NO PICNIC at SPEAKING ROCK 4 Slush of Lies from the Mainstream Media Washington Lobbyists Unhappy in Marriage, Married Immedi- GOP Corporatist Propaganda Machine

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Also: The TO Interviews Houston Mayor Bill White Lou Dubose on the Tigua shakedown 1 11 1 1 And "Wonderful People," by Kate Hill Cantrill 0 74470 89397 DECEMBER 17, 2004 Texas Observer POST, POST-ELECTION TURNING 50 FEATURES President Bush's heady re-election vic- Happy 50th! Your service is invaluable tory after a dismal first-term is like that and greatly appreciated out here in the classic: A gentleman who had been very NO PICNIC AT SPEAKING ROCK 4 slush of lies from the mainstream media Washington lobbyists unhappy in marriage, married immedi- GOP corporatist propaganda machine. shakedown Indian casinos ately after his wife died—it was a "tri- Keep on keepin' on. by Lou Dubose umph of hope over experience." Happy holidays and thank you. Ted Corin Robert von Tobel THE WHITE STUFF 10 Austin Bellevue, WA The Observer talks with Houston Mayor Bill White After reading your interview with James As a TomPaine.com devotee, I read their by Jake Bernstein Aldrete ("The Road Back to Power," excerpts from your "observations." So, November 19), I now know how I am today I send you best wishes for contin- DEPARTMENTS viewed. I am a Republican ("That means ued output and a HAPPY 50th BIRTH- taking on the bastards but doing it in a DAY!! DIALOGUE 2 language of faith.") So in your view I am Kathleen McKenna a bastard. Don't forget to call me igno- EDITORIAL 3 Via e-mail Grinchy Nation rant, homophobic, and racist. Then there was, "We also need a true Happy birthday and thanks for Molly DATELINE LUBBOCK 8 realization of how low the Republicans Ivins, Jim Hightower, and Ronnie Dugger. Oh, Bury Me Not can go." I guess, "Your party's insistence Michael Cassaro by Emily Pyle that young people will be drafted, that Via e-mail blacks are being systematically denied POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE 12 the right to vote, and that your disabled Congratulations, Texas Observer, on 50 MOLLY IVINS 14 relatives won't be able to walk again years of dissecting life in Texas. As Torture, American Style if Bush is reelected constitute the sort native Oklahomans, we love seeing Tex- JIM HIGHTOWER 15 of sunny, upbeat, inclusive politics of ans getting deflated occasionally. How- Bankruptcy Scams hope." (Jonah Greenberg) is not far ever, this note is for Molly Ivins, whom enough in the gutter for you. And don't we have enjoyed over many, many years. ANDREW WHEAT 16 forget to remind the old people that You're just as salty as ever. Thank you for Texas' First Postmodern Lobbyist their Social Security checks will be cut your humor and storytelling ability. We 45 percent. respect the power of the word. Keep on BOOKS & THE CULTURE Enjoy your years in the wilderness. keeping on, Molly. Harry Oburn Violet and Ronald Cauthon Via e-mail POETRY 21 Las Cruces, NM (by way of Tulsa, OK) by K.N. Wheatley

ON THE ROAD WITH CHE AND AL 22 by Barbara Belejack AWARDS

ART - Y - FACTS 24 by David Theis The Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors recently honored Jake Bernstein and Dave Mann's coverage of Republican efforts to funnel AFTERWORD 29 corporate money into the 2002 campaign with an Excellence in State Wonderful People by Kate Hill Cantrill Government Reporting award. The stories ["Rise of the Machine," August 29, 2003; "Scandal in the Speaker's Office," February 27, 2004; and "Rate THE BACKPAGE 32 of Exchange," March 12, 2004] won first place in the magazine in-depth Cry Fowl reporting category. The contest judges wrote, "A captivating report on the inter workings of state government....Shed great insight on what Cover Illustration by Doug Potter has been covered briefly by national media." The entire series, as well as other reporting on the corporate money scandal, is available at www. texasobserver.org

2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER •12/17/04

EDITORIAL Grinchy Nation

his is the last Observer issue May have been that his heart was Texas Observer of 2004. Our 50th anniver- two sizes too small. VOLUME 96, NO. 24 ril A Journal of Free Voices sary year. An election year Since 1954

of great consequence for Observer associate editor Dave Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger 2004 the state and the nation. Mann's favorite quote from Executive Editor Jake Bernstein came from U.S. House Majority Lead- A year when once again Editor Barbara Belejack Texas politicians sent America's youth er Tom DeLay as told to the Houston Associate Editor Dave Mann to die for ideological idiocy. When Chronicle. The majority leader spent Managing Publisher Charlotte McCann economic policy amounts to squander most of 2004 ducking questions from now and let future generations pay the reporters about a Travis County grand Associate Publisher Jim Ball cost later. And rapacious corporations jury investigation and his role in an Circulation Manager Lara George vacuum up our natural resources as apparent conspiracy to funnel illegal Art Direction Buds Design Kitchen if there literally is no tomorrow. It's corporate money into state elections. Poetry Editor Naomi Shihab Nye a time when the values that make That was, until a rare election chal- Copy Editors Roxanne Bogucka, Laurie Baker this country great—freedom, civil lenge forced the Sugar Land Republi- Webmaster Adrian Quesada rights, economic justice, community; can back to his district and to renewed Interns Kris Bronstad, Megan Giller, Dan Mottola, Aaron Nelsen the rule of law—are under threat as scrutiny. Contributing Writers Nate Blakeslee, Gabriela Bocagrande, never before. And the loudest religious Questioned about the ongoing Robert Bryce, Michael Erard, James K. Galbraith, Dagoberto discourse—the alleged repository of probe, DeLay responded: "All of this Gab, Steven G. Kellman, Lucius Lomax, James McWilliams, moral values—preaches greed and stuff is frivolous and it has been prov- Char Miller, Debbie Nathan, Karen Olsson, John Ross intolerance. en to be frivolous." He then added, "If Staff Photographers Alan Pogue, Jana Birchum. But it's also a time when many there is anything else ongoing, it will Contributing Artists Sam Hurt, Kevin Kreneck, Michael Krone, also be found to be frivolous." Gary Oliver, Doug Potter, Penny Van Horn in opposition to the status quo are Editorial Advisory Board David Anderson, Chandler Davidson, awakening to the fact that they can- It's the kind of statement that could Dave Denison, Sissy Farenthold, John Kenneth Galbraith, not afford the luxury of single-issue make you think that his head wasn't Lawrence Goodwyn, Jim Hightower, advocacy. They do have a broad shared screwed on quite right. Sadly, it was Kaye Northcott, Susan Reid. vision for this country and the will to just further evidence of the contempt In Memoriam Bob Eckhardt, 1913-2001, Cliff Olofson, 1931-1995 that small-hearted politicians like Texas Democracy Foundation Board Lou Dubose, Ronnie Dugger, articulate it. Last August, half a million Marc Grossberg, Molly Ivins, D'Ann Johnson, Jim Marston, people marched through the streets of DeLay have for the "reality based com- Gilberto Ocailas, Bernard Rapoport, Geoffrey Rips.

New York City to say 'no. Vast virtual munity" and by extension all of the The Texas Observer (ISSN 0040-4519/ USPS 541300), entire con- communities grew up overnight bent public. We will tell you what to think tents copyrighted ©2004, is published biweekly except every on reclaiming American democracy. and when to think it seems to be the three weeks during January and August (24 issues per year) by the Texas Democracy Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit foun- In short, it was a year we hope that reigning attitude. Just ignore those dation, 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701.

Observer readers of the future will look bloody corpses, toxic fishes, spiraling Telephone (512) 477-0746. back on as a dark period but also as deficits, the plummeting dollar, insur- E-mail [email protected] the beginning of a turning point for ance ripoffs, predatory drug compa- World Wide Web DownHome page progressives mobilization. nies, uninsured children, creeping www.texasobserver.org. In trying to understand the histori- creationism, government surveillance, Periodicals Postage Paid at Austin, Texas. cal moment, and in particular, the rad- serial lying, and on and on and on. Subscriptions One year $32, two years $59, three years $84. The 50th anniversary of this maga- Pull-time students $18 per year; add $13/year for foreign subs. ical Republicanism presently infecting Back issues S3 prepaid. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. our state and country, we turned to zine provided an opportunity for the Microfilm available from University Microfilms IntL, that noted political philosopher, Dr. Observer community to look back at 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Seuss: the publication's output over the years. Indexes The Texas Observer is indexed in Access The Supplementary Index After doing so, there is one inescapable to Periodicals; Texas Index and, for the years 1954 through 1981, The Texas Observer Index. It could be that his head wasn't conclusion. Not only does reality mat- POSTMASTER Send address changes to: screwed on quite right. ter, sometimes when properly brought The Texas Observer, 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. It could be, perhaps, that his shoes to light, it can change lives for the bet- The Books d- the Culture section is partially funded through grants from were too tight. ter. And maybe, just maybe, the flinty the City of Austin under the auspices of the Austin Arts Commission and the Writer's League of Texas, both in cooperation with the Texas But I think that the most likely hearts of those here in grinchy nation Commission on the Arts.

reason of all will grow a bit in the process. —JB

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 3 FEATURE No Picnic at Speaking Rock Washington lobbyists shakedown Indian casinos BY LOU DUBOSE

F s.

photo: Richard Baron

he small vignette that unfolded during a Senate be paid to family members, but to a private school in Wash- ril Indian Affairs Committee hearing last month ington, D.C. The school, founded, funded and directed by reads like a heartwarming tale befitting the holiday the lobbyist, will then pay the tribe's lobbying fees at his law season. A rich Washington lobbyist reaches out to firm, Greenberg Traurig. It was a bold, innovative plan. Public an impoverished Indian tribe on the Texas-Mexico policy advocacy secured by deferred income based on cold border and offers to buy insurance for all the actuarial calculation. Lobbyist Jack Abramoff was both bene- tribe's elders. The insurance will be free to American Indians factor and beneficiary, speculating on the lives of the elder over 75 years old, even those who are not enrolled members members of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Tribe of El Paso and of the tribe. The lobbyist offers to pay all premiums for the collecting death benefits in Washington. Elder Legacy Program. "I'm glad he didn't send an undertaker to take measure- "It means the world to me," he says. ments," said Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colorado), There's a catch. It's term life. And death benefits will not at the hearing.

4 THE TEXAS OBSERVER •12/17/04 He wasn't quite that ghoulish. Abramoff and his partner sales pitch to the Tiguas, both men had spent a year secretly Mike Scanlon, did, however, contact an insurance agent who directing the campaign that pressured John Cornyn to close provided application forms with boxes to check for "special the Tigua casino. risk concerns," such as rock climbing, scuba diving and flying "It was the most cynical deal I've ever seen in this business," a private airplane. They tried to book the Elder Center on the said an Austin political consultant who had represented Indi- Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo reservation in El Paso, to make it conve- an interests in Texas. "While they were on the payroll of other nient for tribal elders to get quick screening physicals and easy tribes, they worked to destroy the only real economic develop- enrollment. And agreed to pick up the cost of the physicals. ment program that tribe ever had. Then they went out there The senior members of the Ysleta Pueblos (better known as and told them they could pass a secret provision in the House the Tigua tribe) were willing, if reluctant, participants. They and Senate and open the casino up. There was never any way knew that their death benefits would defer the cost of lob- they could do what they promised. Both senators from Texas bying required to open the Speaking Rock Casino that Texas were opposed to gambling. Phil Gramm was opposed to gam- Attorney General John Cornyn had shut down in 2001. In bling. Kay Bailey Hutchison was opposed to gambling. How the end, the Tigua Tribal Council didn't have the stomach were they going to get an Indian casino bill past them?" for it. "It felt uncomfortable. It didn't seem right," said Tigua As Texas Attorney General, John Cornyn wasn't the first Lt. Governor Carlos Hisa at the November 17 Senate Indian public official in Texas to oppose Indian gaming. Ann Rich- Affairs hearing. ards declared it illegal when she was the state's governor. As Jack Abramoff's insurance scheme was among the most did Dan Morales, when he was attorney general. But Cornyn recent revelations in an Indian gaming scandal that involves relentlessly pursued the tribe, which had become a big con- the two close associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom tributor to Democrats after the casino opened in 1993. Shortly DeLay and six Indian tribes they were hired to represent in after taking office in 1999, he filed suit in federal court, seek- Washington. There's more to come. The Senate Indian Affairs ing to shut the tribe's casino down. The Tiguas fought back. Committee has held two hearings and released two stacks of They claimed that once the state created a lottery, the fed- supporting documents. Three federal grand juries, the FBI, eral Restoration Act of 1987 no longer prohibited them from and the Treasury and Interior departments are conducting gambling. Gambling had been illegal in Texas at the time they less public investigations. When the story broke in The Wash- were certified as a tribe under the terms of that act. Once the ington Post 10 months ago, the money collected by Abramoff state got into the gambling business, they argued, reservation and Scanlon was estimated at $41 million. Three months ago gaming was legal, as it is in other states where gambling is it was up to $66 million. The current estimate is $81 million. not prohibited. It was a novel legal defense, but it failed. Yet The grand juries are still out, although sources close to the they were determined to fight on. The tribe began a public investigation predict indictments after the first of the year. relations campaign, focusing on the $60 million a year gener- Much of the money, according to what Senate Indian Affairs ated by a casino that had lifted the tribe out of the mud-hut has thus far uncovered, was fraudulently obtained. Moving poverty in which it had lived for generations. to the center of the scandal is Ohio Republican Congressman Abramoff and Scanlon did not want to see Cornyn discour- Bob Ney. Attorneys representing the tribes are preparing civil aged or slowed down. Their biggest paying client was the law suits to recover what they claim was stolen from them. Coushatta tribe of Louisiana, which considered any casino in The story will be with us for a while. Texas a threat to its Interstate 10 gambling market. Cornyn's lawsuit was the quickest way to put the Tiguas out of business. If they could help Cornyn kill the Tigua casino, they he 1,250-member tribe living on the easternmost would have a federal court order declaring Indian gaming in edge of El Paso wasn't the victim of the largest fraud Texas illegal. The ruling would also shut down the casino the Abramoff and Scanlon are alleged to have perpetrated. Alabama Coushatta Tribe was trying to get up and going in T The Tiguas lost only $4.2 million ($4.5 million if Livingston, Texas, 75 miles north of Houston. (The Alabama political contributions the lobbyists demanded they make Coushattas never made it back to Alabama because Sam are included.) The Coushatta Tribe in Louisiana lost $33.5 Houston offered them land in appreciation for their help million. (See "K Street Croupiers," November 19, 2004). But in the Texas war of independence. They belong to the same the Coushattas still have their casino, which brings in $300 tribal family that includes the Coushattas in Louisiana, share million a year. The Tiguas have no casino. Median income in the same blood and customs, and sometimes intermarry with the tribe is $8,000 a year. their cousins on the other side of the Sabine River. But to the There's a qualitative difference in what Abramoff and Scan- Louisiana Coushatta tribe, preserving their regional Indian lon did to the Tiguas, and it involves conflicts of interest, and, gaming monopoly was more important than the family ties according to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, fraud. The that bind them to their Texas relatives.) other tribes hired the two lobbyists to defend or expand exist- Abramoff was in a difficult situation. It was unseemly for ing gambling operations. Abramoff and Scanlon offered their the Coushattas in Louisiana to work openly to deny their services to members of Tigua tribe after John Cornyn shut desperately poor Texas cousins the income a casino would down their Speaking Rock Casino. Yet before making their provide. It would be difficult for Abramoff to sign the Tiguas

