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$ 3 BSERV 11 Bill White's Bottom Line The former Houston mayor hopes to bring his business acumen to the governor's mansion. Is that a good thing? BY DAVE MANN

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0 052115 4 89 39 7 IN THIS ISSU ON THE COVER AND LEFT Bill White, Democratic candidate for governor, in downtown Houston PHOTO BY MICHAEL STRAVATO

06BILL WHITE'S BOTTOM LINE by Dave Mann The former Houston mayor hopes to bring his business acumen to the governor's mansion. Is that a good thing?

LIKE A BAD NEIGHBOR FOR THEIR EYES ONLY by Saul Elbein by Dave Mann In Texas, State Farm does what State Farm After five years and $254,000, the Texas OBSERVER 12 wants. Why can't the state rein in big Department of Public Safety prevails over 16Observer ONLINE insurers and high rates? the in court, keeping Capitol video secret. Watch a video REGULARS 18 FROM PORCH TO PAPER 24 BOOK REVIEW 27 TEX IN THE CITY interview with 01 DIALOGUE Bill Minutaglio goes Culture Divide As Seen on TV gubernatorial 02 POLITICAL In Search of the Blues by Todd Moye by Robert Leleux candidate Bill INTELLIGENCE by Steve Davis White and our 05 EDITORIAL 25 SATIRE 28 PURPLE STATE live reports from 05 BEN SARGENT'S 21 IMMUNE: Club Alamo Thank God for Texas the Texas GOP LOON STAR STATE NACOGDOCHES by Tyler Stoddard Smith by Bob Moser convention. 20 NI1NTOWER REPORT Blood Sport www.texasobserver.org by Joe Lansdale 26 POETRY 29 EYE ON TEXAS Sonnet by Sandy Carson 23 CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK by Alexander Maksik Freedom Trap by Josh Rosenblatt A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES SINCE 1954 Falk* • fp 1-7.10 • I-7111 AP OBSERVER VOLUME 102, NO. 11 IALOGUE FOUNDING EDITOR Ronnie Dugger Slaves and Christians EDITOR Bob Moser MANAGING EDITOR Slavery was the excuse the federal government used to escalate the fundamental con- Chris Tomlinson ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave Mann flict over states rights into the War of Northern Aggression—kind of like the WMDs in CULTURE EDITOR Michael May Iraq, except that slavery actually existed (State Board of Education coverage online, MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Jen Reel INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER May 21-24). If slavery had been the real issue, then the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would Melissa del Bosque STAFF WRITERS Abby Rapoport, have been unnecessary. But the fact is that people in the Northern states treated the Forrest Wilder ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Julia Austin blacks as badly as, or even worse than, those in the Southern states (not to mention

CIRCULATION/OFFICE MANAGER Candace Carpenter how they treated other people of different religious beliefs.) Charles Wright

ART DIRECTION EmDash LLC AUSTIN

WEBMASTER Shane Pearson COPY EDITOR Rusty Todd THE WAR OF NORTHERN AGGRESSION IS PURELY A PRO- WE ARE NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION (OR A CHRISTIAN STATE,

POETRY EDITOR paganda label. The reason the Civil Rights Act was for that matter). While many of our values are part Naomi Shihab Nye necessary is that Southerners and some Northern of the Christian tradition, they are also part of the

INTERNS Laura Burke, Robert cohorts managed to sabotage the post-Civil War civil- Jewish, Muslim and other non-Christian traditions. Green, Ana McKenzie rights movement in Congress. Michael Cosper They are universal values for a civil society and need CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AUSTIN not be tied to religious fundamentalism. Emily DePrang, Lou Dubose, Shedrick Pittman-Hassett James K. Galbraith, Steven G. Kellman, Joe R. Lansdale, YOU ARE TOO YOUNG TO REMEMBER THAT THE LONG- DENTON Robert Leleux, James E. term economic conflict among industrialists in the McWilliams, Char Miller, Bill Northeast, farmers in the Midwest and planters in the PERHAPS EVERYONE SHOULD AGREE THIS IS A CHRISTIAN Minutaglio, Ruth Pennebaker, South was taught as the cause of the Civil War before nation in order to bolster the argument that univer- Josh Rosenblatt, Kevin Sieff, Brad Tyer, Andrew Wheat political correctness within the academic community sal health care is a moral imperative. Hey, Christian

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS discredited it in favor of a more simplistic sound bite. nation, to whom would Jesus deny health care? Jana Birchum, Alan Pogue, People voted—and fought—for their economic self- David Hawkins Steve Satterwhite interest, even back then. Ed Palmer NEWARK, NEW JERSEY CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS DALLAS Michael Krone, Alex Eben Meyer, Ben Sargent THE TEXANS' LETTER OF SECESSION EXPLAINS IN THEIR Troubles at TCEQ TEXAS DEMOCRACY own words why they seceded without any Northern I WANT TO EXPRESS MY APPRECIATION FOR THE "AGENCY FOUNDATION BOARD spin. Slavery is mentioned several times as well as of Destruction" article (May 28). The article identi- Lisa Blue Baron, Carlton Carl, Melissa Jones, Susan "the debasing doctrine of equality" fies many issues that were consistent with the Texas Longley, Jim Marston, Rich Vazquez Commission on Environmental Quality's support of Mary Nell Mathis, Gilberto ROUND ROCK a paper mill waste-water permit that is detrimental Ocarias, Jesse Oliver, Bernard to the recreational and economic value of the Sam Rapoport, Geoffrey Rips, Geronimo Rodriguez, Sharron THE DECLARATION OF SECESSION IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS Rayburn Reservoir. Even though the paper mill Rush, Kelly White, Ronnie we don't talk about much in middle-school Texas ceased operations for economic reasons in 2003, the Dugger (emeritus) history classes. Don Richardson waste-water permitting process was a travesty. In

OUR MISSION LUFKIN addition to waste-water issues, multiple mill own- We will serve no group or ers deposited toxic materials for approximately 60 party but will hew hard to IF THE MUSLIM ON THE BOARD CANNOT HANDLE THE years in an on-site landfill that is directly over the the truth as we find it and historical truth that the United States is a Christian the right as we see it. We Carizzo-Wilcox aquifer. However, monitoring has are dedicated to the whole nation, then his ass needs to get off the board! never been implemented. Wafter West truth, to human values above Marie Day ZAVAL LA all interests, to the rights of HOUSTON humankind as the foundation of democracy. We will take A orders from none but our own THIS NATION IS A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, NOT A conscience, and never will we theocracy. School boards need to be comprised of overlook or misrepresent the educators, not religious fanatics. truth to serve the interests of Sound Off the powerful or cater to the Quentin Atkinson ignoble in the human spirit. ODESSA editors@texasobserver. org

JUNE 11, 2010 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 11 POLO' CALINTELLIG

Positive representation of Texas? A scene from Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused. PHOTO COURTESY DETOUR FILMPRODUCTION

STANDARDS DEPT. The Wrong Texas?

IN MAY 2009, AUSTIN FILMMAKER ROBERT RODRIGUEZ, The trailer drew return fire from conservative blog- creator of the blockbuster Spy Kids, hosted a celebra- gers and Alex Jones, the conspiranoid, Austin-based tory press conference at his Troublemaker Studios. radio talk show host. "We need to get the funding at the As state legislators and Gov. Rick Perry looked on, state level stripped out of the film commission if they Rodriguez cheered a new, $62 million incentive pro- do not stop this," Jones said during a recent show. gram for movies made in Texas using Texas-based Rodriguez did not return calls, but he told Ain't It crews. The grants reimburse from 5 percent to 15 per- Cool News, where the trailer debuted, that he wasn't cent of production money spent in the state. trying to provoke a "race war," as some critics had Now Rodriguez could lose an estimated $2 million suggested. "It's only because of what's happened in in incentives for his latest project because of a 2007 Arizona that some scenes actually feel at all grounded law that denies state funding if films include "inap- in reality," he said, "which is pretty nuts and says propriate content or content that portrays Texas or more about Arizona than any fictional movie." SEE Rodriguez's Cinco de Mayo L, trailer at txlo.com/machete Texans in a negative fashion." Bob Hudgins, director of the Texas Film The trouble started on Cinco de Mayo, when Commission, reviews initial scripts, then signs off on Rodriguez released a spoof theatrical trailer for his the movie's final cut before state funds are released. upcoming film, Machete. Rodriguez meant the gory, He says Rodriguez has assured him that the Machete over-the-top trailer to satirize anti-immigrant legis- trailer had nothing to do with the film set for release lation recently passed in Arizona. The trailer shows in September. "It's hard to prejudge whether it's the titular character aiming a .50-caliber assault rifle offensive to Texas because I haven't seen it yet," at a senator (played by Robert De Niro) leading an Hudgins said. "I probably won't see it until August." anti-immigrant rally in front of the Texas Capitol. In May 2009, a company filming a movie based on READ an interview with the 1993 Branch Davidian raid in Waco accused the Rodriguez about the Machete It ends with the words, "They just flicked with the trailer at tx1o,com/interview wrong Mexican." film commission of censorship after state aid was

2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG THE STATE ENCE OF TEXAS denied. Producers moved their $30 million project issue with EPA officials. "You should have seen their to another state. jaws drop," he said. "For a regulator who deals in air Hudgins said the decision wasn't censorship. He pollution, this is unheard of." said he told the filmmakers their characters were fac- Perry responded to the EPA's effort to fix the tually inaccurate and that they chose not to apply for flex-permit program with typical bombast, calling Early 2010 a grant. "The characters were based on real people the move part of Obama's "campaign to harm our Inflation Rates in Texas who are still alive," Hudgins said. "I showed economy and impose federal control over Texas." them the script, and they said it was inaccurate." —FORREST WILDER Problem is, lawmakers have forced Hudgins to make such judgments. The standard he's working with TEXAS is about as wide open as West Texas. "It's a very diffi- DEPT. OF GENTRIFICATION cult determination," he said. "I won't hedge on that. 1.8 % But I take it very seriously." —MELISSA DEL BOSQUE East Austin Cleanup ON A RECENT FRIDAY NIGHT IN EAST AUSTIN, SEVEN Austin DFW Police Department (APD) officers and I visited Clicks TEXAS VS. EPA Billiards, a local bar, nightclub, and pool hall. I was 1.4 % riding along on an initiative to curb violent crime in HOUSTON Permitted To Pollute what the officers call the "East Riverside Corridor"—a THE FACEOFF BETWEEN PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S low-income area populated primarily by recent immi- EPA and Gov. Rick Perry's Texas Commission on grants from Latin America. The city would like to see 2.2 % Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has escalated dra- the area redeveloped from strip malls, seedy bars, and U.S. AVERAGE matically. On May 25, the EPA prohibited the com- Mexican restaurants into mixed-use residences and mission from issuing a permit for a refinery in retail businesses. Upscale apartments and condos are Corpus Christi, and promised to do the same for under construction. 2.3 % dozens of other industrial facilities if TCEQ doesn't At Clicks, the officers followed protocol. One carded Source: U.S. Bureau of fix its flawed flexible-permit program. Such drastic the bouncer at the door, another went to the bathroom, Labor Statistics action is unprecedented and signals that new EPA and the others circulated through the crowd, shin- regional administrator Al Armendariz is not backing ing their flashlights onto people's drinks and peering down from his promise to end business as usual in through the dark, trying to spot anyone who looked state environmental regulation. underage. Satisfied nothing transparently illegal was "Flex" permits issued by TCEQ give polluters a pass going on, one beefy, mustachioed officer greeted two on reducing emissions at individual sources such as men leaning against a pool table. They shook hands; smokestacks and storage tanks, instead placing a cap on the officer bent over and took a shot (he missed). entire facilities. The EPA and environmental groups say "We're looking at Friday and Saturday nights, from such caps are too lenient and virtually unenforceable, 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.," said APD Lt. Paul Christ. "We have in part because the program is riddled with secrecy. one sergeant and six officers, on overtime, working The Texas attorney general's office has ruled that area." for years that emissions data must be made public The department says that by targeting bars and under the Clean Air Act, but often defers to TCEQ nightclubs in the area, it can reduce robberies, to decide what emissions data are released. TCEQ assaults and public intoxication. Statistics indicate has allowed companies to decide what's confidential. the East Riverside corridor is a crime hotspot, and For example, the flex-permit application for Exxon the officers I rode with were adamant that the initia- BROWSE examples of redacted flex permits at Mobil Corp.'s Baytown chemical plant lists as "con- tive is the result of those numbers. txlo.com/flexpermits fidential" an analysis of health effects from storage When I asked APD Commander John Hutto whether tanks. Exxon also refused to make public details on the anti-crime initiative is linked to city support of pollution released during startup, shutdown and redevelopment in East Austin, he said, "Absolutely. maintenance. In 2006, President George W. Bush's We recognize that there's quite a few bars and night- EPA wrote to the TCEQ that withholding such data clubs along Riverside Drive, and what we've seen in was contrary to federal and state law. "All emissions the past is that more often than not, our late-night vio- data must be made public," the letter stated. lent crimes—you know, the robberies and aggravated Nonetheless, TCEQ permitted Exxon's Baytown assaults—are in some ways fueled by alcohol." facility. Today no one knows what type of startup, Erica Leak, a senior city planner who oversees the shutdown and maintenance activities are authorized East Riverside Corridor Master Plan, said the area under the flex permit. is already changing. "A number of older apartment Ilan Levin, an Austin lawyer with the Environmental READ about the East complexes have been torn down," she said. "With Riverside Corridor Master Integrity Project, says he recently raised the secrecy more private investment in the area, that often helps Plan at tx1o.com/riverside

