WHO OWNS

THE TEXAS MEDIA? Pg. 12

A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES JANUARY 29, 1993 • $1.75 IN THE WAKE

OF A HUD

MORTGAGE

AGENT

BY PETER CASSIDY

TEVE ZELVIN DROVE like Captain their man, the government would move to set Ahab chasing after his nemesis, white- things straight, Zelvin thought. Zelvin's naive Sknuckling a mini-bus from San Antonio faith in his government has diminished some- to Washington, D.C. in two days. A banner what as he has pursued Puller through HUD, draped under the windows of the van screamed: law enforcement agencies and the federal court "HUD! WHERE'S OUR $3.6 MILLION?" system. Among his lost illusions is the belief The builder wasion a crusade to convince offi- that Puller will be made accountable by the cials at the U.S: Department of Housing and government agency that licensed him to lend Urban Development (HUD) that the agency's money with their guarantees. own mortgage agent, an Indianapolis business- HUD knew about Puller's dealings with devel- man named Ken Puller, had illegally appropri- opers long before Zelvin came along. By the ated millions in construction money and time Zelvin rolled up in his van, even the FBI bankrupted Zelvin's real estate project, a retire- was investigating Puller's company, Puller ment community in San Antonio. Zelvin left, confident that the IG would put a Mortgage Associates. Yet Puller, one of a num- The mini-bus, borrowed by Zelvin from the leash on Puller and return control of the mori- ber of HUD deputy mortgage writers whose grounds of the Independence Hill seniors' com- bund development — which was in loan default negligent lending practices scandalized the munity, was stuffed with Zelvin's proof: four at the time — to him. agency during the 1980s, somehow managed to trunks and four file cabinets filled with finan- After all, Puller made his money working for avoid the disciplining hand of HUD, even after cial documents related to the construction of the the federal government as a so-called "coin- a Denver court found that his company had San Antonio retirement community. Zevlin surance lender"; Puller's business, arranging defrauded a development group. parked in front of HUD's Washington offices construction loans for housing projects using Puller, a former HUD employee whose polit- on March 13, 1990, and he phoned the HUD HUD's loan payment guarantees in return for ical associations included U.S. Senator Richard Inspector General's office. An auditor came commissions, wouldn't exist without the gov- down and inspected the stuff for two days and ernment. Certainly, knowing the facts about Continued on page 6

A2,,kfirgettielfta4t9r,;• '‘,1"4""4,,,-1%Tot'• : i.: .ig. H177* : ;1 ,, 14,...z.4..„, 11 - ,• ■`:11 73.;>'''' .„., DIALOG

'fiii ''1- - ...-.-r 1 ,... 4---

A!- '' ''" I'l THE TEXAS No Doubt on Krueger Tribute to Tedium bserver In our house plenty of debates occur about Bill I would much rather have seen Geoff Rips Clinton and Ann Richards. One side asserts, ("Good John Cage," TO 12/11/92) mark John "Give them a chance! They have to be practi- Cage's passing with a blank page. It would cal. If the kind of people you wanted were have been just as appropriate and a lot less A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES appointed by Clinton and Richards they (the tedious and time-wasting than the article. We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to president-elect and governor) would be lucky On the other hand, since Cage's music, if it the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all to get any progressive passed. So many legis- can be called that, was uniformly tedious and interests, to the rights of human-kind as the foundation lators and special interests would be upset." The time-wasting, maybe Rips' piece was the ulti- of democracy: we will take orders from none but our own other side asserts, "their appointments are mainly mate tribute. conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent more of the same and they lacked any imagi- Charles Reinken the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. nation for the future." Fayetteville, North Carolina Writers are responsible for their own work, but not So go the debates, but last week the more-of- for anything they have not themselves written, and in pub- the same side picked up some points when Mr. Rips Responds lishing them we do not necessarily imply that we agree Richards appointed Bob Krueger to the Unites with them, because this is a journal of free voices. States Senate. "What a terrible pick!" was SINCE 1954 exclaimed by both sides. There were no benefit-of-the-doubt remarks. Publisher: Ronnie Dugger The sides agreed that Krueger is far more to the Editor: Louis Dubose Associate Editor: James Cullen middle than Richards or Clinton. What's more, Layout and Design: Diana Paciocco, Peter Szymczak he will not excite voters come May, which could Copy Editor: Roxanne Bogucka result in a Republican win (not that such a vic- Mexico City Correspondent: Barbara Belejack tory would be much worse than Krueger.) Editorial Interns: Carmen Garcia, Mary O'Grady. Contributing Writers: Bill Adler, Betty Brink, Warren Finally, the sides said that Richard should Burnett, Brett Campbell, Jo Clifton, Terry FitzPatrick, have picked Jim Mattox, who is able to get Gregg Franzwa, James Harrington, Bill Helmer, Ellen votes from all of Texas, and is someone with Hosmer, Steven Kellman, Michael King, Deborah Lutterbeck, Tom McClellan, Bryce Milligan, Debbie a vision of a different Texas and United States. Nathan, Gary Pomerantz, Lawrence Walsh. E. Novogrodsky, R. Wagner Editorial Advisory Board: David Anderson, Austin; Brownsville Frances Barton, Austin; Elroy Bode, El Paso; Chandler Davidson, Houston; Dave Denison, Cambridge, Mass; Bob Eckhardt, Washington, D.C.; Sissy Farenthold, Keep Digging, Henry B. Houston; Ruperto Garcia, Austin; John Kenneth Galbraith, I have especially enjoyed the reporting and Cambridge, Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, N.C.; George Hendrick, Urbana, Ill.; Molly Ivins, Austin; complete speeches of Rep. [Henry] Gonzalez. Larry L. King, Washington, D.C.; Maury Maverick, I hope this episode does not just "get lost," Jr., San Antonio; Willie Morris, Oxford, Miss.; Kaye because I believe what we know so far about Northcott, Austin; James Presley, Texarkana; Susan Reid, the fiasco is only a small part of the whole dis- Austin; Geoffrey Rips, Austin; A.R. (Babe)' Schwartz, Galveston; Fred Schmidt, Fredericksburg. honest and illegal story. Probably God will take care of Clark Clifford before the U.S. govt. Poetry Consultant: Thomas B. Whitbread gets around to prosecuting him for thievery on Contributing Photographers: Bill Albrecht, Vic Hin- a large scale. Altman will probably not be so terlang, Alan Pogue. pardoned and should be further investigated. Contributing Artists: Michael Alexander, Eric Avery, Best wishes to all for the New Year. Tom Ballenger, Richard Bartholomew, Jeff Danziger, Beth Epstein, Dan Hubig, Pat Johnson, Kevin Kreneck, Rosalie Roper Michael Krone, Carlos Lowry, Ben Sargent, Dan Port Isabel Thibodeau, Gail Woods, Matt Wuerker.

Managing Publisher: Cliff Olofson Subscription Manager: Stefan Wanstrom Executive Assistant: Gail Woods Special Projects Director: Bill Simmons Development Consultant: Frances Barton

SUBSCRIPTIONS: One year $32, two years $59, three years $84. Full-time students $18 per year. Back issues $3 prepaid. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm editions available from University Microfilms PEOPLE Intl., 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Any current subscriber who finds the price a burden should say so at renewal time; no one need Make a world of difference ! forgo reading the Observer simply because of the cost. INDEXES: The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The Supplementary index We're proud of our employees and their contributions to your to Periodicals; Texas Index and, for the years 1954 through 198I,The Texas Observer Index. • success and ours. Call us for quality printing, binding, mailing THE TEXAS OBSERVER (ISSN 0040-4519/USPS 541300), entire contents copyrighted, 1992, is published biweekly except for a three-week interval and data processing services. Get to know the people at Futura. between issues in January and July (25 issues per year) by the Texas Observer Publishing Co., 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. Telephone: (512) 477-0746, Second-class postage paid at Austin, Texas. P.O. Box 17427 Austin, TX 78760.7427 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE TEXAS OBSERVER, 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. FUTUM 389-1500 COMMUNICATIONS. INC

2 • JANUARY 29, 1993

, ,,,■.9446?.. • re:-..wkweeryt.o.O. net EDITORIALS T serverHE TEXAS New Texas Blues JANUARY 29, 1993 //Co how do you like your New Texas included Houston Rep. Mike Andrews, Sulphur VOLUME 85, No. 2 ANnow?" read a note left on my desk the Springs Rep. Jim Chapman, Fort Worth Rep. morning after Gov. Ann Richards appointed and former Bentsen aide Pete Geren and Railroad Commissioner Bob Krueger to the Railroad Commissioner Bob Krueger. The sec- FEATURES U.S. Senate. The appointment, the end of an ond list included Lloyd Doggett, John Bryant almost comic search for a suitable candidate and Martin Frost, and John Hannah. Mattox, In the Wake of a who would accept, gives Krueger an advan- it can be assumed, did not make the second Wayward HUD Agent tage in the May special election for the U.S. list, perhaps because Bentsen could safely By Peter Cassidy 1 Senate seat. assume that Richards would be loath to select It also demonstrates how Texas politics anyone who had so unfairly and unnecessar- Home Schools in Court just makes people crazy. Consider my friend, ily attacked her character during the 1991 By Roxanne Bogucka the political consultant who asked about my Democratic primary campaign. 9 take on Richards' New Texas. Here is a pro- At press time, the Governor's office had not Who Owns the Media? gressive Democrat who, since Richards responded to questions about the existence By Jim Lee and Eric Bates 12 announced her intent to run for Governor, of lists drawn up by Bentsen. But a spokesper- has been an obsessed and impassioned critic son for Bentsen's office confirmed that the Politics of Social Capital of the campaign tactics of former Attorney Senator was "very involved and very inter- By Ernesto Cortes Jr. 16 General Jim Mattox, now left with little choice ested" in the selection of his replacement. but to embrace Mattox. Let me get in line to "The Senator had several conversations with High-Tech Health Concerns do the same. Governor Richards," Michelle Smith, of By Kent Paterson 18 The larger issue, however, has little to do Bentsen's Washington office, said. Smith char- with Jim Mattox. Despite his suggestion — acterized the talks as "private conversations DEPARTMENTS offered up while the Governor's office con- between two friends." sidered Bill Hobby, Henry Cisneros and Asked if Bentsen had drawn up two specific Comptroller John Sharp — that Richards lists, Smith said she had no knowledge of any Dialogue appoint him, it seemed unlikely that she such lists, but she could not categorically deny would appoint someone who had so vilified they existed. Editorials her in the Democratic primary two-and-a- At least three of the four names said to be half years ago. on Bentsen's list of acceptable choices were Las Americas The larger issue is the Governor's limiting given serious consideration by the Governor's Enduring Fidel her possible choices to only moderate to very office. Houston Congressman Mike Andrews By Saul Landau 20 conservative Democrats. Mattox, by virtue of was opposed by labor, whose leadership his',1991 primary campaign, eliminated him-: quickly closed ranks behind Krueger once the Books & the Culture self. But why didn't the Governor consider appointment was made. Jim Chapman was John Bryant or Martin Frost, both veteran opposed by the gay and lesbian communities, Labor's Love Lost members of Congress from Dallas. Or Supreme and Austin Democratic State Rep. Glenn By Steven Kellman 21 Court Justice Lloyd Doggett, who, like Maxey, who has worked on behalf of Richards Krueger, put together a successful statewide in the past, worked both publicly and pri- Afterword campaign after losing a U.S. Senate race? Or vately against the appointment. And when for- Freedom Fights Past and Present Secretary of State John Hannah? mer Democrat Congresswoman Barbara By Maury Maverick 23 We might begin to understand the Gov- Jordan, angered by Chapman's voting record ernor's appointment process by considering on rights of the disabled, weighed in against Political Intelligence 24 the question a member of the capitol press Chapman, he was muscled out of the race, corps asked Mattox on the day Richards according to several Austin insiders who Cover illustration by Gail Woods announced her Senate appointment: "Isn't he watched the process. [Ktueger] the ideological heir of Lloyd That left Krueger, of whom "the ideologi- Bentsen?" A look at Krueger's Congressional cal heir of Lloyd Bentsen" characterization Hutchison," who is the most enlightened of record (see page 4) answers that question. might be a bit unfair — to Bentsen. A the Republican's three serious contenders. But But there is more. Not only was Krueger the Congressional Quarterly analysis of House the Governor's collaboration with Senator apparent heir-apparent, he was the designated votes on which Jimmy Carter took a position Bentsen has had a stultifying effect on pub- heir-apparent, anointed by Bentsen before he in 1977 had Krueger supporting his own lic life in Texas. It creates a yet more cir- was appointed by Richards. President only 43 percent of the time, com- cumscribed circle in which we must now do Three sources, two in Washington and one pared to 63 percent for Bentsen and 40 per- politics, limits choices, forecloses on future in Austin, say that Bentsen drew up two lists: cent for the late Republican Senator John options and rewards prudence over political One of candidates he considered acceptable Tower. courage. and one. of candidates he could not accept to Many good people in Austin and across So how do I like my New Texas now? The replace hini in the U.S. Senate. The first list, the state are working for Krueger, some with Old Texas, not the Old Texas. of Bob Krueger, and it can be assumed it was drawn up after genuine enthusiasm and others resigned to the but the Old Texas of Jim Mattox (and State the Governor's office had been turned down Governor's choice, calling it pragmatic and. Treasurer Ann Richards), somehow seems by Cisneros, Sharp and perhaps Hobby, describing Krueger as "better than Kay Bailey more appealing. L.D.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 3

' Krueger's Record Revisited

E'S NEITHER A MODERATE, as cessful amendments that weakened the bill. ... the Senate. The following year, Krueger was WO he claims, nor really even a In 1975, he voted against H.R. 7575, proposed one of 24 Democrats voting against an amend- Democrat," said a Carter White House staffer to create a federal Consumer Protection Agency. ment to an appropriations bill, adding $60 mil- discussing Bob Krueger with The Observer in The bill passed, 208199, but was never signed. lion for education for the handicapped and $315 1978. The best and fairest assessment of Krueger In 1978, Krueger voted against a Carter-sup- million for Basic Education Opportunity Grants. — and unfortunately the best predictor of how ported Office of Consumer Representation, The amendment passed, 318-68. he will vote in the U.S. Senate — is an exam- which was defeated 189-227.... In 1975, Krueger joined three other Democrats ination of his record in the U.S. House, where When President Carter introduced his hos- in voting against an action to override President he served from 1975, when Congressional pital cost control plan in 1977, setting a 9 per- Ford' s veto of an extension of school-lunch Quarterly named him as the eighth-most con- cent annual limit on hospital revenue increases, and child-nutrition programs. The veto was servative freshman in the 94th Congress, until Krueger played a significant role in defeating it. defeated handily with 397 votes in favor of 1979, when he lost in a bid to unseat Texas Krueger was a member of the House Commerce overriding and 18 votes opposed. ... Senator John Tower. Committee that, in a 22-21 vote in 1978, sub- In the area of foreign affairs, Krueger has Krueger's voting record as a member of stituted a bill by Republican James Broyhill of shown a marked lack of concern for human Congress is more germane to a Senate campaign North Carolina for Carter's -initiative. The rights. In 1975, he voted against the [then-U.S. than is his record on the Railroad Commission, Broyhill bill called for a voluntary hospital effort Rep. Tom] Harkin amendment to the foreign aid where he has served for the past two years. bill, which denied aid to countries whose gov- Unfortunately, that House record hasn't changed ernments consistently violated the human rights since 1984, when, as part of the editorial cov- of their citizens. The amendment passed, 238- erage of the Senate primary contest that Krueger 144. In 1976, and 1977, Krueger voted in favor lost to Lloyd Doggett, it was thoroughly dis- of continuing military aid to Chile, Argentina cussed in The Observer. A number of the issues and Somoza' s Nicaragua. In 1976, Rep. Michael The Observer considered in the Doggett-Krueger Harrington introduced an amendment to the for- race were also issues central to the Clinton- eign military aid bill which would cut off the Gore campaign. What follows are excerpts of provision of $122 million in military sales to the Observer of January 27, 1984: Chile. The amendment was defeated, 139-266, When the forerunner of the Reagan economic with Krueger voting against it. In 1977, Krueger package emerged in a 1976 substitute amend- paired for an amendment to the 1978 foreign ment to the House resolution setting budget aid bill restoring $3.1 million in military assis- targets for fiscal year 1977, Krueger supported tance to the Somoza government in Nicaragua.... it. The amendment, introduced by Rep. Delbert And there's more. Krueger voted for a food Latta, an Ohio Republican, proposed $10.9 bil- stamp reduction, for termination of veteran's lion in tax cuts and spending cuts in domestic education benefits, and against an appropria- programs. The amendment was rejected by a tion for a national women's conference. He 145-320 vote. Krueger was among the 35 voted against appropriations for the Consumer Democrats voting for the amendment. Krueger Products Safety Commission, against the com- also voted in favor of amendments to the bud- mon-site picketing bill, for a limitation of get bill which would have eliminated $50 mil- nuclear industry liability in the event of a nuclear accident, and against the indexing of the min- lion for a full employment measure and $50 mil- FILE PHOTO imum wage. lion for a national health insurance bill. These An earlier Bob Krueger amendments were defeated by solid Democratic In 1993, the standard apologia for that record blocks from which Krueger had strayed. ... to cut back costs 2 percent per year, deleting begins with a reminder that Krueger represented In similar votes the year before, Krueger had all mandatory federal regulation of hospital a conservative district, which included San voted with 30 Democrats to cut $259,380,000 revenue. ... According to Congressional Antonio suburbanites, Hill Country faimers, from appropriations for fiscal year 1975 for Quarterly of July 22, 1978: "The president of West Texas ranchers, Rio Grande farmers, more programs of the Department of Health, Education the Texas hospital association sat in on every cattle than people, and so on. And, that as a and Welfare. ... Krueger also voted against a markup session, committee sources said. (Two U.S. Senator, Bob Krueger will vote as a rep- bill the following year to establish a conserva- Texas Democrats on the committee, Robert resentative of a broader and more diverse con- tion corps and to employ young adults. The `Bob' Krueger and Bob Gammage [now asso- stituency. It is the same argument once made by bill passed 291-70, with only 30 Democrats, ciate justice on the Texas Supreme Court], were the managers of Jack Hightower's campaign for including Krueger, opposed. consistently on the opposite side from the admin- the Texas Supreme Court, and Hightower' s But why should Krueger be concerned about istration.)" record on the court remains consistent with 'the a conservation corps if he votes against tighter Krueger's voting record does not show evi- voting patterns he established as a West Texas clean air controls? Krueger voted against a 1976 dence of a commitment to educational oppor- Democratic Congressman. clean air resolution (H.R. 10489) setting auto tunity that one might expect from an educator. "Let the people decide, stupid," reads the emission standards and air pollution regulations. In 1975, he voted against a bill authorizing a sign on the chalkboard hanging in the head- The bill passed, 324-68, with Krueger among substantial increase in the federal money to quarters of what is thus far the "pre-campaign" the 30 Democrats opposed. But Krueger did sup- educate handicapped children. The,bill passed, of former Attorney General Jim Mattox. Granted, port an amendment to the bill, which passed, 375-44, with eight Democrats, including it doesn't resonate quite like Bill Clinton's "The that delayed final auto emission control stan- Krueger, opposed. When the conference report economy, stupid." But Bob Krueger is any- dards from 1978 to 1982. The following year, on the bill was presented to the House, Krueger thing but a people's candidate for the Senate and Krueger voted against H.R. 6161, regulating was one of only three Democrats opposed. It all the name-recognition polls conducted by the "stationary and mobile sources of pollution," passed 404-7, with even [Republican Senator Bentsen-Richards wing of the Democratic party which passed 326-49. He again sdpported suc- John] Tower voting for the conference report in could never make him one. — L.D.

