ustxtxb_obs_1961_08_18_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

Get Texas-size taste * Get Luckies today! ELECTIONS BILL APPROVED Alger accused Rayburn of threatening to block the proposed federal office building for Dallas if the special election bill was not passed. \(In the end Dallas representatives in the Texas House split, two for, four against, on the Rayburn had exerted any influence, saying, “No one either in or outside of this state suggested or requested that I include this subject in the work of the second called session.” Some members of the Senate felt otherwise. Sen. Martin Dies Jr. of Lufkin, who had previously voted for the measure, switched his vote on final passage in the Senate, saying, “I resent use of strong-arm tactics to get anything through the Senate.” Sen. Hubert Hudson of Brownsville said, “The bill would not be here if it were not for two pending congressional races. .. . Nor would pressure be put on the Senate to pass this bill.” Rayburn denied all accusations. He wired both Lt. Governor Ben Ramsey and House Speaker James Turman that Daniel was correct in saying that he, Rayburn, had not contacted him. There had been strong sentiment in the House for run-offs in special legislative elections as well, many House members fearing that without such a provision Republicans might be able to fill some vacancies, particularly those which occur in the larger cities. A special race is imminent in San Antonio, where the seat of Marshall 0. Bell, who died last month, will probably be filled at the same time as the congressional election. Republican Henry Catto, unsuccessful opponent of horse-racer Red Berry last November, has announced for the vacancy. Rep. Charles Whitfield, Houston liberal, had opposed that measure, reminiscing, “if it was wrong for Ralph Yarborough, it’s wrong now.” In fact, Yarborough also came in for criticism. The Dallas Morning News accused Yarborough of threatening to put a halt to federal appointments in Texas until the bill was passed. There was no comment from Yarborough’s office. Averting criticism which was directed at the legislature during the hot debates in 1957 over the Pool Bill, which provided for runoffs in special U.S. Senate elections, a number of legislators said that this bill was not changing the rules in the middle of the game, because as of now no special elections have been called. Via the Back Door? vOr Sen. Doyle Willis of Fort Worth, who on the basis of seniority has for long been eligi ble to become president pro tern pore but has been passed over four times, finally was voted into the role and then, as is custom ary for the p.p.t., served briefly as. governor when both Daniel and Lt. Gov. Ben Ramsey allegedly left the state. Actually they didn’t. gof Houston Post capitol bureau chief Bill Gardner called “ludicrous” the strange reversal taken by Speaker James Turman in his attitude . toward taxation, helping to kill HB 334 because Political Intelligence unfair burden on the people of Texas by levying about $300 million in new permanent retail sales taxes, but only $41 million in new taxes on big business,” but then helped pass HB 20, although it levies more taxes on the people and less on business than did HB 334. 1,00 Fort Worth Star-Telegram capitol correspondent Sam Kinch indicated ithe type of blitz victory won by the sales taxers by pointing out that the same group who can now crow over a tax on most sales of more than 24 cents “would have considered it a signal victory, if they could have come out of the 1959 session with a levy on sales over $50.” V In Washington, John Goode had his picture taken with ex-President Eisenhower, visited Senator Tower and other Republican leaders, said he opposed all of President Kennedy’s New Frontier programs, and said he is : no.t. ashamed .of.”flag-yyraving,”. Goode is running for the seat to be vacated by Rep. Paul Kilday of San Antonio. He said he would try to pin a “He’ll run for anything” tag on state Sen. Henry Gonzalez, who is opposing him in the race. g o of The Dallas News’ political editor Allen Duckworth said this week that Rep. Frank Ikard of Wichita Falls will quit congress to become executive vicepresident of the American Petroleum Institute, a resignation that, along with ‘Paul Kilday’s, and the new seat gained from population growth, will give Texas three. vacancies to fill this fall. He says Jack Hightower, district attorney at Vernon, District Judge Graham Purcell of Wichita Falls, are “believed certain candidates” for Ikard’s seat. frof Latest reports indicate Tex as is leading in mileage completed in the federal interstate highway construction program. Texas has finished 884 miles, but most of it is in short and scattered sections. Sen. Ralph Yarborough said his Cold War GI bill, cosponsored by 36 other senators, is obviously having “great impact” on Capitol Hill because the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare “overwhelmingly approved the bill.” g o or The Corpus Christi Caller Times editorially denounced Gov. Price Daniel for pushing for required run-off elections as a type of “election reform,” the Caller-Times dismissing talk of reform as so much “pious rhet oric” meant to disguise the fact that the sought election law change was nothing more than an effort to cripple Republican chances, just as the Pool bill had been aimed at crippling Sen. Yar borough’s chances in a “sudden death” election. Said the C-T: “Any claims to the establishment THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 2 August 18, 1961 of a more ‘democratic’ procedure are tainted by that purpose which seeks to change the rules almost in the midst of the election process.” frit Washington newsman Peter Edson says Vice President Johnson is not keeping his hand in Senate strategy so much as some had thought he might. Edson says Johnson’s duties are taking him farther and farther from the Senate cloakroom and deeper into the executive affairs of government. “d oe Speaker Turman is known to be highly pleased with the $398 million appropriations bill passed by the legislature. It is his feeling that the tax bill which emerged from House and Senate August 8 was the best that could be gotten, given the circumstances. He believes that the appropriations bill would have been whittled another $15 million or so if a third session on taxes had been necessary. ir o or Tony Korioth of Sherman and Bill Pieratt of Giddings, two House liberals, won’t be around for the 1963 session. Korioth is going to Washington and may resign his seat shortly. Pieratt will be here for the fall special session, however. toof The San Antonio Light, safely predicting that V. E. Red Berry will not again get labor support in his. campaigns for the state HoUse, pointed out that according to COPE’s judgment Berry had, on the “ten important tax votes,” cast his wrong seven times, cast his right twice, and had been absent once. By comparison, Rep. Franklin Spears had a 10-0 labor record. pr d./ The El Paso Herald-Post, furious at the passage of a sales tax without comparable taxation of the oil industry, wrote editorially: “The people have been betrayed by the greasy legislators in Austin. Gov . Daniel also opposes oil taxes. He owns oil land.” In Washington, Texas oil man Lawrence J. O’Connor was added to the Federal Power Commission when the Senate confirmed his appointment over the protests of Sens. William Proxmire of Wisconsin, although Proxmire relented somewhat in his opposition when O’Connor publicly promised to get rid of his oil and gas holdings. IVeteran liberals in the Tex as legislature are talking much these days about a possible breakthrough via “the back door” the Senate. Several House liberals are contemplating campaigns either against incumbents or for vacant seats. Daniel May Reconvene Solons in Mid-October AUSTIN Gov. Price Daniel is expected to call another special session of the legislature, possibly in mid-October, to consider loan shark controls, a juvenile parole system, urban annexation, traffic safety, and an escheat law. Daniel signed an escheat bill last week. Although it includes pipelines, insurance companies, and utilities, banks were not included as he has long recommended. The juvenile parole system, one of his major recommendations in the past, was not included in the appropriations bill passed in the first special session. “We’re going to have to organize on juvenile legislation and build up a strong case for it,” Daniel said this week. THE AMERICAN TOBACCO CO. REMEMBER HOW GREAT CIGARETTES USED TO TASTE? LUCKIES STILL DO II/CRIES SKIMP They’re so round, so firm, so fully packedso free and easy on the draw. They’re fully packed with fine tobacco. They’re firmer than any other regular cigarette. And Luckies smoke longer. THAT’S WHY THEY TASTE SO GREAT Legislative Notes