JUNE 11, 2010 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 1 3 with crime rates. Throughout the master planning process, we have been contacting lots of different departments throughout the city in trying to coordi- nate their efforts with ours." In effect, the police are helping clear the way for gentrification. By the time the officers dropped me back at the station around 1 a.m., they had walked through seven bars and pool halls, stopped by a taco trailer for din- mblazonerl ner, and intended to visit at least four more night- spots. The officers had issued a few jaywalking cita- tions, made a cocaine arrest, and received a report of one UFO sighting. They still had three hours to go. —ROBERT GREEN

STATE BOARD OF EXCUSES Underbooked THE TEXAS STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION'S THREE-DAY showdown in May over social studies standards attracted reporters from across the country, from The New York Times to Fox News. Accounts focused on the Don McLeroy meets fiery, often entertaining back-and-forth over which his- the press torical figures to include: the Dolores Huertas or the PHOTO BY ABBY RAPOPORT Phyllis Schlaflys? After the final votes on the new standards (Huerta and Schlafly both made it in), the cameras were packed up, onlookers drained from the room—and the board voted to postpone buying the new science textbooks it spent much of 2008 and 2009 debating. The argument over science curriculum centered on READ the list of new science standards at tx1o.com/TEKS whether to require that students learn the "strengths and weaknesses" of the theory of evolution. In the end, social conservatives lost that struggle; of the many changes made to the curriculum, one of their few suc- cesses requires biology teachers to explain "any data —The Associated Press on the new "Coyote Special" of sudden appearance" in the fossil record—proof, edition of the Strum, Ruger & Co. .380-caliber pistol supposedly, of evolution's fallibility. They also suc- Rick Perry says he used to kill a coyote in February. ceeded in requiring students to "distinguish between scientific hypotheses and scientific theories." Now it appears that Texas kids will have to glean "For Sale to Texans Only." those points from supplementary materials rather —Outside of "Coyote Special" box than new textbooks that were supposed to arrive in the fall. The state normally replaces textbooks on a rotating basis every 10 years. With Texas facing "I'm just shooting from the a budget shortfall of at least $11 billion in 2011, the hip here, but I'd say it's a money isn't going to be there. Textbooks covering the new science standards would have cost $400 million, pretty good little gun." and the Legislature is already expecting a bill of $888 —Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger to The Austin million for textbooks already ordered. American-Statesman In the 2011-12 school year, the state will begin stan- dardized, end-of-course exams for high-schoolers, and students will be expected to have mastered the "Our governor can outshoot new science standards. So board members crossed your governor. That's what their collective fingers that the Legislature would approve money for an unorthodox plan: a supple- I like to tell people from ment covering the new standards as a stopgap. The Texas Education Agency had proposed to out of state." provide science supplements for high schools only at —McBride Guns salesman George Gibbons to MSNBC a cost of about $17 million. Instead, board members approved supplements for science classes from fifth grade through high school. They have no idea how much the supplements will cost. It'll be a couple of years before the state has to pay for new social studies textbooks, scheduled to arrive FOR THE LATEST political analysis, read Bob Moser's Purple Texas at www.texasobserver.org/purpletexas in fall 2013. —ABBY RAPOPORT

4 THE TEXAS OBSERVER WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG Perry's Budget Mess

HEN THEY CUT BUDGETS, sales tax revenues. That's only part of the story. At Texas legislators start least half the projected deficit can be linked to Perry Can Texas talking like Jenny Craig. and legislators. In 2006, the Legislature passed a They're not slashing pro- school finance reform plan, largely devised by Perry slice 23 grams. They're "belt-tight- with former Comptroller John Sharp. The idea was ening" or "trimming the to cut property taxes and replace the lost revenue percent from fat." If next year's budget with a new business tax. deficit is as high as experts predict, we'll need better Problem is, the business tax doesn't bring in its budget? analogies. Gastric bypass would be more accurate. Or enough money to cover the loss in property taxes. maybe liposuction. Texas' budget has a built-in shortfall of several bil- Can you We won't know the size of the budget gap until the lion dollars a year. Here's the key point: Perry and legislative session starts next January. Estimates the Legislature knew this was going to happen. The perform range as high as $18 billion. How big is that? In the state's own analysts at the Legislative Budget Board 2009 budget, lawmakers allocated $80 billion in told lawmakers at the time that the plan would create liposuction on state funds. An $18 billion deficit would represent an annual $5 billion deficit. That adds up to $10 bil- 23 percent of the current budget—double the deficit lion per biennium—more than half of next session's an anorexic? lawmakers faced in 2003, when they made cuts the estimated $18 billion gap. state is still reeling from. Perry and the legislators intentionally created a Gov. Rick Perry and other Republican leaders have $10 billion hole in the budget. That was bad enough, signaled that they intend to reduce spending rather but when the recession hit, the budget became a big- than raise taxes. Which begs a question: Can Texas— ger mess. In 2011, it's going to catch up with Texas in which already spends less per citizen than any state a potentially devastating way. in the country—slice 23 percent from its budget? Can The state's fiscal disaster—and how to fix it—needs you perform liposuction on an anorexic? to be the top issue in this fall's elections. Perry and Most news reports and punditry have blamed the the Legislature acted recklessly. Now they need to be massive deficit on a weak economy that has lowered held accountable. ICI

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Bill White in front of Discovery Green, which was part of a downtown rejuvenation effort when he was Houston mayor. Observe enough TEXAS POLITICIANS over the years, and you come to expect certain things. Smooth banter and wit are a must, as are folksy anecdotes. A GOOD HEAD OF HAIR DOESN'T HURT. Neither does the ability to talk for hours without saying anything of substance. Above all, Texas politicos must be charming. BILL WHITE POSSESSES NONE OF THOSE TRAITS. The Democratic nominee for governor and former in energy and real estate. There have been failures three-term mayor of Houston is a remarkably genuine as well: The energy company he launched in 1996 politician. Ask him a question and he'll likely tell you has sputtered in its attempts to pump oil from the what he actually thinks. His answer will be thoughtful, Caspian Sea, costing investors millions. deadpan and likely consist of at least three demarcated Then there are business dealings that raise ethi- segments, followed by a brief summation of the main cal questions. White has forged a close relationship points. He rarely retreats to the safety of talking points. with a drilling company named BJ Services, including His sincerity is endearing. At the same time, his efforts serving on its board while he was mayor. He pocketed at small talk are tortured. His suits can be rumpled and $2.6 million from BJ Services in the past seven years. ill-fitting (on the day I met him for an hour-long inter- Elected officials usually don't earn that kind of money WATCH video clips of the view in mid-May, White had forgotten his belt). His ears in the private sector while still in government. He's also Observer's interview with Bill White at tx1o.com./whitevid are positively Vulcan-like. He is bald. received campaign contributions from the company's So when the candidate and his supporters claim, president. Meanwhile, critics point out, White's posi- as they often do, that White isn't a "career politi- tion on natural gas drilling in North Texas—in which cian," they have a point in one respect: In his speech, BJ Services is heavily involved—would greatly benefit appearance and bearing, White is the antithesis of the company if he becomes governor. what most Texans have come to expect from their His ties to the drilling outfit surprised some of politicians—and a stark contrast with the man he's White's liberal supporters, but it shows what an trying to defeat, nine-year incumbent Gov. Rick interesting hybrid he is: An oil and gas man who was Perry. In other ways, White is very much a typical a member of the Greater Houston Partnership—an politician, having spent many years in and around industry group that's the very epicenter of big busi- politics on the state and national level, and hav- ness in Texas—but also a politician whose record as ing long harbored high political ambitions. He just Houston mayor was largely progressive. He worked doesn't look or sound the part. No one—outside the to clean the air in Houston's pollution-choked East Perry campaign—will ever accuse Bill White of being End, to build affordable housing and, most famously, another Slick Willie. What he does have is a lawyer's to house hundreds of thousands who fled Hurricane insistence on precise detail, a policy wonk's thought- Katrina. He's a progressive Democrat who won't fulness and ability to see all sides of an issue, and a hesitate to crack down on big-business leaders when Ask Bill White businessman's eye for opportunity. he feels they're acting in bad faith, but who prefers It's that last trait—his business acumen—that to work cooperatively with them. After all, he under- a question and White hopes to parlay into four years as governor. stands where they're coming from. When he claims he's not a "career politician," White's Of course, many candidates have trotted out the he'll likely tell really arguing that while he's in politics, he's not of businessman-turned-politician trope over the years. it—that, at heart, he's still a businessman who will But in White's case, it's not just a campaign slogan. you what he bring a good businessman's competence, sensibility Those who worked with him and observed his tenure and foresight to the governorship. as Houston mayor describe his governing and policy- actually thinks. "In business, you're accountable in the market- making style as, above all, business-like: ready to tackle place every day," White says. "You're used to the disci- problems swiftly and head-on. If a program is over bud- pline of listening to your customers." In this analogy, get, White's first instinct is to cut costs. He believes that of course, the customers are the voters and people of government's primary role is to serve its customers— Texas. "I have a good friend, John Hofmeister, who the taxpayers. When White says he would run Texas ran Shell [Oil] USA. He did something that I did as government like a CEO, voters should believe him. mayor and that I also did when I was in business, So for Texans trying to decide what kind of gover- which is he personally read the customer complaints. nor he'd make, the key question is this: Just how good Because he wanted to let people know that you're not a businessman is Bill White? as good as your press release. You're only as good as your customers think you are." WHITE'S CAREER has long centered on energy—how So how good is he? White has had quite a few suc- to find it, get it and profit from it. He wrote his senior cesses in business. He's been a serious player in the thesis at Harvard on natural gas production. When energy industry, particularly in natural gas and oil he was a young legislative aide for Texas congress- extraction. For six years before he became mayor, man Bob Krueger in the 1970s, Congress was passing White headed the Wedge Group, a holding company some of the nation's first major energy bills. Even as he that during his tenure nurtured successful ventures earned his law degree from the University of Texas at

WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG ; THE TEXAS OBSERVER Austin and spent 14 years as a litigator, working mainly country going to be stable, in what direction is the on anti-trust and corporate law, White remained fas- public leadership in. That's not inside information. cinated with energy policy. As an attorney, he repre- It's knowledge of the countries of the world. There sented both energy companies and private citizens were no guaranteed returns." fighting industry. He also helped investigate the cause Indeed, the venture wasn't nearly as profitable as of several accidents, including a gas-well blowout in White had hoped. The production deal in Azerbaijan Mississippi. Investigating accidents, White says, "You faltered, and Frontera eventually defaulted on a large learn a lot about drilling for oil and gas." loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and This work led to his first political break. White's firm, Development, which aided projects in former Soviet Susman Godfrey, had represented the state of Arkansas republics. Investors lost millions on Frontera. The Mayor White meets with the in an anti-trust case. In early 1991, White met then- company is still developing oil projects in Central Hurricane Katrina Task Force Gov. Bill Clinton just as he was gearing up for his first Asia, but White no longer has any role—he stepped PHOTO COURTESY presidential run. White went on to raise millions for the down as CEO in 1997 and left the board of directors BILL WHITE FOR TEXAS campaign, and his efforts and connections helped him in 2001, though he still holds stock valued at $11,000, score an appointment as deputy secretary in Clinton's according to his campaign. Department of Energy in 1993. Suddenly White was White found more success in his next role—running helping oversee a department with more than 140,000 the Wedge Group, a Houston-based holding company. employees and a budget of $19 billion. Wedge isn't your typical investment firm. It doesn't flip "I was a big believer that the United States needed companies for quick profit. The firm's motto is "Time is a more secure, affordable and sustainable energy the most valuable asset," and Wedge boasts in promo- policy with less foreign imports and more domestic tional materials that it gives investments "time to mature energy," White says. and gain in growth." Wedge has owned some of its ven- But he also pushed the United States to develop tures for decades before selling them. White took over as oil in the Caspian Sea. He traveled to the Caucasus CEO in 1997 and left only when he was elected mayor in a handful of times, partly to cajole the leaders of 2003. He scoured the market for good investments, pri- "He's not a Armenia and Azerbaijan—bitter long-time enemies— marily in energy and real estate. Under White's tenure, to work out some of their differences and open the Wedge nurtured seven or eight ventures at any one time. knee-jerk region for oil production. He still retains an ownership stake in a Wedge spinoff White says those negotiations showed his dip- called BTEC Turbines, from which White earned tens of reaction kind lomat's skill for bringing opposing sides together— thousands in 2008, according to his tax returns. whether it's trying to get Central Asian leaders to Much of White's work at Wedge proved profitable of guy. He's agree or working with energy executives in Houston for the company. One venture that prospered was a to lower emissions—or, he hopes, bargaining with Tyler-based outfit named Howe-Baker International, a very good Texas legislators. "It's often the case that people you which produces oil-refining equipment. The firm think would be bitter antagonists are seeing the same was eventually sold off, but White's tenure was a very strategic circumstances or drawing the same conclusion," he profitable time for Howe Baker, says the company's says. "Then it's a matter of mobilizing the constituen- former CEO Ron Brazzel. "He's not a knee-jerk reac- thinker. He cies behind those legislators, with their help, in order tion kind of guy" says Brazzel, a life-long Republican to accomplish a common goal. That's what real leader- who's supporting White for governor. "He's a very could see ship means. That's what we're lacking as governor." good strategic thinker. He could see both sides of an After he left the Energy Department in 1995, issue. He's very, very thoughtful." both sides White returned to Houston to launch his own com- pany, Frontera Resources. This began perhaps the IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG for White to show how he of an issue. most disputed part of White's business career—and would translate his business background into a gov- the least successful. Frontera set out to extract oil erning style. In early 2004, just months into his ten- He's very, very from the Caspian Sea. It struck one of the first pro- ure, White confronted his first major crisis as mayor duction-sharing agreements in the region, with the of Houston. His administration had inherited a city thoughtful." Azerbaijan state oil company. Those efforts engen- pension system that was a mess. The system had a dered criticism. In a spring 2000 story, Mother projected shortfall of hundreds of millions per year Jones ripped Frontera—and singled out White—for and was threatening to swamp the city budget. White working with Central Asian strongmen, especially proposed cuts in the both the civilian and police retire- President Heydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan. ment systems, including reducing benefits for some "According to [Human Rights Watch], his government long-time city employees. City workers were furious, tortures prisoners, detains journalists, and suppresses but the cuts helped avert a deeper crisis. opposition parties," the magazine wrote. "Despite such "He moved very quickly and decisively—and very READ Bill White's 2009 tax abuses, White and his company portray Aliyev as a bold CI returns at www.billwhitefor- much, I think, as a businessman would have done, texas.com/taxreturns reformer." During his first (successful) campaign for which is, when times are bad, you cut your costs," Houston mayor in 2003, White was also criticized for says Bob Stein, a political science professor at Rice trying to use his experience in government, and his con- University. "He incurred enormous wrath from pub- tacts in Central Asia, to profit with Frontera. lic employees. It's not what a [conventional] politi- White has continually denied that he did anything cian would do." improper. "Certainly the knowledge that I gained Stein has been closely observing Houston may- as a deputy secretary of energy of the United States ors for three decades. His political science students helped me handicap what every international busi- often conduct policy research for the mayor's office, nessman does," he says. "In every international and his wife has worked as an agenda director for business, there's political risk—to what extent is a several mayors, including White and his successor,

JUNE 11, 2010 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 9 LEARN more about the the newly elected Annise Parker. White's governing White's office worked directly, and successfully, with debate over obligation bonds at txlo.com!debtbond style and approach to decision-making—one focused landlords to find apartments and permanent resi- very much on the final goal or bottom line—was dences for tens of thousands. unlike any Stein had seen before. "Because he was In 2006, White decided to take on the city's major a businessman, he did things in ways that I thought petrochemical facilities over property taxes. Houston's were very different," Stein says. With the pension sprawling refineries and chemical plants had been cuts, White showed that he was willing to implement paying below-market tax rates for years. The com- what he thought was the right policy even if it wasn't panies had long fought paying higher taxes and, with politically popular. their deep resources, usually trounced the county tax The cuts may have been sound fiscal policy, but appraisers in court. Though the mayor technically they didn't entirely shore up the pension system. has no role in property valuation, White decided he White's administration borrowed money to help could help. He arranged meetings in the mayor's office paper over the remaining pension shortfall. In 2003, between the county tax assessor's office and the heads the Legislature had allowed cities to issue so-called of the city's largest refiners, Shell Oil, ExxonMobil, pension obligation bonds—essentially borrowing Lyondell and Pasadena Refining. He even chartered money to cover pension obligations. From 2004 to a flight to San Antonio to meet with executives from 2008, the city borrowed more than $500 million to Valero, according to the Houston Chronicle. White during his time as cover pensions. Parker ended the practice in her first White was the moderator at these meetings. deputy secretary of the Chronicle accounts at the time, he told U.S. Department of Energy budget as mayor. When she presented the budget to According to under President Clinton city council, Parker said, "It is also the first budget in the executives that he knew they wanted to stay out PHOTO COURTESY BILL WHITE FOR TEXAS the last five years that has not used pension obliga- of court and pressed them to agree to fair land val- tion bonds to balance it. I have long been uncomfort- ues. Shell, headed by White's friend John Hofmeister, able with the idea of using debt for current obliga- was the first to strike a deal. The county number- tions. And you will see that our debt payments are crunchers later reached similar agreements with down as a result of that." ExxonMobil and Lyondell. (Valero, despite White's You can now find that quote on Gov. Perry's campaign personal visit, held out.) site. The Perry people are using Parker's comments in The businessman-mayor took a similar strategy an attempt to shred. White's self-characterization as in trying to reduce pollution. White reached out to a competent businessman. They claim that White left industry leaders to sign pollution-reduction deals, the city with a budget deficit, and call White's handling arguing that it was in the companies' interests to set of the Houston budget "Enron" accounting. emission goals well into the future. And he was deter- That's a wild exaggeration. Obligation bonds are a mined to cut down on the release of carcinogens like legitimate and legal budget technique, though there's a benzene and butadiene into Houston's air. Some com- debate over whether they should be used. White's cam- panies were more receptive than others—and some paign has defended the bonds and argued that the city's that did strike agreements didn't follow through on Bill White's budget was balanced during his tenure. (In the strict- their promises to curb emissions. White then showed est sense, the budget was balanced, though with the that he was willing to fight. With limited success, he Resume help of the bonds.) Some White supporters have also tried to use the city's nuisance ordinances to compel noted that Parker didn't publicly object to the bonds polluters to reduce emissions, while also imploring Highlights during the past five years, when she was the city's con- state environmental regulators to crack down on the troller. Nonetheless, Perry's criticism of 'White's fiscal recalcitrant polluters. U.S. DEPUTY bona fides—aided by the remarks from Parker's office— Even in the day-to-day operations of the city, White SECRETARY OF appears to have hurt White politically. preached sound business principles. He bought his ENERGY (A spokesperson for Parker said the mayor didn't staff the book The Price of Government. "[The book] was about squeezing the value out of each tax dollar," 1993-1995 want to interject herself into the governor's race and wouldn't comment on Perry's use of her comments.) he says, "and how there was a limit on what anybody Stein says the obligation bond issue isn't black- could pay for anything whether it be your car, your FOUNDER & and-white, especially if White thought the economy house or a subscription to a periodical, and the same CEO, FRONTERA would continue to bloom. "You can debate both sides is true of government. One of the challenges our RESOURCES of it. But it's clearly something a businessperson country has is trying to get the most value out of each 1996-1997 would be OK with if you were bullish on the econ- of those dollars." omy, which he was." That last quote might be Bill White in a nutshell— competent, thoughtful, insightful and, well, kind of CHAIRMAN, In nearly every major decision or initiative during his six years as mayor, White took a similar business- bland. Making the most of each tax dollar might be HOWE-BAKER like approach. He raised public and private funds to a recipe for good government, but it won't have any- INTERNATIONAL create Discovery Green, a 12-acre park on the lip of one chanting "yes, we can" at campaign events. Still, 1997-2000 downtown. White believed—correctly, as it turned his approach made White wildly popular in Houston. out—that well-maintained green space would spur "I've been polling here since '79," Stein says, "and he's CEO, WEDGE private development in the area. Then there's the cri- gotten the highest ratings of any incumbent mayor GROUP sis for which he's best known—taking in the estimated I've ever seen." White left office with an 84 percent approval rating. 1997-2004 200,000 Louisiana residents who fled to Houston in August 2005 after Hurricane Katrina. White's fore- But that was last fall, before Perry's campaign sight and understanding of the private sector again started its barrage of press releases and negative Web MAYOR OF were on display. The mayor realized from the start ads, and before the recent revelations about White's HOUSTON that many Katrina evacuees would never return to relationship with BJ Services. "Of course," Stein says 2004-2010 New Orleans and would need permanent housing. of White's popularity, "it's dropped quite a bit."

10 THE TEXAS OBSERVER WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG IN MARCH, just days after White won the Democratic primary, the Houston Chronicle reported that throughout his three terms as mayor, White served on the board of BJ Services, a Houston-based energy services company that specializes in drilling for nat- ural gas. White has earned more than $2.6 million in total compensation from BJ Services. Much of that money came from payments for his service on the board. But White also owns more than 10,000 shares of BJ Services stock, according to his financial disclo- sures, and $245,000 in stock options. BJ Services was recently bought out by the oil-field services company Baker Hughes. As of April 30, when the sale was finalized, White was no longer on the BJ Services board, according to his campaign. But he's still financially tied to the company. BJ Services stock- holders, including White, received nearly $1 billion in cash from the stock merger and also hold more than $6 billion worth of shares in the new merged company, according to documents filed with the Securities and company's CEO, J.W. Stewart, and his wife have given White (left) making the rounds during his time Exchange Commission. $50,000 to White's campaign so far, according to cam- as Houston mayor It's rare for big-city mayors—or public officials of paign filings. PHOTO COURTESY BILL any kind—to be so closely aligned with a large corpo- "I've believed strongly, and I do believe, that natu- WHITE FOR TEXAS ration. A Dallas Morning News survey of mayors of the ral gas and unconventional gas should be an impor- nation's 10 largest cities found that only three, White tant part of the energy mix," White says. "I think it's included, served on corporate boards. "I wanted to critically important if we want to have cleaner air, keep a business involvement, to keep my hand in busi- if we want to have a growing economy and we want ness, because I enjoy business. It still is a great com- to cut our dependence on foreign oil, then domestic "He moved pany," White says. There was no conflict of interest natural gas is a very important part of that. Period. between city business and BJ Services, he says. "Now, we should have good environmental stan- very The state of Texas, however, approves and regulates dards and practices, and companies should abide by natural gas drilling done by firms like BJ Services. environmental standards, and, in particular, if there quickly and Now that White is running for governor and remains are detections of excessive amounts of benzene—I've invested with BJ Services, the potential for conflicts heard most are in connection with a processing plant— decisively of interest is greater. there ought to be a standard, it ought to be applied, it For instance, BJ Services has drilling contracts for ought to be monitored, and they ought to be shut down and very more than 2,000 wells in the natural gas-rich Barnett if they don't apply to the standard." White says the Shale formation in North Texas, according to the com- failure to have good standards and strict regulation much, I pany. Drilling in the Barnett Shale has become increas- lies with the Texas Commission on Environmental ingly controversial. Residents and environmentalists Quality and the Railroad Commission. think, as a have protested that the process used to extract the gas— The Perry campaign is sure to use the BJ Services hydraulic fracturing, in which a combination of salt connections against White; the incumbent gover- businessman water and other chemicals is injected into rock—has led nor's campaigns historically have been devastatingly to pollution of ground and surface water with benzene effective at portraying their opponents negatively. would have and other carcinogens. BJ Services is part of a current Perry's people have already done a job on White over congressional inquiry into fracturing. his refusals to release his tax returns prior to 2009 done, which The industry says the risks of fracturing are minimal. and continually assailed him as a "liberal trial law- But some landowners near drilling sites have submitted yer." It's not surprising that White's polling numbers, is, when soil samples from their properties for testing and found even in Houston, have begun to drop. elevated levels of carcinogens. Some activists have White fully expects Perry's campaign to make BJ times are bad, called for a moratorium on drilling. Others have called Services an issue in the campaign. But he also notes that for tighter restrictions so that the drilling doesn't pol- the governor's campaign recently sent out a fundraising you cut your lute drinking water supplies. Mayors and city councils letter that labeled White an enemy of the Texas energy in communities all over North Texas—some in typically industry. "So he'll talk out of both sides of his mouth." costs Republican areas—have turned against the drilling. That might have been White's best line in our hour- Sharon Wilson, an activist who lives in Wise County long interview. When you talk with him, it's hard not to and has been advocating for safer drilling practices, has wonder if statewide voters will flock to him. As in busi- invited White to tour the area. She said she doesn't think ness, there's a supply-and-demand in Texas politics. Most READ more about pollution anyone can understand the situation unless "you see it successful candidates have charm and charisma—what in the Barnett Shale at for yourself on the ground and you see what's going on." the late Molly Ivins used to call "a little Elvis"—because tx1o.comidestruction The White campaign hasn't responded to her offer. that's what people want. Like it or not, that's what wins. White opposes a drilling moratorium. It's not a White believes that his record of success in business surprising position for him, given his background in and in government will win people over, even if he's the industry. But it does leave him open to criticism. not the most charismatic guy in the race. It's a difficult A drilling moratorium in the Barnett Shale would be pitch. Despite all Bill White's success in business, his financially damaging to BJ Services. Moreover, the toughest sales job yet may be himself. CI

