SPECIAL ISSUE ON BANKING A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES MAY 5, 1989 • $1.50 237/3 403/4 29i/4 163/4 22 Advances 73/.4 171/2 9 Led 141/4 101/2 linevs(Fd 383/4 241/4 FiremanFd Declines 291/2 17% Fsti3kSys A Five-Year-Old 483ii 201/2 IstBc)ston F Investment Scandal 91i) 63/4 Fs1Bosinco F Haunts Johnson County ► " I ' rc rlosSIt-g 17.:Iral - ' RE 151 4 Vs-' , DIALOGUE - ,,- ■:.' Raising challenger in the Democratic primary, Heck Edinburg Rep. Alex Moreno, maintains an rift, THE'TEXAS - active law practice in the Valley." That I chuckled when I read your "Political statement, without mention that Uribe also Misintelligence" section in your last issue is actively engaged in the practice of law, 14 01 server. (TO, 3/10/89) claiming Hector Uribe does seemed to imply that Uribe had no active law practice. We regret the implication. A JOURNAL OF FREE VOICES not have an.active law practice. Hector Uribe and I are associates in the practice We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to of law and have our main office at 1325 Religious the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to human values Palm Boulevard in Brownsville, Texas. We Motives above all interests, to the rights of humankind as the share another office in Raymondville in foundation of democracy; we will take orders from Willacy County. Hector is a hell of a With reference to the.article by Tom none but our own conscience, and never will we over- , courtroom lawyer and he never shies away McClellan, "Dear Dr. Hayakawa" (TO, look or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests of 2/24/89), I would like to state that I could the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. from a fight. In fact, he's in the courtroom Writers are responsible for their own work, but not more than most lawyers I know. When he's care less about the motive of Dr. Hayakawa, for anything they have not themselves written, and in not in Austin fighting for jobs, education, but I suspect that the motive of Mr. publishing them we do not necessarily imply that we and better living ' conditions for our colonia McClellan is plainly religious. agree with them because this is a journal of free voices. residents, he's down here practicing law, I for one am strongly in favor of making SINCE 1954 trying to make a living just like the rest English the official language in this country, Publisher: Ronnie Dugger of us. not for my sake simply because I know no Editor: Dave Denison Richard C. Arroyo other, but for the sake of the children of Associate Editor: Louis Dubose others who, unless they are taught English Calendar: Elisa Lyles Brownsville Washington Correspondents: Mary Anne Reilly. as soon as they are able to absorb it, will Richard Ryan Heck of a be forced to go through life with a built- Contributing Writers: Bill Adler. Betty Brink. Deal in language handicap because of a built-in Warren Burnett. Jo Clifton, John Henry Faulk, permanent accent. Terry FitzPatrick, Gregg Franzwa, Bill Helmer, James Harrington, Amy Johnson. Michael King, When the Valley elected Hector Uribe to If our school system could use the money Mary Lenz. Dana Loy, Tom McClellan, Greg the Texas Senate it knew he was willing spenton teaching various other languages, Moses, Rick Piltz, Gary Pomerantz. John to dedicate whatever time was necessary to made necessary by the fact that the parents Schwartz, Michael Ventura. Lawrence Walsh get the job done. We elected a full-time rely solely on the schools to teach English Editorial Advisory Board: Frances Barton, Austin; Elroy Bode, Kerrville; Chandler Senator for part-time pay, $600 a month in the bilingual classes, they would have ' Davidson, Houston; Bob Eckhardt, Washington. — What a deal! Now there's a state a very sizable financial surplus to better the D.C.; Sissy Farenthold, Houston; Ruperto Garcia. representative who thinks the Valley needs teaching system throughout. Austin; John Kenneth Galbraith. Cambridge, . a part-time Senator (TO, 3/10/89). We may It saddens me to hear nothing but Spanish Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham. N.C.: George Hendrick, Urbana, III.; Molly Ivins, be poor in the Valley but we're not dumb. spoken whenever I see two or more Spanish- Austin; Larry L. King. Washington. D.C.; Maury We know a good deal when we see it. speaking people and their children in any Maverick. Jr., San Antonio; Willie Morris, Robert B. McLeaish public place. The only time they speak Oxford, Miss.; Kaye Northcott, Austin; James McAllen English is when it is necessary to converse Presley. Texarkana: Susan Reid. Austin; Geoffrey Rips, Austin; A.R. (Babe) Schwartz, Galveston; with a non-Spanish-speaking employee. Fred Schmidt, Fredericksburg; Robert Sherrill. Surprise These people