ustxtxb_obs_1984_09_28_50_00015-00000_000.pdf

You’ll enjoy Your stay in the HOUSTON Tradition! fte Near downtown Houston The PLAZA is a landmark of hospitality, with a French Riviera flavor and ambience of old Europe. A continental staff to pamper you, extra spacious rooms and suites, furnished with an elegant and relaxing atmosphere which rivals Europe’s charming small hotels. Situated on prestigious, oak-lined Montrose Boulevard near Texas Medical Center, Fine Arts Museum, Herman Park Zoo, Rice University, Galleria, Astroworld Park and world famous Astrodome. Minutes to downtown Houston and all expressways. Plan to do all your entertaining here when you stay at The Plaza in Houston. Special Gourmet Weekend In a Parisian atmosphere plan a Gourmet Getaway weekend. Enjoy the finest cuisine in our charming Caprice Restaurant Francais. Your gastronomic weekend program: 1.Check into your comfortable suite, 2.Get settled and refreshed, 3.Come down to the Galerie Piano Bar to enjoy our “apertif Maison”… free drink piano music. 4.A delightful dinner French cuisine including entree, salad, pastries. coffee, cognac and all the trimmings. S. After a relaxing night complimentary Champagne Continental breakfast in bed. Write or phone today for literature, menus and activities The Plaza So pampered so continental. Total charge $85 per person, two in a room, includes taxes and parking HOTEL 5020 Montrose Blvd. HOUSTON, TEXAS 77006 For reservations 713-524-3161 In Heart of Art Museum/Gallery District trust,” i.e., to prevent conflict-ofinterest by prohibiting the officeholder from knowing where his money is invested. Instead, the vice-president makes public a statement of his net worth, now said to be about $2.1 million, an increase of some $300,000 over the last five years. Under the blind trust agreement the Bushes receive quarterly reports on the value of their holdings, but no information on which securities are held in trust. The trustee is empowered to sell any The argument for not releasing Bush’s income tax forms is dubious. becomes so much less important than doing everything you can to help elect your wife to the vice-president’s office, and that would include releasing your income tax.” The argument for not releasing Bush’s income tax forms at least releasing them in part is dubious. General figures in the first part of a return dividends, interest, capital gains, etc. wouldn’t reveal the detailed holdings in the trust, and certainly wouldn’t compromise it. Thus, the vice-president’s failure to disclose can only lend an air of suspicion, and since he clearly intends to play politics with Ferraro’s handling of her taxes, leaves him open to questioning. Beyond all of this, blind trusts are an ineffective way of protecting the public from conflicts by elected officials. As a practical matter it is highly unlikely that anyone of great wealth would entrust his or her fortune to a person well. Bank trust departments, after all, are notorious for their own conflicts. ‘ If a close friend is chosen, the public official almost certainly knows pretty well what direction his investment policies will take. A far better way to protect the public would be to require politicians to sell their holdings before assuming office, investing the proceeds in government securities. Research: Matt Rothman or all of the holdings originally placed in the trust. Bush draws a salary of $94,000 as vice-president along with a $10,000 expense account. The Bushes are well-to-do, with firm ties in Wall Street charter members of the Eastern Establishment. He is the son of Prescott Bush, the former Connecticut senator who died in 1972. It was after World War II that George Bush went down to Texas. There he joined Hugh and William Liedtke in forming Zapata Oil, which pioneered offshore oil drilling, then in its infancy. Bush sold those interests after he was elected to Congress in 1966. \(Bill Liedtke, as it turned out, came to play an unfortunate role in Republican Party politics. A Texas campaign fund he amassed was partly used to finance the Watergate break-in. Bush himself was loyal to Nixon. He took over as chairman of the Republican National Committee during Watergate. In 1970, when Bush ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in Texas, he received campaign Teeley says much of the Bushes’ increase in net worth reflects the sale of their Houston home after he became vice-president. Proceeds from the Houston sale were reinvested in the Bushes’ house in Kennebunkport, Maine, now valued at $950,000, or about 45 per cent of their net worth. In the early stages of the Ferraro controversy, Pete Teeley criticized John Zaccaro as “a very selfish man,” and said, “He must have something to hide,” Teeley continued: “The other thing is when you’ve got the first woman on a national ticket, who’s got an opportunity to be the first female vicepresident of the United States, if you’re a millionaire and you’re in business, that THE TEXAS OBSERVER 15