragedies. Williams and James McMurtry, who combine songs here that I can imagine shuffling to at the See what you lost when you left this world the beauties of music and literature without Broken Spoke, the Austin honky tonk. It's also This sweet old world compromising either art — or themselves. a natural candidate for country-station airplay, The breath from your own lips a prime example of Hinojosa's facility at writ- The touch offingertips Back in the Swing ing accessible, even commercial songs without A sweet and tender kiss compromising her musical integrity. The sound of a midnight train Waiting for the release of her follow-up to Heart's sense. If Hinojosa has a weakness, Wearing someone's ring.... Homeland, Tish Hinojosa served up a couple of it's an occasional tendency toward mawkish- Didn't you think you were worth anything? interim projects (including the limpidly lovely ness in her balladry. Happily, the love songs "Sweet Old World" Aquella Noche, my favorite Texas album last here, "Closer Still" and "Every Word" avoid Williams doesn't flinch from tackling tough year); at last she has unveiled Culture Swing, that pitfall. subjects like death, frustrated love, even sui- which incorporates the same elements as its pre- Reviewers often praise the beauty of cide. She's also forthright about desire and sex- decessor: Hinojosa's voice and mien, and deservedly so. uality, acknowledging their power and com- Sense of place: Although she's settled down And they talk about her position as an impor- plexity in a way pop music seldom even tries. in Austin, the restless Hinojosa still has a tant Hispana voice. But what's often overlooked Lucinda, who admires Southern writers like "Corazon Viajero" (Wandering Heart, the title is her ability to write songs with gorgeous hooks, Flannery O'Connor and Eudora Welty, shows of one of the new songs), and Culture Swing melodies that would be only slightly less haunt- a novelist's ability to get inside her charac- takes us on a border-to-border tour, from the ing if delivered by a voice less transcendent than ters — who, as before, are mostly strong aptly titled "Louisiana Road Song" to the auto- her own. While, song-for-song, it can't quite women. In these songs, Lucinda Williams is biographical travelogue "By the Rio Grande," match up to her previous efforts, Culture Swing venturing into the territory James McMurtry to the celebration of life "In the Real West." The is one of the strongest songwriting efforts Texas covered in his character songs, just as he's mixture of geography and personal history has produced this year. taking some tentative steps toward her kind recalls Homeland's "Border Trilogy," and like As delightful as an album as this is, of heartfelt expression. those songs, the several bilingual excursions Tishophiles will be disappointed at what it leaves Sweet Old World has a cooler, darker, more here demonstrate Hinojosa's ability to swing out. Two years ago, pre-release copies of another melancholy feel than its predecessor, but it's smoothly back and forth between the cultures Culture Swing , this one boasting strong sup- only slightly less potent. And just when it's get- she grew up in. porting performances by Kris Kristofferson, ting a little too languid, Williams' blues roots Sense of justice: Like the earlier paean to Jesse Booker T., and Cesar Rosas, circulated around buck up in numbers like "Pineola" and "Hot Jackson, "Love is On Our Side," "Bandera del Austin. That version was never released by Blood." Toss in country rockers like "Lines Sol" is an idealistic (and appropriately bilin- Hinojosa's erstwhile label, but in my opinion, Around Your Eyes" and "Six Blocks Away" gual) plea for overcoming human conflict, a call the earlier performances of the seven songs and you have a satisfying album that fits only to unity under the flag of the sun. But it's the that appear on both versions work better than one category — Texas music. album's masterpiece, "Something in the Rain," the new ones. The newer renditions sound a Williams moved back to Austin last year that confirms Hinojosa's Guthriesque ability to bit more mannered and less exuberant than their after a sojourn in L.A., and listeners here are raise political issues not by polemical harangues earlier incarnations. And a half-dozen of that bound to be more appreciative of her sound but by effective characterization and powerful album's best songs don't appear on the new (Which, like Texas, partakes of country, folk, music. Told from the perspective of a migrant release — including such seemingly sure-fire blues and rock) and her realness. Her voice, worker child puzzled by the poisoning of his commercial winners as country cooker "I'm Not which occasionally faltered in earlier efforts, is sister by pesticides, the song puts a human face Through Lovin' You Yet," (the sequel to "Til You Love Me Again") the rocking "Yesterday's Paper" and the spectral beauty of "Noche Sin Estrellas." Maybe Hinojosa is saving these radio- ready songs in the hope she'll get a deal with a larger label that could get them on the air more effectively than little Rounder could. Whatever the reason, their temporary unavailability is just another reason to hear Hinojosa perform live — PEOPLE still the best way to enjoy her music. Make a world of difference ! Oh, and as 'tis the season, don't forget to pick Were proud of our employees and their contributions to your up a copy of Memorabilia Nal;idena, Tier Christmas album (TO 11/15/91) that contains success and ours. Call us for quality printing, binding, mailing otherwise unavailable Hinojosa gems as "A la and data processing services. Get to know the people at Futura. Nanita Nana," "Building #9" and the shim- mering "Everything You Wish." While you're P.O. Box 17427 Austin, TX 78760-7427 at it, pick up the CD rereleases of her debut, Taos to Tennessee and the ravishing Aquella FUTUM 389-1500 Noche. The music of Tish Hinojosa is a gift COMMUNICATIONS. INC for all seasons.