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 5 gregation, are enough to make him a statewide player. When Abramoff informed Reed that the attorney general was going to "get whacked" by protestors in El Paso, Reed responded that he would send "50 pastors to give him moral support?' It also helped that Karl Rove held Reed in high regard and had brought him in to work on Bush's 2000 campaign (after first arranging for Enron CEO Ken Lay to hire Reed's consulting firm for $300,000). By the time Cornyn went to work on the Tiguas, it was widely known that Reed had both the hottest Christian rolodex in the nation and the imprima- tur of G.W. Bush. He quickly got inside Cornyn's office and kept Abramoff apprised of the Tigua litigation. The director of Cornyn's criminal division, according to an e-mail from Reed, provided the dates when Cornyn expected Judge Garnet Thomas Eisle to act, and an outline of Cornyn's response to the judge's rulings. Another source in Cornyn's office assured Reed that "Cornyn is pushing to shut the casino ASAP." Abramoff and Scanlon were doing something remarkable: directing a $4 million statewide campaign to shutter the Tigua casino and managing to stay completely out of sight. Almost $2.4 million of Reed's bill was paid by a Delaware Ralph Reed photo: Katie Adams think tank run by a yoga instructor and lifeguard. Before The as clients later if they knew he had worked to shut down their Washington Post exposed the fraudulent nature of Scanlon's casino. And he marketed himself as a pro-Indian-gaming American International Center, it had taken in $1.1 mil- lobbyist. For various reasons, openly leading an anti-gaming lion from the Mississippi Choctaws and $1 million from crusade in Texas on behalf of the Louisiana Coushattas was the Louisiana Coushattas and passed the money through to not an option. Reed, along with an additional $300,000. Scanlon's PR firm, Ralph Reed was the perfect cover. Capitol Campaign Strategies, paid Reed the other $1.8 mil- Abramoff hired the former director of the Christian Coali- lion owed to him. When Reed left the Christian Coalition in tion to keep the pressure on Cornyn and watch for Tigua 1997 to start his own company, he announced he would only gambling bills in the Texas Legislature. While with the Coali- accept clients who oppose gambling, abortion, and higher tion, Reed had worked with a network of pastors in Texas. taxes. Four years later he was doing deals with Jack Abramoff Under contract to Abramoff, he returned to his Texas network and Mike Scanlon, and his company, Century Strategies, was as the leader of a Christian anti-gambling crusade. He told awash in money befouled by gaming tables or slot machines. no one he was working for lobbyists who were paid by gam- "Reed's a Christian and he's too sanctimonious to take bling interests in Louisiana. For the $4.2 million Abramoff money directly from a casino operator," said a Louisiana paid him, Reed led and organized a group of Texas pastors political consultant who works on gambling issues. "But into the fight to close the Tigua's casino and watched over he'll take it from lobbyists who take it from casino operators." Abramoff's interests in the Texas Legislature. He promised There was no way, despite Reed's denials, the consultant said, Cornyn broad support and pressed him to act quickly to close that he could be unaware of Abramoff's clients. (The New the casino, according to e-mails released by Senate Indian York Times and The Wall Street Journal had both done page- Affairs. Reed was also soliciting phone calls from pastors and one profiles on Abramoff, focusing on his Indian clients.) congregations across the state and patching the calls into the Tom Grey, a Methodist minister who runs the National Coali- AG's office. He knew which pastors to call to keep the public tion Against Legalized Gambling, agreed, telling The National pressure on Cornyn. Journal's Peter Stone that Reed must have known. "When you "talked to ed young again today," he wrote in one of his get paid big money, it's got to be gambling money," Grey said. lower-case e-mails to Abramoff. "incredibly engaged and "Ralph Reed with all his sophistication should have known excited. he is planning on hosting a breakfast with the top where that money was coming from." pastors in houston to get them all mobilized and to provide It seems they were both right. On the day before Abramoff cover for cornyn. we may invite cornyn to address them." made his pitch to the Tiguas, he sent Reed an e-mail in which Ed Young is the pastor of Second Baptist Church, a con- he discussed the Indians' stupidity — and their money: "I gregation of 35,000 with three campuses spread out across wish those moronic Tiguas were smarter in their political suburban Houston. He hosts a national television show, contributions. I'd love to get my hands on that moolah!! Oh Winning Walk, and has served as president of the Southern well, stupid folks get wiped out." As the various investigations Baptist Convention. The size and wealth of his three-campus unfold, Reed will find it increasingly difficult to lay claim to operation, which recently acquired a fourth church and con- any moral high ground.

6 THE TEXAS OBSERVER .12/17/04 y getting inside Cornyn's office where sources provided bought it. The whole package: him a timeline for closure of the Tigua casino, Reed allowed Abramoff to make his move when the Tiguas Building a National Political Organization; were most desperate. Reed tracked the case for more Recruitment and identification; B Research and Messaging; than a year as it dragged through the courts and onto appeal. Then, on February 5, 2002, he e-mailed Abramoff to tell him Education/Advocacy. that a source close to the AG said the court order closing the casino would come down February 11. By February 6, travel They did persuade Scanlon to lower his fee to $4.2 million plans were in the works. Abramoff e-mailed Scanlon, under a from $5.4 million. Within a month of Abramoff's second visit subject header that read: "i'm on the phone with Tigua!" The to El Paso, the tribe had received its contract and written its first message itself read: "Fire up the jet baby, we're going to El Paso." non-refundable check for $2.1 million. "The remaining balance Scanlon replied: "I want all their MONEY!" Ralph Reed's pre- is due upon receipt of Scanlon Gould invoices," read one clause cise information regarding dates put Abramoff in position to in the contract. (Scanlon Gould is one of several companies take it. On February 12, as the casino was being closed down, that the two lobbyists used in their Indian schemes.) All the Abramoff was flying to Texas. invoices were submitted and paid by April. The tiny Indian El Paso political consultant Marc Schwartz worked for the tribe in El Paso was buying the sort of database and national Tiguas and he did a background check on Abramoff, who action campaign that might have made John Kerry president. looked good. In fact, he was a star. You could read in The Wall It would be needed, they were told, because once they got their Street Journal that Mississippi Choctaw leaders believed they legislative fix in Congress, the tribe would be confronted by got a good return on the $7 million they paid Abramoff. He powerful House and Senate opponents determined to undo had worked for Bush on the transition team for the Bureau of it. By that time, Scanlon would have a nationwide political Indian Affairs. "He was a star at Greenberg Traurig, who had response operation up and ready to respond. wooed him and his $20 million book of accounts from Preston Like most successful cons, Abramoff and Scanlon sold their Gates. The more we checked, the more we realized that this scheme because the buyers wanted it so badly they believed it. guy's a stud," said a source familiar with the tribe's activities. Abramoff was working pro bono because his task was easy. It He also was highly recommended: "Brian Rogers, the Missis- would happen fast because his firm didn't want him off the sippi Choctaws' lawyer, told us about him. He told us he was clock for too long. He had several prospects in the House and interested in helping the tribe." Senate to do the tribe's bidding. The fix was short and techni- When Abramoff showed up in El Paso to pitch his plan, cal: Public Law 100-89 is amended by striking section 107. They Schwartz had one reservation, based on his background check. would hide the language amending the law that prohibited He wanted to know about Abramoff's relationship with Reed. Tigua gambling in a completely unrelated bill moving through They were "long-standing friends, " Abramoff said. But he reas- the 2002 Congress. No one not closely following the process sured Schwartz that there were certain subjects about which he would pay any attention to the line. Tom DeLay would take care and Reed disagreed, according to Schwartz's testimony before of the floor work once the language was inserted in the bill. Senate Indian Affairs. When a member of the Tigua Tribal And like any good con, the pitch included certain elements of Council further pressed Abramoff about his relationship with truth. The tribe needed help. Senator Phil Gramm hated them Reed and any involvement with Reed's anti-gambling work, because a Tigua governor had called him a racist. ("Gramm Abramoff became defensive: "Well, we just don't agree," he said. shits his pants and threatens to bring the whole bill down over "We just don't agree on all things:' this," one memo read.) The tribe had given too much money to At the initial meeting in El Paso on February 12, 2002, Democrats and not kept up with the changing political climate. Abramoff offered to work for the tribe at no cost. He told them (Abramoff would provide them with a spreadsheet to direct that if he got the casino reopened, he expected to be retained $300,000 in contributions to Republicans.) Abramoff had easy to represent the tribe in Washington at his $150,000-$175,000 access to Tom DeLay and Scanlon was Washington's "go-to per month fee. He insisted they hire Mike Scanlon for $5.4 guy" for dealing with DeLay. All this and more, formed part of million dollars, and as he had done in similar presentations to Abramoff's informal pitch to the tribe, according to a source other tribes, he omitted the critical fact that he and Scanlon close to the Council. were partners. He evidently believed he had closed the deal. The The entire process would be completed between March day after the El Paso meeting, he sent Scanlon an enthusiastic and December of 2002. In March, the tribe began making the e-mail about Schwartz. "This guy NEEDS us to save his ass!!" he $300,000 in political contributions Abramoff requested, send- wrote, concluding with the double exclamation mark he often ing checks to organizations such as Majority Leader DeLay's used when he smelled blood. A week later Abramoff was back ARMPAC, Majority Whip Roy Blunt's Rely on Your Beliefs in El Paso, laying out the elaborate "Operation Open Doors" PAC, Bob Ney's American Liberty PAC. Abramoff informed plan Scanlon had prepared. "He was promising us a kind of Schwartz that Ohio Republican Ney agreed to deal with the database you would see in a presidential campaign," the Tigua language in the House and that Connecticut Democrat Chris source said. But because Abramoff was charging presidential Dodd would see that it was taken care of in the Senate. Ney campaign rates, it seemed credible and the Tribal Council —continued on page 28

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 7 DATELINE

Oh , Burg Me Not In Lubbock, racism reaches beyond the grave BY EMILY PYLE

he Lubbock City Cemetery lies east of downtown, on the far side of a treeless subdivision where ril (( you won't see a white face," one local told me, "unless the police come around." In the days of segregation, the white part of the cemetery was up front; the black and Latino sections, known respectively as "Old Colored" and "Old Catholic;' were in the back, separated by a drainage ditch from a cotton gin and the old city dump. Here in the City of Churches, segregation was for eternity. Officially, the Civil Rights Act integrated Lubbock and the City Cemetery in 1964. In reality, change has come to the cemetery as slowly and erratically as it has to the rest of the city. For some who were buried in the graveyard, and for their sur-

vivors, the legacy of bigotry may be as permanent as death. Tina Childress and son Jordan photos: Emily Pyle On a chilly November night, at a community center a few blocks from the cemetery, Lubbock attorney Steve Claus con- give section number, row, and space for each grave. The vened a meeting of those who are suing or wish to sue the city minority burials have no such enumeration. Most say just based on the way it runs its burying ground. It was just two "Old Colored Space," "space ground" or "Old Catholic." Even days after Dia de los Muertos, and many in the crowd would the handwriting is different—sloppier, in places illegible. have made the traditional graveside visit to their dead loved Because of the carelessness with which the records were kept, ones—if they had known where to find them. The plaintiffs Claus told the assembled families, many graves will probably and would-be plaintiffs—nearly all of whom are black or never be found. Latino—say they can't find the graves of family members Claus reviewed the finer points of the lawsuit: The six buried in the cemetery. The suit alleges that the city cemetery original plaintiffs have offered the city a settlement under kept shoddy records of minority burials, neglecting to note which the city would erect a monument to all the Lubbock the locations of hundreds of graves. Some bodies may have cemetery's missing dead. The offer also includes reparations been buried in the wrong plots, under the wrong names, and of up to $250,000 for each of the original plaintiffs. Claus says even on top of one another. Some who buried family mem- if the settlement is rejected, he will ask for a change of venue bers in the cemetery decades ago have been looking for them for the trial. The potential cost of even minor reparations, ever since. once all the plaintiffs are added to the suit, would strain city As the room settled to silence, Claus flashed a slide of two finances; he believes no jury of taxpayers would vote for it. photographs up on the overhead projector. One showed the So far, the city attorney's office declines to comment on the old minority cemetery as it looked half a century ago, a grass- settlement. (The suit is meeting resistance from Lubbock's less expanse of scarred caliche. The other shows the same spot tight-knit political network. One Lubbock County judge has today, grassed over. Claus pointed out that the background already refused to initial routine paperwork associated with of the old photo shows scores of headstones and markers. In the suit, Claus says. Attorney friends have warned him that the the newer picture, there are almost none. "I'd like to think of suit will have repercussions for him and for his firm.) this as a tale of two cities," Claus said. "We're talking about In court papers filed last June, the city attorneys invoked an older Lubbock, a place where they didn't care much about the state law that says a city can't be sued for the performance minority folks. Then there's the city today, that hopefully of a governmental function. The law makes a specific excep- wants to do better." tion for the operation of a cemetery, however. The city also Claus flipped next to a slide showing two pages of burial cited the statute of limitations, since some of the burials in records, one from the white section of the cemetery, the other the original suit took place as far back as 60 years ago. Claus from the "Old Colored" section. The burials of Lubbock's asked for patience from the more than 70 people waiting to white citizens are recorded in spidery Victorian script; they be added to the suit: The costs of discovery for each individual