JUNE 11, 2010 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 11 In Texas,Texas, State Farm does . what .Stat . Frniànts and consumers pay the'price, B4SIWIELBUN :** 41,‘ HIS SPRING, TEXAS' BIGGEST INSURANCE parent, least-regulated areas ofinsurance. Most providers company took the unusual step of try- are beyond the reach of regulators in money havens like ing to hike homeowner's insurance rates Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Switzerland. One of for the second time in eight months. The the biggest reinsurers is State Farm Mutual Automobile first increase had come in September Insurance Co., the parent of State Farm Lloyds. In effect, 2009, when State Farm Lloyds Inc.—a State Farm is jacking up its profits by "buying" insurance division of the giant insurer that han- from itself—and charging customers for it. dles the most residential policies in Texas—jacked its "It's a giant shell game," says Alex Winslow, head monthly premiums by 8.8 percent. Then in April the of the nonprofit watchdog group Texas Watch. "State company, which controls nearly 30 percent of the mar- Farm Lloyds buys reinsurance from the national State ket, informed the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) Farm—and they mark that as a loss on their books." it planned to raise rates again, this time by 4.5 percent. They then "use that as an excuse to hike their rates." For the average State Farm customer in Texas, the State Farm Lloyds says there's nothing wrong with two rate hikes would equal about $198 more in premi- buying reinsurance from State Farm; the company ums each year. But that wasn't the biggest worry for just doesn't want anyone to know about it. Mike Geeslin, commissioner of the Texas Department Geeslin thought the public should know. Armed of Insurance. Rather, what worried Geeslin the most with data the company had provided, he wrote State was the possible follow-the-leader effect. Because State Farm again and said he was considering placing the Farm is the largest player in the market, its pricing has reinsurance data on the Insurance Department's an outsized influence on other insurers. Rate increases website. State Farm balked and threatened a lawsuit. are typically smaller and spaced out over longer periods. In a statement on its website, the company argues If State Farm raised rates again, Geeslin feared, other that "these documents contain confidential propri- insurers would assume that State Farm knew something etary information that is valuable to other insurers they didn't—and raise their own rates. and would harm our competitive position." Geeslin's power to say no is limited. In fact, Texas' Geeslin could have posted the information anyway. chief insurance regulator has little direct control over Instead, he asked a state district judge for permis- insurance rates. So he wrote State Farm a letter, asking sion. The judge upheld State Farm's claim that the the company to wait. So many rate hikes in such a short information needed to remain secret. Now the rate time "may indicate a lack of rate making discipline and filings are locked away at TDI. No one but the com- lead to market instability," he told State Farm. missioner and his actuarial staff can look—and State After nearly a decade of politicians promising Farm customers can't tell how much they're paying "It's a giant reform, Texas already had among the highest rates in the company to insure itself. the country. Until Florida passed us this year, Texas's The episode says a lot about the weakness of insur- shell game." rates were the nation's highest for homeowner cover- ance regulation in Texas. age—higher than states with more expensive homes And it reflects a broader trend in Texas: State gov- and greater threats from natural catastrophes. Was ernment fails to rein in the excesses of large corpora- Texas headed back to last place? tions while consumers pay the price. The recent his- "It is my hope," Geeslin's letter concluded, "that tory of State Farm vs. Texas is a perfect example. State Farm Lloyds reconsider the timing of this filing and will voluntarily withdraw it." STATE FARM has been quarreling with Texas regula- That was a quaint notion. State Farm responded tors for five years. And the company has mostly come that it had taken TDI's objections under advisement, out victorious. but would move ahead with the rate hike anyway. The legal battle between State Farm and the TDI At that point, Geeslin tried another strategy—public began in 2003. That year, the state Legislature passed a embarrassment. In its rate-increase filings, according huge insurance reform bill that was highly favorable to to State Farm spokesperson Kevin Davis, the company industry. The bill implemented the system that allows included information justifying its request. Geeslin companies to hike rates without permission from state thought one justification—rising costs of "reinsurance"— READ more about the history of regulators. It also ordered a comprehensive review of CI homeowners insurance rates in would look particularly bad if Texans knew about it. homeowners insurance rates. During the investigations, Texas at tx1o.comlingoodhands Reinsurance is insurance that companies like State TDI determined that State Farm's rates were "excessive," Farm buy to protect themselves against a catastrophic and the department ordered a 12 percent rate reduction. number of claims. It's essentially insurance for insur- State Farm refused and took TDI to court. This ance companies. On paper, it's a way to diversify the would become a pattern. After five years of legal wran- risk of some horrific regional disaster—a Category 4 or gling, a district court ordered hearings on whether 5 hurricane, for example. But increasingly, companies State Farm had overcharged. But, while the dispute are making their customers pay for it. Reinsurance plays out in court, Beck calculates that State Farm costs, says state regulator Deeia Beck, "are becoming a has continued to charge "excessive rates," adding up bigger and bigger part of homeowner premiums." to $1 billion in overcharges from 2003 to 2008. Beck heads the Office of Public Insurance Counsel Beck took her findings to TDI Commissioner Geeslin, (OPIC), a state agency that advocates on behalf of who had been appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to lead the Texas insurance customers. She says reinsurance department. The Insurance Department's actuaries makes up about 10 percent of the average Texas hom- determined that State Farm had indeed overcharged, eowner premium. So if you're paying $1,200 a year— though by less than Beck had calculated. In 2009, Geeslin about average—$120 is going to reinsurance. ordered State Farm to return more than $310 million. Where does that money go? Some of it comes straight Once again, State Farm balked. The company took back to State Farm. Reinsurance is one of the least-trans- the TDI back to court on a technicality—and there it

JUNE 11, 2010 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 13 remains. Last November, a state district court found Addressing the Insurance Department's claim that "We need that Texas regulators could order State Farm to refund the company owes $310 million to customers, State the money. State Farm appealed. The rate dispute is Farm argues on its website that it can't have been over- not to have still in court. The company has yet to pay a dime. charging customers because it's losing money. "As our This was hardly an anomaly. "State Farm has been public financial statements show, State Farm Texas's to just take the most aggressive of all insurers in the state when it homeowners insurance business overall, for the past 15 comes to bucking TDI," says Texas Watch's Winslow. years, has been unprofitable, despite State Farm's use of the industry's "It constantly uses its size to bully the department. the rates TDI now seeks to reduce retroactively." Time and again, it refuses to comply with the TDI Beck says this is simply not true; that $1 billion word that they orders, instead choosing to litigate." (or $310 million) in overcharges was "money that It matters little whether State Farm wins these battles, State Farm collected that they shouldn't have. They are making Winslow says. The point is to keep regulators so busy were definitely making a profit." Would the com- that they think twice before challenging State Farm. pany stick around otherwise, she asks, "out of the good deals. The sequence of claim and counterclaim, suit and goodness of their hearts?" countersuit, is almost like a vaudeville routine. Every What State Farm means by "unprofitable" is that We need to player has its own numbers, its own agenda, its own expenses were greater than revenues. What constitutes definitions of terms. Insurance is supposed to be expenses? According to Davis, the company spokesper- be able to straightforward, a matter of pure math. Instead, it's son, "overhead, building costs, and employee compen- a wonderland of exotic creatures and magic words, sation." Also "reinsurance expenses," which include the look at those a world where everything normal is turned upside money that State Farm Lloyds pays to the parent com- down. Insurance disputes often are underplayed in pany for reinsurance. That's what Texas Watch calls deals and see the public and press because they're so complicated. "moving money from one pocket to another." Take insurance regulation. It's based on the idea that "There's very little transparency," Beck says. "We that they're there is such a thing as an excessive rate. Whether a rate don't know: Has the insurance carrier gotten a good is determined to be excessive is the result of a complex deal? Does this diversify the risk? Is the reinsurer a legitimate and and baroque set of actuarial calculations, but the basic quality reinsurer?" rule of thumb is that 60 percent of the premiums col- Not every insurance company needs reinsurance. not 'brother-in- lected by insurers are supposed to be paid out in claims. "Remember what the point of insurance is," Beck The remaining 40 percent can go to profit and business says. "It's to spread around your risk. If you're a little law' deals." expenses. If State Farm or another insurer is paying out company in Houston and you write 90 percent of less than 60 percent in claims, regulators can order the your policies on the coast, then yes, you should buy company to reduce its rates. If they find that rates have reinsurance, because if a hurricane comes along, you been too high, TDI can order the insurance company to can't possibly absorb that kind of loss." refund the overcharges to customers. It's less clear that a company like State Farm needs Regulators base those requests on long-term reinsuring. "They're a large, diversified national com- trends. "One year does not an average make," Beck pany with risks spread," Beck says. "They're writing all says. It's the long-term averages that matter, and rates over. They should be able to absorb a regional loss." shouldn't vary that much from year to year. The fact Even if State Farm Lloyds needs reinsurance, Beck that a company loses money one year doesn't mean its says, "it's not clear how buying from their parent rates were fair, just as the fact that it made money one company helps to spread their risk." year doesn't mean they weren't. Beck would like to see the books. "We need not to have to just take the industry's word that they are IN PRACTICE, rate reductions and refunds are rare. making good deals," she says. "We need to be able to One reason is that state regulators are chronically over- look at those deals and see that they're legitimate and whelmed by rate requests. According to Ben Gonzalez, not 'brother-in-law' deals." an Insurance Department spokesperson, state actuaries But she can't look. Nor can the public. State Farm were still reviewing State Farm's September 2009 rate sees no problem. "All of the information was sub- increase when the April 2010 request came in. This might mitted to the TDI," says spokesperson Davis, "and sound like an easy problem to fix: Hire more actuaries. the TDI acts on behalf of consumers on these mat- Even if legislators were willing to raise the Insurance ters, and they have these documents, and they make Department budget, there would still be a problem: The determinations on behalf of customers. Their role is numbers in rate filings would remain slippery. to protect the public interest." "We all have actuaries," says department spokes- But if we can't see the information, how can there person Jerry Hagins. "When we try to figure out how be any public accountability? How do we know the much companies should be charging, OPIC's num- Insurance Department is doing its job? "I can't com- bers are the lowest, State Farm's are the highest, and ment on whether the TDI is doing its job," says Davis. ours are somewhere in between." On State Farm's website, there's a section called Each defines "loss" differently. Consumer advocates "Setting the Record Straight" that encapsulates the think insurers should base rates on how much they're company's attitude toward regulation. The company paying in claims—the "pure-loss ratio." It's designed argues that it shouldn't have to pay what TDI says it to force insurers to be efficient with their expenses. owes Texas customers—because it would have devas- Insurance companies don't like that metric. They tating effects on the business. want to set rates according to a "combined-loss "The financial impact of this order on State Farm ratio," which counts losses plus expenses. Using that Lloyds," the post reads, "is comparable to the finan- formula, State Farm claims it has lost money over the cial strain caused by Hurricane Ike, the third most last 15 years on homeowner insurance in Texas. destructive hurricane to ever make landfall in the

WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG U.S. This decision not only challenges State Farm "Whatever regulatory system you put in place," financially, it creates an unstable environment for says Beck, "the regulator has to take their job of regu- In effect, State consumers and the insurance industry." lation seriously." State Farm Lloyds repeatedly reminds website vis- There's no way to know whether Texas' insurance Farm is jacking itors that it insures 30 percent of Texas' home own- regulators are doing their jobs—even within the con- ers. The implication is clear: If Texas regulators had straints imposed by state law. It's not just reinsur- up its profits their way, these people would be out in the cold. ance contracts that are hidden from public scrutiny; "State Farm is constantly threatening that if the the industry and its regulatory system are shrouded by "buying" department keeps making it too expensive for them in darkness. There's no way for Texans to know to stay here, then they'll just take their marbles and go whether State Farm is being honest about its profits insurance home," says Winslow. "But that money they're talking and losses, or whether the Insurance Department is about? It's all overcharges. It's money they never should working to keep companies honest. from itself have collected in the first place. Cry me a river." So the final step on Texas' long and uncertain road toward insurance regulation would be to shine more and charging "THIS HAS TO STOP," says Beck, the state consumer light. "There has to be government accountability," advocate. "State Farm can't just thumb its nose at the Winslow says. "The public has a right to know what customers state regulators. You have to stay on these people, their government is doing, and they should be able to make them toe the line, make them behave, or all hold TDI accountable for the decisions they make." for it. you're asking for is more trouble." Next January, when a new Legislature arrives in There's more trouble—and higher rates—ahead if Austin, reform-minded legislators and activists will Texas doesn't put some teeth into its regulatory system. try again.10 Since Gov. Perry's "reforms" went into full effect in 2004, Saul Elbein. a former Observer intern, is an Austin- Texas' insurance regulation has operated under a system based freelance reporter. called"file-and-use." Insurance companies can raise rates by notifying the insurance commissioner. Regulators call it "drive-by filing." In some states, insurers have to get permission from state regulators to impose higher rates. In Texas, the regulators' only option is to contest the rate The Herb "Best place to cure hikes retroactively by taking the company to court. what ails you" Reformers say Texas needs a "prior-approval" sys- r tem. It's not a new idea. In 2002, when runaway home- insurance rates dominated the governor's campaign Explore our Oasis of between Perry and Democrat Tony Sanchez, both can- Earthly Delights! didates pledged to use it. Instead, the state Legislature— with Perry's backing—opted for the industry-friendly • extensive array of natural health file-and-use system. Perry promised rates would drop. and bodycare products Instead, average rates have risen 9 percent since 2003. Insurers blame the increases on over-regulation. They • comprehensive collection of herbs insist that prior approval would make things worse. The www.theherbbar.com • great gift ideas and much more! solution is always more "competition"—code for less regulation and oversight. "It is well documented," State 1 Mon.-Fri. 10-6:30 Farm spokesperson Davis says, "that, in business, com- 200 West Mary • 444-625 1 Sat. 10-5 petition results in better pricing for consumers." That was the rationale for "drive-by filing" in 2003. "Texas has one of the weakest regulatory structures in the country," Winslow says. "Where are those lower rates?" The solution, Winslow says, is giving the Insurance Department "the tools it needs to do its job." Even with a prior-approval system, big insurers like State Farm could continue to sue state regulators and threaten to leave the state. That's why reformers like Democratic state Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, the Democrats' House minority leader, support a more dramatic measure: electing the insurance commis- sioner now appointed by the governor. "Right now," Dunnam says, "the governor can hide behind the insurance commissioner—even though he controls the insurance commissioner. If the governor wanted to crack down on this, he could." If the commissioner CentralTexas were elected, at least she or he would have to answer to Gardener voters—including those angry about rising rates. But an elected commissioner would only help so much. Regulators can't regulate without better tools. KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, creates innovative television that inspires And even with better tools, there's no guarantee and educates. KLRU-produced programs that air statewide on klru they'll truly protect consumer interests. Texas PBS stations include Central Texas Gardener, Texas tv and beyond Monthly Talks and The Biscuit Brothers. Check your local listings. klru.org JUNE 11, 2010 After five years and $254,000, DPS keeps Capitol video hidden BY DAVE MANN

T ALL STARTED WITH A RUMOR. mation, didn't buy DPS's argument. Neither did a state Late in the 2005 legislative session, a con- district judge, who ordered the video released. But on tentious floor debate was riling up the Texas April 29, the 3rd District Texas Court of Appeals dis- House. The scuttlebutt was that a wealthy agreed, ruling that the tapes were confidential. Republican campaign donor was lingering Austin attorney Jeremy Wright, who represented in the back hall, twisting lawmakers' arms the Observer, says the ruling goes against Texas' long to vote his way. To confirm the rumor, The tradition of open government. Texas has one of the Texas Observer filed a public information request strongest public-information statutes in the country, for video footage from the security camera in the and state courts have long favored the release of gov- back hallway. That launched a five-year court battle ernment material. But it's now uncertain whether between the magazine and the Texas Department video of government officials in a public building— of Public Safety over what constitutes public infor- recorded with public money—will ever be available mation and whether government agencies can keep to the public. video from public buildings secret. The saga ended in late April when a state appeals THE DISPUTE BEGAN on May 23, 2005, when House court—in an opinion that open-government advocates members were heatedly debating public school are calling misguided—ruled that the video could be vouchers. There were loud whispers around the withheld. The ruling could prevent reporters and the House floor that James Leininger—a prolific con- public from obtaining video from courthouses, city tributor to Republican campaigns and major sup- halls or any government building in Texas. porter of school vouchers—was lingering in the hall The Department of Public Safety spent quite a behind the House chamber, lobbying recalcitrant bit of public money to keep the tapes hidden. The Republicans to vote for his coveted voucher proposal. agency paid $254,727 to private attorneys to handle This seemed plausible; then-House Speaker Tom the case, according to agency records. The DPS, cit- Craddick was hauling GOP House members into his ing broad language in a 2003 homeland security law, office for arm-twisting sessions in a last-ditch (and argued that releasing the security tapes could make ultimately unsuccessful) effort to pass the bill. the Texas Capitol vulnerable to terrorism. Leininger's presence in the hallway would have The Texas attorney general's office, which joined violated House rules, which forbid lobbyists from PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK the Observer in arguing the tapes were public infor- entering the House floor and the adjacent back hall

THE TEXAS OBSERVER WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG during session. It would have been a big story. So then- Observer editor Jake Bernstein requested the video The Observer from DPS, which oversees security at the Capitol. DPS refused and appealed to the attorney general's loses a fight office. The AG ordered DPS to release the footage. The department refused again and hired the pricey over whether law firm of Akin, Gump, Straus, Hauer & Feld to file A NOTE TO OUR DEAR READERS suit to keep the tapes secret. DPS would end up pay- the state can Texas Observer makes a fraction of its ingAkin Gump—and later Diamond McCarthy, which The handled the appeal—$254,727 in public funds over use homeland income from subscriptions—though we treasure five years, according to 84 pages of DPS invoices the each and every one. Observer obtained through an open records request. security Most of our income comes from folks like you who It turned out that Leininger wasn't in the back value truth-telling journalism and give what they hallway after all. But the lawsuit had become bigger laws to can. In other words, we operate more like National than Leininger. The case had turned into a fight over Public Radio, and less like The New Yorker. whether the state could use homeland security laws squelch open to squelch open government. Our new Observer Partners program is our future. The heart of the DPS argument was a 2003 state law government. By becoming an Observer Partner, you become that exempts some details about government security a vital part of ensuring not only the future of cameras—such as passwords and access codes—from the print magazine, but the growth of our daily Texas' expansive public information act. Video foot- website at www.texasobserver.org . age isn't mentioned in the law, though a broad section in the statute deems confidential any information that As you know, we've recently redesigned and "relates to the specifications, operating procedures or revamped our magazine. But to reach new location of a security system." That wording seemed generations of progressive Texans who get intended to keep documents like system manuals their news from electronic media, our small- secret. But DPS used the Legislature's imprecise lan- but-dedicated staff is also working overtime to guage to argue that video footage was related to a secu- take full advantage of new-media opportunities. rity system's "specifications." We're giving a fast-growing online audience The Observer and the attorney general's office con- a daily dose of the Observer's hard-hitting tended that because the law doesn't mention video reporting and fearless commentary. footage, the Legislature intended to keep video pub- lic. Austin state District Judge Stephen Yelenosky The Observer Partners program supports both agreed, ruling that DPS had "failed to demonstrate the magazine and our expanded efforts online. how release of the requested information would Please do what you can to help the Observer interfere with law enforcement." continue to provide the sharpest reporting from But in April, the three-judge appellate panel the strangest state in the Union. decided that was too high a standard. In its opinion, written by Justice Alan Waldrop, the higher court Yours for a better Texas, concluded that video footage would show the secu- rity system's capabilities—whether the camera could Bob Moser move, zoom in, record in color—details that "related" Editor to the system's specifications. The Observer and the Texas attorney general have For more information on decided not to appeal the case to the Texas Supreme Observer Partner levels and benefits, go to Court. Given the high court's current makeup, it was www.texasobserver.org . unlikely the Observer could win. A Supreme Court ruling would have applied statewide—an even worse outcome for proponents of open government. The 3rd District Court ruling covers only the Austin area and the Texas Capitol. It's worth noting that the appeals court, even as it ruled against the Observer, conceded that the out- READ Rick Casey's column Houston Chronicle OBSERVER from the Ar come may not be ideal. "Whether this protection is supporting the Observer's good policy or in the public interest is a question for case at tx1o.com/dpscase Send a sample issue of the new the Legislature," Waldrop wrote. Wright, the Observer's lawyer, says the decision to a friend! isn't good public policy. He hopes the Legislature will clarify what should be kept secret—and whether EMAIL it intended the law to shield video from public build- OR CALL ings. "Given the statute's catch-all language, it's uncertain how courts will interpret future requests," RAWASIMIWAI MARrelrrarMI all I NIVUILSM Wright says. ■ V The current law is murky and leaves it to Texas judges AP OBSERVER -*OBSERVER * OBSERVER 4 OBSERVER whether material should be released. In this case, they ok sided with secrecy over open government. 10

JUNE 11, 2010 .1111111131*

IN JANUARY 1976, Larry L. King was not yet rich and famous for writing The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, but he was widely regarded as the state's leading journalist. King had written extensively for the Observer and Harper's, and he was contribut- ing to a new publication, Texas Monthly. King enjoyed working with TM's young editor, William Broyles Jr., but he couldn't help offering some advice. In a letter mailed Jan. 8, King told Broyles, "The Monthly's one shortcoming, I think, has been a lack of covering 'the other Texas'—the poor, the blacks, the chicanos, etc. I do not mean to say that you should become a bleeding heart magazine, but it does appear to me that a vital In his new book, part of what Texas constitutes is being missed there." King's note could have been sent to every major Bill Minutaglio newspaper in the state. Few of the state's media out- lets paid any attention to the "other Texas." Around the same time, a young reporter arrived in goes In Search Abilene, fresh from New York City. Bill Minutaglio had grown up reading Langston Hughes. As a student of the Blues at Columbia University, he had worked for the US. Agriculture Department, handing out vitamin-laden BY STEVEN L DAVIS "super-doughnuts" to poor kids in Harlem. Minutaglio spent a couple of years in Abilene and then moved to newspapers in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. At each he confronted an ugly reality: Black Texans rarely made the news in their hometowns unless accused of a crime. (Minutaglio also writes the regular "State of the Media" column for the Observer.) Let's consider the ramifications. Let's say you're a historian and you want to write a history of Texas in the 20th century. A primary source for historians is newspapers, which many still mistakenly consider models of "objectivity." Powerful newspaper publish- ers dominated Texas cities for generations, and the official, establishment views reported in their pages didn't just marginalize Texas' African-American pop- ulation; in many cases they were hostile to it. The pro- verbial trio of blind men did a better job of describing an elephant than Texas' newspapers did at chronicling the African-American population. Minutaglio recognized that entire communities' histories were being lost. Drawn to African-American heritage, he wanted to help preserve it. He went to bar- becue joints, record stores, churches and blues clubs. He began walking neighborhoods, hanging out on front porches, and knocking on doors. He wasn't always wel- come, at least not at first, but his quiet, respectful per- sistence paid off. Before long, Minutaglio was getting the stories he sought published in The Dallas Morning News. He wrote about everything from the people who lived on "Congo Street" in Dallas to underappreciated