4 • JANUARY 29, 1993

• Nt 1.1.0.0,....,",10...4.. South Plains Cincinnatus

ill James E. "Pete" Laney become the fifth and fourth days before the end of a session; Barrientos of Austin. Steve Carricker of Roby WVCincinnatus of the South Plains? Laney, on the third and second days before the session's will chair the Committee of the Whole on a Hale Center farmer and conservative end, the House would limit itself to confer- Redistricting, Ethics and Elections. Democrat, was elected Speaker of the House of ence committee reports. Representatives by acclamation on the opening Laney has proposed streamlining the House Irhe budget news is grim; even with the lot- day of the 73rd Legislature, but he surprised committee system, reducing the number of com- tery contributing to a 5.2 percent increase in some of his colleagues a few days later when mittees from 36 to 31. the state's estimated revenues, Comptroller John he embraced sweeping House reform propos- Good-government lobbyists said Laney's sup- Sharp said the state will fall $3.2 billion short of als that would reduce his power. port appeared to clinch the long-sought reforms. keeping services at the current level. State District In his acceptance speech, Laney, 49, empha- "For the first time in at least 10 years the Judge Scott McCown of Austin warned that he sized that he would stress ethics and openness. Calendars Committee is going to have to work will enforce the Texas Supreme Court's order to "There is no issue more important to me than in public," said Suzy Woodford of Common cut off state funding for public schools if the earning the trust, the respect and the support Cause. "And there will be layout rules, so that Legislature does not adopt an equitable school of the people of Texas for the House of we won't have ethics bills passed at a minute finance plan by June 1, but lawmakers have halved Representatives and the work it does," he said. to midnight of the last day of the session with the amount of new money earmarked for public The 2q-year House veteran had little to dis- nobody knowing what's in the bill," she said. schools, with prisons — the other end of the school tinguish himself as a reformer. As State Affairs Among the leaders in the House reform spectrum — getting the bulk of any windfall. Committee chairman he was considered a workign group were progressive Democrats The two-year spending proposal drawn up dependable lieutenant of previous House John Hirschi of Wichita Falls, Libby Linebarger by the Legislative Budget Board as a stating Speaker Gib Lewis and Laney notably waited of Manchaca, who helped convince the reform point for lawmakers, a budget that contem- until the closing days of the 72nd Legislature group that Laney was open to reform, Sherri plates cuts in monthly Aid to Families with. before he moved the ethics bill for action. Greenberg, Elliott Naishtat and Glenn Maxey, Dependent Children, Medicaid, family plan- But Laney had impressed enough young law- all of Austin, Republicans Talmadge Heflin and ning, AIDS/HIV services and prevention fund- makers with his fairness on State Affairs that Bill Carter of Houston and Kevin Brady of The ing for child abuse and neglect, "is inhumane, he methodically picked up support when it came Woodlands and conservative Democrats Warren shortsighted and without redeeming social to replacing Lewis, the Fort Worth conserva- Chisum of Pampa and Billy Clemons of Lufkin, value," said Phil Strickland, chairman of the tive Democrat. Under pressure from Travis who was among the first to press for rules CARE Coalition of Texas, a coalition of 49 County District Attorney Ronnie Earle for mis- reforms when, as a Calendars Committee mem- human services organizations. "If Texas had a demeanor ethics violations, Lewis stepped down ber he blew the lid off its secretiveness. He strategic plan for mediocrity, this would be an after a record five terms as Speaker. also was a key to getting the liberal Democrats excellent first step," said Strickland, also with Laney reportedly assured lawmakers he would and Republicans together, despite his initial mis- the Baptist General Convention of Texas. not seek more than two terms as Speaker; he trust of the Laney supporters, Woodford said, Oh, that Texas would aspire to mediocrity! appeared to back off from that commitment and there was somehope that the working rela- The Lone Star State's traditional stinginess on after his election, saying that. House members tionships created by the rules-reform coalition AFDC payments already places it 47th among would decide on whether to limit his terms. might carry over to school finance reform and the 50 states; the proposed cut from the current But he delivered on rules reforms designed to other issues in the coming session. Well,. it's still $57 a month to $45 a month "guarantees Texas open up the legislative process and said the early enough in the session to dream. the trophy for being the leading grinch in the proposed rules offer "much-needed and dra- Laney said he hoped to resolve the state's nation," Strickland said. He added: "Governor matic changes," which set the stage for what school finance deadlock within 30 days. In the Richards, you care about humans who hurt. Lead could be the first reform session in 20 years. meantime, he was holding off on committee us to do more, not less, to meet their needs." But In the past, more than half of the bills were assignments, although he denied the two were Richards told her Health Policy Task Force the passed by the House in the last three days of the connected. At least, he said, "Not at this time," state does not have $2 billion to pay for health 140-day regular sessions, due to parliamen- although the perception persists that lawmak- care for pregnant women and children, as the tary rules which gave key lawmakers and lob- ers who stall a school equity plan this time task force recommended, although she supported byists more control over the flow of bills. Under around will end up on the taxi squad. the appropriation of $50 million for immuniza- the proposed rules, the deadlines would start Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, on the other hand, tion of children. In the days leading up to kicking in 17 days before the end of the session, named 12 committees, including three President Bill Clinton's inauguration, the tax- which at least would reduce the crush of bills. Republican chairmen in a nod to the New conscious governor was lobbying Congress to The rules also would require the Calendars Reality: Bill Ratliff of Mount Pleasant takes relieve the states of health-care obligations. Committee, into which bills all too often dis- over Education, Ike Harris of Dallas heads State "Paying for health care is killing us," she said. appeared in the past, to vote publicly on each Affairs and Don Henderson of Houston heads "In the short term, we hope there will be relief bill within 30 days of receiving it. Jurisprudence. The other chairs are Democrats, from some of the federal mandates." The Speaker would appoint only half of the including Administration, Bill Haley of Center; Senate finance officials reportedly are pin- members of the Appropriations Committee, with Criminal Justice, John Whitmire of Houston; ning their hopes for making up a $1.6 billion the rest determined by seniority. He also would Economic Development, Carl Parker of Port annual shortfall in health and human services be prohibited from removing committee chairs Arthur, who sought a move after five sessions on a "shell game" that would attract four fed- after they are appointed. as Education chair; Finance, John Montford eral dollars for every dollar the state spends In the closing days, non-local bills would need of Lubbock; Health and Human Services, Judith on Medicaid. But there is some concern that the final House approval 17 days before the end Zaffirini of Laredo; Intergovernmental Relations, new deficit-conscious Congress will put a stop of thesession; final passage of Senate bills Ken Armbrister of Victoria; International to the program that awards extra money to hos- would be needed six days before the end of Relations, Trade & Technology, Carlos Truan pitals that serve a disproportionate share of the session. Only conference committee reports of Corpus Christi; Natural Resources, Bill Sims low-income patients. and amendments would be considered on the of San Angelo; and Nominations, Gonzalo If that happens, guess who loses. —J.C.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 5

.1014.1ti, IN THE WAKE OF A HUD MORTGAGE AGENT

Lugar and HUD executives such as former HUD construction loan, HUD would repay the bond more of ZI' s own capital and in January 1988, Secretary Thomas Demery, lives comfortably holders' money plus the interest they expected according to allegations in Zelvin's suit, the pro- in exclusive Carmel, Indiana, while more than to receive — a guarantee that lowered consid- ject's architects declared the project ready for a dozen foreclosed projects he underwrote dur- erably the risk to lenders. , occupancy. Yet Puller refused to endorse the ing the 1980s decay around the country, cost- Zelvin' s ZI Investment Builders, Inc. posted project as "substantially complete," an official ing taxpayers potentially more than the $236 $2.07 million for operating expenses and milestone that would release escrowed money million in foreclosed mortgages on them. deposited a $1.5 million letter of credit with to help market the community and operate it For two years, Zelvin has been in U.S. District Puller Mortgage. These monies to guarantee into the black, the suit alleges. Puller's rationale Court in San Antonio, alleging in a lawsuit operation of the project after completion usu- was that he couldn't approve the project's man- that Puller fraudulently took loan monies and ally are required of developers to ensure there agement, the suit alleges. "I was a bull with a forced Independence Hill into foreclosure. is money to market their projects so that they rake through my nose. Puller knew at final Congressmen have asked where the $3.6 mil- can generate a profit and the developers can endorsement he was going to have to release libn has gone; HUD Inspector General auditors repay the loans on them. back to me in excess of a million dollars and I have questioned Puller's accounting; yet HUD' s The year construction of Independence Hill would turn around and use it to sue him for all only remedy has been to foreclose on the devel- began, 1986, Puller Mortgage made Inc.' s list the wrong he done to me through the years on opment in 1990 and, this October, to auction of fastest-growing companies. Puller began my'project," Zelvin said. Independence Hill. his professional career as a HUD regional under- Zelvin, in response, offered two manage- Even the Justice Department has kept evidence writer in Indianapolis in the 1960s. During the ment alternatives: An outfit from St. Louis and about Puller Mortgage's handling of the 1970s he worked as a private developer, usu- later that year, Classic Residences by Hyatt, the Independence Hill project out of court. The ally working in some capacity with HUD funds hotel people. Puller rejected both opttions, the Observer has obtained documentation which or programs. His experience with HUD pro- suit alleges. Puller posted the project in default makes it clear that the Justice Department is grams started to pay off in the 1980s — after in August of 1988 and froze all funds, includ- withholding information establishing that the Puller was licensed as a coinsurance agent. (In ing operating funds to maintain the residence proceeds of the loan never made it to the project. the first eight months of 1988 alone, Puller for 50 tenants, the suit alleges. To anyone, including new HUD Secretary Mortgage was able to make a shareholder dis- Contacted in Indianapolis, Puller dismissed Henry Cisneros, who thinks that the HUD scan- tribution of $544,300 to Puller, the sole share- the lawsuit's allegations and contends that, in dals of the 1980s are over, Independence Hill holder, according to Puller Mortgage's 1988 fact, Zelvin has absconded with money that was in San Antonio is worth inspecting. For all the annual report.) not his to take. "The plaintiff is probably going commissions Puller earned for arranging the Puller, a native of Terre Haute, was well-liked to be the defendant before this is all over with," financing of the project's construction, and for by members of his staff, whom he would some- Puller said. all the expense government agencies went to in times invite out for double-entree lunches, and their investigations of Puller Mortgage, San he seemed to be well on his way to realizing the ne of Puller's more notorious earlier Antonio is still only richer by one partially-filled dream that had driven him since his college days: business associates was Arthur "Abba" retirement community. To be a millionaire before his 40th birthday. His 0 Goldberg, a former high-flying vice enterprise, however, was also beginning to fray. president of the bond firm Matthews & Wright. ndependence Hill was designed as a decid- Some developers Puller had crossed filed a Puller and Goldberg got acquainted while edly upscale village for seniors. With its own civil suit against him in Denver in 1986, charg- Goldberg was engineering a bond fraud in Guam swimming pool, a view of a golf course and ing that Puller Mortgage and the Federal in 1985. Goldberg had sold Guam's non-profit other amenities, the project is located on a hill- National Mortgage Association (FNMA) had developers on "tax-free" bond issues that side in Stone Oak, an emerging white-flight colluded to ruin a project for their own profit. Goldberg knew had tax liabilities — meaning northern neighborhood of San Antonio. The development group filed suit after pursu- the unfortunate buyers would actually have to Independence Hill, two main buildings sur- ing every possible avenue of redress at HUD pay taxes on the bonds' interest. Goldberg ended rounded by townhouses, offers daily meals, and talking "to anyone who would listen," up pleading guilty to three counts of mail fraud health care and golf course membership. according to Denver developer John Musick. in 1989 and was sentenced to 18 months in Zelvin' s romance with construction began A state court later would find that the devel- jail. years ago when he worked on his father's pro- opers had been defrauded and although the Kimbley Lujan, an officer at the Guam jects. A Connecticut Yankee, Zelvin went into Colorado court determined that Puller Mortgage Economic Development Authority (GEDA), engineering research back east after his grad- committed fraud, HUD, examining the same said Puller was along for the "whole dog and uation from Rice University before coming material the court had ruled on, was inexplica- pony show." GEDA's suit against Goldberg and back to Texas to return to building. . bly slow in disciplining Puller's company. A George Benoit, another Matthews & Wright In 1986, Puller and Zelvin cut a deal that timely disciplining of HUD's agent might have executive, alleged "Matthews & Wright, Inc. would finance the construction of the 292-unit saved Zelvin's project, Bexar County bond dol- represented to GEDA that [HUD] mortgage Independence Hill retirement village. Bexar lars and even something for taxpayers who, insurance ... would be available to developers County sold $14.7 million in tax-free bonds in the end, will bail out Zelvin's retirement seeking loans from the bond proceeds." Puller — the proceeds of which were used as the con- community. But a prompt response might have showed up at a press conference on December struction loan. Puller, as HUD' s officially dep- been too much to ask of HUD administrators, 12, 1985 in Agana, Guam, where he explained utized coinsurance agent, arranged mortgage many of whom are Puller's political associates. his role as HUD's insurance agent and pro- insurance for the project. The insurance meant Zelvin's problems with Puller started almost claimed, "I came, I saw and I liked." In an inter- if Zelvin failed to keep up payments on the as soon as ground was broken on the project: view this summer, Puller said of the Guam deal. Monthly "draws" on the $14.7 million construc- "Oh, we did a program with them, started work tion loan were always late and it was tough to pay on a program. It cost us a lot of money . . . I think Peter Cassidy of Boston is afreelance writer on bills, Zelvin alleges. ZI completed phase one of Arthur Goldberg went to jail for something business and financial issues. Research assis- the project in June 1987 and opened it to its first else." tance was provided by Marsha LeBrun, Lydia residents, hoping to fill it quickly. But Puller, It was Goldberg who apparently increased DeSanctis and Brett Campbell. Travel and the suit alleges, refused to disburse the escrowed Puller's appreciation of so-called "gray-box" research was subsidized by the Fund for money set aside to market the new apartments. bond financing, controversial tax-exempt bond Investigative Journalism. Work on the project continued, consuming deals that arguably skirt some IRS regulations.