8 THE TEXAS OBSERVER •12/17/04 case—proving that each burial took place in the Lubbock cemetery and that each grave was missing—would be enormous. Paying for those expenses out of pocket would OUR FAVORITE HOLIDAY PICKS bankrupt his firm, and he wanted to put off the costs as long as possible. Despite the odds, Claus remained upbeat from Simon & Schuster about their chances. "You're not backing out are you?" someone in the audience called out. Chronicles, Volume I "I'm not backing out," he said. With that, he turned the by Bob Dylan projector off and asked for questions. Chronicles, Volume I is a mesmerizing window A young black woman stood up in the back. "Are you into Bob Dylan's thoughts and influences. saying that some of the graves out there that are missing Utilizing his unparalleled gifts of storytelling won't ever be found?" she asked. Claus agreed that was and the exquisite expressiveness that are likely. She turned and abruptly left the room. When she the hallmarks of his music, Bob Dylan turns returned several minutes later, her eyes were red and she Chronicles, Volume l into a poignant reflection held a crumpled tissue tight in her fist. on life, and the people and places that helped The woman's name was Tina Childress, and she went out shape the man and the art. to the cemetery with me the next day, to show me a grave that wasn't there. Childress's mother, 'Evonne, died of can- cer in 1988, when Childress was 15. The rest of the family fell apart soon afterward: Childress' father began drinking heavily and lost the mortgage on the house. She left home The Know-It-All and lived for a time with other families or slept in aban- by A.J. Jacobs doned houses. In 1991, Childress and her younger sister Part memoir and part education (or lack visited the city cemetery for the first time since the funeral. thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR 04,61att■ They planned to buy a headstone for their mother's grave, contributor A.J. Jacobs's hilarious, enlightening, 44113‘k QW:ST but couldn't remember where it was, so they tried the and seemingly impossible quest to read the whore.* SMARTEST cemetery office. Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z. His l'Rti%UN "They asked me where she was, but it had been so long, wife tells him it's a waste of time, his friends Al *MN all I had was memories. I said, 'Don't y'all keep records of believe he is losing his mind, and his father is AI Iambs that?' I thought someone might go out there with me and encouraging but, shall we say, unconvinced. help me find it. They just gave us a map, and we ended up out here:' Childress looked around us at the grass and trees and strangers' headstones. Her father is terminally ill and wants to be buried next to his wife. She has not told him that the grave is missing. The back section has improved Hey Rube since the old days, though the brick-red clay still shows by Hunter S. Thompson easily the scars of earth-moving equipment, and the grass For decades, Hunter S. Thompson has galvanized is slow to re-grow. "The landscape has really changed a lot," American journalism with his acerbic wit, radical she said. ideas, and gonzo tactics. Fear, greed, and action For many of the plaintiffs, the cemetery suit is not the abound in this hilarious, thought-provoking first time they have tried to take the city or other local compilation as Thompson doles out searing institutions to court. Many tell of being harassed by the indictments and uproarious rants while providing police, turned down for loans they qualified for, or passed brilliant commentary on politics, sex, and sports—at over for jobs and promotions in favor of less-experienced times all in the same column. white colleagues. Childress tried for six years to negotiate ' 14,"14,4 Ft: with the Lubbock Independent School District over what she believed was the mishandling of her oldest son's learn- Hey, you wouldn't bring your own beer to a bar, would you? ing disability. When no local attorney would represent her, o ee OUse she went as far as Fort Worth to find a lawyer. He settled 9 am - 11 pm everyday the dispute with the district in six hours. 603 N. Lamar 472-5050 "It is hard to get heard here," Childress told me. Her Ltt shop online at: words were slow and careful and her voice soft. "Power and www.bookpeople.com money are against you. They don't care about you when you're alive and they don't care about you when you die." ABook Community Bound People By Books. —continued on page 20

12/17/04•THE TEXAS OBSERVER 9 FEATURE The White Stuff The Observer talks with Houston Mayor Bill White BY JAKE BERNSTEIN

n January 1, Houston Mayor Bill White will to lobby the Republican Legislature for Houston. complete his first year in office. It has been a Back in the city, he has won community praise with a focus remarkably successful year for the first-time on quality-of-life issues such as closing down disruptive neigh- elected official. The mayor has a 76-percent borhood cantinas and synchronizing traffic lights. He takes approval rating, according to the Houston pride in his "after 5:00 p.m. job," when he goes out into the Chronicle, and is praised by a broad spectrum community for neighborhood meetings. The mayor has worked of the city from immigrants to the business community. on issues championed by environmentalists as well. He has Nothing in particular in the 50-year-old White's resume pre- repeatedly pushed state and federal regulators to crack down saged this success. A lawyer by trade, he came to City Hall from on local polluters. In a further effort to create a cohesive city, he a job as president and CEO of the Wedge Group, an $8.6-billion has spearheaded the creation of a 13-acre park downtown. The investment consortium. He also served as deputy energy secre- city is expected to pay only $10 million for the project, raising tary under President Bill Clinton and as chairman of the Texas an additional $35 million or so from private sources. White has Democratic Party from December 1995 to June 1998. already received commitments for much of the money. And while Sprawling Houston is the fourth largest city in the nation. It's those around the green space are expected to reap a development beset by a raft of problems, from emergency room overcrowding bonanza, White promises a world-class park in return. to maddening gridlock and the worst air pollution in the country. Bill White is a long-time subscriber to The Texas Observer. To further complicate matters, Houston has been a Republican In November, we sat down with the mayor at City Hall to talk town in a dark red state, not exactly friendly territory for a about his first year in office and the issues facing Houston in Democrat. And yet, White has forged a reputation as a hands- 2005. Here are excerpts from that conversation. on, populist-minded pragmatic, a centrist who has aggressively tried to improve the quality of life in his chaotic city. In person, TO: What do you see as Houston's most pressing need? he looks like a banker with large ears that frame a face prone to earnest responses formulated after thoughtful consideration. Bill White: Most citizens in every neighborhood just want The mayor has actively pursued bipartisanship. He had the better services, a higher quality of life with a reasonable price city building department privatized. The move had long been for government. The greatest overall need is to maintain this on the wish list of the city's powerful builders—Republican sugar as a city of opportunity where people can get a good job, a daddies like David Weekley and Bob Perry—who already have job with a future. That means growth, but we can't grow the the luxury of little to no zoning. Using his financial connections, way we have always grown and neglect features of our quality White has assiduously helped to court both Republicans and of life such as better ways to get to and from work, affordable Democrats from the appropriations committee in Congress in housing closer to the workplace, air quality, green space. And the hope that they will reciprocate with much-needed federal that's a challenge. Those things have to be harmonized. It's not dollars for the city. He has even developed a working relationship a compromise because most people do want a better future. with U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. During the com- You won't get a better future if you are a shrinking city and ing legislative session, White plans to travel personally to Austin can't attract and retain young people. -rwInNy

10 THE TEXAS OBSERVER -12/17/04 TO: Recently the Observer ran a story ("The Emergency," It can hurt the respiration of young people. We want to bring November 5, 2004) on overcrowding in Houston's emergency those levels down. Starting several years ago, well before I even rooms. Is there anything the city can do about the crisis in thought about running for mayor, I was working on this prob- health care? lem steadily with the nonprofit, Environmental Defense, and BW: The number one solution is to get more clinics out in the business community. It started before I was mayor by hav- the neighborhoods. Well over half the visits to our emergency ing a sea change in the business community where we passed rooms are for primary care by people who don't have group a resolution supporting compliance with the EPA targets and health insurance or Medicare to fall back on. We need them to goals. Historically, the Houston business community had be able to get some diagnostic services and treatments closer, fought the compliance, and there are some emitters who still in the neighborhoods, with community health clinics. This do, but most people understand that economic growth and is why, during my administration, with any help from the clean air go hand in hand. We can't attract the type of skilled folks in Washington, we will at least quadruple the number of people and jobs for the future unless we have cleaner air. neighborhood clinics we have out there. I have asked the TCEQ [Texas Council on Environmental We had six applications pending with the federal govern- Quality] in Austin to give us more local enforcement respon- ment. They are good applications for clinics that should be sibilities. I've asked the city attorney to get some top-notch qualified for federal funding, but about two or three weeks lawyers to [work] with our investigators to go after some of ago I heard that the administration had denied all six applica- the chronic polluters. I've asked state regulators to tighten tions, even though in Chicago there are over 50 of these health the regulations on chemicals such as benzene and propylene, clinics and they approved applications in other states. I'd which contribute to these emissions. We are hoping to convert like to think that on a bipartisan basis in this county [Harris our city fleet of passenger vehicles, where practical, to meet County], we can do better than that. We have to get our fair the kind of specifications [found in] the car I drive, which share of federal funding for neighborhood health clinics so is a hybrid that gets 45 miles per gallon. I want to encourage that we can provide good services to the public and not have Houstonians to do this. We are building over 70 miles of bike people crowding into the emergency room who just need to paths and we want to encourage people to take mass transit. see a doctor because somebody has a 5-year-old who is sick That is one of the reasons we want a park...to encourage resi- and they don't have money to pay. It crowds the emergency dential development close to the employment centers so that rooms. And they often wait to get the treatment until it is an people can walk to work and don't have to drive a car. These emergency, until it is pneumonia instead of just bronchitis, are all part of bringing the pollution down. and then it costs the taxpayers a lot more money. I rarely left Houston this last year because there is so much work to do here, but at least twice I have gone to meet with TO: The City of Houston has embarked on a project to build the commissioners and staff of the state regulators. I told the a downtown park. Why is this important? regulators that the people of Houston support strict compli- BW: If you look at the major urban areas of the world they ance with air quality regulations. have parks in the central area of the city that are well used, are a great common space, and people develop around those TO: Do you get any sense that state officials are receptive to parks. We are doing it on a fast track with more private money that? raised than in any project we've ever had in the City of Hous- BW: I think it depends—some commissioners more than ton. I've raised over $30 million in solid commitments in a others. I think we have had good discussions with the EPA matter of months to combine with the city funds. You will [Environmental Protection Agency] regional administrator see this become an island of a green space where there are and they sense a change. We want the City of Houston to be activities for families. You will see people from all walks of life allies of the public and not just a handful of large emitters. come down to this area. I have always been struck by other cities with a vital urban center. Whether they are in Europe, or TO: In the year that you've been mayor, what are you most cities large or small in Mexico, they have a central plaza area proud of? where people of all ages get together. That is the kind of thing BW: Really bringing the city together. Attracting some new that we will have here in downtown Houston. Bryant Park is a employers to our city and creating a sense that things can good example in New York City. Where you see people watch- change, that it doesn't need to be the lobbyists in city hall that ing outdoor movies, where people bring their families and call the shots—that the civic clubs and the citizens have the have a hot date or eat snow cones that are served at the park. ear of the mayor and their elected officials. It will be a first-class park. The biggest surprise that I've had is the fact that we've made dramatic changes in the way the city does business without as TO: Houston once again this year topped the list of U.S. cities much controversy in the public as I would have thought. It with the worst air pollution. What can be done? has caused a lot of controversy in this building, sometimes. BW: I spend time every week working on this. In particular, We had the fiasco on our freeways where seven or eight tow we have an unacceptably high level of low-level ozone, which trucks would pull up to the side of the road where there was a is often referred to as smog and which is irritating to the lungs. —continued on page 31

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 11 POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE Point and Shoot

MAKING A BUCK ONLINE A Texas Web site, raged animal rights activists have taken aim at role of smaller donors," says Fred Lewis of www.live-shot.com , could well be the pin- Lockwood's project. No provision in Texas law, Campaigns for People, one of the groups nacle in the state's evolution. It marries two however, even mentions hunting on the web. involved. "They will put the voter back in irreconcilable ideas to produce the perfect According to Lockwood, the only restriction is charge in Texas." Lone Star service. House-bound enterprising that aspiring web hunters must obtain a state First on the list is to close the corporate sportsmen can finally have it all, by using hunting license. And no dial up. and union money loopholes. This will require the site to hunt over the Internet. Forget the The Web site also offers 20-minute, paper- three actions: A ban on pseudo-issue ads like camouflage outfit, the long drive, the schlep- target practice (for the low, low price of those used by the Texas Association of Busi- ping through the woods. Now you can blow $5.95) and 30-day memberships ($14.95). ness in 2002 that appear within 60 days of away Bambi without taking your feet off the The actual remote hunting costs more than an election and refer to a candidate or target desk. It's a real gun, real bullets, and real $1,000, although prices vary depending on that candidate's electorate. A ban on the dead animals. what animal you shoot. For just a few hundred use of corporate or union funds to influence No, America Online did not appoint Elmer dollars more, Lockwood will ship you the meat, elections by new types of corporate entities Fudd chairman of the board. Cyber hunting and send your kill to a local taxidermist to such as limited liability companies, partner- is the creation of San Antonio resident John make the head presentable for your wall. ships, and professional companies. And a ban Lockwood. He's an avid outdoorsman who on contributions from out-of-state PACs and owns a 300-acre hunting ranch outside of CLEANING UP TX POLITICS When the Sharp- political parties that commingle corporate and town. Like so many of humanity's greatest stown banking scandal shook up state gov- non-corporate funds like the Republican State innovations, online hunting was the product ernment in the early 1970s, a surge of reform Elections Committee did in 2002. of a bull session. Last year, Lockwood and a followed. Efforts to make the Legislature The second reform calls for reasonable friend were watching a hunting Web site that more open and accountable had foundered for limits on campaign contributions. In 2004, has live camera shots of the wild. When a years. Reformers were ready for the oppor- Houston homebuilder Bob Perry spent more white-tailed buck wandered into view, their tunity when the Lege returned to session. In than $2.7 million on state elections. In 2002, next thought was only natural. "My co-worker the end, Sharpstown spurred good-govern- almost half of the $127 million in contribu- said, 'Wouldn't it be great if you could put a ment legislation on campaign reporting, eth- tions given to Texas state candidates came gun on something like that;" Lockwood said. ics, lobby registration, open meetings, and from 382 donors. The coalition has suggested "I thought, 'There's no reason you couldn't do open records as well as a number of consumer that no single individual should be allowed that:" So he constructed a $10,000 platform protections. to give more than $25,000 total in each state on his ranch, topped with a computer, a video Three decades later, a Travis County grand election. camera, and a .22 caliber Remington. The jury has returned one set of indictments in The coalition is also calling for giving the camera streams live video over the Inter- a growing campaign scandal. A second grand state's alleged campaign watchdog some net, and the Web site gives paying members jury will be impaneled in January to further teeth. In 12 years and more than 1,000 filed remote control of the rifle to pick off wildlife investigate an apparent conspiracy to use complaints, the Texas Ethics Commission has that strays in front of the platform. Lockwood illegal corporate money to elect a compli- never subpoenaed a witness or document and contends that the process is completely safe. ant slate of Republican legislators in 2002. never conducted a full audit of any campaign. A ranch hand monitors all shooting sessions The three biggest individual beneficiaries of Finally, echoing a call from most major state from the platform, answers questions through this scheme were U.S. House Majority Leader newspapers, the group urges that all legisla- instant messaging, and controls an electronic Tom Delay, now-Texas state House Speaker tive votes be recorded. Currently, there is safety for the gun to prevent any cyber hunt- Tom Craddick, and postmodern lobbyist Mike a good chance average citizens will never ing accidents. The attendant won't release the Toomey. (For more on Toomey, read Andrew know how their representative voted on many electronic safety until he's sure the customer Wheat in this issue.) And once again, those pieces of important legislation. has a safe shot. "Just like in a real hunting who have been agitating for genuine reform Not content simply to propose reforms, the situation, you're not going to have your safe- for years are ready. coalition—whose other partners include Public ty off until you're sure it's a safe situation," Marshalling under the banner "Clean Up Citizen, the AARP of Texas, state chapters Lockwood said. Texas Politics" (Cleanuptexaspolitics.com ), a of the League of Women Voters, the Baptist Lockwood says that his ranch already hosts public interest coalition has formed to push Christian Life Commission, American Jewish deer, sheep, and pigs and that he plans to four simple measures in the coming leg- Committee, and Texas Impact—is stirring up import blackbuck antelope to boot. As word islative session. "These changes will make the grassroots and backing specific legisla- of the site has circulated on the Internet, out- elections competitive again and enhance the tion. As part of the campaign, they are holding

