ustxtxb_obs_1993_07_02_50_00024-00000_000.pdf

Postmaster: If undeliverable, send Form 3579 to The Texas Observer, 307 W. 7th St., Austin, Texas 78701 POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE HIGH HOPES. With Kay Bailey Hutchison, the first female senator from Texas, at the top of the ticket in 1994, Republicans have high hopes of reaching the long-sought Eldorado of an election sweep. State Republican Chairman Fred Meyer sees a “new winning coalition” of urban Republicans, rural conservatives, women and Hispanics. Lost in the hyperbole is the fact that the two-thirds majority Hutchison got June 5 was on a turnout of 20 percent of registered voters, which is considerably less than the number expected in November 1994. While Hutchison did well all over the state, including South Texas, a Southwest Voter Research Institute survey indicated that 79 percent of voters in heavily Hispanic precincts voted for Krueger. Democrats will have popular Governor Ann Continued from previous page shows how the liberal sectors got co-opted by Ann Richards,” he said. “If Bill Clements was governor, all of them would be [protesting in the Governor’s office] with us,” Baldauf said. Can and Hightower said that they both had scheduling conflicts could not attend the protest. Hightower added that the protest was “absolutely right” in its efforts but that Baldauf never contacted him later to talk about the matter. Protesters clearly felt that Richards had wronged them. “I’ve served more hot dogs, damned tacos and barbecue day after day … to help her get elected,” Ruth told Cryer. Richards later said she did not blame the residents for being angry. “I’d be camped out there, too, and I would have been screaming bloody murder,” Richards was quoted in the Austin American-Statesman. “I didn’t agree with the actions of the Water Commission.” Texans United director Rick Abraham said it was not enough for Richards to veto a bill that would have undermined pollution controls in the Barton Springs watershed in Austin, for which environmentalists have applauded her. “Her actions on the AEI incinerator, her signing a bill to allow the importation of nuclear waste from New England, and the dumping of New York sewage sludge on 91,000 West Texas acres says her administration is turning its back on the rest of the state,” Abraham said. VICKI MAYER Richards seeking re-election, although her popularity so far has not transferred to Lena Guerrero, school finance reforms or Bob Krueger and progressives are getting restless over the rightward drift of her administration. Republicans said to be looking at a potential race against Richards include George W. Bush of Dallas; Rob Mosbacher Jr. of Houston; Tom Craddick of Midland, the chair of the Texas House Republican Caucus; Tom Luce of Dallas; T. Boone Pickens of Amarillo; and, of course, former Dallas Cowboy Roger Staubach of Dallas. Democratic appointees Mary Scott Nabers likely will run for a full term on the Railroad Commission for the seat vacated by Krueger; and Longview Mayor Martha Whitehead, whom Richards named to replace Hutchison, is expected to run for what remains of the Treasury after Comptroller John Sharp finishes recommending cost savings. Other Democrats up for election include Lieut. Gov . Bob Bullock, Attorney General Dan Morales, Comptroller Sharp, Land Commissioner Garry Mauro and Railroad Commissioner Jim Nugent. Republican Agriculture Commissioner Rick Perry will be up, and the ballot also will elect three Supreme Court justices, three judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals, all 150 House members, all 31 senators and all 30 Texans in Congress. GOP: TAKE NO PRISONERS. Henry Cisneros, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, reportedly has called for a truce between Texas and the Clinton Administration. The former San Antonio mayor told John Gravois of the Houston Post he has advised Clinton to focus on Texas in the wake of the Democrats’ crushing defeat in the special election for the U.S. Senate, but Ernie Angelo, the Republican National Committeeman from Midland, doubts the state will be interested in making peace, and told the Post it was not in the state’s best interest to help enact Clinton’s programs. “I don’t want to give him a chance to accomplish his policies. That’s what scares me most -he might succeed and we’ll have to live with those policies.” STRIKEBREAKERS. When Democratic Congressmen Pete Geren, Ralph Hall, Jake Pickle and Charles Stenholm voted against the bill to prohibit permanent replacement of strikers, which passed the House 239-190 on June 15, it was not much of a surprise to the AFL-CIO, a major supporter of the bill. More disappointing were the votes of Kika de la Garza of Mission, Solomon Ortiz of Corpus Christi and Frank Tejeda of San Antonio. All three were endorsed by the labor federation but sided with business and industry opponents of the bill. Harvey Kronberg, editor of the business-oriented Quorum Report newsletter, wrote in the Houston Chronicle June 22 that the anti-strikebreaker bill was seen as an effort to weaken Texas’ right-to-work law. “Unions historically have denied opportunity to minorities who have been unable to buck labor’s strong seniority system,” Kronberg wrote, in a revisionist view of the unions’ role in the civil rights movement. “Furthermore, Texas Hispanics are one of the truly great entrepreneurial populations. Strengthening unions’ striking power is perceived as reducing entrepreneurial opportunities.” Pro-labor members of Congress also perceive reduced fundraising opportunities from business PACs. D MAG DEMISE. American Express Publishing Co. in late May suspended publication of 19-year-old D magazine, nearly three years after it bought the city magazine. The New York-based company blamed the crippling advertising recession, although former staffers blamed editorial drift and a corporate aversion to provocative stories while the management was unable to put together an effective marketing strategy, even after the Dallas economy started to rebound. Subscribers were to receive Travel & Leisure magazine, while the 34 employees at D received 15-week severance packages. Tom Allen, former publisher of the Dallas-Fort Worth Business Journal and nowdefunct Texas Business, reportedly was negotiating to salvage the magazine. PICKET DEFENSE. The Texas Supreme Court has overturned lower court decisions that awarded damages to a Corpus Christi physician who performed abortions and ordered antiabortion picketers to keep at least 400 feet from his home. The court, in a 6-3 decision, said state law does not allow recovery for negligently inflicted emotional distress, which the physician claimed, and it sent the case back to the trial court. In a dissent, Justice Rose Spector wrote that the conduct allowed under the ruling was a privacy-rights threat “broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” 24 JULY 2, 1993 !*0+7.,1″….**,’?..!*1.00″1.5014,72`,” 14,