6 • JANUARY 29, 1993 Puller talked Zelvin into one such gray-box deal granted the power to arrange loans guaranteed again got the very first license to participate. with Greystone & Co. of Atlanta, operated by by federal government. In theory, these depu- HUD started a coinsurance lending program for Steven Rosenberg, a former assistant vice pres- tized I-IUD agents carried some 20 per cent of nursing homes in 1989 and Puller Mortgage ident at Matthews & Wright whose boss at the the risk but, in reality, any mortgages that received the very first license for that program. firm was Benoit. The bond re-financing deal involved government-backed bonds — like Puller, however, contradicted earlier claims would pay off the Bexar County bonds and re- those at Independence Hill — were insured 100 about Puller Mortgage's coinsurance licenses. fund the project. Puller agreed to approve final percent by the government. During a telephone interview, Puller said his endorsement, endorse the Hyatt management The system's fatal flaw was that coinsurance mortgage company was issued a coinsurance contract and release the escrows after refi- agents were paid on commissions and, since license for substantial rehab simultaneously with nancing, the suit alleges. In December, they could hire their own appraisers, it was two other companies. Puller Mortgage "may Greystone forwarded $1.3 million in proceeds profitable for coinsurance agents to inflate val- have been one of the first" issued a new con- to Puller, the suit alleges. Around that time, uations to maximize their commissions. One struction coinsurance lenders license and it according to allegations in the Zelvin's lawsuit, HUD auditor told The Observer that half of the may have been first or second accepted for Puller Mortgage also withdrew the last $778,000 $8 million in mortgages written under the coin- nursing home construction. from the original mortgage account at Citibank. surance system will end in foreclosures paid for "We had good people. That's all. We con- Puller, the suit alleges, then reversed promises by the taxpayer. centrated on it," Puller said. His track record, that he'd made prior to the bond re-funding. When the coinsurance lending licenses were however, indicates he is not above mixing pol- ZI was forced into bankruptcy in January of being handed out between 1983 and 1989, Puller itics and business. Senator Richard Lugar of 1989 and a Bankruptcy Court judge ordered was first in line for each building program inau- Indiana wrote a letter recommending him for escrows released to Puller to pay the subcon- gurated under the coinsurance lending system, a coinsurance license, a fact confirmed by tractors and bring the project to final endorse- according to court records in a suit Puller has Lugar's former press liaison David Shapiro, and ment. Although Puller received the funds, sub- brought against some business associates: When Puller had also made substantial campaign con- contractors remained unpaid and final coinsurance for substantial rehabilitation of tributions to the senator. During the '80s Puller endorsement was not issued. existing housing was inaugurated, Puller and his family directly donated $8,000 to San Antonio-based FBI Special Agent Claude Mortgage got the very first license. When HUD Lugar's campaigns and $11,625 to the National Martin interviewed Zelvin in February, Zelvin launched a coinsurance program for new con- Republican Senatorial Committee, indirectly said, and Martin told him the scope of the inves- struction of multifamily housing in 1985, Puller supporting Lugar. Puller, according to a former tigation of Puller Mortgage included alleged securities fraud and mortgage fraud involving projects financed through HUD's coinsurance lending system. (Asked about the investigation, Martin explained to The Observer the proce- Colonial House in Houston: dural constraints that prohibited him from dis- cussing the investigation and referred the call to the Indianapolis FBI office.) Defaulting with Distinction A HUD report on Independence Hill indi- cates that the HUD Inspector General's office TEXAS, WHICH IN THE 1980s became The mortgage officially went into default had been cooperating with the FBI's investi- known as a center for taxpayer-supported in 1988. DRG was disbarred as a coinsurance gation of Puller Mortgage as late as April 1990. financial fraud, has the distinction of holding lender in 1989 with a portfolio of more than Bexar County Criminal District Attorney's com- within its borders the most inflated mortgage $1 billion. At that time, $70 million of its puter records show that office also turned over ever written under the coinsurance lending loans were dead and many more were its file on Puller Mortgage to the FBI in system: A $47 million note on a failed comatose. HUD's appraisers set the value December 1990. swingers apartment complex in a decaying of the distressed property at $12 million. Puller, however, says he knows nothing about Houston neighborhood. The cost to taxpayer might have been far an FBI investigation. He told The Observer, Colonial House Apartments, one of the less if Carla Hills, former HUD Secretary "I haven't had any interviews with the FBI. If biggest apartment complexes in Houston, was under Bush, and later a U.S Trade they have something going, how come I haven't auctioned at a foreclosure in a1989 sale by Representative for the Bush Administration, heard about it?" HUD for $8.9 million after its owner defaulted hadn't intervened when the HUD staff was on the coinsured mortgage. The taxpayer trying to stop DRG' s underwriting practices. en Puller had always been able to get ate a $42 million dollar loss from the under- After DRG dealt the Colonial House mort- HUD coinsurance licenses before his writing practices of DRG Funding Inc., the gage, HUD staff limited the company's inde- Kcompetitors did, a fact he liked to flaunt politically savvy Washington mortgage com- pendence in underwriting and declared that in the trade press and at industry exhibitions. pany and coinsurance lender that cut HUD's projects would have to be cleared by HUD "We're the instigators of coinsurance. We're mortgage on Colonial House. staff people. DRG, in the meantime, had hired the one that lobbied for it and put it together. . Landmark Management, a partnership of Hills after her term as HUD secretary. Hills . We helped write the rules and regulations, in New York apartment syndicators, had bought first approached HUD staff to get the restric- other words," Puller said in a sworn deposi- Colonial. House in 1983 and hired a California tions lifted and then, unsatisfied, met with tion in a suit filed against him by a Phoenix promoter named Michael Pollack to market then-HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce in 1985. developer. "He is one of the pioneers of the coin- the sagging apartment block as a roost for Pierce later lifted the restrictions his staff had surance program," Silvio deBartolomeis, a for- upscale singles. Pollack ran ads on television imposed. mer acting Assistant Secretary of HUD, told an starring himself and "babelicious," taunting During a House housing subcommittee Indianapolis reporter writing a 1986 feature women at one of the complex's pools. meeting, one congressman asked Hill if she about Puller. DRG wrote the mortgage in the mid-1980s was hired by DRG because she could access The coinsurance lending system issued its for the rehabilitation of Colonial House, , a to important offices. She replied, "It may very first licenses to deputized lenders about 10 years complex of 48 buildings on 49 acres of land well be true that as a former cabinet officer, ago. The rationale for using deputized agents in scruffy southwest Houston, despite the fact I had better access than some. I think I have was that this system would allow HUD to fund that only 6 percent of the apartments in the a very good reputation as a lawyer knowl- projects without having to maintain and staff 1,818-unit complex were occupied. DRG' s edgeable about housing." permanent offices around the country. appraisers wrote that Colonial House had a Not, apparently, the value of apartments in Until the scandals broke in 1989, HUD dep- value of $60 million. Houston. — P.C. utized some 50 coinsurance lenders, who were

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 7 Lugar aide, was often a participant at political real or potential taxpayer-borne losses — on the time allowing the government to auction the functions when Lugar was mayor of notes alone. Meanwhile, HUD officers friendly property. The day of the auction, Zelvin ran Indianapolis. with Puller and administrators from the office up the stairs of the Bexar County Courthouse HUD records released to the press in 1989 of multi-family housing — charged with over- with a giant blow-up of the lis pendens — the also reveal Puller's political relationships. When seeing coinsurance lenders like Puller — were legal notice that title to a property is in dispute Puller attended a President's Dinner in 1987, he attracting the attention of government investi- — he had filed with the land registry to scare stayed in one of several rooms reserved by gators and prosecutors. off would-be bidders. No one bid on the pro- Thomas Demery, who was then assistant sec- Hamernick and R. Hunter Cushing, a for- ject and it remained unsold until this year. retary for housing, at the Four Seasons Hotel in mer deputy assistant secretary and advocate Once the property was sold off, Zelvin's fight Georgetown. of the coinsurance lending system, would plead was with the federal government and Puller. Lance Wilson, former assistant to former their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrim- After finding lawyers to represent him on what HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce, whose admin- ination when called before Congress in 1989 to looked like a tough case, Zelvin filed his law istration later was mired in scandal, left HUD testify. Demery has been indicted for various suit against HUD and Puller Mortgage in San in 1984 and became head of New York City's frauds and manipulation of HUD programs for Antonio in January 1991. With HUD brought Housing Development corporation. While at the profit of a business partner. Wilson has into the siege, the federal government has been New York HDC Wilson kept up a lot of his been hit with an indictment for bribery; pulled into a conflict of loyalties. Justice political contacts from his HUD days and Puller, deBartolomeis last October pleaded guilty to Department lawyers are both defending Puller who did business with HDC, attended a $911 charges of conspiracy, lying to Congress and and attempting to define him as anything but an dinner in April 1985 at Wilson's invitation. colluding with Demery to hide his deals with agent of HUD — to limit their own liabilities "We had no better access than anyone else," business partner. for anything he might have done while acting Puller said, discussing his company's good as an agent of the government. fortune in receiving his coinsurance licenses. nd Puller, in his effort to get his coin- Meanwhile, the FBI's investigation of Puller "We went through the National Association surance license reissued, even went inter- Mortgage is apparently complete. When The of Homebuilders and MBA (Mortgage Bankers' Anational and hired belly dancers to enter- Observer inquired about the case at the Association). That's who did the lobbying." tain Arab investors on whom he was counting Indianapolis office of the FBI, Agent Ed to provide capital to resurrect his business. That Lueckenhoff said, "Puller Mortgage? If anyone he FBI's interest in Puller Mortgage was belly-dancing episode began in 1989, when talks to you about that, it's going to be Larry some comfort to Zelvin but it didn't put an Indianapolis export consultant convinced Mackey at the U.S Attorney's [office]." T his project in the black. Residents started Puller that wealthy Arab royals were waiting to Mackey, assistant U.S. attorney at Indianapolis, to scatter by early 1989 as subcontractors started provide $15 million to revive the de-chartered said his supervisors told him the office couldn't reclaiming components and grabbing furnish- Puller Mortgage, Puller alleged in a lawsuit filed comment, although they were prepared to receive ings that hadn't been paid for and nailed down. in an Indianapolis court against the consultant, any material The Observer cared to share. Independence Hill was hopelessly adrift and Munier Jallad, and his "investors" In what seem like an attempt to put this about the time ZI was filing bankroptcy, Puller When Puller arrived in Abu Dhabi and dis- trouble behind them, HUD and the Justice was about to feel a broadside fusillade from a covered Jallad couldn't produce the rich royals, Department appear oblivious to civil judge- development group he had wronged in Denver. Jallad set up a meeting with another potential ment, allegations and investigations sur- On March 17, 1989, the group, led by Colorado investor named Nour Eddine Zerriffi. But Jallad rounding the federal government's former attorney John Musick, won a $6.35 million reportedly told Puller he'd have to pay for a big lending agent. Justice is successfully using in- civil judgment against Puller for negligent mis- feast to consummate the deal and as the Arab court procedures to suppress relevant docu- representation. idea of dinner includes dancing girls, a sump- ments in the case — like the Coopers & Plaintiffs in Denver not only prevailed in tuous repast was arranged and Puller picked , Lybrand memorandum that discusses "lender their claim that defendants had colluded to up the check. And, he claims in his law suit, liabilities." "The mortgage loan has not been defraud the developers, their litigation and events he was promised a pile of fresh cash, though fully funded," the memorandum says, but that followed revealed the extent of high-level so far he hasn't received a dime. Justice has successfully petitioned to have the corruption at FNMA. Puller, it was revealed, While Puller was picking up the tab for belly evidence disallowed in court. was late in submitting an audit report — due on dancers in Abu Dhabi, Zelvin was scrambling The inspector general's memorandum on the March 31 — in which he would have had to to end the siege of Independence Hill. Early Independence Hill project supports Zelvin's alle- report the loss from the suit and the loss of req- in 1990, Zelvin submitted a workout proposal gations but it has been suspiciously "redacted" uisite "sound capital" he was required to have to HUD's Office of Multifamily Housing with large sections having been blacked out. The on hand to operate as a coinsurance lender. Management, asking that the agency put up Justice Department describes the parts of the Puller, according to a HUD Administration some cash so that the project could be oper- document they have censored as exempt from Law Judge's documents, persuaded James ated into to self-sufficiency. entry into evidence because they are either "pre- Hamernick, former Deputy Assistant Secretary HUD declined, responding, in part, "... we decisional" or "deliberative" although the of Housing for Multi-family Development, to cannot exceed our statutory authority to effec- memorandum has a summary and conclusion agree to a later filing. Puller claimed that tuate your workout plan, or any other plan, section and is dated May 1, 1990. Hamernick said "no problem" to his request. regardless of the merits of those allegations." Zelvin's community on a hill, now with more HUD' s lender approval division demanded The letter infuriated Zelvin. "It doesn't matter than 70 units filled, was auctioned for $4,775,000 the scheduled audit but Puller was never able to if what I've said is true. That's what it says," to Dial Communities on October 15, putting the submit one that auditors could endorse as com- Zelvin said. It was enough to launch Ahab, who taxpayer's loss at around $10 million. Dial, plete and in late April 1989 HUD suspended jumped in the bus and headed off to Washington which didn't return The Observer's calls, had Puller Mortgage's coinsurance license, citing to meet with HUD's inspector general. been indemnified by HUD against any loss his failure to meet the agency's sound capital Yet nothing Zelvin offered could move the from the lawsuits involving the property. Before requirements — with no mention of the suc- Washington bureaucrats; not the file cabinets the auction, HUD announced it would repay the cessful Denver lawsuit. The next month Govern full of documentation, not letters from con- successful bidder should the property have to National Mortgage Association took away gressmen to HUD demanding an accounting of be returned to Zelvin as a result of his law suit. Puller's license to issue GNMA securities. money lent on the project, not even evidence Few others besides HUD could afford to make When the final accounting was done, Puller that the FBI was investigating the agency's an expensive guarantee like that, but then again, Mortgage left some 15 projects that ultimately deputy lender could move the bureaucracy. it's all other people's money — taxpayers' would go into default, around 45 per cent of the In July 1990, HUD foreclosed Independence money — in the checking account, which is why portfolio of $510 million in mortgages that the Hill, shifting all losses on the project squarely San Antonio ended up with a half-empty retire- company originated, adding up to $236 million onto the backs of the taxpayers and at the same ment complex in the first place. ❑

8 • JANUARY 29, 1993

•71 •,.•• .0••••••••••,•■•• : ••• -09, • Home Schools in Court

BY ROXANNE BOGUCKA

Austin broad range of defendants, including the TEA, parents reportedly punished him by starving him ERHAPS IT IS THE DESTINY of the the commissioners of the Texas State Board of to death), are uncommon, but not unheard of. state of Texas to be a perpetual litigant Education (SBE) and truant officers across Texas. No one denies that the state of Texas has a pover education. The Edgewood school Most compulsory attendance prosecutions compelling interest in preventing these kinds of finance case has dragged on for a generation. begin when someone, usually a neighbor, reports situations, if it can, said Shelby Sharpe, advo- Now it appears that the state will have another that children in a household do not appear to be cate for the homeschoolers. "We've never said day before the Texas Supreme Court on yet attending school. If, after investigation, the compulsory attendance officers don't have the another education issue. On January 26, the court complaint is found to have some merit, par- right to make sure a child is in attendance or that will hear arguments in the suit Texas Education ents can be taken to court. Those found guilty a genuine education effort is being made where Agency et al. v. Leeper et al., a case involving can be fined $5-$25 for a first offense, $10-$50 the child attends," he said. home schooling and the compulsory attendance for a second offense, and as much as $100 per In an attempt to answer the question "When requirements of the Texas Education Code. day for repeated offenses. Failure to comply is enforcement called for?" the State Board of While home-schooling parents argue Education, in 1986, adopted new guide- that the right to determine their chil- lines which described legitimate home dren's curriculum is at stake, the state's schooling. "The intent was to, in 1986, contends that if it loses, its education establish a uniform set of expectations agencies will lose the authority to estab-' for enforcement of compulsory atten- lish criteria for home schooling and dance law across the state ... guidelines taxpayers will be liable for $3.25 mil- to truant officers," said O'Hanlon. lion in attorney's fees the home-school- Sharpe contends that what the Board of ers have incurred while suing the state. Education issued was more than a set Section 21.033(a) of the Texas of guidelines. "They were regulations