12 THE TEXAS OBSERVER •12/17/04 all reservists in a military police detach- ment based in Maryland. The three Fort Hood defendants are Sergeant Javal Davis, 27 (accused of stepping on detainees' hands and feet in the famous naked prisoner pyramid); Specialist Sabrina Harman, also 27 (caught smiling in photos with a dead body and with naked detainees), and 36-year-old Specialist Charles Graner (the alleged ring-leader for much of the abuse, and supposed father of Pfc. Lynndie England's baby). England is on trial at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Davis' pre-trial hearing, the first of the three, lasted three hours. The attorneys spent much of the time haggling over which witnesses the military would allow to testify for the defense at trial. The army counsel, wearing perfectly pressed dark green dress uniforms, tried to convince the judge to limit the number of military intelligence officers and commanders from the prison who would testify. The government's case is simple enough: the accused soldiers acted on their own and out of the chain of command. It's essentially the "few bad apples" theory postulated by President Bush and Pentagon chieftains. Davis' civilian attorney, Paul Bergrin, previewed his defense strategy by arguing that the defendants were under orders from military intelligence officers to soften up prisoners for interrogations. He theorized that the abuse was a direct result of U.S. military policy emanating from the Pentagon and White House. The judge in the cases, Col. James Pohl, ruled that the army had to produce roughly two-thirds of the military witnesses that Bergrin asked for, though he denied several key ones, including the military intelligence summits across the state. The first occurred in December 4, and still dark. About a dozen commander at Abu Ghraib, Thomas Pappas. San Antonio on December 1. About 70 people shivering reporters were gathered, waiting to Pohl declared that Pappas and other military showed, all believing that the public has been be led into the world's largest military base, intelligence higher-ups weren't connected to shut out of their government, and now is the where, a few hours later, pre-trial hearings the specific assault charges that Davis faces. time for change. Additional forums will be would begin for three of the soldiers charged "[But] Pappas approved the use of dogs [for held in Dallas and Houston. with committing infamous abuses at Iraq's Abu interrogation] in violation of every law known "There is a broad consensus growing among Ghraib prison. The military had moved the tri- to mankind," pleaded a frustrated Bergrin in activists, Capitol insiders, and the public that als from Baghdad to Fort Hood without expla- his heavy Brooklyn accent. our current system is out of control and shuts nation, and the army seemingly expected a "I'm not dealing with every law known to off access and input," says Fred Lewis. "If the battalion of press to descend on the post. But mankind," shot back the folksy Pohl. "I'm just public will get off its rear end and fight for the crowd never came. The army's directive dealing with the laws that I know." His ruling change we have a good chance of getting it." that reporters wanting to cover the hear- was final. Pappas wouldn't testify. ings—which didn't start till 9 a.m.—arrive at Graner will be the first to stand trial, begin- TRIAL RUN "There aren't any satellite trucks," the remote base by 6 a.m. likely thinned the ning on January 7. Trials for Davis (early Feb- said a camouflage-clad public affairs officer, media ranks. ruary), and Harman (late March) will follow. gazing around the mostly empty parking lot Those reporters who dragged themselves A few more reporters, and perhaps a few outside Fort Hood's main gate. He sounded a to the base in time saw a hint of how the satellite trucks, will likely be on hand for tad disappointed. It was just past 6 a.m. on government would prosecute the defendants, those. ■

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13 MOLLY IVINS Torture, American St le t is both peculiar and chilling An earlier Red Cross report ques- to find oneself discussing the What are YOU tioned whether "psychological torture" problem of American torture. was taking place. I guess that's what you I have considered support of going to do about call sleep deprivation and prolonged basic human rights and dignity exposure to extremely loud noises while so much a part of our national this? It's your shackled to a chair. The beatings report- 1identity that this feels as strange as country ... ed would not be psychological torture. though I'd suddenly become Chinese or I pass over the apparently abandoned found Fidel Castro in the refrigerator. practice of sexual taunting. The Red One's first response to the report Cross also reports a far greater incidence by the International Red Cross about struction of such a system, whose stated of mental illness caused by stress. torture at our prison at Guantanamo is purpose is the production of intelli- If you have neither the imagination denial. "I don't want to think about it; gence, cannot be considered other than nor the empathy to envision yourself in I don't want to hear about it; we're the an intentional system of cruel, unusual such circumstances, please consider why good guys, they're the bad guys; shut up. and degrading treatment, and a form the senior commanders in the military And besides, they attacked us first." of torture." are so horrified by this. It's very sim- But our country has opposed torture Our country, the one you and I are ple. Because, if we do this, if we break since its founding. One of our found- responsible for, has imprisoned these international law and the conventions ing principles is that cruel and unusual "illegal combatants" for three years now. of warfare, then the same thing can punishment is both illegal and wrong. What the hell else do we expect to get be done to American soldiers who are Every year, our State Department issues out of them? We don't even release captured abroad. Any country can use a report grading other countries on their names or say what they're charged exactly the same lame rationale about their support for or violations of human with—whether they're Taliban, Al "enemy combatants" to torture Ameri- rights. Qaeda, or just some farmers who hap- can troops in any kind of conflict. Then The first requirement here is that we pened to get in the way (in Afghanistan, we would protest to the Red Cross, of look at what we are doing—and not farmers and soldiers are apt to be the course. blink, not use euphemisms. Despite the same). I suppose one could argue that we're Red Cross's polite language, this is not If this hasn't been established in three fighting people who chop off the heads "tantamount to torture." It's torture. It years, when will it be? How long are of their prisoners, so there. Since when is not "detainee abuse." It's torture. If they to be subjected to "humiliating have we taken up Abu al-Zarqawi as a they were doing it to you, you would acts, solitary confinement, temperature role model? In the famous hypothetical know it was torture. It must be hidden extremes, use of forced positions"? example, you might consider torture away, because it's happening in Cuba or In the name of Jesus Christ Almighty, justified if you had a terrorist who elsewhere abroad. why are people representing our gov- knew where a bomb was planted that Yes, it's true, we did sort of know ernment, paid by us, writing filth on was about to go off. But three years this already. It was clear when the Abu the Korans of helpless prisoners? Is this later? Some people have got to be held Ghraib scandal broke in Iraq that the American? Is it Christian? What are our accountable for this, and that would infection had come from Guantanamo. moral values? Where are the clergymen include Congress. The infamous memos by Alberto Gon- on this? Speak out, speak up. My question is: What are YOU going zales, our next attorney general, and by The creepiest aspect of the Red Cross to do about this? It's your country, your John Ashcroft's "Justice" Department report is the involvement of doctors and money, your government. You own it, pretty well laid it out. psychiatrists in something called "Bis- you run it, you are the board of direc- In a way, Abu Ghraib, as bizarrely cuit" teams. Get used to that acronym: It tors. They are doing this in your name. sadistic as it was, is easier to understand stands for Behavioral Science Consulta- The people we elect to public office do than this cold, relentless, and apparently tion Team and will end up in the same what you want them to. Perhaps you endless procedure at Gitmo. At least category of national shame as Wounded should get in touch with them. ■ Abu Ghraib took place in the context of Knee. According to The New York Times, war. At Guantanamo, there is no threat Biscuit teams are "composed of psy- Molly Ivins is a nationally syndicated col- to anyone—Americans are not being chologists and psychological workers umnist. Her new book with Lou Dubose is killed or hurt there. who advise the interrogators?' Shades of Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's The Red Cross report says, "The con- Dr. Mengele. America (Random House).

14 THE TEXAS OBSERVER •12/17/04 ,, • .,11,1•••.;

JIM HIGHTOWER Bankruptcy Scams y is it that when George zens from suing corporations. "Frivolous 100 miles an hour... but forgot to put W. says he's going to lawsuits," he calls them. But I wonder if their brains in gear. This is a group "reform" something, I his legislation will go the other way— award, going to the top school offi- instinctively want to stopping corporations from filing frivo- cials of Brooklawn, New Jersey. They've grab my money, my lous lawsuits against us ordinary Joes launched a program there to teach pub- liberties, my family— and Jills? Take the case of Alvis Coatings lic school kids a big lesson in life: Cash is and flee to the woods? For the Bushites, Inc., an outfit that makes spray-on siding more important than values. Brooklawn the word reform means "deform," to for homes. Hordes of unhappy custom- officials have okayed the leasing of their monkeywrench the system so the rich ers have complained about the poor public school properties to corporations get richer. Still, there's one system crying quality of its spray-on stuff. But rather that want to put up ads, thus letting out for real reform: the bankruptcy pro- than make amends or, in the best free them buy access to a captive audience cess that corporations are using to stiff enterprise tradition, improve its product, of impressionable youngsters. The first their employees while letting CEOs sim- Alvis has unleashed its corporate legal facility to be branded is the gym at Alice ply walk away from binding contracts beagles to sue a Georgia couple who Costello Elementary School. Now it's on wages, health care, and pensions. At were merely trying to get a little justice the ShopRite of Brooklawn Center. For present, the big abusers of employees are over what they consider a rip-off. only $100,000, the supermarket chain United, US Air, Delta, and other major Alan and Linda Townsend paid more bought the naming rights to the gym airlines that have been poorly managed than $16,000 for an Alvis spray-on job for 20 years. What a cheap sellout! The and now are being squeezed by their on their home—an unsightly job that school system gets a measly $5,000 a bankers and jet fuel suppliers. Screaming left them decidedly unhappy. So they year, and in turn it surrenders the prin- poverty, these airlines have rushed to used their First Amendment free speech ciple that public schools are hallowed bankruptcy court, demanding that judg- rights to create a web site about their institutions that exist as a sanctuary es allow them to abrogate legitimate con- experience with Alvis's product. Soon, from rank hucksterism, created to teach tracts that they had negotiated in good other angry Alvis customers began post- values of citizenship, not commercial- faith with their pilots, flight attendants, ing their own stories on the Townsends' ism. Do Brooklawn's officials fret at all mechanics, and others. These are loyal, web site, telling how the coating on their that they're teaching kids that school is longtime, hard-working employees who homes had cracked, bubbled, and buck- just another space for corporate mer- already have made concession after con- led. Next thing you know, the corpora- chandising? Ha! School board president cession. Yet the CEOs demand still more, tion sued Alan and Linda, asserting that Bruce Darrow giddily says, "It's the wave using the federal bankruptcy law as their the couple's web site defames its product, of the future. I'm looking into selling weapon for this mugging. This one-sided confuses other consumers, and infringes advertising on the children's basketball law apparently legalizes end-runs to let on Alvis's trademarks. Alvis demanded uniforms!' This Gooberhead then tries corporations weasel out of their obliga- $75,000 in damages, plus punitive dam- to claim that the corporatization process tions. What an interesting lesson for all ages and attorneys' fees. Such a judgment does have standards: "We're not going to of us who've been taught that a contract could ruin the Townsends, a middle- cut a deal where it's the Alice Costello is sacrosanct, a legally binding giving of class family whose entire home is valued School sponsored by Playboy Magazine." one's word. Here's my question: Why at about $150,000. Of course, corpora- Ah, ethics. But what about Cosmopolitan do the CEOs only target the workers for tions file such suits hoping to scare off magazine, Victoria's Secret, or Hooters? cost-cutting? Why not tell Exxon and the critics, but Alan and Linda have not And what if Playboy dangled a million other fuel suppliers "No," we can't pay backed off. Theirs has become a crucial dollars in front of these officials? Once your gouging prices, so we're abrogating case about online free speech. "As long you sell the principle, the game is wide those commitments? Or, why not say as this stuff is on our house," says Linda, open. Schools everywhere are commer- to the super-wealthy bankers, you take "We're going to talk about it." To follow cializing themselves. If you think school some of the pain, too? Why do they only this landmark case and encourage these should not be treated as a market, call pound their workers? It's time to fix the two fighters for our basic rights, call Commercial Alert and fight back: 503- bankruptcy law that has legalized the Public Citizen: 202-588-1000. 235-8012. ■ corporate robbery of workers. READING, WRITING–AND RANK HUCKSTERISM Jim Hightower is the best-selling author of REFORM RIP-OFF George W says that one Time for another Gooberhead Award— Thieves In High Places: They've Stolen of his top three legislative priorities is presented periodically to those in the Our Country And It's Time To Take It "lawsuit reform"—to keep us pesky citi- news who have their tongues running Back, on sale now from Viking Press.

