Congress Accountable to the People
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The Conservative Caucus, Inc. Our Goal Federal Policy Accountable to Congress Congress Accountable to the People The Conservative Caucus, foundedXin 1974, has one of the largest non-partisern conservative organiza tions in the country with^^si^r 300,000 members nation-wide. ^ ^ese members have been hard at work building coalitions at the CongB^sional District level, forming their own independent Congressional District Caucuses. Although the Conservative Caucus does not involve itself in elections; many of our caucus leaders, because of their involvement with TCC, education, or the issues, have run for public office. Our former State Coordinator in N.H., , Gordon Humphrey, is the republican nominee for U.S. Senate. Former State Representative Louis Jenkins was a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Former Regional Director, Kirby Holmes is a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Colorado. Bill Bronson, former District Director in Mass, is a candidate for the U.S. House, and many more have run for legislative and local office. The most important work of the Caucus is organizing the grass roots, bringing together the influence from all the issue and interests groups and institutions already in existence in the Congressional Districts. TCC has been active all across the country as the following examples of local caucus activities show. Texas Wes Eckies, Texas State Coordinator, has made Texas one of the best organized states for TCC. Wes has recently visited the National Headquarters in Falls Church to consult with Edward McAteer. Of special note — Caucuses in the Houston area are jointly sponsoring a "Critical Issues Forum", which will include as speakers Congressman Larry McDonald, State Representative Clay Smothers, Major General George Keegan, and Dr. Max Rafferty. Margot Crow, Director of the Fifth Congressional District of Texas recently held a meeting at which the members composed a resolution urging President Carter to support the Sailisbury/Rhodesia Transitional Government and to lift the Sanctions. Known to be an outspoken conservative, Margot Crow was invited to question the panel on a one hour T.V. program featuring the Bakke case. The reporter, when introducing Margot, stated that The Conservative Caucus never hesitates to take a stand. The program has a wide viewing audience, and Margot's appearance was well received. The 24th Congressional District of Texas convened their Caucus on Thursday, October 5, 1978. Texas State Rep. Clay Smothers, who is a member of TCC Citizens Cabinet, and who just returned from a visit with anti-Marxist forces in Communist Angola, was the featured speaker. Wally Acevedo, one of the newest District Directors in Texas, was able to appoint Commander Daniel Gilmore as District Chairman. A good beginning for Wally. One of the most strongly active and thriving Caucuses is the Third District Caucus of Texas. At the helm of which is DeWayne Dallas, Chairman. This Caucus sponsored in July'78 what has to be regarded as the apogee of the conser vative's year in Texas. "The General's Night" as it was referred to in the excellent media coverage of the event, was a super success. Three patriotic generals, who chose "Conscious over Career", and took early retirement in order to speak out on critical defense issues, spoke at a public forum. Major General ' Tohn Slnglaub (Ret.)» Lt. General Gordon Sumner, Jr. (Ret.), and Major General Vernon B. Lewis, Jr. (Ret.) addressed the issue of "The Military's Responsibility to the American Citizen". The "General's Night" was an overwhelming success with attendance peaking at 1900. And although the meeting was under the aegis of the Third District, all the District Caucuses in Texas coorperated in making this a success story to be remembered. New Jersey Bill Grant, State Coordinator in New Jersey had such a fine response to the state conference format last year that he repeated it again this year calling it "Action 78". The meeting was held at the Coachman Inn, Cranford, N.J. It was a successful one day fact-filled conference designed to show conservatives how they can put together Caucus organ izations. N.J. Senate candidate, Jeff Bell, and Paul Weyrich, Committee for The Survival of a Free Congress, were the featured speakers. Bill and his high caliber District Directors were very active against The Panama Canal Treat ies, The E.R.A. Amendment and Extenion and now are planning to gear up to defeat the D.C. Voter Representation Amend ment. Alabama Frank Mason is the new State Coordinator in Alabama. Frank is anticipating opening a state office for TCC in the near future, and has a "Two Year Plan" and budget worked out to further the views and goals of TCC. Frank and Albert Lee , Smith are also planning a trip throughout all of Alabama in the next three months to promote TCC. Nevada Under the able leadership of Virgil Slade, State Coordinator, and General Homer Hansen, First Congressional District Di rector, Nevada's most recent meeting of the Caucus drew four hundred people. Despite the difficulties of trying to organize such a large state, which has only a single congressional district, local newspapers concede that the organizations is rapidly becoming a force to be reckon ed with. Gen. Hansen has agreed to coordinate the Nevada efforts against ratification of the D.C. Voter Represent ation Amendment. 