ustxtxb_obs_1962_02_09_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

Name Tel. Address City 1961Poll Tax Receipt No. 3659 E. Commerce St., San Antonio, Texas, no later than February 22, 1962. POLL TAX PETITION County To the Texas Democratic Executive Committee: The undersigned voter of the Democratic Party . in Texas, Petition you to submit to the Voters at the Democratic General Primary Election in 1962 next preceding the State Convention, the following proposition: FOR THE LEGISLATURE TO SUBMIT A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO ABOLISH THE POLL TAX AS A PREREQUI-SITE FOR VOTING. Tel. No. County To the Texas Democratic Executive Committee: The undersigned voter of the Democratic Party in Texas, petitions you to submit to the voters at the Democratic General Primary Election in 1962 next preceding the State Convention the following propositions: PROPOSITION 1. For the Legislature to submit a Constitutional Amendment to legalize parimutuel wagering on horse races. PROPOSITION 2. For the Legislature to enact a law legalizing parimutuel wagering on horse races with the State and the track sharing 14 percent of the parimutuel pool, the home-county receiving 2 percent of the total pool, and all other counties receiving % of the net state share on the basis of population. No racing on Sunday. Name Address 1961 Poll Tax Receipt No. City 3659 E. Commerce St., San Antonio, Texas, no later than February 22, 1962. HOUSTON LEADER VIEWS THE SCENE WALKER TO YARBOROUGH Complex Demo Alignment Turman’s the best man in the race, and I hope he can explain his apparent support of the sales tax at the last minute. We hope that he will not do anything to increase the coverage of the sales tax.” ‘Splendid Senator’ From the first Mrs. Randolph has been a steady, although sometimes critical supporter of Senator Yarborough. “I think he’s made a splendid senator and has developed as a man of great ability,” she said. “I think that everyone that supported him should be very proud of his record.” On the Vice President, who, as a presidential candidate, deflected the May state convention bolt she helped lead, she had nothing to say except, “Let’s don’t mention him.” “I intend to continue my work to get more subscribers to the Texas Observer, to encourage liberals in my county and state to be informed as to the candidates that they support and to work with the liberal organizations in their counties,” she said. “I just happen to be a liberal and believe in liberalism, whatever the definition of it is. We have to go forward. We can’t live in the past. We’ve got to set an example for all these new countries that are developing and show that democracy will work.” Mrs. Randolph was one of the organizers, and president at one time, of the Junior League hi Houston. Before her dedication to political work, she was also active in the League of Women Voters. “I found both organizations frustrating because they didn’t get down to real political work, which is where you are able to have real effect,” she said. Subscribe to The Observer She helped in some Democratic campaigns before 1952, but that year she threw herself energetically into the Stevenson campaign and subsequently organized the Harris County Democrats on a precinct-by-precinct basis. On paper Mrs. Randolph is still chairman of the Democrats of Texe -; Clubs, but that organization is not likely to be revived. She believes the Democratic coalition is valuable and thinks highly of the Texas AFL-CIO. “I think he’s a very able leader. I think he’s a real liberal. I know that he wants to make the labor movement more liberal,” she said. What would she think of women running for office? “Well, I prefer men,” she said, laughing. “There are certainly a great many women with ability. There should be nothing against women running. It’s not true of all of them, but most women are not as emotionally fitted for political office. Certainly they are the people that do the detail work for the organizations, and I think that is where they are most effective. “I do say this, though, I think that they can have a lot of influence on the men who are working in the party, because they are more likely to be more uncompromising as far as their ideals a re concerned. I think if they get into politics, they’ll get to be just as bad as the men.” Mrs. Randolph was born in Barnum, Texas, about 20 miles north of Livingston, at the Carter family sawmill \(“No, not out in ers and three sisters. The Barnum mill burned when she was about three years old, and the family built another one at Camden. Mrs. Randolph was raised at Camden, and although she came to Houston to go to school, she has always gone back to Camden every summer. She is married to R. D. Randolph, a prominent Houston banker. They have two daughters. R.D. ately progressive. It includes a loan act, better juvenile parole, stricter law enforcement on a variety of measure, “continued improvement in schools and colleges,” defense of the Eckhardt pipeline tax, and a tourist program. It is exceedingly difficult to see many meaningful differences ideologically between Daniel, Wilson, Formby, and Connally. Daniel’s campaign will likely be slightly closer to the center than the others’. YARBOROUGH The 36-year-old Houston liberal, who polled 640,000 votes against Ben Ramsey in the lieutenant governor’s race in 1960, has been described in some circles as the “leading darkhorse.” His chief task at this stage is to repair whatever damages have been made by Connally among liberals, labor, and the Latins, and to block an attempt by Daniel to nibble at the fringes of the Texas left. He has been campaigning, in one form or another, ever since his race against Ramsey, and he is better known around the state than many observers believe. His pulpit speaking style has a strong appeal in rural areas. If he can hold intact most of the patchwork liberal coalition and pick up modest support among the brass-collar Democrats in rural East Texas, he may make a run-off. The name doesn’t hurt him. He stresses youth, vigor, and experimentation. In a statewide telecast this week, carried by 21 Texas stations, Yarborough reiterated that his bid would be emphatically New Frontierish. He has been reading Kennedy’s speeches of ’60, and many of his catch-phrases are only slight modificatiori;. “The people of Texas want to move again,” he said. “Ask only what Texas can do to make America great.” Speaking