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 15

ANDREW WHEAT Texas' First Postmodern Lobbyist uture historians may sin- Government," December 6, 2002]. At next wave of TRMPAC indictments. On gle out the ongoing crimi- that time Toomey had 42 clients (includ- October 1 he filed corporate records nal probe of Tom DeLay's ing Philip Morris, Enron, the American with the Secretary of State that identi- Texans for a Republican Insurance Association, Aetna, CIGNA, fied himself as the registered agent of Majority (TRMPAC) as the USA Managed Care, Merck, and Texans the Texas Lobby Group (which now also catalyst that pushed the for Lawsuit Reform) paying him up to would do business as the Texas Lobby IFmodern Texas lobby into postmod- $1.9 million. Alliance). Meanwhile, Toomey began ernism. Heretofore the time-honored reporting lobby clients. Half of these way to join Texas' lobby elite was to ON RETAINER initial clients had retained Toomey in amass political connections by press- Although the details have never been 2002 and had been represented in the ing a shoulder to the Capitol's massive made public, Toomey apparently did not interim by partners Messer and Wil- revolving door. Up-and-coming lobby- leave this gravy train completely behind. liams. Reached for comment on this ists were dogged by just one question: In the last weeks of 2002, fellow revolv- story, Toomey confined himself to a Do I have enough stroke? Within that ing-door lobbyist Bill Messer formed a brief statement. Noting that his state system it was unthinkable that a lob- new firm, the Texas Lobby Group, which lobby registration data "is up to date byist could have too much heft. The scooped up Toomey lobby partner Ellen and accurate," Toomey added, "That's TRMPAC probe imperils this naive age Williams along with many of Toomey's all I'd like to say." of innocence by raising the postmod- old clients. It was an open secret that ern possibility that lobbyists can amass the governor's new chief of staff had MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE? excessive clout and connections. Taken consecrated this new firm. The lobby While Toomey kicked up a storm of to the extreme, a lobbyist and gov- business of firm President Bill Messer conflicting interests by barreling from ernment become indivisible. By these almost doubled from 24 clients who lobbying to government and back measures, Mike Toomey appears to be paid him up to $1.2 million in 2001 to again like a Tasmanian devil, this alone Austin's first postmodern lobbyist. 45 clients who paid him up to $2.1 mil- does not put him in a class of his own. After Governor Rick Perry—who was lion in 2003. An unnamed lobbyist told Two factors separate Toomey from the rest. First, as a top lobbyist in 2002 he Toomey's roommate . when both men the Dallas Morning News in 2002 that served in the Texas House—picked this new firm allowed Toomey to "park orchestrated legally questionable plans Toomey to be his chief of staff two years his clients while he is on the governor's to spend millions of dollars in corpo- ago, the Observer noted that GOP lead- payroll." rate money to elect a Republican Texas ers were eliminating the middlemen Sure enough. Toomey did not skip House majority. Second, as the gover- between special interests and govern- a beat when he resigned from the gov- nor's right hand immediately thereafter, ment by letting corporate lobbyists run ernor's office this September—amid he leveraged these chits to promote the government ["The Lobby Reinvents rumors that he might surface in the aggressively the agenda of corporations that were his once and future employers. Some lawmakers privately say that Toomey aggressively worked them over Toomey's First Lobby Clients After Leaving the Governor's Office during the 2003 session to promote a gubernatorial agenda that often eerily

2004 CLIENT CONTRACT VALUE mirrored the agenda of Toomey's old cli- . $25,000 - $50,000 ents. If Toomey's old clients had placed a Texans for Lawsuit Reform* Manchurian candidate in the Governor's Big City Capital, LLC $10,000 - $25,000 Mansion, it is hard to imagine how his or her policies would have differed from Port of Houston Authority $10,000 - $25,000 those of Governor Perry. Toomey's top client this year—repeat customer Texans $10,000 - $25,000 Texas Gas Service* for Lawsuit Reform (TLR)—exempli- Assoc. Builders & Contractors* $0 - $10,000 fies both of Toomey's distinguishing characteristics. TLR, which saw its Texas CASA, Inc. $0 - $10,000 agenda championed by Governor Perry, also had a heavy hand in the GOP *Toomey also represented this client in 2002. House takeover.

16 THE TEXAS OBSERVER •12/17/04 As Observer readers know, a Trav- American Insurance Association, which appointees on the Texas Racing Com- is County grand jury is investigating Toomey represented in 2002, benefited mission to build a horse track outside allegations that the Texas Association from new caps on medical malpractice of Austin. In June, AJC recruited two of Business (TAB) and Tom DeLay's liabilities (a key objective of TLR) and new partners with close ties to Governor Texans for a Republican Majority PAC the defeat of proposals to mandate rate Perry. (TRMPAC) illegally spent $2.5 million cuts on homeowners insurance. The leg- —continued on page 19 in corporate funds to elect a Republican islature also stran- House Majority in 2002. Among other gled a proposal Inspirat Tonal Holiday Gifts witnesses, the grand jury already has that would have subpoenaed the testimony of Toomey unplugged Toom- partner Ellen Williams, as well as Matt ey client AT&T (a Welch, director of TLR's PAC (which corporate donor bankrolled essentially the same slate to TRMPAC and of GOP House candidates in 2002). TAB) from Texas' The grand jury appears to be weighing high-speed Inter- evidence to determine if any of this net market. Tobac- coordination amounted to a criminal co lobby insiders conspiracy to break Texas' prohibition report that Toomey on corporate electioneering. If such a is being hired again conspiratorial web is uncovered, it is to lobby for Phil- hard to imagine how Toomey could be ip Morris, which far from its epicenter. benefited from the extinguishing of FOLK ART & OTHER TREASURES FROM AROUND THE WORLD 209 Congress Ave, Austin, Tx 512/479-8341 CALLING SHOTS proposed cigarette Daily Holiday Hours until Christmas 10-7 • www.tesoros.com Indicted TRMPAC Director John Coly- tax hikes in 2003. andro has said that he repeatedly met Toomey clients with Toomey and the head of the TAB Associated Builders to discuss 2002 political races (the cal- and Contractors and endar that Toomey kept on the gover- American Home nor's staff reveals that these men contin- Shield, a home-war- Three Ways to Shape a Bettor World ued conferring regularly thereafter). A ranty company, ben- TAB board member, Toomey supervised efit from the new With Your Inv ants that group's controversial political ad Texas Residential blitz, the Austin American - Statesman Construction Com- Domini Social Equity Fund* reported, even soliciting some of the mission, an industry- offers growth opportunttles through a portfolio of stock§ selected for their social and environmental performance, $1.9 million in corporate funds that dominated agency paid for it from such Toomey clients to oversee disputes Domini Social Bond Fund provides diversification while supporting homeowner§ and small as AT&T, Aetna, and Cigna. Defending between homeown- business owners In struggling communities, such coordination, TAB attorney Andy ers and builders. Domini Money Market Account ' Taylor said that the political expendi- A key piece of offers safety and liquidity through FDIC-Insured deposits that help tures of TAB and TRMPAC were "legally unfinished Perry- promote community development, independent." Begging to differ, Travis Toomey business County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is to convince the Please obtain a currant prospectus for more complete information Statesman that "coordination is legislature to gen- including risks, fees, and expanses., by calling 1-800-530-5321 told the or online at www,domini,com, just a fancy word for conspiracy" erate educational Legal or not, the $2.5 million in cor- revenue by legal- porate money that the TAB and TRM- izing slot machines Domini '1111 SOCIAL INVESTMENTS' PAC poured into the 2002 race greatly at race tracks and Way YIII4 'Went Mater" advanced the GOP's goal of controlling Indian reservations. rim Welt WWW.d0Mirli.00M or Call us at 1-800-530-5321 the Texas House. The choicest fruit Seeking to harvest this plum—should of this takeover was the redrawing of TM Domini 80041 foully logiol Nand Fond erg NOW to merlin! P1141 MO PO Texas' congressional districts to Tom it come to frui- POI 01110Ped: YOU logy Wee gloomy, The Domini !Neill NOW WWI Higavolly duvulopmeol litveitmunts nuty be unrifled end Derry rooter Ueda risks icon the Fon other lovutients, The Owl SKIM DeLay's satisfaction. As the Observer tion—is the Austin flood Fund currently bolo 6 Ione ;Arcot" el KS norflolie In foorineutbeoluut seouritlis, DMMrtl reported, however, the 2003 Legisla- Jockey Club (AJC), period§ of lettlou Interest rotes those HOuPillus rosy groggy fits oplonlpel due, witieti Noy levier the which has applied WO return by cueing H to relovest it IOWOP retie, °OIL Melon* LLH, ture also repeatedly came to the aid of OletrIbuter (01110), 10inn top Toomey clients. Members of the to gubernatorial

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 17 TYRANT'S FOE RABBLE ROUSER ACTIVIST Joe & Lee Jamail Becky Beaver & John Duncan Carlton Carl Open Society Institute • John Robert Barman Jim Davis Wayne & Dana Reaud Ed & Cynthia Blizzard •Vic Feazell Shelton & Sunny Smith— Mrs. Warren (Kay) Burnett - Jan Woodward Fox Austin', Texas Alpine, Texas Dr. Carol W Fredericks Ronya Kozmetsky Susan & Julius Glickman PEOPLE'S FRIEND Ronald Krist Good Company Associates Larry Flynt Pat Maloney Sr. Lawrence (Larry) Harrington, Minfon Burton . Foster & Collins PC Janis & Joe Pinnclli charter subscriber MFI Foundation Nelson Roach Susan Hays TEXAS MONTHLY Smothers Foundation Vic Hinterlang TateAustin Hub Medical Center Pharmacy Julie & John Thornton Bernard L. Lifshutz, in memoriam Michael. Zilkha Walt & Betty Ligon Susan Longley AGITATOR Jim Marston & Annette LoVoi •Ben & Melanie Barnes Gilberto Ocatias & Ana "Cha" Guzman Dale & Libby Linebarger Scott Ozmun George C, Shipley Randy & Nancy Parten In Robert A. & Nancy Taylor Shivers Bettiruth & Adolph 0. Susholtz 41.

Celebrat i on of 50 years past and 50 years to come, we congratulate The Texas Observer FRIEND Linda Aaker & Bob Armstrong Hon. Gene Green Pat & Trudi Morris Davi4 & Karen Anderson J. Michael Guerra Bob Mullen Ben & Susan Baker Haley Johnson & Gerry D'Amour Beth Myler & Erik Josowitz Frank & Susan Bash Dan Jones & Suzanne Schmidt Bob & Ann Norment Antonio Pruneda Bill Norman & Audrey Kaplan Bob Ozer & Janet Dewey Ron Bozman Ccle & Sam Keeper Carl Parker Otis & Claudia Carroll Mary E. Kelly & Rick Lowerre Diana Pinckley & John M. Pope Jess Chapin & Laurie Eiserloh Don & Mary Jo Kennard Bill & Suzy Reid Randy Chapman & Nancy Trease John 0. Kirkpatrick Marvin & Shirley Rich' Loretto & John Clarkson Barbara & Don Kiser Paul & Ann Rich Brady Coleman Ro. llins M. •& Amalie L. Koppel Sharron Rush Dave & Alice Benison Claire Korioth David Ridgway & Kristen Castellanos Margaret J. Di Clementi Emily Kunreuther Nancy Scanlan & Nancy J. Devlin Phillip & Mary Nell Mathis A.R. "Babe" & Marilyn. Schwartz John. R. Downes Jr. Catherine Mauzy Mickey M. & Kathleen Sparkman Lou Dubose & Jeanne Goka Julia Orpiski Maverick Richard R. & Belinda Terrell Chris & Tish Elliott . - . Tom & Cathy McGarity James C. Thompson MD Robert & Elizabeth Fernea Betty Lynn -&- David McHam Shelly & Brenda Veselka Ham Fish & The Nation Institute Ann & Jim McMullan Patrick Wang Max Freeman James McWilliams & Leila Kempner Mel & Karen Ward Joe Frank Garza Fred & Kathy Miller Bill & Stephanie Whitehurst Ernestine Glossbrenner J. Brooks Mitchell Katherine Williams Philip & Gloria Gray . & Debbie Baker-Sharpton

—Wheat, continued from page 17 will bill Big City up to $1 mil- One is Austin realtor Tim Tim- lion this year. This is far more The Texas Observer I merman, who now owns 10 per- than Big City needs to promote Opening the Eyes of Texas for Fifty Years cent of AJC. The Dallas Morning its plans to stage huge concerts News reported that Timmerman on public beaches in Galveston. told Perry in 1993 about land Significantly, Big City lobbyists eve the g'ft that strategically stood between report that they have been hired municipal sewage lines and the to lobby on "gambling" issues. THAT KEEPS ON hilltop that Michael Dell was At press time it was unclear if buying up for Travis County's Toomey, Billy Bob, and Big City g . v. ng 'em hell. largest homestead. Perry brought were working behind the scenes the tract for $122,000, making a to promotes the AJC—or if they First gift subscription $27 $343,000 profit when Dell bought have other gambling plans. each additional gift only $25. it just two years later. Through power-of-attorney, Mike Toomey CORPORATE BACKLASH was the man who actually signed In late 2002, Mike Toomey went the papers to buy that land in directly from being a major - A 1993. corporate lobbyist to being the AJC's next-largest new owner governor's chief of staff. Two is Holt Hickman, the owner of years later, he has come full circle Fort Worth's Stockyards and Billy in starting to sign up some of ifexas Observer , Bob's Texas—the world's largest the same clients again. The sole honky tonk. Hickman bought restriction that Governor Perry's 2. 50th ''' ethics policy imposes during this •••,-, . that Western club from epony- CHRISTMAS . • mous founder Billy Bob Barnett. spectacular round trip is that Both men have long wanted to Toomey cannot directly lobby . . .,...,: N.A; break into.the gambling industry. the governor's office for the 12 . . ,. . ,,, In late 2002, as Toomey joined months following his departure. i - ., Governor Perry's staff, Barnett During that time, Toomey can ..' , registered a new company in lobby any other state agency or official and his business part- Nevada: Big City, LLC., Back in Your name Billy Bob's Texas, Big City is one ners can continue to lobby the (We'll send a gift card) of the first lobby clients Toomey governor's office on behalf of Check enclosed signed this year. Toomey is just clients that they co-represent Credit card* # one of eight Texas lobbyists that —continued on page 27 Exp. Date

Their name Their address: City/ST/Zip

This offer is good through January 15, 2005. Please mail payment and addressee info to: The Texas Observer, 307 W. 7th St., Austin, TX 78701.