Education Code comprises the com- •••4 and they were contrary to the intent pulsory attendance law, and requires [of the statute] . . . TEA had no author- Texas children between the ages of ity over private schools, period. They seven and 17 to attend public schools could only make sure that people were for a fixed minimum number of days in attendance at a type of school, pub- of the regular school term. Families are lic, private, or parochial," Sharpe said. exempt from the compulsory attendance Sharpe said that the Texas Legislative law if: a child meets the code's defi- Council chastised the Board of nition of "handicapped" and cannot' Education, saying that their directives be served by the school district; a child were regulations, not guidelines. GAIL WOODS suffers, temporarily, from a physical or The state had also hoped that by issu- mental illness, for the duration of the ing the guidelines they might get the illness; a child has been expelled; or a child is with the compulsory attendance law is also a case settled out of court. It didn't happen. The enrolled in a private or parochial school. violation of Chapter 54 of the Family Code, and case went to non-jury trial in front of court-at- It is the last exemption that pertains to the can lead to loss of custody of children. The law Judge Charles Murray in Fort Worth. lawsuit; specifically, "any child in attendance standard defense in such cases is that the par- O'Hanlon, then an assistant attorney general, upon a private or parochial school which shall ents are running a school, and in most such represented the state, and Sharpe represented include in its course a study of good citizen- cases that defense is a stout one. the plaintiffs. Murray ruled for the plaintiffs, ship." The terms "private or parochial school" The compelling interest of the state, accord- and barred truant officers from using the state's are undefined in the Code and all of this began ing to Kevin 0' Hanlon, attorney for the Legal guidelines to determine compulsory attendance in 1981, in response to a school district's query Services section of the State Board of Education violations, on the grounds that TEA had no whether home schooling complied with the (who represented the state in the first round authority to regulate home schools. He fur- compulsory attendance statute. A Texas of the Edgewood v. Kirby school-funding suit), ther enjoined "any other attempt by the Board Education Agency (TEA) lawyer issued a legal is that its citizens share a comparable, useful to define or regulate private or parochial opinion stating that "educating a child at home education. But parents educating their children schools." TEA, not surprisingly, disagreed. "The is not the same as private school instruction and, at home contend that they are providing an ade- TEA does not regulate private schools in any therefore, not an acceptable substitute." quate and useful education. "The basic view- way, shape, or form," said 0' Hanlon. "TEA felt Attendance officers in school districts across point of most of the home educators is, 'Why that they were regulating the conduct of duties the state, for the first time since 1915, began are you spending all of this effort to fix some- of truant officers by giving them what to look enforcing against home-schooling parents. thing that isn't broken?'" said Brian Sinclair, for to decide if they should bring a case against In 1985 the original suit, Gary W. Leeper v. a Christian homeschooler. "As a group, home parents." Murray also ordered that the plaintiffs' Arlington ISD, was filed. The other plaintiff was educators feel that the primary interest, the attorneys' fees be paid by all 1,060 Texas school the Calvert School of Baltimore, Md, providers compelling interest in education, is on the par- districts. If the parents had lost they would have of home-education materials. The suit named a ents. . . . The parents have the compelling inter- owed the state for the attorneys' fees. est there, not necessarily the state government." According, to Sharpe, Murray's ruling was Incidents of children being kept at home, a declaratory judgement that defined "private Roxanne Bogucka is a copy editor at the. not for genuine home-schooling, Nit to work or school": "Private, meaning non-public, and Observer and a graduate student in anthro- to care for siblings or the house (or, in the case school, meaning with a student and a teacher pology at the University of Texas at Austin. last year, of the boy in White Settlement, whose engaged in education. . . . he just described the

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 9

Ve. activity that meant a school at the time of the passive in their own education, and we didn't acknowledge each other's existence. The two passage of the [1915] act." According to want that . . . public schools teach a mode of main national groups are The National 0' Hanlon, what happened was that Murray behavior, not information." Homeschool Association, which distributes issued guidelines of his own, "basically the Unlike our political system, home school- information on home schooling and the avail- same guidelines as TEA would have." ing has two fairly distinct parties. The parents ability of educational materials, and the If the guidelines are basically the same, one at the Austin meeting were what are generally Homeschool Legal Defense Association, which might wonder why TEA took the case to the referred to as secular homeschoolers—those has dealt with cases involving challenges to the Court of Appeals, which upheld Murray's deci- who have chosen home schooling instead of freedoms of home-schooling parents. sion yet ruled that the TEA' s rules were "arbi- classroom-based instruction primarily from a Among the religious-right homeschoolers trary and capricious," and then to the Texas desire for a better education for their children, are those who are more likely to give their Supreme Court? O'Hanlon said, "The case isn't with less concern for religious matters. Those kids an education that is not comparable to about the propriety of the guidelines, it's about who attended the meeting of the Austin area Texas' public schools. These are the home- how to bring a compulsory attendance case. It's homeschoolers, while a diverse group them- schooling parents that traditional educators a civil suit trying to enjoin the enforcement of selves, were only a scratch on the surface of the worry about. They might home school their a penal statute. This case is about some proce- full membership. kids because they object to local immunization dural stuff that lawyers like." The other home-schooling party is more likely requirements or because they want to protect James Todd, appellate coordinator for the to have members who identify with the religious young minds from corrupting fields of knowl- Attorney General's Office, wrote the appeal right. In Austin, they have their own group, edge (evolution or sex education, for example). to the Supreme Court. He believes that Murray's Christian Home Education Association. A home- The religious right defines the home-school- order limits truancy enforcement in Texas. "The schooling friend from Massachusetts told me ing legislative and lobbying agenda, and is in judge's order means, anywhere in Texas, if a that in some places the two groups don't even the forefront of legal actions. parent wants to do home schooling, and a school district says the home schooling isn't adequate, the parent can haul any district into court in Fort Worth," said Todd. "This will lead, in my opin- ion, to truant officers taking a 'hands-off' pol- A Homeschooler at Home icy regarding home-schooling parents, thinking `We've got better things to do than be hauled ELISSA TOLLIVER'S first exposure Although home schooling fits in with the into court in Fort Worth.'" O'Hanlon agreed, Mto home-schooled kids was less than Tolliver family lifestyle and inclinations, not but said the larger issue is that such concerns impressive. "When I was pregnant with Zoe, everyone in their extended family is pleased- fall under varying community standards, and I was a volunteer at the Nature Center with their choice. Tolliver's mother, who also should be part of a local judicial process, not museum, and I had a home-school group was homeschooled, isn't nearly as support- some court in Fort Worth. come through and they were awful. I thought, ive as her mother-in-law. "And my sister O'Hanlon said that the original agency opin- homeschool? No way!" But as Zoe and older has written probably the definitive letter on, ion stated that educating a child at home was brother, Adric, grew, Tolliver began to look why you shouldn't homeschool your chil- not the same as educating a child in a private around at public and private kindergartens. dren," Tolliver adds. "She says that I'm too school — that it didn't constitute a school at The private kindergartens cost dearly. And dependent on my kids and that my kids are all — a position which he felt "wasn't right." Tolliver found that she wasn't comfortable too dependent on me." His examination of the compulsory attendance with the public school system. "It wasn't Some of the criticisms of home school- exceptions, which do not define "private or the same as, when I was in it," she said, cit- ing Tolliver has heard are downright creative. parochial," led him to believe that home school- ing teachers' apparent preoccupation with One woman asked her how her oldest child ing should be defined objectively. "It's if the discipline over pedagogy. In the course of her would keep his place if his next-in-line sib- kids are learning something. I mean . . . see if investigations, she came across books by ling had the same achievements. "She asked the kids learned anything. If so, it's a school." John Holt, a leading home-school propo- me 'What if the two kids learn the same thing Further, with regard to the legitimacy of such nent; as her husband had frequently men- at the same time?' Most folks' concerns schools, O'Hanlon said that if kids are learning tioned home schooling, she read them. And are about social development, either the kids' reasonably on par with is expected what they she decided to homeschool her family, now — "I've never had anyone argue home should be left alone: "I mean, no magic here, four kids between the ages of tow and seven. schooling with me over academics, always no absolutely on grade level, because not all Tolliver's home in suburban Austin has the over socialization." — or Tolliver' s — "I of the public schools are doing .that, ... then I relaxed atmosphere of people who have made don't see why just because I'm home and say 'Leave 'em alone.'" peace with the fact that children, especially schooling my kids, people think my brain has This laissez-faire attitude is not obvious to four children close together in age, bring gone to mush!" home-schooling parents, some of whom worry with them a certain amount of disarray in the Tolliver feels that if the Leeper case has that they will be subjected to repeated "harass- form of toys, paraphernalia, and clutter. In made it all the way to the Texas Supreme ment" from local school districts and arbitrary fact, Tolliver may have "relaxed" into home Court, it's because the districts are pushing requirements for curriculum structure and test- schooling. While none of the parents I met at it to the Supreme Court, but that home- ing from the state. At the November meeting of the Austin Area Homeschoolers were mes- schoolers must stand their ground. She says the Austin Homeschoolers Association, par- sianic in their home-schooling zeal, Tolliver's that if she had to go underground [to home- ents discusted the Leeper case. About 15 adults attitude is less militant than most. school], she'd go underground, but "I just sat in chairs arranged in a circle. Several kids "The time it takes for four kids in school, don't see it coming to that. They [TEA] don't roamed freely in and out and about the room. and to be there for all of them — frankly, it's have the time or resources . . ." Around the circle, parents introduced them- very selfish, but I'd rather teach them three Ultimately, though, Tolliver's choice to selves, told how many children they had and hours a day and have the time to do things homeschool is less a matter of legal rights, how old the children were, and why they chose as a family." For Tolliver's family, home and more a matter of real family values. "It's to home school. A variety of reasons emerged: schooling may well be the only solution that an academic issue," she said, "but also it's "I don't know," "Traditional schools held kids allows them to do things as a family. Her hus- a difference in the way we see our families. back," "I always assumed they'd be home- band works a shift that starts at midnight. His Someone asked me 'How can you spend that schooled," "I was unhappy with the public two days off are during the week. With his much time with your children?' I asked 'How schools," "The kids are learning of their own schedule, if the kids weren't homeschooled, can you not miss spending that much time pace," "The [public] schools' rewards were he would hardly ever see them. with your kids?' —R • B • worse than the punishments. The kids became

10 • JANUARY 29, 1993 "You don't want to get too deep into the ducing learning for its students, but if they came curriculum of the religious right," said across an organized school that was, for exam- O'Hanlon. "You want to focus on results . . . ple, a front for day labor, they'd prosecute." show that kids learn the basics." He added that Sharpe, however, said that the only differ- Subscriptions to and some of the things these parents are teaching ence between private schools and home schools can be very strange indeed, but fall within an is the size of the student population. "What back issues of The area that can be interpreted, in court, as indi- you're asking, really, is about the quality of vidual religious beliefs. These non-mainstream home schooling. 'How do we know there's Texas Observer curricula and beliefs are the ones that generally good quality of home education? He cited provoke the sharpest criticisms of home school- studies that reported home schooling beat pub- are available. ing, and the most vigorous defenses. The upcom- lic schooling by two grade-levels, "in some ing Supreme Court case, however, has the poten- cases, by three," Sharpe said the quality issue Fill in the gaps in your tial to affect every class of home-schooling was never broached in court, because the TEA collection — or even out that parent in Texas. and SBE knew it was a losing issue for them. After the introductions, the Austin group The parents I met at the November meeting short leg on your table — got down to their big concern: Leeper. None were worried about the case. They had a firm for only $3 for each back of the parents at the meeting indicated that they grasp on the legal issues. They were not hys- were members of the class-action suit. Paul terics, though some of my questions and com- issue you need. Saletan, a member of Texas Advocates For ments elicited a defensive solidarity. I asked the Freedom In Education (TAFFIE), distributed group if any members would consent to be inter- copies of a newsletter containing the latest infor- viewed (see sidebar). We still have plenty of mation on Leeper. The newsletter included a I asked both Brian Sinclair and Kevin copies of the following , legal analysis by Minnesota attorney Karl 0' Hanlon what would happen if the TEA won Bunday, a former intern with the Homeschool the appeal. Sinclair felt that it would set the issues: Legal Defense Association. precedent for TEA to regulate home schools. Todd, of the AG's office, appealed the case O'Hanlon said that was theoretically possible, • Henry Ross Perot: Hit or to the Texas Supreme Court on two points: 1) "but there is no interest in doing so on the part Myth (June 5, 1992) the two courts that previously heard the case of the agency." The words "as of now" seemed don't have the authority to tell TEA, SBE, and to hang in the air before me, and I asked how • Double issue on David attendance officers across the state what to do, the state would proceed if it ever wanted to Duke (Jan. 17 & 31, and 2) the previous two courts were wrong in change the guidelines. 1992) ruling that the SBE's guidelines violated the O'Hanlon said, without going into any •Molly 1vins guest-editor homeschoolers' rights to equal protection and specifics, that if the state wins, it would give issue (Feb. 14, 1992) due process. The latter point, according to some indication of how TEA would proceed Bunday, is the crux of the case: if the agency ever wanted to change the guide- •JFK issue (Dec. 27, 1991) lines. So I was confused when he insisted that and others. The home schooling parents sued under 18 whatever change might be wrought upon the United States Code section 1983 and related home-schooling guidelines, "the state of Texas To inquire, call sections to protect themselves against a denial doesn't regulate home schooling, it enforces on of their civil rights by the state authorities. . . . compulsory attendance." 512/477-0746 or write:. Substantively, the claimants said that the state's Comparing Texas with other states, he added Texas Observer Back Issues, application of laws regulating private school- "Most states probably don't have much in the 307 W. 7th St., ing to the class of home schoolers treated home way of regulation [on home schooling], although schoolers differently from the way other private the ones that do, it's starting to become more Austin, Texas 78701 educators were treated, denying the home regulated, because of abuse of the system by schoolers the "equal protection of the law" guar- some." Egregious abuse (such as the White anteed by the 14th Amendment. It would be pos- Settlement boy whose parents starved him) sible in principle for the state legislature to can create an outcry for regulation. Abuse of TO SUBSCRIBE: determine that there is something different about that magnitude is rare, however, and O'Hanlon home schooling as compared to other private feels that the measure of a home school should schooling that requires a different pattern of reg- be a "results test. If you are providing an edu- ulation, but when the law is silent on such a dis- cation, then we [TEA] leave you alone." Name tinction, administrators should be even-handed O'Hanlon, Todd and Sharpe all agree that, in their treatment. Thus, part of the crux of the whatever the outcome, homeschoolers in Texas home schoolers' argument is that home school- are not threatened with the loss of the privi- Address ers are, for purposes of current TX statutes, just lege (which homeschoolers might call a right). another kind of private school. "The TEA standards are very generous," said Todd. "They don't require what courses one Asked if, in fact, home schooling was differ- teaches, or certification of parents. . . . It would City State Zip ent from private schooling and if the home- be perfectly legal if Texas required everyone to schoolers were being treated differently, Kevin go to public schools, no exceptions, but Texas O'Hanlon replied, "It is a little bit different treat- allows alternatives in return for the assurance ❑ $32 enclosed for a one-year ment of homeschoolers, compared to other pri- that you'll get something remotely resembling subscription. vate schools, but, market forces come to bear on what you would've gotten in the public schools." Bill me for $32. organized private schools. If no learning goes Brian Sinclair, a Christian homeschooler, is not ❑ on, the school would cease to exist." Asked if he relaxing. He feels that a TEA victory will cause ❑ $3 for each back issue. thought enforcement was even-handed across all homeschoolers and their advocates to make Please indicate dates: private schools with regard to whether or not more concerted efforts to get their situation legitimate education was going on O'Hanlon before their lawmakers. "It probably will force responded that "TEA has found no situation the legislature to better define what a private where an organized church school wasn't pro- school is." ❑

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 11 Who Owns the Media?

BY JIM LEE AND ERIC BATES

ICHARD ELAM is bucking a trend. He 318 — an increase of 28 percent. The number this is the direct result of the corporatization is one of only four independent news- of chain-owned TV stations has jumped from of American journalism." Rpaper publishers .along the entire Texas 126 to 244 — a leap of 94 percent. Gulf Coast, from Corpus Christi to the Louisiana Overall, corporate chains now own 70 per- Media Barons line. For hundreds of miles, all the rest of the cent of all daily papers and 54 percent of all papers are owned by corporate chains. television stations in the South. The top 20 cor- Media barons have a long and potent history in In Texas, as in the rest of the South, news- porations alone control more than half of all the United States. From William Randolph papers and broadcast outlets are increas- Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer to S.I. ingly owned by vast media chains like Newhouse and Rupert Murdoch, pow- Hearst, Scripps-Howard and Gannett, erful and sometimes ruthless men have as well as by smaller groups like started their own newspapers — or sim- Freedom Newspapers and Harte-Hanks ply seized control of those started by Communications. In the face of such others. Their rise began over a century growing corporate control, Elam and ago, when trains and telegraphs liber- his partner Fred Barbee have stubbornly ated people from the confines of home- held on to two small-town weeklies — towns and created a greater need for the Wharton Journal-Spectator and the news and information. El Campo News- Leader. One of the first to see the money- It is not because they have no choice. making potential of the press was J.E. "We have a standing offer" from a chain Scripps. In 1878, having turned the to buy the newspapers, Elam says. All Detroit Evening News into a profitable he has to do is say "yes" and his papers business, Scripps quickly started up a will be gobbled up, too. second newspaper in Cleveland. Within The trend toward group ownership is two years the Scripps Publishing Co. not new. In 1975, when Southern owned eight newspapers from Buffalo Exposure first looked at media owner- to St. Louis. ship, 65 daily newspapers in Texas were John Knight, an Ohio investor, started group-owned. Today the number has a series of raids on Southern newspa- grown to 74 of the 97 dailies in Texas; pers in 1937, when he took over the chains own 76 percent of the daily news- Miami Herald for $3 million. In a front- papers and control 84 percent of the page column, Knight promised that the daily newspaper circulation. Over the paper would serve the public, "uncon- same period, group ownership of Texas trolled by any group." television stations has nearly doubled, But group control of the home- from 32 stations to 59, or 58 percent town newspaper is exactly what of TV stations. came to Miami, along with nearly The trend toward group ownership every other city in the country. In 1900, also is reflected in cable TV, where 12 the nation supported 2,042 daily companies (soon to be 11) control the newspapers and 2,023 publishers. 28 cable systems in Texas with more Today there are only 1,650 dailies than 20,000 subscribers. nationwide — and all but 300 are owned Other Southern states differ only in by corporate chains. degree. From Texas to West Virginia, more and dailies and 10 percent of all TV stations in Indeed, five companies now control more more media outlets have fallen under the con- the region. than a third of all newspaper circulation nation- trol of fewer and fewer corporations. Since With large corporations in command of the wide. Among the modern media barons are 1975, the number of group-owned daily news- media, industry observers say, it should come Scripps-Howard and Knight-Ridder — the cor- papers in the region has grown from 248 to as no surprise that most news and information porate descendants of the earliest entrepreneurs is filtered through a pro-business perspective. — as well as the Gannett, Newhouse, and The result has been a kinder, gentler treatment Tribune companies. Jim Lee teaches in the department of radio, tele- of corporate America by the media — and an Such media giants have not been content to vision, and motion pictures at the University of increasing emphasis on making money over merely increase their control of newspapers, North Carolina. John Bare, a graduate student in informing the public. however. In recent years, they have extended journalism at the school, and James Cullen, asso- "There's no question that most newspapers their reach to radio, television and cable sys- ciate editor of The Observer, contributed to this have become much more bottom-line oriented tems, and are now positioning themselves for article. Eric Bates is editor of Southern Exposure. — even the ones we think of as quality news- the arrival of fiber-optic networks and high-def- A version of this article originally appeared papers," William Winter of the American Press inition television. Consider a few of the mega- in Southern Exposure, a quarterly journal of Institute told the Washington Journalism deals of the past decade: politics and culture published by the Institute Review. "We hear a lot of editors talking about • Ted Turner, owner of the Atlanta-based for Southern Studies. To subscribe, send $24 to staffs being cut back. Editors are having to Cable News Network and SuperStation WTBS, P.O. Box 531, Durham, N.C. 27702. fight harder to get any kind of increase. All of bought MGM/UA Entertainment in 1985. The