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Bill Minutaglio and blues musician Joe Cooper, 1985 PHOTO BY RANDY ELI GROTHE blues pianist Alex Moore, who died at 89 while carry- in 1976: Texas Mexicans, African Americans and ing groceries home on a city bus. As Minutaglio noted, the working class. I expand the definition to include "People that age should never have to wait at bus stops. women writers, along with topics such as the People that age should never stand alone at night, big environment, music and politics. Our series even brown bags of groceries tucked under their arms." ventures behind East Texas' Pine Curtain, where You can imagine how some editors at these news- Observer contributor and novelist Joe Lansdale papers reacted to the New York kid's pushy agenda. explains how Elvis Presley ended up in a nursing Minutaglio often had to fight to get his stories in the home and teamed up with JFK to battle an Egyptian paper, and he heard murmurs about being a "lover" mummy named Bubba Ho-Tep. of certain types of people. Gradually, as diversity The series springs from the Wittliff Collections at came into favor and his stories began winning awards, Texas State University in San Marcos. It is published Minutaglio's position became more secure. By the end primarily by the University of Texas Press. For sev- of his career as a newspaper journalist in the 1990s, eral years, I worked closely with Connie Todd, who Minutaglio had published hundreds of stories on served as series editor from 1998 to 2008. One of the IN SEARCH OF THE African Americans in Texas. His writing is informed by most important books we've done is Hecho en Tejas, BLUES:A JOURNEY TO THE a deep passion for the blues, and he works in a rhyth- the first-ever anthology of Texas Mexican literature, SOUL OF BLACK TEXAS mic, circular motion, gathering groups of words until, edited by the writer Dagoberto Gilb. The Wittliff By Bill Minutaglio startlingly, they take flight. Minutaglio's journalism has Collections recognized that Texas Mexican writers SOUTHWESTERN WRITERS evolved into history, chronicling people and places that have been marginalized by the literary establishment COLLECTION SERIES otherwise would have been lost. since ... well, since the fall of the Alamo. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS This is where the Southwestern Writers Collection The theme of recovering lost history is pres- 183 PAGES, $24.95 Book Series steps in. Our newest title is In Search of the ent in In Search of the Blues. This volume collects Blues: AJourney to the Soul ofBlack Texas, by Minutaglio. Minutaglio's best and most enduring writing about As series editor, I take my cues from people like Americo African Americans in Texas. From his report on a Paredes, the rebellious soul who became the godfather neglected community on the outskirts of Dallas, of Chicano literature. In 1958, Paredes noted the pleth- where running water remains a dream, to his profile ora of books on the Texas Rangers—a phenomenon that of Percy Sutton, the San Antonio native who became continues unabated to this day—by observing that, "If Malcolm X's lawyer and owner of the Apollo Theater all the books written about the Rangers were put one on in Harlem, Minutaglio's stories shift the axis of our top of the other, the resulting pile would be almost as tall state's literature, opening a world too long hidden as some of the tales they contain." from most white Texans. Like Paredes, I believe that we have too damn many Minutaglio's work demonstrates why writing—and SURF BILL MINUTAGLIO'S books on the Texas Rangers. And let's not forget the publishing—matters, even in this age of social media website at billminutaglio.com Alamo. How many more times are we going to have and 140-character tweets. Minutaglio's book suc- to fight that battle? The perpetual fixation on violent ceeds as "art" while contributing to our understand- conflict speaks to an adolescent streak in our culture. ing of humanity—in particular the "other Texas." In I would prefer to see Texans grow up a bit. Maybe it's Search of the Blues is an excellent example of why our time we begin investigating how people live with each book series exists. El other, rather than how people kill each other. Steve Davis is an assistant curator at the Wittliff As editor of the book series, my goal is to pub- Collections at Texas State University-San Marcos, lish books about the "other Texas"—and to produce which holds the literary papers of some of the region's BROWSE THE Southwestern Writers Collection Book Series these books using our state's best writers. For me, leading writers. His books include Texas Literary at txlo.com/swwc this Texas includes the same folks King identified Outlaws and J. Frank Dobie: A Liberated Mind.

THEHIGHTOWERREPORT

PULLING THE CURTAIN ON THE FED

SURELY I'M DREAMING. cratic sunlight. This had independence from the trillion in public funds to books to a public audit This is beyond fantasy. never happened before. people's will and should Wall Street. Worse, they of its backdoor bailout. It's got to be a halluci- Weak-kneed leaders of never have its actions refused to tell the public This is only a start, since nation. I don't know both parties have been scrutinized by common or Congress how much the audit is likely to whether to weep, shout more frightened of the Congress critters. was given to whom or reveal a whole nest of hallelujah or just pass Fed than the Cowardly But that was before what was done with nastiness. At long last we out in disbelief. Lion was of the Wizard of the recent Wall Street our money! maybe headed toward But there it is in the Oz. The Fed, a convoluted collapse caused our The giveaway reeked democratic reform of this official record: ninety- and anti-democratic current economic of such deep institutional plutocratic system. six to zero. That was fabrication that allows catastrophe. As this crisis corruption that even the Stay tuned! the shocking vote in the private banks to wield unfolded, the Fed's cozi- Senate gagged. Under —JIM HIGHTOWER U.S. Senate on May 11 government authority ness with the power- the shrewd legislative to subject the secretive, over our nation's financial FIND MORE INFORMATION house banks it's supposed guidance of Sen. Bernie on Jim Hightower's work— imperious, all-powerful system, has long asserted to regulate was exposed, Sanders, the members and subscribe to his award- Federal Reserve System that it must work its winning monthly newsletter, and Fed officials were have now voted unani- The Hightower Lowdown— to a tiny ray of demo- wonders with complete caught funneling some $2 mously to open the Fed's at www.jimhightowercorn

20 THE TEXAS OBSERVER WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG NACOGDOCHES DATELINE Blood Sport by Joe Lansdale T'S EARLY YET, BUT MIGHTY EAST TEXAS HUNTERS SHOULD GET OUT THEIR guns and oil them up, buy shells, proper clothing and a game bag, and pack a lunch. Squirrel season is upon us—in a few months. So, if you do pack that lunch, I suggest something not immediately perishable. But it's always good to have things ready so when the time comes, you can grab your gear on the way out the door. If Fall squirrel season in East Texas is when normally sensible human beings dream of tall oaks and falling rodents. Many nimrods, as soon as they are off work, grab their guns and head to the thicket. On weekends, they are as thick in the woods as mos- quitoes, though more deadly, as a mess of them are drunk. The fuel of choice for hunters everywhere seems to be fermented and brewed hops that, if taken in large enough quantities, can make bird-watchers or campers resemble their prey. It is READ about squirrel- best during this time of year to abandon outdoor activities and wear a red cap in hunting techniques at txlo.com/squirrel I the house. That's what the squirrels would do if they had a choice. Squirrels, part of the rodent family, known scien- term is simple. The objects of the sport don't have tifically by the name Big Ole Tree Rat, are thick in the a team jersey and aren't playing. They don't even East Texas woods. They're wily crit- get to carry the ball. They are just trying to get by Sugar Bush Squirrel with an acorn sandwich and a quickie so they can on the hunt ters spotted flittering through tree PHOTO BY KELLY FOXTON branches and can be identified produce more squirrels, and they aren't really all by their outfit: brownish coat, that fierce. sporty tail, no shoes, no hat. I have hunted and killed and eaten a lot of them. So Occasionally among them though I haven't had the taste of squirrel in my mouth is the rebel wearing black- or for 30 years or so, I'm not a hypocrite and can't be red-tinted fur, and even a told I just don't understand the culture and tradition smaller variety that carries a of hunting. I didn't grow up in New York City under glider and is known as the fly- a hotel awning with a bank account and a trust fund. ing squirrel. The latter may carry I grew up in the East Texas culture of strutting man- packs of smokes under rolled-up hood, firearms and constant quoting of the Second sleeves and have thuggish Amendment (and absolutely no knowledge of any of attitudes. Squirrels travel the others). I'm East Texas born and raised, and poor light, so they're not and backwoods raised at that. impaired by luggage, and Let's admit what's going on here and not dignify are constantly on the move. They this sort of thing as a sport. My dad, a sometime are known to yell insults at hunters squirrel hunter, told me once that if the squirrel can't below in a kind of chattering, barking shoot back, it's not a sport. His point, I think, was that manner of speech that usually trans- people, males in particular, like to kill things. The lates as, "Don't shoot." meat is part of it, but the need to hunt to eat in this I believe the limit on these ani- day and time is less necessary than when I was grow- mals is 10. Once shot, their suits ing up. While you're at Walmart buying chicken, you must be removed, as well as what's can get a can of creamed corn. in their pockets. The underwear, If you think I'm telling you not to hunt, I am not. a light coating of skin, stays. I'd rather you be hunting critters than me, but let's When prepared, they taste just don't call it a sport. There's a thrill that comes like squirrel. from shooting at something and seeing it fall. That's Hunting these ani- the driving, primal factor. Ask a bird dog. They'll tell mals is called a sport. you. Even Hemingway, known for his love for hunt- The problem with this ing and fishing, once spoke honestly of it when he

THE TEXAS OBSERVER said to A.E. Hotchner that he spent a hell of a lot of time killing animals and fish so he wouldn't kill Strip naked, climb a tree and himself. I'm not suggesting that all hunters hunt to keep from killing themselves. As for me, I was leap on a squirrel. Drop to earth mostly preoccupied with how I was going to remove seed ticks from certain parts of my anatomy when I with it clutched in your butt got home. One day I saw the light go out of a dying animal's cheeks. But it's still not sport eyes, and I knew what my father meant about it not being sport. The squirrel didn't give me a high five and wall and brag about it to his friends while he hangs offer me the game ball. It just passed off this mortal his cap on the deer's antlers like a haberdasher? READ a petition to limit squirrel hunting at txlo. coil. To tag that as sport, to justify it as a pastime akin "Oh, hell," says God—it's one of his saltier days—"if com/closedseason to football or tossing horseshoes, is incorrect. this kid doesn't kill that deer, he's going to go home In East Texas, hunting, like football, is a religion. unhappy. 'Course, a lot of poor people in the Congo A few years back, the local paper ran a photo of a kid are dying right now, and women are being raped, and with a dead deer. The point of the article was that he people are being murdered, tortured, and there's that had prayed to God to bring that sucker down, and whole mess with Palestine and Israel, but really, do I God had answered his prayers. want this one kid in a camouflage suit, with a match- What the hell was God thinking? With all the wars ing cap, to go home unhappy? and horrors of the world that God seems unable to "I think not. So, Bambi, show yourself. Take a bul- control, or is unwilling to control, he's got his radar let. Raise your head from the corn trough provided WATCH A VIDEO on how to make a squirrel out for some kid who wants to shoot one of the meek- and filled for you by your would-be assassins to posi- melt at txlo.com/melt est animals on Earth so he can mount its head on a tion you here like a goat on a stake, so you can take a bullet to the heart. It's the sporting thing to do." Really? Certainly, someone is praying to end ■ • . wars and famine. Yet they do not end. And this kid gets a deer? If God is answering these kinds of prayers, then it's clear why things are so goo- bered up. God sees every sparrow that falls, but doesn't really give a crap. He answers prayers like AriP:rPlr: ;7\- this and those of football players who want him to OF HAPPINESS. ' turn the tide to their side, but finds the big stuff OUP' - less interesting. - www.planetktexas.com A fellow I know took his kid on a deer hunt, and GROWNUP GIFTS FOR KIDS OF ALL AGES when the boy finally shot a deer out from over the AUSTIN (512) NEW STORE aforementioned corn trough—akin to popping NORTH SOUTH RESEARCH E. RIVERSIDE STASSNEY NEW STORE! IN AUSTIN the family pet at its water bowl—the father was so 832-8544 443-2292 502-9323 441-5555 707-9069 CESAR CHAVEZ emotionally moved, he rubbed deer blood on the NEW STORE!! SAN MARCOS 512 392-4596 kid's face to show the manliness of the deed, and 3111 E. CESAR CHAVEZ that his traverse into manhood had been achieved. SAN ANTONIO (210) NEW STORE (East of Pleasant Valley EAST CENTRAL EVERS MILITARY WEST AVE at Tillery) Nothing says maturity like shooting a deer, an ani- 654-8536 822-7767 521-5213 333-3043 525-0708 247-2222 mal as deadly and dangerous as a yard gnome, and then having blood smeared on your face like war paint. For many, this is still a revered East Texas custom. It brings to mind Molly Ivins' comment about what should be on the Texas state seal: "Thank God For Mississippi." Take the deer down barehanded. Rip its throat out with your teeth. Strip naked, climb a tree and leap on a squirrel. Drop to earth with it clutched in your butt cheeks. That's all more impressive, but it's still not sport. I don't care if it's a bear or a moose or a bigfoot. Sport it isn't. Sports end with one team happy in the locker room, the other disappointed but out to play another day. In hunting, the ones that get away are just lucky. The ones that don't often end up as hat racks or stewed in dumplings with a side of cornbread, or with their limp heads held up by some redneck for photos of their fresh kills. Offer that alternative to the losing football team next time, and see how sporting they feel it is. Joe R. Lansdale lives in Nacogdoches. Texas. where he writes novels, short stories, screenplays and other works. His latest novel is Vanilla Ride (Random House).

WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG CULTUR E CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK Freedom Trap by Josh Rosenblatt

HAT CLINT EASTWOOD IS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL DIRECTOR OF THE past 20 years isn't really up for debate. Other filmmakers may have made more money or experienced more blinding bursts of fame, but none has been more consistently revered—at the box office, by awards-show juries, in critics' notebooks— than the former mayor of Carmel, Calif. Who else would have dared to breathe new life into a moribund genre (Unforgiven), tell a World War II story from the viewpoint of the Japanese (Letters from Iwo Jima), and make big-budget blockbusters about child abuse (Mystic River) and euthanasia (Million Dollar Baby)? Yet for all Eastwood's designs zation or even the exquisitely You never on social and political signifi- drawn friendship that devel- cance, his best movie may be ops between Butch and his know what one of his smallest, most per- boy hostage, Buzz. Hancock, sonal and least commercially Eastwood and Costner take a a man with successful: 1993's A Perfect character that could have eas- World. That film, along with ily become a cautionary tale a gun and a several other Eastwood mov- about the dangers of crimi- ies, has been re-released on nal living and turn him into a burning need DVD in honor of the direc- symbol of unbridled American tor's 80th birthday. freedom. Not happiness, free- to escape is A Perfect World follows two dom—the only true American men on a chase through the birthright. As Butch puts it to capable of. Texas panhandle in the early Buzz, who has already spent 1960s. The first, Butch Haynes, his life as a kind of hostage is an escaped convict on the to an ultra-religious mother, run. The second is Chief Red "You have a goddamn, red- Garnett, the hard-nosed Texas white-and-blue, American Ranger charged with catching right to a ride on a roller him. Haynes, who kidnaps an coaster." After which he straps Clint Eastwood as Chief Red 8-year-old boy at the beginning the kid to the roof of his car Garnett in A Perfect World and drives him down the high- COURTESY WARNER HOME VIDEO of the film, is played with deli- cious rebel amorality by Kevin way at full speed, the newly Costner. Garnett is played by Eastwood, who plays him liberated Buzz hooting and hollering as he goes. like, well, Eastwood: grizzled, grouchy, squinting. Like countless Americans before him, Butch seeks The film was written by Texan John Lee Hancock freedom from tradition, law and, most importantly, (who also wrote last year's football heart-warmer family. When Butch tells Buzz the car they've stolen The Blind Side), and in addition to being perhaps the is a time machine, he's speaking metaphorically, but most overlooked of Eastwood's films, A Perfect World just barely: He knows that in America, a good car and a is also one of the great unsung Texas movies of the long road can go a long way toward shaking a man free last two decades. It's got everything a great Texas from his past. movie needs: seductive criminals, no-nonsense law- Of course, no man can ever free himself entirely from men, guns, long journeys and beautiful, wide-open, the scars of his own mythology. So when Butch finally wind-worn landscapes that lend themselves to the snaps under the pressure of his stored-up resentments,

WATCH the trailer for A Perfect wild grasps for freedom that only people in the mid- his seductive, lawless charm descends into menace. World at txlo.com/clint dle of nowhere can hope for. Complete liberation is one step removed from toxic Freedom is at the center of A Perfect World, more narcissism. And you never know what a man with a gun so than the struggle between lawlessness and civili- and a burning need to escape is capable of. El

JUNE 11, 2010 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 23 BOOK REVIEW gave it to research scientists who attempted to grow the cells in a laboratory culture. They had been failing Culture Divide to grow human cells in test tubes for three decades, and they were amazed at how vigorously these cells—coded by Todd Moye HeLa, after the first two letters of the donor's first and IMMORTAL LIFE last names—grew. There are hints, but no convincing OF ENRIETTA LACKS WAS MOSTLY AN scientific explanation, as to why these particular cells HENRIETTA unremarkable person in life. Like grow as well as they do in culture. They're a collective LACKS millions of African Americans of wonder—a miracle, if you prefer. The team began shar- her generation, she took part in ing samples with colleagues at other institutions who Ilert Itcr Iltwe yella .t.(7 VSey 141.4I1•01 nettmia4 the Great Migration in the 1940s, needed live human cells for their own research. No one .eel a wultialilRar-4.12.,

Alen kr+ bmui leaving the rural Jim Crow South asked permission from Lacks or her family, and the for better economic opportunities EBECCA SKLOOT family did not learn of their mother's unwitting dona- and greater social freedom in the urban North. Had tion to science for another quarter-century. it not been for a carcinoma that doctors discov- The size and scope of Lacks' contribution are inesti- THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF ered when she complained of abdominal pain and mable. HeLa cells have been used in the basic research HENRIETTA LACKS mysterious bleeding, Lacks would have remained that led to the polio vaccine, the human papillomavirus By Rebecca Skloot anonymous to all but her working-class family. (HPV) vaccine, retroviral therapies for HIV patients CROWN The cancer cells that began covering her cervix at age and nearly every other biomedical advance of the past 384 PAGES, $26 30 spread quickly, necessitating painful radiation treat- half-century. When a cure for cancer is discovered, it ments. Lacks succumbed to the cancer far too young, will likely stand on research made possible by Lacks. leaving five children without a mother. A Christian The HeLa cells allow researchers the world over to LISTEN to Rebecca Skloot talk about her research at woman, she believed her faith would give her eternal life. "work with the same cells, growing in the same media, txlo.com/skloot In reality, the source of her immortality was man-made. using the same equipment," thereby replicating stud- In 1951, doctor at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins ies more efficiently and speeding the pace of discov- Hospital removed cancerous tissue from Lacks and eries. The stock of HeLa cells used today in research across the globe would be measured in tons, and it would be impossible to guess how many billions of dollars the cell line has earned for biomedical com- Supporting The Texas Observer panies. As Henrietta's cousin Cootie puts it in Skloot's with every referral and transaction. moving account, "It sound strange, but her cells done lived longer than her memory" Lacks' family has had a hard time reconciling with You Know Me this reality, to put it mildly, and this wrestling match (with a few degrees of separation) electrifies Skloot's book. Lawrence Lacks rails, "It's Get real estate help from someone you know. not fair! ... If our mother is so important to science, Call me today! why can't we get health insurance?" The family believes Lacks was violated and that her survivors have been wronged by the medical community. It's Larry Hurlbert, Realtor© not entirely clear this is the case. 512.431.5370 • [email protected] Skloot documents the fact that the doctors of Johns Hopkins provided much better than average The Kinney Company, Real Estate Services, Austin, TX medical care to Baltimore's charity cases, but their www.thekinneycompany.com failure to communicate with the Lacks family gave conspiracy theories exactly the medium they needed to grow and mutate. Medical ethics of the time did not require the informed consent of human research subjects, and Lacks was not even a research subject per se; she was a tissue donor. Skloot leaves little doubt that, in a strictly legal sense, the family has no Ruin Haan claim to the profits HeLa has generated. International Headquarters Skloot doesn't shy away from these judgments, but neither does she deny her deep and complicated affec- tion for the family. To her credit, she takes the Lackses it Come Visit us for LUNCH! In addition to our organic and their efforts to make sense of their history seri- coffee, pizzas, empanadas, pastries and pies, we ously. Skloot writes about scientific research for lay readers as well as anyone, and her explorations into now prepare made to order sandwiches, salads, the evolving field of medical ethics arrive at a welcome and even black bean gazpacho. time. However, this masterpiece of creative nonfiction is less about laboratory discoveries than larger issues of race, class, religious belief and how we relate to one another. At times maddening, at times uplifting, it is 3601 S. Congress off E. Alpine always thought-provoking and fulfilling. Penn Field • under the water tower Todd Moye teaches U.S. history and directs the Oral History Program at the University of North Texas (512)707-9637 www.rutamaya.net in Denton. check our site for monthly calendar photo by Matt Wright-Steel

SATIRE Club Alamo by Tyler Stoddard Smith

EOPLE ALWAYS TELL ME "REMEMBER THE ALAMO!" And I do remember it. I'm 195 years old and remember it like last night's fever dream. But whenever I start to tell the great-great- great-grandkids about it, their parents mutter something about "time for bed," and whisk the children away before I'm done, even if it's first thing in the morning. So I thought I'd write it all down instead of letting those so-called "historians" do the "remembering" for me. Trust me, it wasn't as great as they say. It was March of 1836. After a grueling first semester at Linden Hall, Samantha and I decided we'd have ourselves a little spring-break adventure to the south. We were none too keen on the prospect of settling down with some old bore, only to get hooked on laudanum and die of consumption before we turned 30. We wanted to live! Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn and found ourselves headed toward San Antonio de Bexar, toward history. For two debutantes with all the qualities appropriate to persons of gentle birth, it was sobering. People were fleeing town, fearing ...e°111 an influx by some Mexican army, they said. I told them: "Hey, we need this army of Mexicans to come here and do the shitty-ass jobs you're too lazy to do, for the shitty-ass money you think you're too good to work for, sir!" Spring break, I'll grant you, is often colossally overrated. But what were we going to do? The first thing Sammy and I thought upon entering Club Alamo was, "What a sausage fest!" Just dudes and oats and mud and a cannon. A bunch of frustrated boys, squealing like shoats and saying things like, "And then I sez to the bastards: You all can piss off, and I will go to Texas.... No, wait ... I said, you can all go to hell ... and I'll be in Texas.... Aw, whatever it was, I'll bet they put it on a belt buclde someday." A real chest- thumping group this was, full of braggadocio, not to mention an

JUNE 11, 2010 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 25 almost biblical body odor. Sammy and I had reserva- flew through the air like bullets, along with what Remember the tions. And I don't mean at the Four Seasons. We'd never seemed to be real bullets. These cowboys and their been with such rugged, sexually frustrated older men. guns, I swear. Somebody's going to get hurt someday. Alamo? Girl, I I know a lot of people think the Alamo caper was After what seemed like an eternity of merrymaking, all fun and games. It was, for the most part, what with I heard the argot of the Alamo club-goers go from wish I could Crockett and that crazy coonskin tickler, and Bowie English to Spanish. Well, good, I thought. At least the with that huuuge knife (dime-store Freudian head- Mexicans made it in. I tried mightily and pried open forget it. shrinkery aside), but you could count on Bill Travis to the door of the basement leading to the dance floor. be dead serious. I said, "Bill, you're 26, you're single, When the dust settled, it became clear what kind you're in Mexico—lighten up, for Chrissakes," but he'd of debauchery I'd missed. What. A. Dump. This party just go on writing his letters. I could tell he fancied me. had got out of hand, y'all. Most of the Texians were I appealed to Travis to just let the Mexicans in. I won't passed out. A lot of Mexicans were, too. I tried to stand for bigotry, so I gave the Mexicans VIP passes and wake Bill, but he had got so liquored that he passed said it really wasn't that crowded inside, and if they were out. Samantha didn't look much better. I left them going to be around, I'd love it if they came and partied. where they were, to think about what they'd done. In the meantime, Travis and I would talk every On my way home, I heard a great ruckus and shouts night under the moonlight, dodging flying shrapnel. of "Remember the Alamo!" Remember the Alamo? We talked about how life could be so ephemeral, how Girl, I wish I could forget it. CI READ the "official" every moment should be seized upon with primal 73,1er Stoddard Smith is an Austin-based humorist: His account of the battle of the work has appeared in Alamo here: txlo.com/alamo vigor. Then, after some heavy petting, we decided to McSweeney's, The BestAmerican get married. Fantasy, Meridian and other publications. He is also an The night of the fifth, Crockett, Bowie, the jealous associate editor at the humor site, The Big Jewel. Anderson brothers and a small circle of other intimates gathered as witnesses to the union between Travis and me. James Bowie read the vows while "Pachebel" was screeched out on fiddles by two out-of-tune imbeciles. SONNET Then Bill told me to wait in the basement, that he had to have a quick chat with "the men." Typical. by Alexander Maksik I was in and out of a boozy snooze when I woke to the sound of fireworks. "Hey!" I called out. More fire- This will all look good one day works. "Hey, I'm in here!" There was the party going on right outside, and here I was locked in a dingy base- Fridays after work ment while my husband whoops it up outside with his buddies. Screams of what I took to be raucous rapture the walks alone

a slow weave in the evening Your spouse won't listen? through an amethyst light We will. glancing at lonely shop girls perhaps filing their nails

LAW OFFIC ES O F and muttering men who circled

Martin H. Boozer in the dead leaves 1\1 SERI MON l AL. LAW and women cursing their shoes Creative solutions for one of life's most difficult problems. the rushing winter coming in cold

and how I wore a grey scarf

wrapped three times

902 Rio Grande Street around my throat. 51 2. 476.7501) - mboozer CX 3nozeriaw.com Board Certi lied fa mily LilW Alexander Maksik is a Truman Capote ji?llow at the Iowa Writer's Workshop.