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12/17/04•THE TEXAS OBSERVER 19 —Lubbock, continued from page 9 in the old back sections after assuming Jeanette Livingston doesn't remember control of the cemetery. At the time, city her mother—she was barely two in 1943 ost blacks and Latinos staff cited concerns about the impossi- when Wilma Allen died giving birth to came to Lubbock first to bility of locating many of the old graves. Livingston's sister Margaret—but she pick cotton, later, to work However, the designation "Old Colored remembers her grave. The girls' uncle in the gins. They were a tiny Section" continued to appear in burial took the girls to visit the plot every minority, easily ignored by the city's records for more than 30 years. Under Sunday for 15 years. The grave had no political power structure. A 1923 city the city's operation, pauper burials were headstone—the family couldn't afford ordinance established a "colored sec- still the norm for black and Latino citi- one—but they tried to keep the tempo- tion" at what was then the far eastern zens. The exact location of those graves rary marker supplied by the cemetery in edge of town. Declaring the presence was not recorded. "I don't believe any- good shape. "I close my eyes and I can of "negroes... and persons containing one ever wrote it down;' Copeland says. see that grave Livingston says. "Even up to one-eighth negro blood" a civic "I think it was just assumed that it was though I was little, I remember know- emergency, the ordinance made it a the family's responsibility." ing it was just awful back there. The crime for a black person to buy or rent For years, the de facto segregation of ground was full of broken glass and it property outside the established area, or the cemetery was scarcely challenged; smelled bad." for a white person to sell or lease it to few of Lubbock's minority residents Livingston made her last trip to the them. The ordinance also established could afford more than a pauper's grave grave when she was 19, just before she a $200 fine for black residents found anyway. The cemetery was fully inte- left town for good. "I wanted things outside this area after dark. "Their resi- grated in 1979, when the city settled Lubbock could never give me," Livings- dence is dangerous to the health and out of court with a prominent black ton says. "I wanted the house on the hill pollutes the earth and atmosphere," the attorney who sued for the right to bury and the swimming pool. If I'd stayed in ordinance asserted, although an excep- his wife in the front of the cemetery, Lubbock, they'd have hung me. I went tion was made for servants living in where the grass was. Shortly before the to say goodbye She would not visit the white homes. suit settled, the city cut down the row cemetery again until 2002, when she Integration was a quiet affair in Lub- of cedar trees that had separated the was in Lubbock for a family reunion. "I bock. After the passage of the Civil white and minority sections for 50 years. couldn't wait to get there, and then it Rights Act, "Colored Only" signs came Slowly, the city planted grass and tidied wasn't there," Livingston says. "It was down in public buildings, though they up the old back sections. It was during grassed in, but no grave." would crop up in private establish- this tidying, in the '80s, that many fami- Livingston went to the cemetery ments for another decade. Well into the lies first noticed their grave markers had office, housed in a tiny stone building `70s, the city bus station had two extra disappeared. The city's record keeping at the front of the park, and asked for bathrooms. "They could say, 'Nobody was even slower to change; records help. The cemetery clerk couldn't locate made you go in there, but everybody were eventually integrated, and precise a record of Wilma Allen's burial. Liv- knew where they were supposed to descriptions of locations were common ingston asked the cemetery supervisor go," says Eddie Richardson, editor of for almost all burials by the '70s. But as to come with her to the spot where the Lubbock's African-American newspa- late as 1985, there are a few burials for grave had been, and the two drove out per, the Southwest Digest. which "Old Colored Space" is still the to the back corner together. "You could Before the city took over operation of only location given. Survey maps of the blindfold me and I could take you to the cemetery in 1948, minority commu- cemetery's front sections show each and that grave. I know exactly where it was:' nities were responsible for burying their every grave. Maps of the back sections Livingston says. "He told me I must be own dead. A group called the Lubbock show only arrows pointing the way east. making a mistake. He said 'You don't Civic and Social Organization handled Officially, the city has little to say know what you're talking about' He the burials of black citizens, while most about the lawsuit and no explanation of was mean." Latinos were buried by one of Lubbock's what, if anything, may have gone wrong. Livingston went home to Mt. Vernon, Catholic churches. Blacks and Latinos (The city's formal answer to the suit, Washington, but continued to query city were charged for burial services, but not filed in the 237th District Court, denies and cemetery officials about the missing for plots. Instead, they were buried in the the allegations, "each and every, all and grave. When they began to hang up the style common for "paupers' graves"—in singular:') But those who have asked for phone on her, Livingston got online rows, in the order in which they died. help finding missing graves say city staff and looked up Lubbock attorneys. A If the private burial organizations kept have told them that their memories are few advised her to drop the matter. But records, they never turned them over to faulty, that they're to blame for the loss when she called Steve Claus, he told her the city, says Sam Copeland, who was because they didn't put up permanent she had a case. She filed suit against the the cemetery supervisor from 1998 to monuments, or that they're altogether city in May. After the Lubbock Avalanche- 2001. According to Copeland, the city mistaken about which cemetery their Journal ran a story on the lawsuit, oth- claimed to have stopped burying people loved ones are buried in. -continued on page 26

20 THE TEXAS OBSERVER •12/17/04 POETRY

OLD COWBOY PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB

I saw an old cowboy The light The world at the Post Office in my room enters on the other day, is pale, a breeze, making his way quiet, quietly to his old pickup truck. soft. blowing He was thin as a rail, Enter gauzy boots scuffed to hell. slowly curtains His face was so as aside. droopy like not to I am not his mustache, disturb asleep. his best part. my light. I am He had on faded Don't closed. Wranglers, make Don't make maybe 28 X 34. turbulence me open. I could see him in my room. I rest through his cowboy shirt. I need in the Looked like he would cry quiet, pale at the drop of his dirty hat. soft, quiet But worst of all for my of my was his mail. life. room. He had in his hand The light I am a sale flyer, in my room trying and nothing else. is mid way to see With one hand between my slapping it on his other hand gray feelings, looking up and down the street. and white. with my No sound. eyes closed.

—K.N. Whitley

K.N. WHITLEY was born and raised in southwest Louisiana. He is university educated in the study of economics and retired to Marfa, Texas, from large-corporate, big-city East Texas. He writes because it enables him. —Naomi Shihab Nye

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 21 BOOKS & THE CULTURE On the Road with Che and Al BY BARBARA BELEJACK

Motorcycle Diaries decided to stay and work in a hospital and the Spaniards, "the In-capaces," a Directed by Walter Salles laboratory. play on the word "incapable." During Guevara returned to Buenos Aires (by their travels, Guevara and Granado vol- way of Miami) and medical school. A unteered for a few weeks at a leper This is not a story of heroic feats, or year later, he embarked on still another colony in the Peruvian Amazon; a few of merely the narrative of a cynic; at journey through the Americas, one that the young patients they treated are still least I do not mean it to be. It is a would turn him into the man whom alive and appear briefly onscreen. glimpse of two lives running parallel journalist Alma Guillermoprieto once Salles mixes episodes of late ado- for a time, with similar hopes and described as the 20th century's first Latin lescent hijinks with scenes that reveal convergent dreams. American—"Che" Guevara, the man the profound inequality and lack of In nine months of a man's life he can who was born in Argentina, became a social justice that Guevara and Granado think a lot of things, from the lofti- revolutionary in Guatemala, fought in encountered along the way. There is a est meditation on philosophy to the Cuba, and died in a Bolivian jungle, try- wonderful episode in Chile, where the most desperate longing for a bowl of ing to foment a guerrilla movement. two weary travelers coax two sisters soup—in total accord with the state Produced by Robert Redford and into buying them a bottle of wine and a of his stomach. And if at the same directed by Walter Salles (Central Sta- plate of empanadas and then find them time, he's somewhat of an adventurer, tion, 1998), The Motorcycle Diaries is a place to stay. Then there is the bitter he might live through episodes of so thoroughly panamerican that under cold, desert night, when they meet up interest to other people and his hap- the byzantine, outmoded rules that gov- with a salt-of-the-earth homeless couple hazard record might read something ern the Academy Awards, it cannot be on their way to a dangerous mine, where like these notes. nominated as this year's Best Foreign the husband hopes to find work. As they Language Film: It's a film in Spanish share the simplest of meals, the couple directed by a Brazilian, starring a Mexi- stare at the young men intently, per- o begins one of the most can playing an Argentine (the ubiqui- plexed about their purpose. The idea of intriguing narratives of the 20th tous Gael Garcia Bernal, star of Amores traveling just to travel—to get to know century. In late December 1951, Perros and Y Tu Mama Tambien) and Latin America, as Guevara and Granado S Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, an Argentine who also happens to be like to say—is totally alien. a 23-year-old, upper-class, asthmatic a distant relative of Che (Rodrigo de It's in the scenes that take place the medical student in Argentina, decid- la Serna) playing his traveling sidekick. leper colony in the Peruvian Amazon, ed to travel to North America (a.k.a. The screenwriter (Jose Rivera) is from that Salles and Rivera try to find a dra- Gringolandia) on a 12-year-old Norton Puerto Rico; the soundtrack is filled matic center. The two young "doctors" motorcycle. Accompanying him was his with mambo, tango, and all manner of make quite an impression, foregoing friend Alberto Granado, a 29-year-old charangos and Andean flutes; and the rules about wearing gloves and playing biochemist and the owner of the motor- special consultant from Cuba is the soccer with the patients. At the end of cycle he called "El Poderoso II" (The 80-something Granado, who has lived their stay, there is a party for Ernesto's Mighty One). With the Mighty One as on the island, where he helped found 24th birthday. As the ever-engaging Rocinante, they traveled south from a medical school and directed biotech- Granado takes a few of the younger Buenos Aires, crossed the Andes into nology programs, since 1961. Added nurses—who are also nuns—for a spin Chile, and headed north, like latter day to all that are scores of local partici- on the improvised dance floor, Ernesto Don Quixotes and Sancho Panzas. Alas, pants whom Salles enlisted—actors and offers a grateful toast: "We constitute a the overloaded, creaky bike sputtered, non-actors—in each country he filmed. single mestizo race... from Mexico to tumbled, and crashed with alarming fre- Among them are the Quechua-speaking the Magellan Straits," he begins. Not quency and ended its days in Santiago, women who playfully show Garcia/Gue- exactly, but ni modo. And then, as the wrapped in a shroud and hoisted on the vara and de la Serna/Granado how to festivities are still underway, he casts back of a truck, to be sold as scrap metal. chew coca leaves and the winsome little his eyes longingly to the lights on the From there, they traveled by foot, truck, boy with the tattered pants, who guides other side of the river. The hospital is boat, river raft, and plane, managing the pair through the streets of Cuzco, divided by the river, with staff on one to go as far as Caracas, where Granado talking about his ancestors—the Incas— side, and patients on the other. Tonight,

22 THE TEXAS OBSERVER .12/17/04 of all nights, Ernesto wants to be with the people—and he will swim across the Amazon to make that happen, even as Granado and the horrified staff beg him not to. In the end, all goes well, and staff and patients send the two on their way with a gift: a river raft called the Mambo-Tango in honor of the tone-deaf Guevara's chronic inability to distin- guish between the two dances. Although Salles and Rivera take a few liberties with the scene, the Mambo-Tango was very real; photographs appear in both The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey and Traveling with Che Guevara: The Making of a Revolutionary, by Guevara and Granado, respectively. As to the Amazon swim, both books, which were published years after Che's death, describe a swim that took place several days after the birthday festivities, and which the young Guevara apparently did for the same reason that he did many things that involved extreme physical activity: just to prove that he could.

t the end of the trip, Guevara was indeed changed, but he was not yet Che. It would take a second trip for that to happen. AStarting in Buenos Aires, and traveling by train to Bolivia, he intended to return to Caracas and meet up with tured by the Bolivian government. The try. The man and the myth are far too Granado. But along the way he met an following day he was executed. His body complex to talk about here. As to the Argentine lawyer who convinced him was laid out on a slab, his hair and beard strength of The Motorcycle Diaries, it's to go to Guatemala, where a "real social trimmed. The press was brought in and quite simple: It's the indescribable beau- revolution" was occurring under the a photograph was taken of the 39-year- ty of the place itself—the crystalline leadership of Jacobo Arbenz. Guevara old emaciat.!,1 Che Guevara. His eyes waters of Southern Argentina, the vast was in Guatemala when Arbenz was wide open, he appears as a Pieta, with- Atacama desert, Machu Picchu, Cuzco, deposed by a CIA-supported coup—an out the Virgin Mary. Among the items the Amazon. And there is one other event that has had profound repercus- discovered in his backpack was a poem thing: So many traveler's stories about sions on Latin America to this day. After by the Spanish poet Leon Felipe: Latin America—think Paul Theroux, holding out in the Argentine Embassy Bruce Chatwin—begin in the North in Guatemala for a while, he eventually Christ: I love you, not because you and end in the South. fled to Mexico City. There he met up came down from a star, but because The Motorcycle Diaries tries to turn with Fidel Castro, boarded the Granma, you showed me the light. You taught that around. And in the process, it should sailed to Cuba, and the rest, as they say, me that man is God, a poor God in remind us that the greatest Latin Ameri- is history. In 1967 he set off for Bolivia sin like You... can epic today is the one that is written and what would prove to be a doomed by each individual migrant, those who attempt to lead a peasant revolution. Today there is an attempt to turn La travel not to get to know America— As the year wore on, a massive force of Higuera, the desolate village where Gue- in the largest and most profound sense Bolivian troops and U.S. advisors closed vara was captured, into the final stop on of the word—as Guevara and Grana- in on his ever-diminishing band and on the "Ruta Che" tourist trail. do did so long ago. But because they October 8, he was wounded and cap- But enough about death and idola- have to. ■

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 23 BOOKS & THE CULTURE Art-Y- Facts BY DAVID THEIS

ouston doesn't have many public plazas, so we try to get maximum impact from the few we can boast of. So, not sat- isfied with being home to HalliburtonH Plaza, which is located at the ballpark formerly known as Enron Field, we recently celebrated the unveiling of the George Bush Monument, a downtown statue and plaza that pays homage to Bush the Elder. At the unveiling, a former local television anchor described 41 as "the most important Houstonian ever...with the possible exception of Sam Houston," which no doubt came as news to the shades of Jesse Jones and Will Hogg. Not to mention Dominique de Menil and Barbara Jordan. And a local lawyer with so much time on his hands that he was able to dream up the Monument, chimed in with, "No president was so closely identified with his home city as President Bush." Which was news to all of us who remember that, for decades, the Houstonian Hotel served as GHWB's local address.

The lawyer, a certain Charles Foster, "Murderers, Whores, Thieves and Liars," by Forrest Prince photo: The Station praised the former president for agree- ing to be depicted as standing on his leveled and its ruins strewn with salt. adventures are touched on, then Prince own two feet at street level, like an But before you mentally wipe us off finishes his text with, "My what big tal- ordinary mortal. "We didn't put him the face of the earth, consider this: The ons you have, Mr. Dove." on a pedestal or on horseback," said George Bush Memorial is not the only Bush 41, bagman for Carlyle, appro- Foster, "because we wanted the statue to local art site featuring an image of the priately appears as one of the "Whores." be accessible. We wanted it to reflect the former president. In its current exhibi- But enough about Bush. The exhibi- modesty of a great man." Foster went tion, The Station, an art museum on tion that Prince's installation is part of, on to predict that the Monument would the eastern fringes of downtown, has a Red Fall, is just the latest poke in the become as popular a tourist attraction picture of Bush Sr. on a playing card, in eye for the powerful by Station direc- as NASA and the museums, and to ven- the angry yet humorous installation by tor and creator James Harithas, who is ture a comparison between Abraham local artist and holy man Forrest Prince, himself an at least estranged member of Lincoln and George H.W. Bush. There "Murderers, Whores, Thieves and Liars." the city's cultural elite. He is married to was no word as to whether or not Foster The piece features a table covered with Ann Harithas, a member of a prominent was led away in a strait jacket after mak- playing cards, using the above titles Victoria oil and ranching family. Back in ing that announcement. rather than hearts, spades, diamonds, the late 1970s James Harithas directed Reading this, and imagining the and clubs. Each card contains a small the Contemporary Arts Museum, which applause of the gathered Bush Mafia— photo of a powerful creep, and then he put on the map with a series of the Bakers, the Mosbachers—you might jauntily details his or her wrongdoing. provocative shows and art happenings. be thinking that Houston should be "Murderer" Colin Powell's militaristic After he wore out his welcome there