22 • DECEMBER 11; 1992 AFTERWORD Good John Cage

BY GEOFF RIPS microphones broadcast the sloshing. Sometimes this world and, as such, should not be excluded John Cage, the prolific and influential com- they all slosh. Sometimes only one or two. from the arts, which lead us to a fuller under- poser whose Minimalist works have long Sometimes they all sit still. All with great good standing of this world. He championed ran- been a driving force in the world of music, humor. After maybe 25 minutes, the body domness, the I Ching, not to replace traditional dance and art, died yesterday at St. Vincent's builder stands and blows the conch for sev- Western notions of order but to undo them. hospital in Manhattan. He was 79 years old. eral minutes. He does it again after another long And so, his friends Robert Rauschenberg and - The New York Times, August 13. interval. What devolved from the curious to Jasper Johns use elements of the lived world the boring has, over time, become a commu- in their art and Merce Cunningham uses natu- Unfocus your attention. nity held together by this ritual sloshing. Then ral everyday movement in his dance. John Cage painter Jasper Johns over in the corner leans was our zen master, knocking traditional notions FOLLOWING THE KENT STATE murders, against a light switch and the room goes dark. of pre-eminence off their pedestals, then destroy- students and faculty at the small liberal arts Accidental or intended? It doesn't matter. The ing the pedestals so that everything around them college I attended went on strike. We set up an piece is over. Good John Cage. became our field for cultural conversation. alternative university devoted to relevance and action. We plotted. We harangued. We charted +++ +++ the international niovement of capital and the JOHN CAGE BECAME a major celebrity in TWO MONKS CAME to a stream. One was international movement of students north to Italy after his appearance on an Italian quiz Hindu, the other Zen. The Indian began to cross Canada. The Japanese literature professor stood show. His category was mushrooms. He was a the stream by walking on the surface of the on the steps of the chapel, his fist in the air, world expert on mushrooms. He sometimes water. The Japanese became excited and called exhorting. the crowd, "When we invaded helped support himself by hunting mushrooms to him to come back. "What's the matter?" the Cambodia, did anybody ask us?" A French lit- in the forests north of New York City to sell Indian said. The Zen monk said, "That's not the erature teacher seized a coffee shop and to gourmet restaurants. A friend of Cage way to cross the stream. Follow me." He led attempted to forge connections between the remarked in a Cage obituary that we were lucky him to a place where the water was shallow and Old Left and the New. Another French teacher, to have him as long as we did, given the fact they waded across. wearing a beret, repeated endlessly the lessons that he'd almost died several times from mush- — "How to Pass, Kick, Fall, and Run" A he had learned at the barricades in Paris in '68. room poisoning. Year from Monday, John Cage, 1967 In a small grove beside the Music Building, +++ artist-in-residence John Cage drew the biggest +++ following. He talked about time. DURING PERFORMANCES by Merce Cun- In memory of John Cage let's ningham's dance company — at New York's observe a moment of noise. +++ City Centre and later at San Antonio's Carver THE LATE 1970S. The Film Archives, down- Cultural Center —John Cage's ubiquitous blue town New York City. An exhibition of recent work shirt traveled back and forth across the • 410i. b,101MINI AI d-+ video work by Nam June Paik with Charlotte orchestra pit. Following an intricate score, he Jew. ‘Vgg S ea Moorman later to perform Paik's famed topless conducted musicians, turned radio dials and acti- 40 Horse cello sonata wearing two video screens on her vated record players, setting random sound •-- 4141 breasts. A panel discussion prior to the perfor- against order, walking the edge of anarchy - • Inn mance. Writer Richard Kostelanetz, choreog- maintaining his balance by virtue of his grace. • rapher Merce Cunningham, Cage, Paik and Kitchenettes-('able -IN Rescuing the idea of "play" in the act of "play- of 0 Moorman sitting at a table. After Cage spoke, ing" music. After the performances, in both New ir Pool Ot Paik explained how the listener accustomed to York and San Antonio, John Cage