THE TEXAS OBSERVER (ISSN 0040-4519/USPS 541300), entire contents copyrighted © 2010, is published biweekly except during April, July, October and December, when Plia OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE there is a 4-week break between issues (22 issues per year) by the Texas Democracy Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit foundation, 307 W. 7th St., Austin TX, 78701. Telephone fr,05 & Soros Foundations Network (512)477-0746, fax (512)474-1175, toll free (800)939-6620. Email [email protected]. Periodicals Postage paid in Austin, TX, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER Send address changes to: The Texas Observer, 307 W. 7th St., Austin TX 78701. Subscriptions: 1 yr $35, 2 yr $60, 3 yr $85. Students $20. Foreign, add $13 to domestic price. Back issues $5. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm available from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N Zeeb Rd, Ann Arbor MI 48106. INDEXES The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The Supplementary Index to Periodicals; Texas Index; and, for the years 1954 through 1981, Texas The Texas Observer Index. INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING is supported in part by a grant from the Open Society Institute. BOOKS & THE CULTURE is funded in part by the Cultural Arts Commission City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts. Division on the Arts

26 THE TEXAS OBSERVER WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG

• BERT LELEUX TEX IN THE CITY

As Seen on TV OR THE LAST THREE MONTHS, I'VE BEEN IN NASHVILLE VISITING SICK relatives. This time has been filled with an array of experiences— a flood, for instance, and unfathomable amounts of fried food. But mostly, what my time in Nashville's been filled with is TV. Because if you show me a sick old person in America, I'll show you a television set with the volume raised higher than the flag on VJ Day. Let's be clear, friends: I worship the TV. Back home, For a Texan, there are very few un-fried parts of my day as pure-d delightful as true-crime watching Glee, or Damages, or my dearly departed Ugly Betty. But I've learned during my Tennessee sojourn that system actually works. And they inure us to violence TV inspires these programs fall under the heading of "Prime-time by presenting it as entertainment—particularly vio- television," a category that has little to do with its red- lence against women. a certain headed step-brother, "Daytime." Broadly speaking, Not that these wonderful shows are particularly Daytime TV can be divvied up into three categories— obliged to fact. And that's really my basic problem home-team idiot cable news, soap operas and true crime shows. with them: For programs with such a seeming com- It's with some pride that I tell you that my family mitment to verisimilitude, they certainly point the pride, since resides firmly in the camp of true-crime offerings like finger of civic ire in a peculiar direction. Toward, for Cold Case Files, Forensic Files and FBI Files. These instance, serial killers. You can't swing a dead cat (and this is no shows dominate entire cable networks like Reality TV, around Daytime television without somebody being Tru TV, ID (Investigative Discovery) TV and A&E, and knocked off by a serial killer, despite the fact that, in idle boasting) there's a very good reason for that: They're fabulous. reality, your chance of being killed by one is less than I mean, these shows have it all—drama and mys- being killed by lightning or an asteroid or a tsunami. we are home tery and courtroom intrigue, and, with few excep- All of which obscures the fact that if you're going to tions, neat resolutions by the end of an hour. For a be battered or bumped off in Texas or America, it'll to the most Texan, they also inspire a certain home-team pride, almost certainly be by somebody featured promi- since (and this is no idle boasting) we are home to nently on your Facebook page. fascinating the most fascinating homicidal tendencies in the And that, folks, is the elephant in the living room of country. Particularly if you factor in that campy, true crime programming—the fact that domestic vio- homicidal Wild West weirdness that seems native to our state's lence represents half of all reported violent crime in criminal element—like mothers who hire hit men to America. According to the Ms. Foundation, more than tendencies in mow down their daughters' cheerleading competi- one in five women in this country will be assaulted by tion. No other state's gonna top that. Not in reality, an intimate partner throughout the course of a life- the country. and not on the true-crime shows—shows that have time. But you won't see that on television—or in the a claim to conveying reality since, after all, they are court system, for that matter, since only about half of retelling real-life crimes. all domestic violence cases are even reported to the This claim on reality leads directly to the most police. Here again, Texas "leads" the way. In 2002, basically satisfying aspect of these programs: They the Texas Council on Family Violence found that 47 allow the viewer to see creepy-looking white guys percent of all Texans had experienced some form of (most of them), with squalid haircuts and vile tat- domestic violence, while only 20 percent had "actu- toos, get squashed like bugs by the mighty hand of the ally call[ed] the police when they or a family member American justice system. And in some horrible Shirley experienced domestic violence." Jackson-ish way, this is an extremely enjoyable sensa- So, true believer that I am—confident that there's tion. Especially if you don't examine it too closely. nothing wrong with TV that can't be solved with Because if you do, you can't escape the conclusion more TV—I'd like to pitch a series. How about a squad that these shows, magnificently entertaining though of women detectives with Louisville Sluggers, who they are, probably have—shall we say—a deleterious travel around the country beating the living hell out influence on civil society. They breed class prejudice of the wife-beaters of America? It would certainly (see the paragraph above). They promote fear. They make a lot more sense than all those serial-killer give the false impression that our criminal justice shows. And I know I'd set my TiVo for it. El

JUNE 11, 2010 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 1 27 B MOSER .puRPLF TATF, Thank God for Texas

NTIL LAST WEEKEND, I WAS BLISSFULLY UNAWARE THAT LIBERAL TV ego Bill Maher's website had been hosting a Stupidest State in America tournament. My bliss was shattered when my friend Bruce, a lifetime New Yorker, sent me a link. He refrained from comment, but sending the link said enough. It said, for starters: Are you really sure you meant to move there? Texas, it seemed, had advanced to the semi-finals, and was in the process of giving Mississippi a thumpin', as W. used to say. Many of the voters were offering comments that must have felt cathartic to make. You had your smug blue-state liberals: "The truth is I'd rather be poor in California than middle class in Texas," confessed "Cynthia B.184." "Simply being around people who aren't brain-dead is reward enough." Then you had your better-natured liberal Texans, that aging Anglo plurality stomping out to the polls like Chris Del Regno, who noted that "conservatives one more time. have made our state a bad joke" and then snarkily I'm not saying that I don't believe Glenn Beck fans pointed out: "Thank God we have Governor Rick and anti-tax extremists shouldn't have their right to Perry to carry on the Bush tradition, and maybe even vote. It's just that I'm also in favor of having other peo- We are the go to the depths of stupidity that even Bush was too ple vote alongside them, in equivalent proportions. incompetent to discover!" These days, the main source of political irrationality state they love And of course you had your gleeful Texas-bashers, in Texas is the fact that not enough working-class and like "Black Mutch," who exclaimed: "I'm vote 329, non-Anglo people vote. The white right gets to keep its to hate. George and it's cool to be about something hating Texas." thumb on the balance—and because they elect people That had the ring of honesty, at least. We are the like Perry, who don't want to run government right W. Bush sealed state they love to hate. George W. Bush sealed that deal. but strip it bare instead, stupidity will ensue. Rick Perry has built a career around it. He's giving us Meanwhile, somewhere in Mississippi, there's that deal. Rick an object lesson in the way scoundrels can manipulate surely at least one columnist in Meridian or Oxford patriotism—in this case, Texans' flag-waving, come- who's doing a riff on Molly Ivins and suggesting that Perry has and-take-it dedication to Texas' specialness. her state adopt a new motto: "Thank God for Texas." There's a certain wicked genius to it. The more Which is fine. Why shouldn't Mississippians get built a career Texas is presented on national TV as the New to think about Texas when they're a little down in Alabama, the more defensive and self-righteous your the mouth about their politics? Everybody can use a around it. average Texan gets in response. It's human nature: little Texas, when they think about their lousy public You're attacked, you're stereotyped, you don't like it. schools, for instance: Texas has all those rich people, And the more defensive and self-righteous Texans get and look at their schools! Or when their "redneck" gov- in response to their star turns on MSNBC, the easier ernor pooh-poohs slavery: Yeah, but he hasn't called they are for a politician like Perry to manipulate with for secession. Or when they worry about deeper cuts his "Texas is great, and y'all better leave us alone in to social services: Hey, at least we still have some. our greatness!" act. The dumber the governor makes But I'm not casting any votes. Nobody's going Texas look, the easier time he'll have fooling people to convince me that any state is truly unique in the into voting for him again. stupidity sweepstakes. Because Texas is so outsized, With W., you could never be sure: Was he mak- we're bound to produce a larger volume of stupid ing the world hate Texas on purpose, or because he than most. And because this is Texas, our stupid is couldn't help it? With Perry, there can be no doubt: going to be louder and prouder—and thus more tele- The man knows that our enemies are his friends. genic. But when you get right down to it, there's no The more, the merrier. He'll make Texas look as state in the Union that doesn't have its own special stark raving crazy to the rest of America as he has to. kind of stupid. Some of us just advertise it, and use it, Nothing like riling people up, on both sides, to bring a little more aggressively than others. CO

28 1 THE TEXAS OBSERVER WWW.TEXASOBSERVER.ORG

Sandy Carson

GHOST BIKE Austin See more of Sandy Carson's work at www.texasobserverorg/ "For the past five years, I have been documenting ghost bikes eyeontexas. CALL FOR ENTRIES: Seeking Texas-based and roadside memorials. As a bicyclist myself, I became drawn to documentary photography that captures the strangest state. these ghostly shrines on road trips and bike tours nationwide. The Please send inquiries to [email protected] . bikes mark the locations where a person has been struck or killed by a motor vehicle. Normally painted white, chained to a pole and often decorated by family members, the bikes serve as reminders for drivers to share the road."

JUNE n, 2010 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 129 - We are the deciders...so keep fightin' for -freedom and. justice, beloveds, but don t you forget to have fun doin.' it. MOLLY IVINS

I 's ,.. „

Ora o-part series "Katrina's Hidden Race War" and "Body of Evidence" The Nation

efra Bart° ic for "The Inteligence Factory: How America Makes Its Enemies Disappear" Harp agaz

for "For Their Own Good" Houston Press

The MOLLY Prize Dinner of 2010, held June 10 in Austin, recognized superior journalism in the spirit of Molly Ivins, celebrated her

remarkable presence in all our lives and helped The Texas Observer continue to deliver top - notch reporting to Texas and the nation.

The Observer family extends its deepest gratitude to the following sponsors, presenters, special guests, committee members and staff, without whose extraordinary contributions the event would have been not only impossible, but no fun at all.

THE MOLLY NATIONAL JOURNALISM PRIZE SPONSORS 1-1Ric ift'l<1;.1k EltS Carol Barger AUTI Cha Guzman & Gilberto Ocaiias • Sandie McClellan - Mary Margaret & Ray Farabee Lisa Blue Baron ACLU of Texas & Friends Geronimo Rodriquez Suzy & Bill Reid Melissa Jones Don Carleton, Dolph Briscoe Frances Barton & Dr. Dick Susan & Clint Hackney Suzanne McDaniel Susan Longley Center for American History Leverich & Friends Hartley Hampton & Barbara Morgan & Jerry Galow James Moriarty Gara LaMarche, Atlantic Larry and Katherine Buck Fund Meg Boulware Susan Morris & Richard Donnelly Randy Parten Philanthropies of the Houston Jewish Sandie Haverlah • Jeff Crosby & Friends Audre & Bernard Rapoport Mary Nell & Phil Mathis Community Foundation & Friends Carrin Patman Wayne Reaud Lynn & Tom Meredith, MFI Carlton Carl Clare Hudspeth & Friends Janis & Joe Pinnelli Nelson Roach Foundation Claudia & Otis Carroll Cynthia Keever Jean & Dan Rather Donna & George Shipley Chula Reynolds, AKR Foundation Patrick Cox • Earnest Perry, Libby & Dale Linebarger Alec Rhodes Nina & Michael Zillch a Sharron Rush & Ron Hicks American Journalism Jim Marston & Annette LoVoi • Ellen & Buddy Temple Sunny & Shelton Smith Historians Association Kathy Guido & Alfred Stanley Kelly White & Bill McLellan Pat & Bud Smothers Jan Demetri & Jim Davis Conrad Martin, Stewart R. Mott Becky Beaver & John Duncan • Suzanne & Marc Winkelman Janet Dewey & Bob Ozer Foundation Nancy Scanlan Ernestine Glossbrenner Mrs. Jim "Marta" Mattox

STEERING COMMITTEE Mary Margaret Farabee & Susan Longley, Co-Chairs • Frances Barton • Becky Beaver • Carlton Carl • Jan Demetri • Karen Farabee • Carol Flake Clare Hudspeth • Melissa Jones • Mary Jo Kennard • Joan Lava • Charlotte McCann • Sandie McClellan • Barbara Morgan • Nona Niland Janis Pinnelli • Suzy Reid • Margie Rine • Geoff Rips • Nancy Scanlan • Sunny Smith • Sara Speights • Margot Thomas • Kelly White • Carol Yontz

TEXAS OBSERVER STAFF Bob Moser, Editor • Julia Austin • Candace Carpenter • Melissa Del Bosque • Dave Mann • Michael May • Shane Pearson Abby Rapoport • Jen Reel • Chris Tomlinson • Forrest Wilder

SPECIAL, THANKS TO Sen. Wendy Davis • The Four Seasons Hotel • Seymour Hersh • Steven L. Isenberg • Bernard & Audre Rapoport • Ben Sargent

M 0 L Lys., , atiofiai Vetwil a ffi-;wil YJrize RECOGNIZING SUPERIOR JOURNALISM IN THE TRADITION OF MOLLY IVINS