24 THE TEXAS OBSERVER •12/17/04 he lay low for years, until he and Ann opened the Art Car Museum in 1998, followed by the Station, so that he could show the kind of art he is interested in: polemical and political, made by artists usually ignored by the temples of culture. Harithas' most newsworthy show to date is probably Made in Palestine, apparently the first exhibition of Pal- estinian art shown in the United States. (Harithas was hoping the show would travel, but he couldn't find any institu- tion willing to risk alienating some of their funders.) But the current Red Fall is equally powerful. The shock of the show begins with its title, which rather chillingly predicted "Red Flag" by Martin Zet photo: The Station the current United States political map. (Harithas could find work as a fortune teller. As soon as Bush Jr. was elected, Urgent," attempts to portray our inner see that it has been raided by some- Harithas planned a Secret Wars show political lives. He videotaped a very one—the FBI? Drawers are pulled open that, post-9/11, drew FBI agents to the diverse group of people in close-up, and and the computer is smashed. "Traitor" Art Car Museum.) But, typically for a asked them their thoughts on the then- is spray-painted on the wall. The space Harithas show, he subverts the idea of upcoming election. He runs their words is appropriately claustrophobic. "redness," attempting at least to reclaim as a crawl beneath their silent faces, There are other powerful pieces as it from the Right. He also smacks you all accompanied by a rather ominous well, such as Ilkka Uimonen's "Statute," in the face with it—redness—when you thumping soundtrack, which may or a series of photos, hung at conflict- walk through the Station door and are may not be the sound of a beating heart. ing angles, showing richly textured but stopped in your tracks by the crim- A few messages cheer Bush on, but most heartbreaking black and white scenes son-red American flag by Czech artist go something like, "You shouldn't be from the Iraq war. Looking at them and Martin Zet. The flag is such a blazing concerned with gay marriage when our at the projected images in the middle of thing that it speaks for itself—but say- soldiers are dying." the room, you have the sense of seeing ing exactly what? Paul Fusco's "Fallen Soldiers" is a an unreported, almost unknown war. The "red" theme continues through moving series of photographs from But the single installation that held some of the other installations. In funerals for U.S. soldiers. Janos Sugar's my attention the longest is Martin Zet's "World Revolution," Zet has a videotape "Typewriter of the Illiterate" is a riveting Third Reich "rap video." It shows Hitler of himself applying red paint to his face. video showing images of presumably performing his infamous jig at the news The accompanying wall text proclaims poor people around the world posing that France had surrendered, while that red is "the color of the OPPRES- with their automatic weapons. At one Goering joins in the joy. Zet runs the SOR AND ALSO OF THE OPPRESSED," moment, a tribal warrior in Central brief footage on a loop, accompanied and that red "rejects negative influences" Asia morphs into a tribal warrior in by a rap song by Swollen Members. I and is "vital passion." Africa, each brandishing his Kalash- couldn't make the words out, but as But not everything is color-coded. nikov in roughly the same way. a background beat for the Hitler hop, You have the Forrest Prince card game, The most unnerving piece is David the song was irresistible. Of course, the which is apparently a favorite with visi- Krueger's "Bringing the War Home." whole thing has a truly subversive Three tors. Lowell Darling has a clever and This is an installation so tucked away Stooges flava. truly thought-provoking video, "Run into a corner of the exhibit space that And what about the Bushes? For- Yourself for President," which shows you might be hesitant to enter. Once rest Prince made the current president John Kennedy's "I am a Berliner" speech, inside, you find yourself first in a shat- the centerpiece of his card game. Sur- and then invites Berliners (and others) tered Iraqi house, and then in a humble rounded by Aces, heads of the IMF and to declare their candidacy for JFK's old American home—you walk from one such, Jr. is the Joker. Or, as the nor- job. Darling writes, "Today I say every into the other. The Iraqi house is in mally beatific Prince has it, the Jerk. ■ citizen of Berlin should be allowed to complete upheaval, and is easy enough vote for President of the U.S." to decipher. You have to work harder David Theis is the author ofRio Ganges, a Mel Chin's video installation, "S.O.S. on the American house, straining to novel set in Mexico. He lives in Houston.

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 25 —Lubbock, continued from page 20 as we crossed it. ers began to contact Claus' office with "This is it," Mar- similar stories. tinez said, reach- Hundreds of graves, like Allen's, sim- ing a small, blank ply can't be located from the city records. space of ground. Worse, some gravesites may have been "You can tell there used more than once. Fred Gaytan says was a grave here." four strangers are buried on top of his She pointed out father and baby sister, who died—along the slight rise with his aunt and uncle—in a car acci- of the earth, the dent in 1949. One of Gaytan's uncles subtle change of paid for the funerals, but the family color in the grass. could not afford headstones. For years, "This is where she they found the graves using the tempo- is." rary markers. After those deteriorated, The Hernan- they used familiar landmarks—two dez family looked juniper trees, a gravel road, the names down at the spot on nearby headstones. Then on one in silence. visit, about 20 years ago, Fred found a "Obviously we stone with an unfamiliar name on his Fred Gaytan (center) with sons Gilbert (left) and Larry (right) can't be com- father's grave. Today, four headstones pletely sure," from the same family stretch across the rolled it down. "They're here about the Martinez went on. "But I guarantee plots Gaytan remembers as his father's missing graves." you this is it. The only way to be 100 and sister's. The cemetery has no record Their names were John and Maria percent sure would be to dig her up and of the Gaytan burials. Hernandez. Their English was halting, do a test." Graves without headstones were com- and my Spanish was worse, but they John translated this for Maria. She mon in the old cemetery. Many families told me this: They were looking for shook her head. "No, no," she whis- simply couldn't afford one—they left the their daughter, Linda. She died of pneu- pered. "No, no, no." She was crying. city's temporary marker up, or some- monia in 1964, just one year and eight "We tried before to find her;' John times made their own from wood. But days old. They couldn't afford a stone. said. "But they didn't do nothing to even graves that had stones are missing. The temporary marker fell apart, year help us. Just gave us a map." When Melton Leyva buried his father in by year. They haven't known where the Martinez sniffed. "I'm sorry to 1968, the family pulled together $1,200 grave was for 20 years. They had asked hear that. Maybe it was someone new to put up a marble angel on a five-foot- the cemetery office for help years ago, Maybe they were confused. You can tall pedestal, he says. On a visit to the but it was no good. I asked if we could get turned around out here. It took grave in the mid-eighties, Leyva found try again. me a long time before I could find my the stone was gone. When he asked We made a tense tableau in the tiny way around, before I could really tell for help, a cemetery employee pulled two-room office at first—the resentful somebody where a grave was and feel records that showed his father buried family, the three wary cemetery staff, 100 percent sure. I've only been here 10 on what Leyva says is the wrong side of and the reporter with the tape recorder. months. Sylvia's only been here a few the section. Leyva insisted to staff that "Well, of course," cemetery clerk Molly years. Everyone working here is brand the grave had been further north, but Martinez said, when she understood new?' they told him he was making a mistake. what we wanted. "That's what we do. John nodded. "It wasn't you," he said. "I came out here a lot," he told me. "I We find people." "It was a white man. But they didn't know where it is." Either way, there's no Sylvia Chapa, the cemetery's service help us." He took his wife's hand. They sign now of the $1,200 angel. coordinator, turned to the file cabinet talked together quietly for a minute, behind her desk and pulled out the pointing out things they remembered: drawer with the H's in it. She rifled the name on a headstone, a nearby tree. t was an hour before sunset, the through, drew out a yellowed index "This is it," he said, finally. "We'll have day after the plaintiffs' meeting, card, and handed it to John Hernandez. to get a little bit of money together and and I was leaving the cemetery. I "Is this it?" It was. The card gave a sec- buy her a stone." 1 pulled my car over by the front tion, a row, and a space number. Chapa Maria nodded, her eyes wet. "Una gate and was consulting my map when and Martinez drove out with us to the angelita," she said. "For the stone, an a woman in a windbreaker tapped on indicated spot, and measured it out for angel." ■ the window. "My parents recognized us in long strides. The ground was soggy you from the meeting," she said when I with melting snow, and squelched softly Emily Pyle is an Austin-based writer.

26 THE TEXAS OBSERVER •12/17/04 —Wheat, continued from page 19 By participating in political strategy lobbyists can have excessive clout and with Toomey. Such weak ethics poli- meetings with groups and individuals connections. Whether or not Texas' cies underscore the importance of the that stand accused of breaking Texas' first postmodern lobbyist is also its last TRMPAC probe, which represents a restrictions on corporate electioneer- depends on two pending events. One rare check on the power of the corpo- ing, Mike Toomey introduced the Texas is the outcome of the TRMPAC probe rate lobby. lobby to the postmodern notion that itself. If it fails to prove that electioneering by corporations and their agents is a crime with serious consequences, the corporate lobby will take over the Capitol with utter impunity. Even if the TRMPAC probe imposes some con- straints on the corporate lobby, how- Sulu Naga ever, the impact could be fleeting. The International Headquarters Statesman reported after Thanksgiving that Andy Taylor plans to lobby law- it Come Visit us for LUNCH! In addition to our organic makers next year to eliminate Texas' coffee, pizzas, empanadas, pastries and pies, we prohibition on corporate electioneering now prepare made to order sandwiches, salads, altogether. If the TRMPAC probe col- lapses Taylor will find it much easier to and even black bean gazpacho. introduce Texas to a new era of unbri- dled—and decriminalized—corporate power. ■ 3601 S. Congress off E. Alpine Penn Field • under the water tower Andrew Wheat is research director of (512)707-9637 www.rutamaya.net Austin-based Texans for Public Justice. check our site for monthly calendar Jake Bernstein provided additional reporting for this column.

Fifty Years of the Texas Observer FIFTY YEARS OF Edited by Char Miller Foreword by Molly Ivins

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12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 27 —Tiguas, continued from page 7 "defrauded," as Senator Dorgan said at was given over to Ney praising Abramoff was chair of the House committee deal- the Indian Affairs hearing last month. and reassuring the El Paso delegation ing with the Help America Vote Act and The North Dakota Democrat pursued that their casino would be taken care of. would insert the innocuous line regard- the issue of fraud in the context of a There is a certain element of Kabuki in ing the Tiguas into the bill. Dodd was $100,000 golfing trip Abramoff said Ney congressional hearings, where small ges- carrying the bill in the Senate. had requested. tures imply large meaning. Chris Dodd In late March, shortly after telling was warned well in advance that his the Tiguas Ney would take care of their DORGAN• Also, there is a golfing good name had been impugned, and he business, Abramoff requested $32,000 trip to Scotland by a private jet. And was allowed to prepare a written state- for the congressman. The money was my understanding is that our records ment to read at the open hearing on forwarded through the senior director disclosed that trip includes pas- November 17. Bob Ney learned about of governmental affairs in Greenberg sengers Mr. Scanlon, Mr. Abramoff the committee's interest in his role in Traurig's D.C. office. Representative Ney and Ralph Reed. the Tigua affair when a Washington Post The Tiguas had their vehicle and their Would that suggest to you that at least reporter asked him about it an hour two legislators. Or at least that's what some participants knew most of what after the hearing adjourned. A source they were told by Abramoff. In truth, was happening here? at the committee hearing said there was Christopher Dodd was never in the deal. something more than senatorial cour- His press office confirmed that, and The trip to Scotland occurred in the tesy informing the senators' less than referred me to the written statement summer of 2002, when everyone but deferential treatment of Ney. Dodd had entered into the record at the Tiguas already seemed to know that In the end, Abramoff did not tell the House Indian Affairs hearing in Dodd never agreed to the Tigua provi- his clients until after it passed out of November of this year. In September, sion in the Help America Vote Act. Yet conference committee that their criti- Dodd said he didn't know Abramoff or Abramoff requested that the Tiguas pay cal nine words were not inserted in the Scanlon and that very late in the process for the trip, asking in an e-mail, "if you voting bill. There was no other "vehicle," of passing the voting reform bill, his guys could do 50K." Abramoff warned though there was some discussion of staff had been approached by someone that the trip would be expensive because hiding the Tigua provision in an appro- from the Democratic National Commit- two years ago "we did this for another priations bill. Nor was there a database, tee and two Ney staffers asking about member — you know who." (You know described as late as January 2003 by the Tigua language. Dodd dismissed who, it was revealed in the Senate hear- Scanlon as a "political matrix... designed the request. Clearly, some effort had ings, was Tom DeLay, who changed the to hold and make usable all of the data been made to persuade Dodd. "hold House rule that prohibited members associated with your political army." The tight," Abramoff wrote to Scanlon in from accepting golf trips and other $1.8 million line item in Scanlon's bud- October. "but get our money back from favors from lobbyists.) get was contracted out for $100,000 and that mother fucker who was supposed to While it is assumed the Tiguas paid for the "political army" was the list of voters, take care of dodd." Dodd refused to get the trip, the truth has yet to come out venders, and representatives the tribe involved. Ney, however, was very much in court. Abramoff's e-mail to Schwartz itself had given to Scanlon. involved. (His office did not respond to certainly implied that the Tiguas paid. But Abramoff couldn't stop squeezing. a list of faxed questions and phone calls "BN had a great time and is very grateful, In March 2003, after his Tigua revenue regarding his involvement.) but he is not going to mention the trip to stream dried up, he proposed the term- Dodd's statement creates a problem Scotland for obvious reasons," Abramoff life deal for the tribe's elders. Within a for Abramoff, Scanlon and Congress- wrote, urging Schwartz to avoid the year his entire Indian gaming scheme man Ney. All three continued to tell topic at an August meeting in Ney's would fall apart, after tribal council elec- the Tiguas that their provision would office. "He said he'll show his thanks in tions in Louisiana and Michigan elected be inserted in the bill. The tribe only other ways, which is what we want." reform candidates who began leaking learned that Dodd was never on board Ney never got around to showing documents and talking to federal prose- when they contacted El Paso Congress- the thanks, though he did discuss the cutors. Lately those prosecutors, accord- man Sylvester Reyes, who then called golf trip at the August 2002 meeting, ing to one source close to the investiga- Dodd. Without Dodd, there was no according to a Tigua source. At the tion, have expanded their interest from hope of delivering what was promised. November committee hearing, Dorgan just Abramoff and Scanlon to questions Yet they kept the tribe invested in the brought the meeting into high relief. He about Congressman Ney. ■ process, while continuing to request said he couldn't recall any constituent political contributions and promise vic- meeting in any Capitol office that lasted Lou Dubose is a former editor of The tory. There was a conference call with two hours, as did the gathering of Ney, Texas Observer. His new book with Jan Ney in October. Abramoff, Schwartz, and three members Reid is The Hammer: Tom DeLay: God, If there was no chance of getting the of the Tigua Tribal Council. Dorgan was Money, and the Rise of the Republican language into the bill, then the tribe was concerned that much of the two hours Congress (Public Affairs).