rested along beside the Gulf of Mexico oit,_ traditional music should judge a work by Cage: the edge of the pit. And then they came — young on Mustang Island 101' "Good John Cage is bad John Cage," he said. people shuffling forward, composers, musicians, 0$ "And bad John Cage is good John Cage." admirers. Cage's beatific smile curled across 0 Available for private parties 0 his face. He became absolutely engaged. ail Irnique European Charm 0 0 +++ 1 & Atmosphere 0 THE EARLY 1980S. The Kitchen — a loft per- +++ i Special Low Spring & Summer Rates .0, formance space in downtown New York City. SINCE HE DIED FOUR months ago, Cage Pets Welcome John Cage,, collaborator and pianist David has been eulogized as a minimalist, a leader flirter Tudor, violinist Paul Olofsky, and a young, of the cultural avant garde, etc. What he was, 1423 11th Street 0 blond body builder sit on stools holding large was an artist — a composer of sometimes breath- conch shells, to which microphones, are taking work. And ,he was a democrat. He was .410' Port Aransas, TX 78373 IS attached. They are surrounded by the audience. interested in breaking down hierarchies. He call Cage, Tudor and Olofsky pour water from jars believed in democratic notions of sound and (512) 749-5221 I into the conch shells and slosh it around. The order. All sounds are important. All kinds of For- Reservations J understanding are important. The 12-tone scale, 4 the lapping of waves, the sound of a radio as the ....r...NA.. ,;%‘,.....,,„,..4.F" Geoff Rips is a former Observer editor. dial moves across bands are all elements of

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 23 Postmaster: If undeliverable, send Form 3579 to The Texas Observer, 307 W. 7th St., Austin, Texas 78701

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE

The other was influence-monger Robert Strauss, cized regulatory and information policy. ✓ THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY found out the salubrious effect a post-Labor Day lead in fresh off the plane from Moscow, where he the polls has on fundraising, as special interests was George Bush's ambassador to the Kremlin. ✓ NEWS THAT HOUSE SPEAKER that have long underwritten the Republican Clinton's new ethical code will be tested by Gib Lewis of Fort Worth has organized a Party split their support this fall. An analysis whether Strauss gets another appointment. "sportsmen's caucus" has alarmed the Fund for for the Wall Street Journal of "soft money" con- Animals. Lewis' action reinforces the belief of the animal-rights group that Lewis does not tributions to the political parties, which are ✓ TEXAS LEGISLATORS may live mod- made outside of federal election laws, showed estly during their terms, but their retirement belong on the Parks & Wildlife Commission, corporate money flowed to the Democrats fol- packages are the third most generous in the which he reportedly has in his sights after he lowing their convention in New York City. nation, the Austin American-Statesman reported. quits the House in January. The animal-rights The study by the nonpartisan Center for Legislators are limited by the state Constitution group noted that the 131 members of a similar Responsive Politics showed a shift in giving to a salary of $7,200, but they qualified them- Sportsmen's Caucus in Congress compiled an from five traditionally Republican groups: selves for a lifetime pension starting at $13,632 average of 27 percent correct in League of Investment and securities; oil and gas; phar- annually with eight years of service at age 60 Conservation Voters rankings while the maceuticals and health, beer, wine and liquor; or 12 years at age 50. The newspaper noted that Congresssional average was 45. Dana Forbes, and insurance. An earlier study by the center after 16 years in the House, retiring Rep. director of the fund's Houston office, said the found that, through August, 62 percent of con- Ernestine Glossbrenner of Alice will draw interest of the Texas legislative Sportsmen's tributions to Clinton were $200 or more, with $65,000 a year, with credit for her 22 years as Caucus would be "not conservation of wildlife, lawyers and lobbyists the biggest supporters, a teacher. Still, state lawmakers are pikers com- but merely conservation of wildlife killing." while 86 percent of contributions to Bush topped pared with Congress; the National Taxpayers $200, with finance, insurance and real estate Union found that four