1 Mississippi , ■— The 4th District Caucus of Miss, sponsored a luncheon at the Coliseum Ramada Inn on Wednesday, October 11, 1978. The featured speaker was Congressman Crane who spoke on "Taxation and National Health Insurance. This meeting was one of the high points for the 4th District with an excellent turn out. The Miss. Caucus has been very active in their efforts to prevent the time extension on E.R.A. and expressing support for the Fair Play Amendment with cards, letters, telegrams and telephone calls to their Senators. Plus their excellent newsletter Accounta- Bulletin published a full—pag® informational outline on The D.C. Amendment. John Bergland is the Executive Di rector and Barbara Therrell is the Chairman of the Legis lative Action Committee. Delaware In Delaware the D.C. Representation Amendment appeared likely to receive approval by the legislature until TCC State Coordinator Bill D'Onofrio mounted a pressure cam paign to defeat it. He provided every legislator with information giving the case against ratification, and his lobbying played a large part in turning the expected vic tory into a 21-16 defeat. California Through the combined efforts and hard work of all TCC members in California ratification of the D.C. Represent ation Amendment was defeated. Particular note must be taken of the effective role played by our 14th Congress ional District Director, Charles Gibson who testified in committee hearings against ratification. This was an important accomplishment, as the amendment at first appeared likely to pass the California legislature with out serious debate or study, until conservative efforts brought pressure to bear to defeat ratification. Again, in California at a recent meeting of the 27th Cong. District Committee an excellent "List of Legislative Objectives and Positions" was compiled and sponsored by Ray Maloney, California State Coordinator and the Com mittee. This list is to be circulated to all TCC members in California and to state and federal legislators. This is an informative, concise and timely statement of the views and goals of TCC. r Massachusetts One of many successful Caucuses in the country is the Third Congressional District of Mass. Ted Temple, the District Director, incorporated the Caucus in June of 1977 and since that time the paid membership has grown to over one hundred. Under their auspices several educational mailings have been sent to over four thousand interested members and conservatives throughout the district. And a variety of important TCC issues have been engaged in: The Carter Energy Program, Common Situs, picketing The Panama Canal giveaway just to name a few. As an indirect off-shoot of the Caucus movement in the Third District, The Citizens Forum newspaper saw its first issue in October of 1977. As of the middle of October, 1978 (one year later) the circulation has grown to over 35,000 in central and eastern Mass., of which 9,000 plus is paid. The Citizens Forum is a 40 page tabloid regularly featuring the columns of Howard Phillips, Jesse Helms, Ronald Reagan, Phyllis Schlafly, Edward J. King, Barbara Keating, Governor Thomson, nad General Graham. Organizations such as Mass. Citizens for Life, Morality in Media, National Congress of Educational Excellence, The American Security Council also eature regular columns in the Forum. Beginning now and continuing through the months ahead the Third District aucus will be tackling the problem of National Health Insurance. are given out for hard work and perseverance Charles Cain of the Mass. Seventh Cong. District has to be cons ere ^ Working to establish a Conservative Caucus in liberal Mass, is by no means an easy task. But after bpln ron" ^ persistence a Caucus has ho^ It is also important to note the imDortfl t- districts actively work together on and therhc. Hhelp is^ ssues forthcoming. TCC is involved in. The word goes out Mass. 8th District Director is actively in- an oreanlzaM™°^^"® Coalition for PeactThrough Strength' Scuritf national defense and of "The Coaliti " ^^^o is of importance to TCC, a meeting Professor Ray Sleeper of thp s"' featured speaker was Howard PhllMps,H , nLiopLNacionai Director of TCC, and Peter Thomas, Director also of TCC considered the meeti^ir^rv informative. s One of the important goals of TCC is to help bring about tax relief and reform. To that aim TCC members in many states have been involved in numerous campaigns to limir taxation and control spending.