are encouraged to take the easy Tallahassee, Fla. Move way out because of the widespread and Layout and Design: Layne Jackson extremely eXpensive bilingual and other Typesetter: Becky Willard I had no idea that I'd moved. I do spend special classes available and leave the Contributing Photographers: Bill Albrecht. Vic Hinterlang, Alan Pogue. , a lot of time in Austin (during the session) education of their children to an already Contributing Artists: Eric Avery, Tom Ballenger, because that's where I was elected to serve, overburdened school system. By doing so Richard Bartholomew, Jeff Danziger. Beth but my home is Brownsville. That's where they place an avoidable and permanent Epstein. Dan Hubig. Pat Johnson. Kevin Kreneck, my "active" law practice is located. That's handicap against their children's opportunity CarlOs Lowry, Ben Sargent. Dan Thibodeau, Gail Woods. where my heart is. I look forward to to succeed in this country. continuing to serve my home in the State My sister-in-law who was taught Spanish Managing Publisher: Cliff Olofson • Subscription Manager: Stefan Wanstrom Capitol for a good time to come. only as a child has three lovely daughters Special Projects Director: Bill Simmons Hector Uribe who speak English fluently because she Development Consultant: Frances Barton Brownsville taught thein English along with Spanish SUBSCRIPTIONS: One year S27. two years $48. three years SO. Full- from childhood. time students SIS per year. Back issues S3 prepaid. Airmail, foreign, group. and bulk rates on request. Microfilm editions available from University Editors' W. C. Welz Microfilms Intl.. 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor. MI 48106. Any current Baytown subscriber who finds the price a burden should say so at renewal time: no Response • one need forgo reading the Observer simply because of the cost. THE TEXAS OBSERVER (ISSN 0040-4519/UPS 541300).. in the item, "Another Valley," in the Wrong :lc:1989. is published biweekly except for a three-week interval Political Intelligence section of the March between issues in January and July (25 issues per year) by the Department Texas Observer Publishing Co.. 307 West 7th Street. Austin. 10 issue of the Observer, we observed that Texas 78701. Telephone: (512) 477-0746. Second class postage Brownsville Senator Hector Uribe spends Mr. M. E. Surratt was mistaken in his paid at Austin, Texas, much of his time in Austin. We did not claim ,complaints of the Agriculture Department POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE TEXAS that he resides in Austin. The senator's office ("Dialogue," TO, . OBSERVER. P.O. Box 49019. Austin, Texas 78765 2/24/89). The Structural informs us that Uribe maintains a residence Pest Control Board is mandated to protect in Brownsville — a claim we do not dispute. human health and the environment from We did observe that Uribe's potential Continued on page 22 2 • MAY 5, 1989 EDITORIAL rift THE TEXAS I li) server. MAY 5, 1989 Rise of the Megabanks VOLUME 81, No. 9 • N A LATE afternoon in August of coming. O 1986, Governor Mark White assem- The response was entirely characteristic FEATURES bled many of the state's top business leaders for Texas business: when trouble comes for a press conference at the Governor's knocking, think big. Gonzalez Presiding By Ronnie Dugger 5 Mansion. Republicans and Democrats alike, Faced with bad loans running from the the leaders were on hand to show their millions into the hundreds of millions, Texas Reconsidering a support for White's call for a temporary bankers could see only one way out — to Populist's Prophecy sales tax increase and more state funds for look for bigger banks to rescue them. And By Mary Anne Reilly higher education. At one point, as photogra- for the banks that were so far gone that no phers busily clicked their cameras and the buyers came forth, federal regulators The Banking Industry setting sun came gleaming through the trees stepped in with the same approach. They Looks at Henry in the governor's yard, White posed near engineered mergers and buyouts that created By Paul Sweeney 10 the rose garden with former governor John bigger banks (and sometimes bigger prob- B. Connally and with two of the state's most lems). Advances Led Declines influential bankers: Ben Love and Walter The most stunning combination started in By Louis Dubose 14 Mischer, both of Houston. 1987 with the merger of Dallas's Republic- White had called the legislature into Bank Corp with InterFirst Corp to create special session to address the state's First RepublicBank, and continued last year DEPARTMENTS impending budget deficit. But there was with the purchase of First RepublicBank by Dialogue 2 another looming financial crisis facing the NCNB of Charlotte, North Carolina.