28 THE TEXAS OBSERVER •12/17/04 AFTERWORD Wonderful People BY KATE HILL CANTRILL

hey came before wet heat didn't let it concern me. this place out beforehand; and when we descended upon Texas. They In the minivan, however, I grew con- saw their room held a regal, waist-high don't like the heat—can't cerned. Grandma Ginder turned to me bed and a clawfoot tub (both of which handle it, been planning and, in the sweetest, most sincere tone required a small staircase to access), it trips around avoiding it for of voice asked, "Are these people friends became clear to everyone that I had years now. of yours?" screwed up in a major league way. rf"Oh, it's warm!" they said as the airport These people? The Bed and Breakfast "Don't they have any regular hotels in doors slid aside for them. owners? I looked at Scott, who said Texas?" Grandpa asked. "The nights are still cool," I said. I may nothing. "Kate didn't think you'd be comfort- have faked a shiver; I was worried. I had "No:' I said. "They're not friends:' able in one," my husband said, generous been worried ever since I heard they She turned her face to look out the man that he is. were all coming to Austin to visit my window at the lovely, yellow B&B and husband and me: my parents-in-law, my said, "Well, then, I wonder why are they sister-in-law, my Mennonite Pennsylva- allowing us to stay here?" efore the visit, I had called my nia Dutch grandparents-in-law. "Now you say we get a breakfast here?" father. My first concern? None of them drink. Grandpa Ginder asked. "Seven people I said. Grandpa Ginder had been a pastor before "Yes," I said, "You get a bed and a break- B "Seven?" he retired; he wore a plain suit for fancy fast." I knew the next question before he "The five that are visiting don't drink;' occasions and his wife toted a bonnet. asked it so I preemptively-cringed. I added. It's not that I disapprove of abstaining; "Well, what time you think they serve "Five non-drinkers?" it's just that I thought wine made family this breakfast?" "Yes." visits happen more than once. I know "You might have to sleep in a little, Dad," "In one apartment?" my family relies on it quite heavily, and I Grandma Ginder said. "They probably "In one apartment:' wasn't so confident in the heady powers don't start serving until six." She turned He was silent for a moment, but then of Scrabble to get us through this one. to me and smiled. "Not everyone keeps he started laughing. I was disappointed My second concern? Seven very differ- Dad's farmer hours." as I thought for sure that he would ent people in one apartment. I suggested I pictured Grandpa waking at four, share my concerns. He knew that my we find a place for the grandparents hobbling across the creaky wooden husband's family was religious. He knew to stay in which they would be more floors of the house, waking all of the that they were meat-eaters. He knew comfortable. I didn't want them to feel normal guests. that they were Republicans, even! And unwelcome, and so I had suggested to "We might just join you for breakfast, yet, he laughed. my husband Scott that we reserve a anyhow;' Grandma continued. "Do you "Why are you laughing?" I said. room in a Hyde Park Bed and Breakfast. think we can get a discount if we don't "They're going to be here for six days! A He said the price would upset them, eat their food?" lot of familial damage can happen in six and that they would not allow their I glared at my husband because I had days! What the heck will we talk about? grandkids (to whom they send five dol- no one else to blame beside myself— but Fruit?" lars every birthday) to pay for it. Well I he was an easy second. He told me to "Kate;' he said. "Listen to me. It's going was not going to stick those lovely two not worry about it, but I found this to to be fine, and it'll probably be even bet- elderly folks in a rank, 1-35 hotel room be impossible, especially when we piled ter than fine just because I had issues with seven into the B&B and learned that Grandpa "How do you know?" I asked. adults sharing one bathroom—this was would have to climb a flight of stairs as "Because I've met them;' he said, "and my issue, after all, my snotty issue of all guest rooms were on the second floor. they are wonderful people." personal space that Scott's family has I looked at his right leg, the one he drags I thought of this conversation with my never seemed concerned with—and so around like a tree trunk and absent- father the morning after Grandma and I reserved a room at a nearby B&B. I mindedly taps his cane against when he Grandpa Ginder had spent their first planned to slip my credit card to the tells a story. He managed to lug this leg night in the Bed and Breakfast. They owner. I thought this was brilliant. Scott up the stairs, barely, while I crept behind had been moved to an alternate room said nothing. He's not a big talker so I him, cursing myself for not scouting with a normal-sized bed near a bath-

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 29 room with a tub in which was placed Flavorful, I realized, meant spicy. She six days—a lot. We laughed at breakfast, the old shower seat the B&B owner had eaten a spicy breakfast taco and she at lunch, and at dinner. We laughed had kindly retrieved from the attic. My had enjoyed it. I began to relax a little, at longhorn cows and wildflowers. We father-in-law drove the rented minivan thinking perhaps I hadn't screwed up laughed over the fact that just as I was to pick them up at 8 a.m. so they could so royally after all. I relaxed even more about to toss into the trash can a half- join us for breakfast. They clumped in when they began to tell us about one eaten, half-moldy banana, I stopped my front door, too loud and chipper for of the other guests at the B&B with because I felt the eyes of three women the hour, but I wasn't surprised as they whom they had gotten friendly. Grand- of Mennonite mindset grow wide and had been awake since 5:30 (they slept pa Ginder, in particular, seemed quite implore me to please consider a making in as they were tired from the flight). excited about one man. a bread or a banana dessert instead! We Grandpa Ginder stopped when he saw "He's an educated man, come here discussed the current state of farm- our dog, Charles, lying on the floor. from Sweden. Isn't that right, Mum?" ing and I felt free to express my dislike "Well, hello, Charlie," he said. Charles, "Yes," she said, "for his studies. He's of factory farms and Grandpa Ginder who has been known to growl at old researching movies or some such." and my father-in-law agreed with me; men, particularly when they smell of "Isn't that something?" Grandpa asked. although they disliked them because of cigarettes or when they carry a cane, as "I thought that was something?' their negative effects on the small farmer, Grandpa does, looked up at him and Later, Scott spoke to this man and while I dislike them for their negative relaxed his mouth into a smile. "Did you learned that he was studying male sexu- effects on the animals and the environ- have a nice breakfast, Charlie?" Grandpa ality and masculinity in American West- ment. I admired their ways: considerate, asked. "Wait till you hear about mine." erns. He doubted that his grandfather non-judgmental. I come from a boister- When he was younger, Grandpa had ever seen a Western; then he said ous, contentious family, and I respect Ginder had been a farmer, and he had he doubted that he'd ever even seen a people who can argue to a conclusion. also been a butcher. He has a very differ- movie. But I learned that I also respected the ent sensibility regarding animals than do For lunch, Scott cooked up some meat, way of the Ginders, which was to listen, I. If you ask me, animals may possibly be and I made a vegetarian dish with chick- nod, consider, and have another scoop more enlightened versions of humans peas. I wasn't trying to force my veg- of ice cream. and when they are a part of your life etarianism on them; I simply don't know they should be treated as such. Accord- how to make anything else. I hoped they ing to Grandpa Ginder, animals are for wouldn't find it too flavorful or weird. I n the final night of their visit our use and they were given to us by the boiled some edamame and dusted the we went to the Salt Lick to good Lord above. Animals have no soul, pods with sea salt. The first time I ate show them how the cowboys basically; yet here he went out of his edamame this way I tried to chew the eat. Well, I planned to show way to say a warm hello to my dog. He whole thing, instead of just sucking out 0 them how the cowgirls sometimes just pet my cat, too—my cat who lay supine the peas, so I showed our guests the eat the sides, but the rest of the crew on the kitchen counter, right next to the proper way to eat them. Grandpa Ginder looked forward to the meat. Grandpa bananas. took one in his gnarly farmer's hand and Ginder was so charged from the visit, it Grandma Ginder took a seat at the his eyes widened. seemed, that he started scheming with table, which was covered in breakfast "Soybeans!" he hollered. "Mum! Soy- Grandma to cover the cost of the meal. food items. I turned down the seat that beans!" He popped it into his mouth, This is a big deal for a couple of 80- Scott offered to me and leaned instead expertly dislodged the beans and dis- year-old Mennonites as the Salt Lick on the counter and drank my coffee. carded the pod. "I haven't had a soybean is not cheap. As we waited for a table, Grandma wore a floral Mennonite-style in something-ought years. Not since Grandpa shuffled back and forth from dress and a wide smile. I was a youngster. My mother used to the befuddled 16-year-old reservation- "We had an interesting breakfast!" she serve them just like this?' He took anoth- taker to his wife: How much will it be for said. er in his hand and stared at it like it was a seven people? She doesn't know how much "Oh, it was flavorful!" Grandpa added. photograph of a long-lost friend. "You're it'll be, Mum. Can I pay some beforehand "Almost too flavorful for him," Grand- not a farmer:' he said to me with a smile. so my son doesn't pick up the check? They ma continued, "but I enjoyed it very "How do you know about eaten' these?" said I can't pay beforehand, Mum. We'll much. What was it called again, Dad?" "Sushi restaurants," I said, "and a posh tell them over supper. It'll be a surprise. "A breakfast something," he said. He hotel downtown with high-end xeri- We heard it all, clearly, and we enjoyed closed his hands like he was gripping an scaping and minimalist design." it immensely. envelope. Aha! I thought, the universal But he was still focused on the soy- After the meat stopped coming; after sign of a tortilla. bean. "My goodness," he said. "This does we filled more take-home boxes than "Oh yes," Grandma continued. "It was indeed take me back. What a wonderful the rest of the tables combined (we even Breakfast Tacos. It was in one of those meal?' took the onions and who else takes the flat breads and I enjoyed it." We laughed over the course of those onions?), Grandpa Ginder raised his

30 THE TEXAS OBSERVER •12/17/04 thick paw of a hand and said, "I'd like to It had actually been fun. thing is wrong with that picture, so say something:' "I knew it," he said. "I've met them. we brought up employee pay and We sat back and waited for his lovely They are wonderful people. When you're we made it so that our valuable surprise. dealing with wonderful people, things employees have to work a bit longer "Here Mum and I sit with our son, just end up going pretty well." ■ with the city to get their full pension our daughter-in-law, our granddaugh- benefit. It just makes common sense. ter, our grandson, and our granddaugh- Kate Hill Cantrill is a graduate of the ter-in-law. We are well-fed and we are Michener Center for Writers. Her work has TO: What would you like the political happy:' He turned and smiled at his appeared in various literary publications. future of Bill White to be? wife, but her gaze was lowered to the at UT. BW: I'm going to stay on here at least table, where her hands rested, clasping another term as mayor to try and fin- a napkin like it was a handkerchief. "We —White, continued from page 11 ish some of the work we've begun. I've just took one of our last big trips, what stalled or wrecked vehicle. They had always figured—it may be naive—that with my leg and it getting more difficult a very organized lobby. They would the best way to do politics is to deliver to get around?' Grandma nodded. "And negotiate with each other before better services at a reasonable price so we enjoyed this trip immensely, and deciding on which driver got the tow. that's what I focus on every day. It's a great enjoyed the time we were able to spend We were paying more for the tows job being mayor of a great urban area. I with our wonderful family that just than in other big cities. And if you like being able to see the results weekly keeps getting bigger and more wonder- went into the city council chamber, and I'm happy with what I'm doing. ful." Grandma smiled and looked at it was filled with tow-truck opera- me. Grandpa stopped talking, but for tors who were protesting charging TO: What has been your most enjoy- dramatic effect, not because he was less and having more regulations able moment as mayor? finished. This keen sense of timing in and having background checks and BW: The greatest pleasure I've had as his speeches and his sermons is what having a centralized dispatch system. mayor was helping to preside over a long ago won him the utmost respect But out in the public they said "This ceremony about a month ago of 1,900 in his community—a man who stopped is great." new Americans from 121 countries that attending •school early in order to work In the same way, I knew that the are living and working here in Houston. the farm; a man who had probably issue of making pensions more One of those who received their citizen- never watched a movie or read a novel, secure and affordable—not just ship that day was a person who couldn't but could lead with his kindness and his being an unpaid IOU to city employ- be at the ceremony. Her parents were booming voice. ees—was going to create fear. There there in her stead, a Ms. Esparza. She Finally, he looked up and spoke again, were people, who, to get a headline, had lost her life serving in the U.S. mili- louder than before. "Now I want to tell claimed that we were going to take tary in Iraq. She was not the only person you something!" he practically shouted. away pensions that [workers] had at these ceremonies who is serving in Some of us jumped, then, in a quieter already earned, which we were not. the military and appeared in a natu- voice he said, "Mum and I would like to But the public, including a lot of city ralization service. When the Esparzas pay for the meal." employees, understood that we need came to pick up the citizenship of their We acted surprised and they seemed to bring the amount of money in daughter who died in service to the quite pleased. When the waitress came the pension system up and we had country, I asked the new Americans in around to ask if we'd like some cobbler, to bring the benefits for the future the room to stand and recognize that I spoke loudly and shouted, "Now I down to make it better for people family: There was a standing ovation want to tell you something!" to the old to work longer at the city and have a for five minutes. There were a lot of wet couple that sat across from me and my secure pension. eyes in that room when Mr. Esparza husband. "Scott and I would like to buy The public knows, for example, on started showing his emotions. Among the cobbler." towing that there has to be a better those wet eyes were mine. Anybody "Oh, my goodness," Grandma said, way than to have eight tow trucks who attended that ceremony had to laughing. "That's something." converge on a busy freeway. The be optimistic about the future of our We left after savoring the cobbler, but public knows and the employees country. They are people who share the not before my father-in-law doubled know that there is something wrong dream of an open society where people back to place some actual bills on the with a system where somebody can are judged—as is our goal here—not table for the tip—right next to the retire after 20 years, at say age 45, by who their daddy was or how long proud and tidy stack of coins left there with 90 percent of the salary, plus they have been here or what gender or by his father. annual inflation adjustment at the ethnicity they are. If people work hard When they left that next morning, I same time that people working for and play by the rules they are as much called my own father to tell him he had the city have not received any infla- a Houstonian as anybody else. That, to been right—it had been better than fine. tion adjustment for years. Some- me, is what is neat about this place. ■

12/17/04 • THE TEXAS OBSERVER 31 BACK PAGE Cry Fowl White House Challenges Leaked Gonzales Memo

WASHINGTON — White House spokesperson Scott McClel- Base in Cuba. The global war on terror, he wrote, has rendered lan would neither confirm nor deny that a leaked White House the Geneva Convention "quaint" and "obsolete." Human rights memo was written by Counsel to the President (and attor- lawyers have argued that Gonzales' advice on the treatment of ney general-designate) Alberto Gonzales. "All communication prisoners at Guantanamo opened the door to the physical and among White House staff is confidential and this adminis- psychological abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. tration does not violate that confidentiality," McClellan said. Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who "We're not even certain the memo is authentic." The memo chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the leaked memo attributed to Gonzales urges caution in the use of presidential will not be a factor when the committee conducts hearings pardons, even in ceremonial occasions. on Gonzales' appointment to the cabinet in the second Bush "It's altogether consistent with the positions Mr. Gonzales has administration. "Leaks and innuendo do not influence the taken when he advised then-governor Bush on executions," said deliberations of the Judiciary Committee," said Specter. Gon- Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe. "It's also consistent with zales is expected to face questioning regarding Abu Ghraib and the position he advocated in the 'Working Group Report on other positions taken in the Bush Administration's "war on ter- Detainee Interrogations in the Global War on Terrorism!" In ror!' His confirmation is not in doubt. "Any serious opposition the report Gonzales advised Bush to ignore Geneva Convention is unlikely," said Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the protections for prisoners of war held at Guantanamo Naval Senate committee. 11111

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