12 • JANUARY 29, 1993 studio deal — estimated at $1.5 billion — gave 24 publications, 6.3 million cable subscribers, grandchildren of the 19th-century media barons, the media mogul what Newsweek magazine two book publishers, and the largest record com- who began facing stiff taxes on their inheritances called a "diversified entertainment empire." pany and pay-TV network in the nation. during the 1960s. To raise capital, they sold their Turner also tried to take over CBS, but the net- The year-end deal startled even the most jaded newspapers to chains or allowed shares of their work raised enough money to fend him off by observers, prompting worldwide concerns about companies to be traded on stock markets. selling subsidiaries and laying off hundreds of corporate media control. "On that December Because their newspapers had been privately employees. afternoon," wrote the Italian paper La Repub- held for generations, outsiders had never known • The following year, Gannett — the largest licca, "a little piece of the legendary American exactly how much money was involved. But as owner of newspapers in the nation — bought press freedom died." soon as investors learned that pre-tax profits on the Louisville Times and Courier-Journal from many papers regularly top 30 percent, corpo- the Bingham family, which had owned the Heading South rate buyers quickly entered the picture. papers for nearly seven decades. The combined Nowhere has the rapid media growth been circulation of the two dailies added another As such deals indicate, there has been a lucra- more apparent than in the South. Since 1975, 300,000 readers to the Gannett empire. tive media explosion since Southern Exposure the number of television stations in the region • In 1986, General Electric absorbed RCA first surveyed regional ownership of newspa- has nearly doubled, and Southern newspapers and its prize subsidiary NBC for $6.3 bil- pers and television stations in 1975. As the increased their numbers slightly as dailies else- lion. For the first time in history, the deal Southern population boomed and industry where declined. From CNN in Atlanta to USA placed the largest electronic media network moved to the region in search of cheap labor Today in Fairfax, Virginia, the region and its in the nation under the direct control of a and lax regulation, big media chains joined institutions have been at the center of the cor- non-journalistic corporation — one that also other Northern companies in their quest to profit porate struggle to reshape the media. happens to be the second-biggest supplier of from Southern markets. They have been aided To better understand who is behind the the Pentagon. by new technologies like computers and satel- changes, Southern Exposure recreated its 1975 • In 1989, Time, Inc. bought Warner lites, as well as by the deregulatory stance of survey of media ownership in the region. The Communications, Inc. for $9 billion. Overnight, the Reagan Administration, which removed survey looked at every chain that owns televi- the deal created the largest media and enter- many barriers erected to prevent undue con- sion stations and daily newspapers in each of tainment empire in the nation — a corporation centration of media ownership. the 13 Southern states. Among the findings: that controls a movie studio, television studio, The media explosion was also fueled by the • In the past 17 years, the Canadian-based

Who Owns Your Hometown Media? Corporate chains now own 75 percent of all daily newspapers and 58 percent of all television stations in Texas. The list includes companies that control two or more dailies or stations in different cities, as reported by Editor & Publisher Yearbook 1992 and Broadcast and Cable Market Place 1992. NEWSPAPERS

Abilene Reporter-News Harte-Hanks Killeen Daily Herald Mayborn Alice Echo-News Boone Laredo Morning Times Hearst Amarillo News & Globe-Times Morris Longview News-Journal Cox Angleton Times Southern Lubbock Avalanche-Journal Morris Athens Daily Review Donrey Media Lufkin Daily News Cox Austin American-Statesman Cox Marshall News Messenger Thomson Bay City Tribune Southern McAllen Monitor Freedom Baytown Sun • Southern McKinney Courier-Gazette Hartman Beaumont Enterprise Hearst Midland Reporter-Telegram Hearst Big Spring Big Spring Herald Thomson Mineral Wells Daily Index Livermore Bonham Daily Favorite Head Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel Cox Borger News-Herald Donrey Media New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung Southern Brenham Banner-Press Hartman Odessa American Freedom Brownsville Herald Freedom Orange Leader American Publishing Group Brownwood Bulletin Boone Pampa Daily News Freedom Bryan Eagle Worrell Paris News Southern Clear Lake Citizen Gulf Coast Pasadena Citizen Gulf Coast Cleburne Times-Review Donrey Media Pecos Enterprise Buckner News Conroe Courier Gulf Coast Plainview Daily Herald Hearst Corpus Christi Caller-Times Harte-Hanks Plano Star Courier Harte-Hanks Clute Brazosport Facts Southern Port Arthur News American Publishing Group Del Rio Del Rio News Herald Thomson Rosenberg Herald Coaster Hartman Denison Herald Donrey Media San Angelo Standard Times Harte-Hanks El Paso Herald Post Scripps-Howard San Antonio Express-News News America El Paso Times Gannett San Antonio Light Hearst Fort Worth Star-Telegram Capital Cities/ABC Seguin Gazette-Enterprise Southern Gainesville Daily Register Donrey Media Sherman Democrat Donrey Media Galveston News Walls Investment Stephenville Empire-Tribune Boone Greenville Herald Banner Worrell Sweetwater Reporter Donrey Media Harlingen Valley Morning Star Freedom Temple Daily Telegram Mayborn Henderson Daily News Hartman Terrell Tribune Hartman Houston Chronicle Hearst Texas City Sun Walls Investment Houston Post Media News Texarkana Gazette WEHCO Huntsville Huntsville Item Thomson Waco Tribune-Herald Cox Jacksonville Daily Progress Donrey Media Waxahachie Daily Light Boone Kerrville Kerrville Daily Times Thomson Weatherford Democrat Donrey Media Kilgore News Herald Donrey Media Wichita Falls Times Record News Harte-Hanks

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 13 TV STATIONS

Abilene KRBC Abilene Radio & TV Houston KR1V Fox Television Abilene WHB Shamrock Houston KTRK Capital Cities/ABC Alvin KHSH HSN Communications Houston KTXH Paramount Stations Amarillo KFDA R.H. Drewry Irving KHSX HSN Communications Amarillo KVII Marsh Media Kerrville KRRT Paramount Stations Austin KB VO McKinnon Lubbock ICLB K Woods Austin KTBC Times Mirror Lufkin KTRE Civic Austin KVUE Gannett Midland KMID Davis-Goldfarb Austin KXAN LIN Odessa KOSA Adams Beaumont KBMT McKinnon Odessa KPEJ Associated Beaumont KFDM Freedom Odessa KTPX R.H. Drewry Big Spring KWAB R.H. Drewry Port Arthur KJAC Price Brady KWIY T.B. Lanford San Angelo KACB Abilene Radio & TV Brownsville KVEO Associated San Angelo KLST T.B. Lanford Corpus Christi KIII McKinnon San Antonio KABB River City Dallas KDAF Fox Television San Antonio KMOL Chris Craft Dallas KDFW Times Mirror San Antonio KMOL United Television Dallas KDTX Trinity San Antonio KSAT H&C Communications Dallas KXTX Christian Broadcasting San Antonio KVDA Telemundo Dallas WFAA A.H. Belo San Antonio KWEX Univision El Paso KDB C Birney Imes Jr. Sweetwater KTXS Lamco El Paso KVIA Marsh Media Tyler KLTV Civic Fort Worth KTVT Gaylord Victoria KAVU Withers Fort Worth KTXA Paramount Stations Waco KWKT Associated Fort Worth KXAS LIN Waco KWTX KWTX Broadcasting Galveston KTMD Telemundo Waco KXXV Shamrock Garland , KUVN Univision Weslaco KRGV Manship Stations Houston KHOU A.H. Belo Wichita Falls KAUZ Adams Houston KHTV Gaylord Wichita Falls KFDX Price Houston KPRC H&C Communications

CABLE SYSTEMS (more than 20,000 subscribers)

Abilene United Artists Entertainment Houston Warner Cable Communications Inc. Amarillo TCA Cable TV Inc. Irving Time Warner Cable Group Arlington TeleCable Corp. Kemah Storer Communications Cable Division Austin Time Warner Cable Group Laredo KBLCOM Beaumont Tele-Communications Inc. Lubbock Cox Cable Communications Bryan TCA Cable TV Inc. Midland Times Mirror Cable Television Corpus Christi Tele-Communications Inc. Odessa Post-Newsweek Cable Inc. Dallas Tele-Communications Inc. Plano Tele-Cable Corp. El Paso Time Warner Cable Group Port Arthur Tele-Communications Inc. Fort Worth Sammons Communications Inc. San Antonio Times Mirror Cable Television Garland Storer Communications Cable Division Sherman Post-Newsweek Cable Harlingen Tele-Communications Inc. Texarkana Times Mirror Cable Television Houston (east and Tyler United Artists Entertainment west suburbs) Prime Cable Wichita Falls Time Warner Cable Group Houston Storer Communications Cable Division

Thomson Newspapers has moved south in 84 percent of all dailies are controlled by chains, chain: ABRY Communications owns WT1'0, search of new markets, establishing itself as the is the most concentrated in the region. Chains Park Communications owns WBMG, Great owner of more Southern dailies than any other also own more than three-fourths of all daily American Broadcasting owns WBRC, Krypton chain. Since 1975, Thomson has increased its papers in Florida, South Carolina Texas, and Broadcasting Group owns WABM, and Times string of newspapers in the region from eight Virginia. Mirror owns WVTM. to 33, including the Gazette-Mail in Charleston, • North Carolina experienced the most rapid , • Many corporations now own both radio West Virginia. rise of chain ownership in the region since 1975, and television stations in several Southern states. Thomson, which now controls dailies in every with media groups more than doubling their Among the multimedia, multi- state owners is Southern state except Tennessee, has long been control. Chains also increased their share of Adams Communications, which controls TV among the most profitable — and the most ruth- newspapers by 71 percent in Virginia, 67 per- stations in West Virginia, Texas, North Carolina less — of newspaper chains. According to cent in West Virginia and 53 percent in Georgia. and Tennessee, as well as radio stations in Texas reporter Jonathan Kwitny, the late Lord Roy • Never content to limit themselves to news- and North Carolina. Thomson once remarked that he "began to get papers, media groups have nearly doubled the a twinge of conscience" that he was ill-serv- number of television stations in their Southern Taxes and Technology ing a community only when his profit margins portfolios since 1975. The change has been most exceeded 40 percent. dramatic in Florida, where the number of chain- What is new and different about the modern • Although Thomson owns the most news- owned TV stations has soared from 14 to 33. media barons is the increasing variety and com- papers, it ranks eighth in overall circulation with • Chains now own at least three TV stations plexity of their empires. Knight-Ridder, for 570,000 readers. Knight-Ridder is first with 1.6 in more than a dozen Southern cities, including example, owns 30 newspapers, including a dozen million, followed by Gannett, Cox, the Tribune Little Rock, Miami, Atlanta, Louisville, New in the South, as well as the massive Dialog and New York Times chains, Scripps-Howard, Orleans, Jackson, Charlotte, Knoxville, Houston, information system of database files. Viacom and Newhouse. Richmond and Charleston South Carolina. In Cable reaches 1.1 million cable subscribers • Newspaper ownership in Alabama, where Birmingham, all five channels are tuned to a nationwide and also owns four AM, 10 FM, and ownership. According to Ben Bagdikian, author Chaining the South of The Media Monopoly and a professor at the Corporate chains have steadily increased their control of daily newspapers and commercial TV University of California, the public has also felt stations in the region since 1975. the effects. Bagdikian observes that the profit motive Newspapers Television pushes media companies to shape information to attract the most appealing demographic audi- ences. "It is normal for all large businesses to make serious efforts to influence the news," says Alabama 21 84 18 56 Bagdikian. "Now they own most of the news Arkansas 18 58 9 60 media that they wish to influence." Florida 35 81 33 46 Like most large corporations, Bagdikian notes, • Georgia 23 64 20 56 media owners are geared toward short-term profits rather than long-term development. In Kentucky 14 61 9 41 the competition to expand their empires, he Louisiana 16 55 13 48 says, news executives are under pressure to Mississippi 13 59 10 53 "design the product to make quick cash flow." N. Carolina 35 67 21 62 The emphasis on profits accounts for "the S. Carolina 13 77 14 67 remarkable sleepiness on the part of most of the Tennessee 19 70 18 56 news media during the Reagan years when all Texas 72 75 59 58 these political disasters were occurring and Virginia 24 75 12 50 they simply didn't get reported." W. Virginia 15 65 8 57 Even industry leaders acknowledge that the slumping economy has made media owners South 318 70 244 54 bend over backwards to accommodate adver- tisers. According to McCann-Erickson Sources: Editor & Publisher Yearbook 1992 and Broadcasting and Cable Market Place 1992. Worldwide, 1990 was the worst year for news- paper advertising since 1961. five television stations, including KSLA in ership has meant unfair competition. Elam says "Editors are tending to listen more to ad Shreveport, Louisiana. group owners operate with economies of scale department concerns," David Berry, past pres- The Washington Post Co. owns two news- that make production more efficient and less ident of the Association of Newspaper Classified papers, Newsweek magazine, four television sta- costly. In addition, many chains use their far- Advertising Managers, told the Washington tions (including stations in Miami and flung networks of newspapers and TV stations Journalism Review. "We are all realizing it's Jacksonville), and cable television systems that to offer major retail chains more advertising for a hurting market. Why shoot ourselves in the reach half a million subscribers, including view- less money. foot?" ers in Gulfport, Mississippi and Sherman, Texas. The flow of advertising dollars has also shifted For the most part, the federal government has perhaps the best example of the scope of the as large retail chains — themselves group-owned come to the aid of large media owners. Alfred modern media empire is Capital Cities, which — have moved into small Southern towns over Sikes, chair of the Federal Communications bought the ABC television network for $3.5 bil- the past decade. "The effect is to put some of Commission, has not only loosened restric- lion in 1986. The corporation delivers news and the local retail merchants out of business and tions on the number of broadcast stations a entertainment programming to more than 225 reduce the number of people who advertise in company can own in a given market, he has also ABC affiliates across the country. In addition, the newspaper," says Elam. pushed to allow telephone companies to enter Capital Cities owns and operates eight of those Elam, who teaches media at the University the field of video. technology. Sikes and other affiliates, including KTRK in Houston and of North Carolina, says group owners enjoyed advocates of deregulation are also working to WTVD in Durham, North Carolina, along with a boost from new technologies like computers hand the lucrative field of high-definition TV 21 radio stations. On top of that, Capital Cities and the commercial offset press. Both innova- over to major corporations. owns a majority interest in the cable sports tions were costly at first, so only groups could The media barons who emerge over the channel ESPN and holds substantial interests in afford them, but their impact has been next decade are likely to control even more cable programming services like Lifetime Cable widespread. Large chains used the technologies complex networks of television program- and Arts & Entertainment. It sells home videos to eliminate people from the work force and cut ming, pay-per-view services, interactive fiber- worldwide, owns the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram costs. "The International Typographic Union optic cable systems, computer services, cel- and seven other daily newspapers, and publishes just disappeared," Elam says. lular phones, and fax machines. Such 78 weekly newspapers and 42 shopping guides. Fewer jobs for workers has meant greater advances in communication technology cre- No matter where readers and viewers turn, they profits for owners. At a time when most major ate all the more cause for concern about who are bound to encounter Cap Cities. corporations count themselves lucky to col- will control such powerful resources. With As media takeovers in the region have mul- lect 10 percent of their revenues as pre-tax prof- a dwindling handful of media barons con- tiplied, the lines between the South and the rest its, most daily newspaper publishers expect pre- trolling nearly all the data and entertainment of the nation have blurred. The hometown paper tax profits as high as 40 percent. And how better that travels by phone, cable, computer, and is likely to be owned by a global conglomerate to shelter those profits, Elam says, than by spend- satellite, citizens who need diverse infor- like Cap Cities, while a homegrown entrepreneur ing them to buy new media outlets? mation to function effectively in a democracy like Ted Turner cashes in on the the nation- "Federal tax rulings in recent years have are already increasingly limited to the trans- wide cable industry and the Virginia-based USA encouraged a great number of newspaper cor- missions of corporate media. Today remakes the front pages of newspapers porations to buy other newspapers," Elam says. "In a country as large and as diverse as across the country. Southern media increasingly "The government has essentially encouraged we are, it is dangerous for so few organiza- reflect the standards and practices of their groups to spend their new profits or pay more tions to control so much power," says Ben national counterparts — and they increasingly taxes on them." Bagdikian. "We all know how resistant news help set those standards for the nation as a whole. organizations are to bad news about them- Not all the effects of such'concentrated media "So Much Power" selves. With the media in the hands of a hand- ownership have been salutary, hoWever. For ful of corporations, how will the average Richard Elam, who has held on to his two weekly Independent publishers are not the only ones person even know that a social problem papers in Texas, the trend toward group own- hard hit by the increasing concentration of media exists?"

