A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES NOVEMBER 22, 1996 • $1.75 THIS ISSUE FEATURES The Populists Return to Texas by Karen Olsson One hundred years ago, the Farmers' Alliance took on the banks, from the Texas Hill Country. This month, their political heirs take aim at the corporations. Communities Fight Pollution (& SOME Win) by Carol S. Stall 7 An EPA-sponsored roundtable in San Antonio brings together community stakeholders on environmental action. Meanwhile, a small Texas town wins one round. How the Contras Invaded the U.S. by Dennis Bernstein and Robert Knight 10 The recent allegations about CIA involvement in the crack trade are not exactly news. VOLUME 88, NO. 23 There has long been ample evidence of the dirty hands of U.S. "assets" in Nicaragua. A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the Blind Justice Comes to the Polls by W. Burns Taylor 13 truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are ded- icated to the whole truth, to human values above all in- On November 5, a group of El Paso citizens exercised the right to a secret ballot terests, to the rights of human-kind as the foundation of for the very first time. Now they're hoping the State of Texas will see the light. democracy: we will take orders from none but our own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. DEPARTMENTS BOOKS AND THE CULTURE Writers are responsible for their own work, but not 2 Inventing Whitewater 21 for anything they have not themselves written, and in Dialogue publishing them we do not necessarily imply that we Book Review by Jim Naureckas agree with them, because this is a journal of free voices. Editorial 3 Following the Money A Place of Connection 24 SINCE 1954 James Galbraith 14 Poetry by Sigman Byrd Founding Editor: Ronnie Dugger It's the Economy, Bill Gardner's Light in the Darkness 25 Publisher: Geoff Rips Book Review by James Sledd Managing Publisher: Rebecca Melancon Molly Ivins 16 Editor: Louis Dubose Looking Back, with Laughter History's Silver Screenings 27 Associate Editor: Michael King Book Review by Steven G. Kellman Production: Harrison Saunders Jim Hightower 17 Copy Editor: Mimi Bardagjy Ice Follies, Lippo-suction and Bad Gas AFTERWORD Poetry Editor: Naomi Shihab Nye 18 Songman Silenced: Walter Hyatt 29 Circulation Manager: Amanda Toering Las Americas Special Correspondent: Karen Olsson The Human Cost of Oil By Sidney Brammer Editorial Intern: Katy Adams Political Intelligence 32 Cover art by Kevin Kreneck Contributing Writers: Bill Adler, Barbara Belejack, Betty Brink, Brett Campbell, Jo Clifton, Lars Eighner, James Galbraith, Dagoberto Gilb, James Harrington, Jim Hightower, Molly Ivins, Paul Jennings, Steven DIALOGUE Kellman, Tom McClellan, Bryce Milligan, Debbie Nathan, Brad Tyer, James McCarty Yeager. good gains in reading on the TAAS test. Contributing Photographers: Vic Hinterlang, Alan TRY COWTOWN BARBEQUE Pogue. Now just wait a minute, Paul Jennings One of this year's new efforts is the for- Contributing Artists: Michael Alexander, Eric Avery, ("The Smoked and the Sublime," October mulation of a Parents' Math Club, de- Tom Ballenger, Richard Bartholomew, Jeff Danziger, Beth Epstein, Valerie Fowler, Kevin Kreneck, Michael Krone, 11). I realize that Fort Worth is outside the signed to show parents how they may help Ben Sargent, Gail Woods. bounds of the Central Texas Barbecue Belt. their children at home, The expected out- Editorial Advisory Board: David Anderson, Austin; Elroy Bode, El Paso; Chandler Davidson, Houston; But I am telling you that any Texas Barbe- come is more students mastering the math Dave Denison, Arlington, Mass.; Bob Eckhardt, Austin; cue Hall of Fame that doesn't include An- portion of the TAAS test. Sissy Farenthold, Houston; John Kenneth Galbraith, Cambridge, Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, N.C.; gelo's is like a Texas Music Hall of Fame The only error I detected in Mr. Rips' George Hendrick, Urbana, Ill.; Molly Ivins, Austin; that leaves out Delbert McClinton. Get article was in the spelling of my principal's Larry L. King, Washington, D.C.; Maury Maverick, Jr., San Antonio; Willie Morris, Jackson, Miss.; Kaye with it, Hoss: Cowtown is Heaven. name—it's Trousdale. Northcott, Fort Worth; James Presley, Texarkana; Bill Walker Annette L. Stone Susan Reid, Austin; A.R. (Babe) Schwartz, Galveston; Fred Schmidt, Fredericksburg. [email protected] nstone @juno. corn Development Consultant: Frances Barton Business Manager: Cliff 0 lofson, I931-1995 TROUBLE WITH TROUSDALE? MAYBE CHER KNOWS... THE TEXAS OBSERVER (ISSN 0040-4519/USPS 541300), entire contents copyrighted, © 1996, is published biweekly except for a three-week interval I thoroughly enjoyed Geoff Rips' article "Politics is show business for ugly people." between issues in January and July (25 issues per year) by the Texas Democ- racy Foundation, a 50l(c)3 non-profit corporation, 307 West 7th Street, Austin, on Alliance Schools ("Alliances in Public Page 28 ("Fixing the Last Mess," Septem- Texas 78701. Telephone: (512) 477-0746. E-mail: [email protected]. World Wide Web DownHome page: http://wwvi.hyperweb.com/brobserver Schools," October 11), especially since I ber 13) attributes the quip to former Okla- Periodicals postage paid at Austin, Texas. SUBSCRIPTIONS: One year $32, two years $59, three years $84. Full-time teach at the El Paso middle school [Ysleta homa Attorney General Mike Turpen, students $18 per year. Back issues $3 prepaid. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm editions available from University Micro- Middle School] involved in this statewide while page 32 claims it for Austin labor films Intl., 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. effort to upgrade the learning experience lobbyist Don Dee Simpson. I say it must INDEXES: The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The Supplementary Index to Periodicals; Texas Index and, for the years 1954 through 1981,The have been Congressman Sonny Bono. Texas Observer Index. for public school students. We worked POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE TEXAS OBSERVER, Steven G. Kellman 307 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. very hard last year, and the results were tremendous gains in math and writing, and San Antonio 2 ■ THE TEXAS OBSERVER NOVEMBER 8, 1996 EDITORIAL Where the Money Is "Big labor bosses" spent $300 million in their failed attempt to return the U.S. House to Demo- cratic control, said Haley Barbour during ABC's election wrapup. Never mind that the Republican Party's national chairman had to be corrected after a break; the actual amount was closer to $30 million nationwide. And forget that organized labor had returned to electoral politics after a long absence, only because AFL-CIO national President John Sweeney defeated Lane Kirkland. And forget that organized labor was far outspent by trade associations and corporate PACs. Barbour clearly understands the crude geography of the 1996 general election: this year money was the only prominent feature on the landscape of electoral politics. f big money absolutely dominated making sausage,' Pauken said at a press per House seat gained was $116,167. federal elections, you can be sure conference when asked who had directed Not every dollar was spent in October. Al- it played an even greater role in the PAC spending. "No one really likes to though 76/96 wrote its big checks at the end elections for state offices in Texas, look at it." of the campaign—a nationwide Republican where fundraising is even more But someone looked closely—sitting on tactic that encourages going negative late, wide open than it is in the putatively almost all of the 76/96 cash reserves until when opponents have no time to respond— regulated federal system. races could be easily handicapped, then tar- ART underwrote races early, providing can- "We held our own in races geting competitive races as the campaigns didates with startup money: $33,799 in where we weren't outspent twenty-to-one," wound down. Although the numbers for March, $65,884 in late spring and early sum- Texas Democratic Party Chairman Bill the final five days aren't in yet, 76/96's mer, $274,900 in early fall, and $243,896 in White told reporters the day after the elec- the final month of the campaign. To maintain tion. And, White added, there were no big TEXAS DEMOCRATS, WHO IN THE BEST late spending levels, three weeks before elec- Democratic names, like John Sharp or OF YEARS CAN'T GO CHECK-FOR- tion day ART even borrowed $100,000 from Garry Mauro, at the top of the ballot spend- CHECK WITH REPUBLICAN FUNDERS, Hartland Bank in Austin. ing money that would have also influenced WERE AT A SERIOUS DISADVANTAGE. down-ballot races. In presidential elections, epublican funding of House races is Texas is also a net exporter of cash. So total yearly campaign spending through even more impressive when exam- Texas Democrats, who in the best of years October 26 stands at $464,670. So the Rined in detail. Although there are can't go check-for-check with Republican $423,847 that poured into House elections 150 seats in the House, ninety representa- funders, were at a serious disadvantage. in October makes the PAC' s funding strat- tives were unopposed in the general elec- In almost every contested legislative egy easy to parse: raise early—spend late tion. So the Party's smart, pragmatic fun- race, Democratic candidates found them- (and big). And because Democrats control ders found it fairly easy to direct spending selves drowning in an ocean of Republican all the urban House seats and Republicans only toward races where Republican candi- money, in particular money strategically control all the suburban House seats, the dates were viable and in need of help.