against a backdrop of an outline of Texas with a large “1” superimposed, Yarborough said “a creeping dry rot has set tied over our state government in Austin.” All five opponents in the Democratic primary, he said, are “voices out of the past . . . rooted in the habits and conformities of another era. These men are in one way or another connected with the same psychology of drift and indecision that racked the Republican Party for the eight years it held the presidency.” Texas, he said, “can be No. 1 in the quality of the education it provides its children; a state that can be No. 1 in the scope of the job opportunities it offers all its people; a state that can be No. 1 in industrial growth and in business opportunity; a state that can be No. 1 among the 50 states .. . In the sweep of the horizons that loom before Its people.” He criticized Gov. Daniel for giving in on the sales tax and the legislature for “caving in to the loan sharks” and for “turning its back” on a juvenile parole program 15 years overdue. CONNALLY After his television kickoff, Connally, 45, has been concentrating mainly on the hotel coffee circuit with businessmen. His associations with business and financial circles are very close, and his campaign will be smooth, well-organized, and well-heeled. He makes an excellent TV appearance. Political observers in Fort Worth have commented he has one of the most well-organized campaigns in Texas history. Like Daniel, he will draw his support from a broad front all along the political spectrum. Many old-line Shivers supporters are working for him, as are leading Johnsonites. He has some backing in organized labor, especially around Harris County and the Gulf Coast area. If he gets PASO’s endorsement this weekend, he will have engineered a major political coup. Set against these advantages, he will suffer somewhat from the connection with LBJ and big wealth, and Daniel is clearly better known as a threeterm incumbent. He is being strongly opposed in most liberal circles. He has made it known he wants Shivers’ support. His statement on Daniel’s entry was considerably harder-hitting than his platform announcement. Criticizing “perpetuation of one man in control of the governor’s office,” he said one of the first things he would do is support a constitutional amendment limiting a governor to two consecutive terms. Despite Daniel’s long tenure as an office-holder, “he once again insists that he needs additional sessions and time. “I want to see Texas first in growth, first in job opportunities, and first as a place to raise our families. This can only be accomplished by hard-hitting, aggressive leadership.” WILSON The attorney general, 49, is fighting a desperate campaign for his political life. From his position as a staunchly conservative Democrat in his unsuccessful Senate race last year, Wilson has apparently moved somewhatcloser to the political center. Most of his strength will lie with conservative and moderate voters. He will get a few liberal votes, but not many. He will be strong again among the courthouse square lawyers: He has been the most critical of all the Democatic candidates of the reported tie-in between VicePresident Johnson and Connally. This week, fighting with much more vigor than he did last spring, W111-ion criticized Daniel’s entry into the race: “Gov. Daniel’s broadcast,” he said, “was the most remarkable confession of ineffectiveness I have ever witnessed. It appears the longer he stays in office the more unfinished business there is. “It will always be that way with him. Two years ago when he announced for a third term he listed 13 points of unfinished business. The list is now even longer. In baseball it’s three strikes and you’re out. . . .” Wilson said the announcement of Walker “doesn’t mean much.” “He’s not hurting anybody because those people who he will bring into the Democratic Party to vote for him wouldn’t be there anyway. I don’t think he’ll take any votes away from me.” Dividing conservative and moderate votes as he will with Daniel, Connally, and Formby, Wilson has a tough fight ahead if he expects to reach the second primary. WALKER Despite the fa\( t that he has led both Daniel d Connally in national public on the gover nor’s race, at this stage the 52year-old former general is conceded little chance of getting in the run-off. His candidacy could be an accurate gauge of the actual voting strength of the “radical right” in a state noted for the virulence of the rightists. More than anything else, his campaign will be a kind of national crusade, rooted in the frustrations of the international situation. Most of his support is sure to come from Houston. Dallas, and West Texas. He is a generally inept speaker and he has no state program, but he will benefit in conservative circles from his wide national publicity. Both Republicans and Democrats who have hoped for a continuing trend toward two-party government and anticipated an impressive turnout in the GOP primary are disgruntled that Walker is running as a Democrat. Conservative Democrats who might normally have been expected to vote for the first time in the GOP primary will now remain good, loyal Democrats. Republicans felt that if enough Democratic conservatives participated in the GOP primary, a liberal might have a strong chance to win the Democratic, which would help the Republicans in the November general election. Walker is going to blunt the GOP appeal, how much remains to be seen. FORMBY The former highway commissioner, 50, is probably the least known of the Democratic candidates. But he has numerous influential friends in the West Texas area, commissioners and county judges and weekly editors, such as H. A. Baggarly of the Tulia Herald. His politics are conservative, probably somewhat to the right of center. Without mentioning names, he has referred to Wilson and Daniel by saying he thinks Texans prefer a governor who has been free of political disputes. He has also criticized Connally’s bid for having Washington influences. Most of his vote is likely to come out of West Texas, and with all candidates drawing from that area, he is given little m eh a a r n y ce of making a second pri Summing up: in the most muddled Texas political race in years, with ideological groupings and special interests divided, Daniel has the edge. It could prove to be a fight between Connally and Yarborough for a place against Daniel in the run-off. W.M.