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 15 Politics of Social Capital

BY ERNESTO CORTES JR.

Ernesto Cortes Jr., the director of the Texas which local initiatives develop confidence and a grant for first-time home buyers, as in the Industrial Areas Foundation, a statewide net- competence. More importantly, government Nehemiah Homes effort. It would likewise work of grassroots organizations, delivered an can understand the importance of these ini- reward efforts in other areas, such as trans- abbreviated version of the following speech at tiatives having an institutional base rooted in portation, job training, public education and the Economic Conference presided over by people's imagination, curiosity, values and health care. If the local community were build- President-elect Bill Clinton December 14-15 search for meaning. ing the human capital of poor people through in Little Rock, Arkansas: initiatives like, for example, Project Quest, Strategy for rebuilding a serious job training strategy in San Antonio T IS OBVIOUS from what we have heard communities (See TO, 12/25/92), it would receive a larger today that the quality of life in our cities has grant. Essentially, the federal government I seriously deteriorated. Mr. (Robert) Reich's We need a results-oriented strategy for rebuild- would match local investments of money, The Work of Nations, William Julius Wilson's ing our cities and communities, a strategy which resources and sweat equity. The Truly Disadvantaged, as well as many other would aid and abet local initiatives. Such a scholarly works have documented what Mr. strategy would structure a federal match to Communities of hope Reich has called "secession of the success- leverage the commitments of local munici- ful," the distancing of the wealthy and fortu- palities and communities in need. We pro- There are thousands of efforts which reflect nate from the fate of those less fortunate in pose that communities receive a certain mini- serious local investments of social capital. the war zones in the centers of despair that mum entitlement, using the same concept as The ones with which I am most familiar include: have become urban and rural America. At the an augmented (we would hope) Community same time, too many among our adult popula- Development Block Grant Program. However, •The Nehemiah Homes Project in Brooklyn tion feel that politics and public life have become based on the communities showing serious and Bronx, New York. East Brooklyn largely irrelevant. To them, as a result, our and indigenous local participation and plan- Congregations has built more than 3,000 new sin- public discourse has become impoverished. This ning, the federal government would increase gle-family homes for working families, renew- sense of disillusionment seriously inhibits our the amount of the grant. It is important to rec- ing completely devastated neighborhoods. This ability to work collaboratively. ognize that these efforts need to be part of an was possible because the broad-based organi- The forces affecting our cities originate from overall strategy through which state and local zation, under the auspices of the IAF, leveraged changes in the national and world economies. governments, corporations, and private sec- land and tax abatements from the city of 116ew Dealing with these forces will require some tor institutions provide resources to match the York and no-interest construction financing from of the major shifts in economic policy that social capital of local community organiza- religious institutions. In addition, each home President Clinton has proposed. Yet, I hope tions. The federal contribution would especially carries an interest-free, city second mortgage of that as we talk about investment, we recognize encourage and reward substantive commit- $15,000 as a lien, repayable whenever the house the importance of investment in our cities and ments from the corporate community, such is soldAA federal program could match these kinds impoverished rural communities. as evident with the scholarships and jobs pro- of efforts with block grants providing the $15,000 The Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) gram of the Commonwealth effort in Baltimore payments for first-time home buyers. A similar believes that the revitalization of our cities or the commitment of jobs involved in the Nehemiah program has worked in Baltimore. The depends on two things. The first is resources San Antonio COPS and Metro Alliance job- Nehemiah Housing Opportunity Act was passed and technical competence. The second, how- training effort. Any such federal effort would by Congress in 1988. ever, is equally important: The capacity of our be dependent upon evidence of similar kinds citizens to do "politics," that is, their ability and of coordination and involvement of authenti- • Job Training in San Antonio. Governor opportunity to engage in public discussion, cally local independent institutions. At a min- Ann Richards, former Mayor Henry Cisneros, debate, argument, negotiation and compro- imum, community partners which represent the COPS and the Metro Alliance, the business mise which culminates in initiatory action. As local social capital would have to be non-gov- community, the city of San Antonio, the local Sheldon Wolin has suggested, politics means ernmental, financially self-sufficient, demon- Private Industry Council (PIC) and several . participation. But it is not just taking part as strate a constituency, and have a history and other state and local agencies collaborated in electioneering. It means originating or ini- track record of at least two-and-one-half years, to create a $7 million, high-skill job positions, tiating collaborative action with others, as in so that they can hold their local government primarily in health care. The Governor com- efforts to improve local schools, to bring health accountable. mitted $2.3 million for development; the city care to a community, or to give students access If a local community demonstrated a seri- committed $2 million for income maintenance; to a higher education or long-term job training. ous commitment of local resources to deal the PIC committed $2.6 million for job train- We need citizens and neighbors woven together with basic infrastructure needs — sewers, ing; and COPS and Metro Alliance commit- in a fabric of community institutions, not just water projects, flood control, roads, sidewalks, ted the sweat equity of the neighborhood lead- participating as customers, clients and profes- streets, parks, libraries, community centers, ers, who hold trainees accountable to the sional plaintiffs. clinics — targeted to inner city and poorer community for commitment to long-term train- This entrepreneurial political activity, upon areas, the federal government would signifi- ing. which the revitalization of our cities and com- cantly increase the grant. The grant would munities depends, is as important as business be further augmented if there were a serious • Commonwealth in Baltimore. The cor- entrepreneurship. It is the social capital of our housing strategy targeted at first-time home porate community in Baltimore contributed $20 communities. Government can facilitate, buyers and involving public-private partner- million in scholarship funds to be matched by encourage, recognize and reward it, but it can- ships with local community-based organiza- funds from local universities for high school not create it. Government cannot create local tions that have serious constituencies and graduates with good grades and a good atten- initiatives, but it can recognize the ways in track records. The strategy should also involve dance. The BUILD organization contributes by 16 • JANUARY 29, 1993 bringing in additional resources from the gov- hour, then the highest in the nation. the federal government efforts; the office would ernment, and through the participation of fam- have authority to structure grants in a variety ilies and local schools. Similarly, COPS and the • Texas Alliance Schools. The Texas Edu- of areas, including the departments of Housing Metro Alliance have created the San Antonio cation Agency has pledged additional resources and Urban Development, Health and Human Education Partnership, which was modeled to 32 schools collaborating with local com- Services, Labor, Education, Transportation and on the Commonwealth effort. munity organizations to seriously reorganize Commerce, the Environmental Protection neighborhood schools. Modeled on the expe- Agency and the Office of Management and • Colonias in South Texas. The state of rience of Fort Worth's Morningside Middle Budget. Representatives of these agencies Texas has pledged $250 million in grants and School, in which leaders of Allied Com- would form a council modeled after the low-interest loans, which are helping to lever- munities of Tarrant re-knit the fabric of com- National Security Council. It would establish age federal and local funds, to build water and munity, binding families, teachers, adminis- guidelines, outline a strategy for assessment sewer systems along the Texas-Mexico bor- trators and community leaders, the Alliance and offer technical assistance. Ultimately, the der. Valley Interfaith, the Border Organization Schools seek to empower stakeholders in council would have in the neighborhood of $15 and EPISO (El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring schools in order to make dramatic improve- billion in grant money for these comprehen- Organization) developed the effort in collabo- ments in performance. sive urban initiatives. ration with the elected leadership of the state, The task of building is urgent. Vaclav Havel the Texas Water Development Board and local Implementation (playwright and former President of Czecho- providers. It is important to recognize the count- slovakia) pointed out in his address to the World less hours put in by Valley Interfaith leaders A pilot program to encourage these kinds of Economic Forum in February, our civilization in the development of their strategy. local initiatives could target medium-sized is in danger of destroying itself through inatten- cities where strategic investments could have tion to numerous massive threats — the popu- • Moral Minimum Wage. In 1987, after a large impact, cities such as Atlanta, San lation explosion, the greenhouse effect, AIDS nine months of hard dialogue and negotia- Antonio, Fort Worth, Tucson, Baltimore, New ... As Havel indicates, the rehabilitation of "human tion with Southern California IAF, the Orleans, or Memphis. A similar strategy could uniqueness, human action and the human spirit" California Industrial Welfare Commission be piloted in larger cities at the same time. can only be accomplished through a different kind raised the state's minimum wage to $4.25 an An office within the cabinet could coordinate of politics. That is what we propose. ❑

CLASSIFIEDS

ORGANIZATIONS CLASSIFIED RATES: Minimum ten words. One time, 50 cents per word; West 15th, #304, Austin, 78701, three times, 45 cents per word; six times, 40 cents per word; 12 times, 35 (512) 477-1040. TEXAS AIDS NETWORK — dedi- cents per word; 25 times, 30 cents per word. Telephone and box numbers cated to improving HIV/AIDS pol- count as two words, abbreviations and zip codes as one. Payment must YELLOW DREAM MACHINE, computer bulletin board system. icy and funding in Texas. Individdal accompany order for all classified ads. Deadline is three weeks before cover membership Telephone (512) 451-3222. $25, P.O. Box 2395, date. Address orders and inquiries to Advertising Director, Austin, TX 78768, (512) 447-8887. The Texas Observer, Disability-based subject matter. 307 West 7th, Austin, TX 78701. (512) 477-0746. LESBIAN/GAY DEMOCRATS of ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING. Design, expert witness, forensic Texas — Our Voice in the Party. the last Friday of every month, at Membership $15, P.O. Box BOOKLETS investigation, product liability, elecz Wyatt's, Hancock Center, Austin. trical injury, electrical fires. W.T. 190933, Dallas, 75219. For information call (512) 459- PROOF JESUS FICTIONAL! $5 — Cronenwett, Ph.D, 2566 Cypress 5829. SICK OF KILLING? Join the Amnesty Abelard, Box 5652-C, Kent, WA Avenue, Norman, Oklahoma Inter-national Campaign Against 98064 (Details: SASE) 73072, (405) 329-0095. the Death Penalty. Call: Austin (512) LIBERTARIAN PARTY — Liberal on 469-0966, Houston (713) 852- personal freedoms, but conserva- SERVICES VIDEO PRODUCTION Services. 7860, Dallas (214) 739-5151, San tive in economics? (800) 682-1776 Specializing in safety and training, Antonio (512) 622-3618, El Paso or in Dallas (214) 406 4141. LOW-COST MICROCOMPUTER also legal. Alan Foster (713) 528- 7347. (915) 592-3925. ASSISTANCE. Tape to diskette con- version, statistical analysis, help with NATIONAL WRITERS UNION. We EMPLOYMENT WORK FOR OPEN, responsible give working writers a fighting setting up special projects, custom government in Texas. Join Common chance. Collective bargaining. programming, needs assessment. Cause/Texas, 316 West 12th Grievance procedures. Health insur- Gary Lundquest, (512) 474-6882, PROYECTO ADELANTE, a legal #317, Austin, Texas 78701 (512) ance. Journalists, authors, poets, 1405 West 6th, Austin, Texas and social services organization 474-2374. commercial writers. Forming Austin 78703. serving Central American local. Noelle McAfee, 450-0705; refugees, seeks EXECUTIVE DIREC- TEXAS TENANTS' UNION. Bill Adler, 443-8961. PHOTOGRAPHY — Reality is us. TOR. REQUIREMENTS: fundrais- Membership $18/year, $10/six 20years for the Texas Observer ing and supervisory experience, months, $30 or more/sponsor. and he will take a few for you. Alan . knowledge of Central American Receive handbook on tenants' rights, PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. Join The Pogue, 1701 Guadalupe, Austin, issues and events. Computer lit- newsletter, and more. 5405 East Texas Civil Rights Project, 227 Texas 78701, (512) 478-8387. eracy helpful. Law degree desir- Grand, Dallas, TX 75223. Congress #340, Austin, Texas able, not required. Annual salary: 78701. $20/year. Volunteers also MARY NELL MATHIS, CPA, 18 $18,000–$20,000 DOE. Send CENTRAL TEXAS CHAPTER of the needed. Contact Jim Harrington or years experience in tax, litigation resume to: P.O. Box 223641, ACLU invites you to our noon Forum, Fara Sloan. (512) 474-5073. support, and other analyses. 400 Dallas, TX 75222.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 17 High-Risk High-Tech

BY KENT PATERSON

Albuquerque idents first; caps on executive salaries in a busi- including Intel, Motorola and Digital, Sematech's S THE NATION CONTINUES its drift ness where individual compensation sometimes goal is to regain the edge in the worldwide com- away from smokestack industries, eco- exceeds $1 million; a ban on the use of tem- puter chip market for United States-based cor- Anomic planners are looking to high tech- porary agencies in employment; and respect for porations. A fundamental objective of the Good nology to provide the jobs of tomorrow. Building workers' rights to organize. Neighbor organizers is to move Sematech away on a 20-year phase of high-tech development, "We're all going towards the same goal and from its relationship with the Department of Southwestern cities from Austin to Albuquerque we're finding out the same things," said Defense and, now that the Cold War has ended, to Phoenix are aggressively seeking new com- Albuquerque organizer Aida Franco. Franco, to redirect Sematech toward environmental and puter-chip, printed-circuit-board and aerospace who works for the Southwest Organizing Project, civilian technological research. So far, the indus- manufacturing firms. But like California's another campaign affiliate, has researched the try's response has been a mixture of reluctant Silicon Valley, many of these communities health and environmental impact of large com- discourse and outright refusal. Sematech, for already have suffered the side effects of what puter-chip makers and criticizes the high-tech instance, has conducted an on-and-off dialogue once was promoted as a clean industry: polluted industry for routinely giving the best jobs to with campaign members, allowing activists to groundwater', worker illness, rising tour the consortium's facility in Austin housing costs and a widening gap on at least one occasion. between a well-paid managerial-tech- Sematech spokesman Scott Stevens nical class and a poorly paid produc- said the research consortium supports tion force. the campaign's ecological goals and A national campaign is underway, employs people who have a knowledge with grassroots organizers in high-tech of environmental issues. He cites centers like Albuquerque and Austin try- Sematech-backed research into equip- ing to redirect the industry toward an ment safety guidelines and minimiza- environmentally sensitive framework tion of gases and solvents in the pro- and to get the industry's companies to /4=7 duction of silicon wafers as examples guarantee clean, stable employment in of the Sematech's leadership in the envi- ronmental arena. "So those folks who - minority communities where much of the production goes on. Christened the come to us are already environmen- Electronics Industry Good Neighbor tally versed," Stevens said. Campaign, it is a collaboration of the Traditionally, high-tech industries have Campaign for Responsible Technology used solvents, toxic gases and acids to and the Southwest Network for clean circuit boards or clean material Environmental and Economic Justice, from silicon wafers used in the produc- an Albuquerque-based organization now tion of chips. Medical research has linked working in seven western states. these substances, and the heavy metals "We're not against employers com- also involved in the process, to cancer, ing into the community. This is a cam- miscarriage, central nervous system dam- paign for responsible technology," said age, severe headaches, memory loss and Frank Campos of Austin's People GAIL WOODS other ailments. The campaign is pres- Organized in Defense of the Earth and suring the industry — which in its pro- its Resources (PODER), a Good Neighbor white males while locking line workers — mainly duction facilities employs predominantly women Campaign affiliate. "We're not against eco- women of color — into the most dangerous jobs. of color of child-bearing age — to devote more nomic development. There has to be a balance "There's no promotional avenue. There's attention to employee safety. Concern about between the type of industry that comes in, the no way of becoming technicians," said Franco. pre-natal risks increased after last year's release benefits to the community, protection of the "If you're hired in the labor force, that's all of a preliminary report of a Johns Hopkins environment. All that is a package deal." you're going to stay — a laborer." University study of IBM chip workers in New PODER, along with grassroots groups in five Last year the Good Neighbor Campaign won York and Vermont. The study found a high rate other states, conducted a summer-long orga- a victory when Congress authorized $10 mil- of miscarriages, as did a similar study conducted nizing drive that included public forums, meet- lion to be included in the budget of Sematech, at a Digital factory in Massachusetts in 1986. ings with current and former workers and lob- the Austin-based computer-chip research con- Nationally, the Semi-Conductor Industry bying elected officials. In October, the campaign sortium, for research into development of an Association (SIA), a trade group established in issued a number of demands to the semicon- environmentally benign chip. 1977 to represent U.S. corporations in the global ductor industry, as well as state and federal Campaign organizers had lobbied Congress- marketplace, is sponsoring a health study of regulatory agencies, calling for increased man Ron Dellums, a California Democrat, to 18,000 workers at computer companies across research in methods to produce computer chips include the money in the 1993 Defense Re- the country. Results should be released some- without the use of hazardous chemicals; greater authorization Act. The legislation requires Sema- time this winter. Yet already a growing number attention to health and safety training; com- tech to consult with environmental and labor of workers claim illness as a result of exposure mitments to provide employment for local res- groups to decide how to spend the money. Elated, to toxic materials at high-tech work sites. Nowhere leaders of the Southwest Network and the CRT is this more apparent than in Albuquerque, a then called on individual computer companies city already known in occupational-health cir- Kent Paterson is a radio producer and a free- to match Sematech' s upcoming expenditure. cles for having the worst cluster of poisoned lance writer in Albuquerque. Formed by 12 of the largest chip producers, high-tech workers in the United States.