senior incumbents will ✓ CAREER MOVES. Senate Democrats are the largest category of contributors. retire from a regular salary of $125,000 to a pen- warning Wendy Gramm, chair of the sion of more than $89,500. The average Commodity Futures Trading Commission, not Congressional pension for 88 new retirees — to fill senior staff positions before President- ✓ PAC-PLUNDERING INCUMBENTS beat angry voters as a rule this year, as the as young as 54 — is $49,550. elect Bill Clinton takes over, the Associated Center for Responsive Politics found that 87 Press reported. A Senate committee is ques- percent of the winners in the U.S. House out- V THE CHANGE OF PARTIES in power tioning the conversion of political appoint- spent their opponents, as did 82 percent of as well as turnover in Congress is expected to ments to civil-service positions in the waning Senate winners. Of the 435 winning House result in the change of approximately 50,000 days of the Bush Administration at 18 agencies. candidates, all but 50 outspent their opponents jobs in the Washington, D.C., area. The Wash- Gramm, wife of Texas' junior senator, allegedly and in most cases the spending margins greatly ington Post reports that President-elect is get- split a division to create two new career slots exceeded the differences in vote percentages. ting 30,000 pieces of mail a week. A sampling for which she reportedly was interviewing polit- The average House winner spent $401,835 while from the mailbag, as reported by AlterNet: ical appointees from other agencies. losers averaged just 140,283. In 175 races, the • Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez, D-San Antonio, winner outspent the loser by a factor of 10:1 chair of the House Banking Committee, has urged V MINORITY CANDIDATES made sig- or more. Common Cause found that 93-percent Clinton to support H.R. 4073 as part of an "eco- nificant gains in the 1992 elections. A record of incumbents were re-elected, down from a 98- nomic jump-start program." The bill would pro- 17 Latinos and 38 blacks were elected to . percent success rate in 1990. vide $16 billion in funding for community devel- Congress (plus one black senator); Texas sends opment projects, including grants for streets, five Latino and two black members of Congress. V IN TWO PRIVATE DINNERS during sewers, water systems and housing assistance. The 31-member state Senate will include two his triumphal post-election visit to Washington, •A group of 80 advocates and academics who blacks and six Latinos while the 150-member President-elect Bill Clinton dined informally banded together to form the Citizen's Transition House will include 14 blacks and 26 Latinos. with political and media figures who are get- Project recently sent Clinton a 1,200-page report, Eddie Cavazos, D-Corpus Christi, was elected ting used to the new regime. Noted TV hair-hat Changing America: Blueprints for a New to a second term as chair of the Mexican Ted Koppel received equal billing with Senate Democracy, which calls, among other things, for American Legislative Caucus, which includes Majority Leader George Mitchell and House a strong tax hike on the wealthy, international 30 House members (four of whom are non- Speaker Tom Foley, while many prominent human rights initiatives, new antitrust guidelines, Latinos but represent Hispanic districts). Democrats are reported to have left town dur- low-income housing initiatives and more. ing the President-elect's visit in mid-November • OMB Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based V MORE HEADS ARE EXPECTED to roll so their absence from the guest lists would be nonprofit, has sent a memorandum advising the at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice after less embarrassing. Two prominent Texans were incoming administration on how to improve recent reports that Gov. Ann Richards and an aide among those attending one or both of the events. coordination of government regulations and have been subjects of prison internal affairs inves- One was Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, the Senate Finance provide greater accountability of the regulatory tigations. Kathy Fair of the Houston Chronicle Committee chair who is frequently mentioned review process after the OMB and the Vice reported that Richards was upset by reports she as a candidate for Secretary of the Treasury. President's Council on Competitiveness politi- Continued on pg. 20

24 • DECEMBER 11, 1992