18 • JANUARY 29, 1993

•••••' .-". Many worked at the old GTE-Lenkurt plant health monitoring data, the Duke researchers pany's plans, Texas is still in the running for a between 1972 and 1986, where chemicals were concluded that the employees probably suffered factory. Good schools and the overall quality of used to clean circuit boards under poorly-ven, temporary sickness from chemical exposure, life are as important as tax breaks and labor costs, tilated conditions some employees have likened with some showing signs of brain damage asso- according to Intel spokesman Howard High. to a "gas chamber." Mary Lou cDe Baca began ciated with solvent poisoning. The number of Kathy Schwartz, a spokeswoman for the Texas working at the factory during the early 1970s affected workers could be higher, since the Department of Commerce, cited advantages such when she was in good health and 32 years old. study group was made up of volunteers and as a good highway network, proximity to Mexico, Within a few months, she began to suffer inter- did not include everyone who worked in the superior technical training at the university level nal bleeding and as a result underwent a hys- electronics section. and the proven ability of the University of Texas terectomy. Gum troubles, searing headaches and Strategists working on the Good Neighbor to transfer technology to the private sector. "The insomnia soon followed. "My children and hus- Campaign are using the worker health issue as cities [Intel is] considering offer a lot of the band had to drive me to the doctor and cook ammunition in a battle to force high-tech com- attributes they're looking for," Schwartz said. for me," she said. cDe Baca said she earned a panies to become more socially responsible. "Texas has a good base of high tech. Texas is in better-than-average salary at GTE-Lenkurt but: Since much of high tech's growth is under- a good strategic position to become a leader in "They were paying us to die." written through direct or indirect public subsi- moving resources to the marketplace." Nearly 200 GTE-Lenkurt workers filed a dies, the campaign wants an end to "whipsaw- Whether Intel decides to move to Texas or workers' compensation lawsuit against the com- ing," a process by which private companies play not will probably matter little. The state is already pany in the mid-1980s and later settled out of one locality against another in search of the best established as a leader in the emerging indus- court. The corporation has steadfastly denied deal in tax breaks, infrastructure and educational try and Bill Clinton's Administration proba- responsibility for the health complaints. In 1987, support and a hospitable regulatory climate. bly move high-tech industries to center stage in 457 former GTE-Lenkurt workers and their One popular device cities and government a restructured economic system in which the dependents joined a lawsuit seeking, on prod- entities employ to attract high-tech firms is the United States undertakes to reposition itself in uct liability grounds, billions of dollars from industrial revenue bond, which typically has pro- the world's markets. several chemical manufacturers, alleging the visions for property tax exemptions and some- As a response, the Electronics Industry Good companies failed to warn GTE-Lenkurt of their times includes tax-free interest earnings privileges Neighbor Campaign is trying to coordinate a products' hazards. More settlements followed, for the private investors who purchase the bonds. grassroots community, labor and environmen- with the last defendant in the case, Dow Industry critics, such as PODER' s Campos, tal movement aimed at reforming the most Chemical, going on trial earlier last year in have been critical of public underwriting of cor- dynamic sector of the economy. Until now, U.S. District Court in Houston. The jury decided porations which operate with no citizen input, said campaign analyst Lenny Siegel of the in Dow's favor, although lawyers reportedly are play down environmental hazards, then locate Pacific Studies Center in Mountain View, negotiating a settlement in the case. or relocate as suits their needs. To underscore California, policy debates over the direction Some industry insiders concede the poor their point, industry critics charge that high-tech of high tech have taken place within a narrow safety and environmental record of high-tech industries often locate where school and social spectrum of the right wing, with one branch in industry in its formative years, but insist that services are already strained by budgetary dif- favor of a free-market approach and another the businesses are cleaning up their act and ficulties and unemployment rates dictate a jobs- in support of state intervention. searching for new methods and for processes to at-all-costs attitude. "And there's never been a third voice nation- substitute for hazardous chemicals, while safe- "Many times what happens is that communi- ally on the promoting of technology based on the guarding workers in situations where no alter- ties that are competing for companies to locate in needs of the people as a whole and involving the native to chemicals is feasible. their communities offer such great incentives, it's people in their communities and determining The SIA' s Beerman, for example, calls the coming out of the pockets of the people who can what that technology does," Siegel contends. semiconductor business "a model for other least afford to do that," said Campos, "and we feel "And what we're doing is not only giving a voice industries" in terms of worker health and safety. that we shouldn't be pitting one community against to that on a national scale, but rooting it in the Beerman cites Bureau of Labor Statistics fig- another or one state against another." communities that are most affected." ❑ ures that show less occupational illness in elec- In today's economic climate, however, pro- tronics than in other industries. When industry ponents of economic development are step- leaders were informed of the Johns Hopkins- ping up efforts to attract high-tech companies ,,le""Nt4 Sea IBM study, Beerman notes, many semicon- to their communities. One example is the behind- .e•A# ductor employers met with their employees to the-scenes competition among Texas, New ow Horse discuss the possible hazards and to offer work- Mexico and other states for a possible new Intel • ers the option to transfer to tasks that did not computer-chip plant. Governor Ann Richards, • Inn involve chemical exposure. "We're not trying accompanied by the mayors of Austin, San 4 to hide anything from anybody," he said. "We're rt Kitchenettes-Cable TV Antonio and Fort Worth, flew to California Pool trying to put all the information out on the table last summer in an attempt to convince Intel ir • , and let workers and their doctors judge, you Chairman Gordon Moore to locate his com- e beside the Gulf of Mexico 0 al, know, what course of action to take." pany' s proposed new production facility in j on Mustang Island Nonetheless, reports of high-tech workplace Texas. Available for private parties 179 hazards continue to surface. PODER, for exam- Texas faces some stiff competition. The com- ill% di Unique European Charm ple, documented a May 19, 1992, incident at the puter giant, which witnessed record profits in Advanced Micro Devices plant in Austin, in 1992, is expected to announce this winter whether ) & .A tmosphere which 28 workers received medical treatment it will build a new plant, with an estimated 1,000 j Special Low Spring & Summer Rates % after a hydrochloric acid spill. on-site jobs and another 1,500 in contracted Pets Welcome fiet High-tech hazards are not confined to the pri- services, or expand existing plants. Rio Rancho, vate sector. In December, for example, Albu- New Mexico, the Albuquerque suburb where 1423 11th Street 4' querque's Sandia National Laboratories, facing Intel already employs 2,100, last spring approved workers' compensation claims, released the a record $1 billion industrial revenue bond pack- .610' Port Aransas, TX 78373 IS results of a Duke University study on the health age in an attempt to entice Intel to expand its call (512) 749-5221 of 25 current and former microelectronics lab- existing New Mexico facility. The Albuquerque for Reservations „,1 oratory employees who used chemical solvents Journal noted the bond issue equalled nearly to clean electronics parts at the plant, which con- one-half of the entire state budget. toll,* .■■gw% A tfrl'‘‘ tracts with the U.S. Department of Energy. Although Intel and state officials in Texas S wp Iv 4.-407 Although the study was limited by the lack of and New Mexico are tight-lipped about the com-

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 19 LAS AMERICAS Enduring Fidel

BY SAUL LANDAU

N JANUARY 2, Fidel Castro marked afford to live with Cuba, a much smaller one. Bush (#8, January 1989-January 1993), instead his 34th year of rule in Cuba. For almost In June 1974, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger of recognizing that Castro' s Cuba had more Othat long the United States has tried every sent a confidential note to Fidel Castro asking the staying power than the supposedly stronger tactic short of sending in Marines to overthrow Cuban leader to open high-level talks. Castro regimes in the U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe, tried the government 90 miles off the Florida coast. agreed, and secret meetings commenced between to destroy the revolution by strangling it to death. The myriad "expert" predictions about Castro's Lawrence Eagleberger and Cuban Envoy Ramon Making normal relations dependent on Cuba's imminent fall have proven silly. Indeed, it makes Sanchez Parodi at a New York airport. adoption of a U.S.-style democracy and a free more sense to ask why he stayed so long in power. Ford (#5, August 1974-January 1977) con- market economy, Bush provoked a harder line One reason is that obstinate U.S. policy has tinued the secret talks, which led ultimately to inside Cuba. Dissidents who had been freed helped deprive Cubans of an alternative to their the establishment of Interests Sections in were rearrested as Castro called for wartime unity present system. Another reason is that Cuban Washington and Havana, informal embassies in the face of the renewed U.S. aggressiveness. communism has delivered in some areas and that allowed for more civilized communication Mistaking fixation hubris for reason, Bush millions of Cubans are well aware of that fact between the two countries. Although Ford broke progressively tightened the embargo and ulti- because it has been their sweat and blood that off the secret meetings when Castro sent troops mately signed the so-called Cuba Democracy has built hospitals, schools and roads. The rev- to Angola in October 1975, he also enlarged Act that prohibited U.S. subsidiaries abroad olution did, after all, convert Cuba from an loopholes in the embargo — opened in Nixon's from trading with Cuba and refused to allow informal U.S. colony into a proud nation that final year — which allowed U.S. subsidiaries ships that had docked in Cuban ports to dock became a world geopolitical player for 30 years. abroad, to cash in on the Cuba trade. ' in U.S. harbors for six months, thus making it Clinton might review these facts — and his pre- Carter (#6, January 1977-January 1981) used even more difficult for other nations to engage decessors' behavior — for policy lessons. diplomacy to address the issues that stood as commercially with the communist island. Castro Eisenhower (#1, January 1959- January 1961) barriers to normal relations. But obsessive anti- didn't collapse as a result, but the United States permitted Castro to pursue his opposition because communists in the Carter Administration helped was humiliated at the U. N. General Assembly, he was certain that the CIA would get rid of the sabotage the diplomats. They used human rights which by an overwhelming margin voted to bearded guerrilla. The agency later collaborated as a national security weapon to attack the Cuban condemn the embargo. with the Mafia to assassinate Castro and recruited regime in its area of vulnerability. By focusing Clinton (#9, January 1993-?) can learn from and trained several thousand Cuban exiles to attention on procedural rights involving free the past that Fidel Castro thrives on adversity. invade the island. Washington imposed an speech, press and political prisoners, Carter and He also has considerable internal support that embargo on Cuba and broke diplomatic relations. his successors won propaganda victories against has survived the worst of economic times. Kennedy (#2, January 1961-November 1963) Castro in the Western media and put brakes on Cubans might grumble over scarcity, but there's authorized the CIA-sponsored invasion of Cuba the diplomacy efforts. Castro's plea to the press no apparent malnourishment or millions of kids and watched helplessly as the counterrevolutionary to focus on substantive human rights, such as hous- going to bed hungry. They can compare their plan turn.into a fiasco in 72 hours. The CIA con- ing, access to food and medical care, employment conditions to conditions in other places around tinued to hatch assassination plots an carry out and retirement, where Cuba would receive higher the world and see that despite the restrictive sabotage. When Castro countered and agreed to marks than the United States, fell on deaf ears. nature of their system they are better off. the emplacement of Soviet nuclear missiles and But Carter's opening had an impact inside By treating Cuba like any other nation the bombers in Cuba, the world faced a Missile Crisis Cuba. Discontent inside Cuba erupted in 1980 United States can enjoy the benefits of com- in October 1962. By late 1963 Kennedy appeared when some 12,000 people took refuge in the merce and even tourism. That way of relating to have mellowed and sent an emissary, with an Peruvian Embassy. When Carter chided Castro to a people about whom we claim concern makes agenda for discussion, to see Castro. At the very on Cuba's restrictive immigration policy, Fidel sense. We sent 30,000 troops to feed the Somalis moment Castro admitted the envoy the news retaliated by opening up the port of Martel to whose government was barbaric, while trying came that Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. those wishing to go the United States. to prevent Cubans from getting food and oil. Johnson (#3, November 1962-January 1969) Among the 125,000 Cubans who left for Florida We sent a half-million troops to defend Saudi tightened the embargo, got Cuba kicked out of in April 1980, before Castro closed the port, Arabia, a kingdom that cuts the hands off reli- the Organization of American States and main- were a liberal quantity of criminals and insane gious dissenters. China, whose political pris- tained a steady level of CIA dirty-trick harass- people. Bill Clinton will remember them because oner population far outnumbers Cuba's, gets ment. But he was more than occupied by Vietnam. Carter placed thousands of Marielitos at Fort most favored nation status. Nixon (#4, January 1969-August 1974) used Collins, Arkansas, during Clinton's first term as We have welcomed (imported) one million the CIA on a few assassination attempts. But governor. The handling of a Cuban refugee upris- anti-Castro Cubans, the logical opposition to by 1974 Nixon had also learned that if the United ing at Fort Collins proved to be a liability when Castro's policies on the island. They have more States could drop its obsession and open relations Clinton ran for a second term and lost. influence on U.S. policy than they do on Cuban with China, a big red monster, it could certainly Reagan (#7, January 1981-January 1989) affairs. Most of the ten and a half million who stepped up the propaganda war against Cuba remain on the island think of the embargo as a while his Secretary of State Alexander Haig mean punishment policy that deprives them Saul Landau is a fellow at the Institute for Policy threatened in vain to "go to the source" of ter- of food, medicine, oil and other necessities. Studies in Washington, D.C. He directed a film rorism in the hemisphere, meaning a naval quar- If President Clinton were thinking of logical on Castro that appeared on CBS in 1974 and antine of the island. For eight years, as the Soviet New Year's resolutions he might pledge to return was present when Castro received and read the Union disintegrated, Cuba was accused of being Cuba policy to a realistic standard of behavior note from Henry Kissinger. its primary agent of evil in the hemisphere. and drop the 34-year-old obsession. ❑

20 • JANUARY 29, 1993 BOOKS & THE CULTURE Labor's Love Lost

BY STEVEN G. KELLMAN HOFFA Nicholson playing Hoffa is a perfect coup of cast- County USA. Recruiting and striking are the two Directed by Danny DeVito ing, and, regardless of the iniquities of the role, the union activities that are most cinegenic, and Hoffa veteran moviegoer roots for him to pull it off. By offers lavish scenes of Hoffa goading truckers E IS DIFFICULT to figure out contrast, Kevin Anderson is not a familiar face, into Teamsters and of the commander leading his 111 unless he's slightly mad which I and his Robert Kennedy, Hoffa's nemesis, is a cal- pickets into industrial battle. But the film gives think he might very well be," wrote low prig. However, DeVito, who plays Bobby little sense of the mundane operations and issues Robert Kennedy about Jimmy Hoffa when, as Ciaro, a fictional composite of several of Hoffa's of a major union. It suffers from the cult of per- chief counsel to a Senate select committee on labor actual disciples, benefits from our history with him. sonality, and Hoffa's prodigious personality corruption, Kennedy was trying his best to put the No moment in the film is more chilling than the obscures the fact that he was part of a labor move- Teamster boss behind bars. His best was not yet one in which Hoffa, Ciaro and the mafioso Carol ment. The film is silent about the IBT' s ran- good enough. James R. Hoffa's middle name was D'Allesandro (Armand Assante) go off into the corous expulsion from the AFL-CIO, as it is Riddle, and anyone attempting an account of his Michigan woods to combine hunting with busi- about crucial issues that shaped the work of labor turbulent life should begin with a respect for ness. So absorbed are they in details of the union leaders in the '50s and '60s, including civil rights enigma. Few figures in recent history have been pension fund that they neglect the local fauna. But and Vietnam. Hoffa' s rank and file are all white. so revered and reviled, for the same reasons. when a fearless deer walks up to Bobby, he pulls "Life's a negotiation," contends Hoffa. "It's all "He was the most powerful labor leader who out his pistol and, point-blank, shoots it dead. It give and take." Hoffa portrays the Teamsters' top ever lived," claims director Danny DeVito in a is an act of gratuitous cruelty even more loathsome negotiator as more comfortable giving than tak- press release and a bit of hyperbole. True, in 1961, than Bobby's tossing cash at the fawning woman ing, while it ignores the intricacies of collective when Hoffa took over the presidency of the he has just spent the night with. But, as actor and bargaining. "They treat us like dirt," complains International Brotherhood of Teamsters, truck- director, DeVito draws on a reserve of good will, Bobby about the trucking executives; that is about ing employed more than 7 million people. But even when behaving like •knave. as sophisticated an analysis of why and how a Samuel Gompers, John L. Lewis, Walter Reuther, union works as Hoffa offers. You would not know and George Meany were not chopped liver. What inema has a generic bias toward energy, from this movie that the industry was embroiled about union chiefs in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and a screen treatment of Paradise Lost in complex haggling over mileage pay, piggy- or Italy? Lech Walesa toppled a government and C, would surely inspire sympathy for the devil. backing on railroad flatcars, and sleeper cabs. altered the equations of authority throughout Nicholson's Hoffa is a figure of inchoate force Hoffa joins two other big biopics: Chaplin and Eastern Europe. Hoffa is an act of hagiogra- whose words and deeds are forever bursting the Malcolm X. Each presents its protagonist as a phy, complete with martyrdom, but what is bounds of decorum. "I'm gonna do what I gotta martyr to American injustice, although it is only remarkable about it is how warts appear as beauty do to get the union back," barks Hoffa in the Chaplin' s character and spirit that are assassi- marks. Though clearly a crook and a brute, Jack trailer clip that has been tantalizing audiences nated by federal prigs and xenophobes. Malcolm Nicholson's Hoffa is an amiable scoundrel. for months. His blunt and truculent speech is just is gunned down in the Audubon Ballroom on Senator Sam Ervin said Hoffa "makes Attila the thing for David Mamet, who wrote the script February 21, 1965, while Hoffa's disappearance the Hun appear by comparison to be a very mild- and who, in such plays as American Buffalo and on June 30, 1975, was almost certainly a violent mannered and benevolent individual." Hoffa' s Glengarry,Glen Ross, has made himself the bard one, even if not exactly according to the scenario Hoffa is a brawler, arsonist, perjurer, embezzler of crude and angry men. He excels at stories of that DeVito provides. While Denzel and racketeer, neither mild-mannered nor benev- male bonding, in which males are bound for trou- Washington's Malcolm is distanced from the olent when it came to wielding power. When a. ble, and, in the 1950s and '60s, the truck cab was rest of us by his sanctity and Robert Downey Detroit News reporter threatens to print infor- a male enclave. Women are as welcome as a spare Jr.' s Chaplin by his artistry, Nicholson's Hoffa mation that could scuttle Hoffa's bid to head the rib in a Buddhist kitchen. is the most human of the three. Teamsters, he is sent a bottle containing human Hoffa had a wife, Jo, to whom he was report- "The brotherhood of man is not a mere poet's testicles; the tactic is quite persuasive. "I may have edly as devoted as to the IBT. But she remains dream," wrote Oscar Wilde, not yet dreaming faults, but being wrong ain't one of them," quipped invisible for most of the film. Hoffa begins and of the Brotherhood of Teamsters. "It is a most Hoffa, wrong in that as in so much else, includ- ends with two men in a parking lot in 1975. depressing and humiliating reality." ❑ ing his support for Richard Nixon, who called Jimmy and Bobby wait in vain all afternoon Frank Fitzsimmons, the dolt who succeeded Hoffa for a mobster to arrive fora meeting. DeVito tells as IBT president "my kind of labor leader." But the story of Hoffa by flashing back and forth the camera adores Hoffa anyway, almost as much between the fleeting present and chronologically ANDERSON .t COMPANY as the workers who were willing to overlook the ordered episodes from the past. We know 'from COFFEE TEA SPICES shady ways by which he won their battles. the outset that these are 62-year-old Hoffa' s TWO JEFFERSON SQUARE Part of the reason is the iconography that the final hours and, the film even presumes to resolve AUSTIN, TEXAS 78731 stars bring to their roles. From Easy Rider through one enigma by speculating on how he died. The 512 453-1533 Chinatown, Prizzi's Honor, The Witches of East- classical unity of time intensifies the action and Send me your list. wick, Batman and much else, Nicholson has built offers Hoffa as a tragic hero. a career based on stubborn, raffish characters Hoffa is the character study of an extraordinary Name casual about the nuances of ethics and law. thug, and it has more in common with criminal Street spectacles like The Godfather and The City Zip Steven Kellman teaches comparative literature Untouchables than with union movies like Salt at the University of Texas at San Antonio. of the Earth, Matewan, Norma Rae, and Harlan

THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 21 A public service message from the American Income Life Insurance Co. — Waco, Texas — Bernard Rapoport, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. (Advertisement)

A book about the two most important campaigns that two of the country's most important political women ever ran or ever will run ... STORMING THE STATEHOUSE: Running for Governor with Ann Richards and Dianne Feinstein By Celia Morris

"Storming the Statehouse is required reading... a textbook of contemporary electoral politics that would-be candidates, consultants, and political junkies will find riveting... Celia Morris' book made me feel proud." Barbara Jordan

"Having run for Congress three times, and national office once, I thought I knew what there was to know about campaigns. But I learned a lot from the experiences and observa- tions in Storming the Statehouse... [It's] a one-stop must read for statewide campaigns." Geraldine Ferraro

"Powerful, knowing, instructive... so fully are readers caught up in the excitement, uncertainties and manipulations of the political process that they will be held fast." Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A perceptive and thoughtful account of two of the most memorable political campaigns of recent years [that] should be read by political activists as well as by those who simply observe politics from afar." U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell

"More and more, women are seeking political empowerment and political office. Celia Morris' book is the primer on how to get them." Senator Barbara Mikulski

"A fine double portrait of two strong, talented women — and of he complex, fascinating politics of Texas and California. One won her race in 1990 while the other lost. But both will be around a long time. And so will this book." David Broder, Nationally syndicated columnist

22 • JANUARY 29, 1993 AFTERWORD Freedom Fights Past and Present

BY MAURY MAVERICK

EAR REPRESENTATIVE John with Barnhart at his apartment the night before term accountability. This is rather like the prob- Barnhart: we voted and, when full of whiskey courage, lem of the American businessman whose deci- D "Legislators who seek social was determined to stand with him. I didn't. On sionmaking is based upon the next quarter's justice today are unfortunately rather few. the Ayers resolution I hid in the "Men's Room" profit rather than long-term growth. Sometimes I wonder how the good people of and didn't vote at all. That's when my father "I want more citizen politicians and less career Beeville had the good judgment to elect you. called me a "[shit]house liberal." politicians. On the other hand, term limitation You have been in Austin long enough to dis- In subsequent sessions, I was one of the four has too many downsides. Although I do not have cover that some of our legislators are frightfully who voted against "Communist Control" leg- a cure, I do hope free speech and the exercise reactionary, and some, it is said, are not even islation, and along with state Rep. Edgar Berlin, of it with public financing of campaigns will help. honest ... some of the legislators from San led the fight that defeated the creation of the "My principal remembrance is one of grati- Antonio could hardly be called statesmen. Texas Un-American Activities Committee, tude for the opportunity to stand loud and clear "Since the Board of Regents of Texas which was designed to go after schoolteach- for human rights. I was provided with a dramatic University notified the Legislature that they are ers. I did it in part because Barnhart shamed me. stage from which to assert the Bill of Rights. You satisfied with the loyalty and good Americanism Why be the only one? Because one person can later carried the day with your Stanford case of Professor [Clarence] Ayres, you have obvi- make four people brave and later on four peo- before the Supreme Court. ously achieved complete vindication in this ple can, finally, make a majority brave. On "I thought that this (then) 25-year-old sixth- matter. This letter is written to you to say more both occasions when Barnhart voted, the silence generation son of the Republic of Texas was power to you and long may you wave." in the House was all by terrifying as that little immune from the Red Brush. I naively thought Letter dated April 26, 1951, guy, about 5-feet 4-and-a-half inches tall, became the accusation of communist and 'fellow trav- from Archbishop Robert E. Lucey. the tallest man in the Texas Legislature. eler' and `pinko' was ludicrous. It should have been. There will always be Joseph McCarthys "At times he regarded the wounded soldiers fter all these years, I have prevailed upon and Mgshall 0. Bells and like ilk seeking by in an envious way ... he wished he, too, had a John Barnhart to tell me what was on demagogy to gain popularity, but we cannot wound, a red badge of courage." Ahi's mind. He's part of what he wrote me: be intimidated by them. And someday we will Stephen Crane "I reminisce on the political finesse whereby be sufficiently wise to join Molly Ivins and these inflammatory strawmen issues were used Garry Trudeau in their laughter. have written before about John Barnhart. He to distract legislators from the people's busi- "In summary, I am delighted to have had was the bravest state representative I ever ness. That tactic continues to be effective today. the opportunity to oppose the McCarthy hys- I served with — as brave as Sam Houston ... Then, the 52nd Legislature was distracted by teria and the Marshall 0. Bell exploitation. My trying to preserve the Union, as brave as Henry a corporate income tax (a bill which I intro- dissent was heard, and I am complimented that B. Gonzalez trying to prevent war, as brave as duced) and from rate regulation of intrastate you would continue to think my actions were Tom Paine, who said, "Tyranny, like hell, is not telephone charges (which I introduced). significant after these 41 years." easily conquered." "Another thought is the proposition that pol- The letter from Archbishop Lucey, above itics is the art of compromise. We recognized note of explanation for a new genera- quoted, is new information on Barnhart, and that the able legislator gets half a loaf. Lyndon tion of Texans who did not know the so is a letter dated March 22, 1951, from the late Johnson proved that principle. Yet someone has ate state Rep. Marshall 0. Bell of San Gus Garcia, civil rights lawyer, who wrote: "I to take out the whole loaf or its identity is lost. Antonio, the person who introduced the legis- can state with all sincerity that your efforts in Compromise can occur diluting proposition to lation Barnhart opposed. He also was a lawyer behalf of our fundamental freedoms should be nothingness ... I continue to believe that human who never saw the inside of the courthouse an inspiration not only to state legislators but to rights are core, fundamental stuff maximizing and who held retainers from some of San our representatives in Congress." the process of democracy. I believe human rights Antonio's most distinguished businessmen. Barnhart walked through the fires of hell by need constant vigilance and are not amenable They hid behind him and they had their hands doing two things: First, he refused to vote for to the process of compromise. on the knife Bell struck into the Bill of Rights. the Communist Control legislation. Second, he "Another thought is my freedom in 1951 from [In the Stanford case, the U.S. Supreme Court voted against the resolution censuring Professor the temptations inherent with political ambition. in 1964 ruled a search warrant signed by then- Clarence Ayers of the University of Texas for Appropriately an officeholder should desire re- Attorney General Waggoner Carr under the Texas having "socialist" ideas. election in order to be responsive to the will of Communist Control Act was unconstitutional.] On the Communist Control legislation, I was the people, but the burden of trying to please So there you have the story of John Barnhart, the majority in the short term can be crippling. the great-great-grandson of John W. Smith, who "He, the officeholder, is extremely vulnera- was selected by Travis to carry the last dispatch Maury Maverick is a lawyer, a former legis- ble to the petty and the inflammatory of that from the Alamo and who was mayor of San lator and a columnist for the San Antonio day's headlines. A congressman or legislator is Antonio three times during the days when we Express-News. handicapped in his long-term effort by short- were a Republic. THE TEXAS OBSERVER • 23 Postmaster: If undeliverable, send Form 3579 to The Texas Observer, 307 W. 7th St., Austin, Texas 78701

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE

stitutional ban on abortions except to save a murders of three Waco-area teenagers before a ✓ ONCE AGAIN, New York Times reporter Jeff Gerth has broken a story on a Texas senator mother's life. Hutchison denies she ever sup- Fort Worth jury acquitted him in a retrial ordered and a questionable savings and loan deal. Last ported such a ban but she believes states should by the Court of Criminal Appeals. Suzanne time it was Republican Phil Gramm's Maryland be permitted to regulate abortions. Two Repub- Donovan of the Texas Resource Center in Austin house. This time it is Lloyd Bentsen's insider deal lican congressmen in the race, Jack Fields of reported that Texas leads the nation not only in with Houston S&L operator J. Livingston north Houston and Joe Barton of Ennis, are anti- the rate of executions, but also in the number of Kosberg, who was brought into state government abortion. Bob Krueger, the Democrat appointed unrepresented inmates on Death Row. Of 198 in 1985 by Gov. Mark White as someone who by Gov. Ann Richards for the interim, voted for inmates in line for execution, 31 do not have could make the Department of Human Services federal funding for abortion as a member of attorneys for their appeals. function more like a business and less like a Congress in the 1970s and the former profes- bureaucracy. Last month, Kosberg' s business sor, known to be pedantic, has dragged Saints ✓ TEXAS IS ONE of at least six "focal points" deals resulted in a $2.4 million fine for violation Augustine and Thomas Aquinas into the debate, for Religious Right activity, reports People For of banking laws. His connection to Bentsen came claiming the two fathers of Christian theology the American Way, the constitutional rights orga- through what the Times described as a "private could not agree on when the soul joins the nization that seeks to counter the fundamental- deal" between Bentsen and Kosberg, by which body. "I don't think we should expect the ists. From its review of the pronouncements of the senator acquired $100,000 in stock, which Congress to agree for them," Krueger said. Religious Right leaders and their track record, three years later was worth $600,000. "The stock Ann Richards and the Democratic establish- People expects "a year of unprecedented politi- was in a company that federal regulators later ment may be trying to freeze him out, but Jim cal activity," with grassroots campaigns focus- determined had been created largely with a sub- Mattox continues to prepare for a guerrilla cam- ing on abortion choice, gay rights, public edu- sidy from the businessman's [Kosberg's] fail- paign for the Senate. Jose Angel Gutierrez, a cation and speech freedoms. The report noted the ing savings and loan, an arrangement that helped civil rights activist and founder of La Raza virtual takeover of the Republican Party in Harris a small circle of invited investors to profit hand- Unida Party in the 1970s, also plans to run as County and fundamentalist candidates for school somely," the Times reported. According to the a Democrat. Gutierrez, a former Zavala County board in the Houston area; battles developing Times, a former top Bentsen aide, Loyd Hackler, judge, is now a lawyer in Dallas and president over sex education in the Legislature, as well had also invested in Affiliated Computer Services of the Greater Dallas Foundation, which funds as running battles in Austin and Lubbock; a coali- (ACS), a company that earned high short-term lawyers involved in social-impact litigation. tion of groups pushing for a return to school profits for Bentsen. Hackler told the Times that Richard Fisher, a Dallas investor, one of the prayer in McAllen; and full-page advertisements he had told Bentsen about the company, inform- founders of the centrist Democratic Leadership the American Family Association has run in ing the senator that it "looked like a hell of a Council and an adviser to Ross Perot in last Houston and Fort Worth newspapers attacking deal." Only 28 investors were invited by Kosberg, year's presidential campaign, also reportedly is the entertainment industry and seeking contri- a Democratic Party fund raiser, to participate in ready to spend as much as $5 million of his butions from the public, with contributors con- the stock purchase. ACS was subsidized by own money to run as an independent Democrat. verted to members of local chapters. The Christian Gibraltar and First Texas Savings and Loan, oper- Coalition also is expected to be active in the election of a successor to Sen. Lloyd Bentsen. ated by Kosberg and described in the Times as ✓ ATTORNEY GENERAL Dan Morales institutions then in a very precarious condition. unveiled a six-point crime package, includ- Former Houston Post reporter Pete Brewton, ing a proposal to reduce the time it takes to exe- ✓ MARY SCOTT NABERS will replace in his book The Mafia, the CIA and George cute convicted capital murderers by limiting Bob Krueger on the Texas Railroad Commission Bush, reported on several questionable S&L their rights to appeals. "In Texas, punishment despite her mineral interests and her lobbyist- deals involving the senator and said that had is not swift enough, not certain enough and husband's history of representing clients with Michael Dukakis won in 1988 the title of the often not severe enough. Sentences bear little mineral, energy production and trucking inter- book could have just as easily been The Mafia, resemblance to time served," he said at a Houston ests, Gov. Ann Richards decided. Nabers, a mem- the CIA and Lloyd Bentsen. (See TO, news conference. The package included pro- ber of the Texas Employment Commission since 12/25/92.)Bentsen press aide Jack Devore said posals to earmark prisoner income to a victims' 1984, said she would recuse herself from any the senator's recollection of the ACS deal "isn't trust fund, more flexibility to use abandoned decisions that would present a conflict of inter- totally clear." military bases to house prisoners, laws to make ests on the three-member commission, includ- sure sentences handed down by juries are served, ing those involving the high-speed rail consor- more authority for the attorney general to track tium which her husband's law firm represents. ✓ ABORTION could serve as the wedge to pry Republican voters away from Kay Bailey drug money laundering operations and a more Ms. Nabers could become the swing vote on Hutchison, the state treasurer who is shaping up than doubling of the death benefits paid to fam- trucking deregulation, an issue on which she said as a consensus GOP candidate in the free-for- ilies of law enforcement officers killed in the line she has no opinion; for several years, Lynn Nabers all race to succeed Sen. Lloyd Bentsen. While of duty. The package did not include provisions lobbied for Merchant Motor Lines, which opposed Hutchison styles herself as the relatively pro- to make sure that defendants get fair trials, despite deregulation, but his contract was not renewed choice Republican, the Houston Chronicle well-publicized miscarriages of justice in the past and he said he will not lobby at the Railroad reported that before the 1990 GOP primary few years. In the latest such case, Muneer Deeb, Commission. State Rep. Eddie Cavazos, D- Hutchison told Texans United for Life and the a former Waco convenience store operator, spent Corpus Christi, will replace Nabers on the National Coalition for Life she supported a con- eight years on Death Row for a role in the 1982 Employment Commission. ❑

24 • JANUARY 29, 1993