ustxtxb_obs_1962_06_01_50_00003-00000_000.pdf

Press Comments POSTPONEMENT ON BEAN? EL PASO PROJECT ‘Sleeping Giant’ I/ Stuart Long polled the polit ical “pros” at John Connal ly’s Austin rally last week, reports most of them predict a “photo finish” in the governor’s race. “They put Carr in easily and can’t see how Smith can beat Turman.” I, The dailies continued to warn conservatives not to play “Republican roulette” by voting for Don Yarborough \(see page one Bill Gardner of the Hous ton Post noted: “Aside from the questionable ethics of voting for a candidate for the purpose of setting him up for a later defeat, the success of the plan is as un certain as the outcome of a South west Conference football game.” It is likely, he writes, that Yar Political Intelligence borough could beat Jack Cox in November. Recent Texas political history, he adds, “has borne out that it is easier for Republicans to be3t conservatives than liberals.” . . . The Dallas News, calling Yarborough an “ultra-liberal,” repeated its warning, which it has sounded often in the run-off campaign, that a conservative vote for Yarborough is “playing dangerously with the future of the state.” g o / Connally continued to get solid support from the dailies. The Houston Chronicle said it preferred Connally for “brilliance of mind, legal knowledge, political experience, administrative skill, sound knowledge of business and industry, and a nationwide acquaintance.” . . . The Corpus Christi Caller-Times said it liked Connally for “offering leadership in the general public interest” and for “not waving a fistful of specific pledges tailored to please bloc votes.” He should, instead, be commended “for having the integrity and intelligence not to commit himself beyond what an effective, progressive governor” can be reasonably expected to do . . . To Sam Iiinch of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Connally’s hid is admirable for seeking harmony within the state Democratic Party. Kinch cites Connally’s pledge to respect the wishes of senatorial district caucuses on choosing members of the SDEC, to try to impose a two-term limit on governors, and in saying he is not one of those “who believe you have to be a hater or an extremist.” g 000r The Star-Telegram believes Yarborough typifies political forces which would bring about “dependence upon the government for economic support, as the New Frontier suggests; control of that economic area by the government; suppression of resistance to government control, which involves abridgement of polit:cal freedom; loss of initiative, surrender to lethargy,” and “incre-sed government power eventually reaching to control of all aspects of individual life.” . . . The Star-Telegram, describing Connally as “too independent-minded” to be the tool of anyone in Washington, says it is “far more reasonable” to suppose that Washington leaders, especially Lyndon Johnson, “have an interest in keeping the Democratic machinery in Texas in friendly hands.” If “ultra-liberal” Yarborough is elected, the influence of Sen. Ralph Yarborough will he dominant. “Which would you rather have set the policies and direction of Texas Democracy?” the S-T asks. I/ Ed Pooley’s El Paso Herald Post, became the first, daily in the state to endorse Ya rbor big-city daily to endorse Ralph Yarborough for the Senate in 1958. vO Yarborough aide David Copeland, cited Duval County’s 2,645 to 600 \(for all other canthe first primary, asked state Democratic chairman J. Ed Connally to appoint poll watchers there Saturday. Connally replied he has no authority to do. so, adding: “This authority is specifically conferred upon the candidates.” poir Hank Brown, state AFL-CIO president, penned a letter to COPE advisory council members, said a marketing research firm in Dallas informs him Connally’s failure to debat has cost him ten percent points; that the governor’s race is now 50-50; that “gamblers’ odds “are 8-5 for Turman;” and that in the attorney general’s race “we are frankly in trouble, although Reavley is gaining on Carr daily.” Federal tax officials won’t say anything about congress man-at-large candidate Woodrow Bean’s missing income tax re turns, and reports are widespread that official action, if any, will be postponed at least until after the second primary . . . Bean reported a $1,000 campaign contribution from E. D. St. John, president of a Dallas contracting firm which Io of Cong. Henry Gonzalez of San Antonio is distributing this public statement: “I have been receiving a number of letters and telegrams since the first primary election in Texas. These messages urge that I express myself publicly for one candidate or the other in the gubernatorial run-off. “Some persons have even assumed that I made an endorse-. ment because one or another candidates’ supporters hid printed slate cards with my name included with that of their own candidate. I wish to emphasize that I made no endorsement, recommendation, or stated any preference among the candidates in the gubernatorial race. I shall make none in the gubernatorial run-off . . .” Bean favored for a $1.75 mill:on Sun Bowl contract. St. Jo’in lost the contract when the El Paso County Commissioners’ court took it away on grounds he had fallen behind with the work. poif Ed Burris, writing for Texas Industry, says the state Senate will be more liberal next time. His analysis of the ideological balance in the next House: In the first primary, of the 110 Democrats winning nomination, 62 are conservatives, 45 liberals, plus three whose philisophy is not known. He groups the 40 run-off races as are running against liberals, assuring a definite gain of six liberservatives are pitted against conservatives, assuring an additional pickup of four conservative seats. tests, liberal-conservative lines are drawn. Conservatives, Burris believes, only need to secure ten additional seats from these 30 to have a simple majority. frof No one in Houston could he found to claim credit for a mysterious slate card, signed “Texans for Conservative Government,” being distributed around town. The card urges conservatives to vote for Yarborough in the run-off and Cox in November. It also urges votes for Preston Smith, Carr, and Bean. At the bottom of the card: “Better Dead Than Red,” Cage Fixes Blamed On Referees AROUND TEXAS Six months ago two newspapermen and a gambler were chatting in a Central Texas bar and the discussion soon found its way to the stories of “fixing” college basketball games by paying players to shave points. The gambler was a seasoned veteran of the profession he followed and exhibited a jealous pride in its eccentric but rigid code. “Nuts,” he said. “The guys who have gotten caught slipping money to those kids are peanuts nothing but peanuts; local businessmen who fancy they are big shot gamblers, No pro in his right mind would put his cash money on his faith in a college kid’s conscience. College kids, you see. haven’t reached maturity. They’re unstable. “The boys to watch,” he continued, “are the bozos with the whistlesat least in my opinion, although I don’t know anything ,about it, strictly speaking. But if a pro gambler, or a syndicate man, can find himself an official with a weeping for cash, he can do business. They’re the ones to watch, all right. But nobody’s ever mentioned them, which is a funny thing since nobody can control the game like they can.” He added, “Of course, I wouldn’t be involved in such a thing myself. I love sports too much.” Last week an official investigation, by a House panel and the FBI, into charges that some Southwest Conference basketball officials have succumbed to the temptation of gamblers’ cash offerings was underway. Abe Curtis, supervisor of SWC officials, flatly charges that two conference officials were guilty of point shaving activities. Those named by Curtis are Bill Johnson and O’Dell Preston, both of Waco. Johnson retorted that he had never participated in point-fixing and knew of no SWC basketball official who had. Curtis said he first heard there was point-fixing going on in the SWC when he received an anonymous telephone call s e v e r al months ago from Birmingham, Alabama. After the call, he said, he carefully studied films of conference games, but added that it is extremely difficult to detect deliberate wrong calls by officials because of the large number of judgement plays each official must make in every game. Following the Birmingham call, Curtis told investigators, he got a letter from Texas University’s Coach Harold Bradley, who said a young man of his acquaintance had heard that “Preston and Johnson were in cahoots with Boston Smith.” Smith is one of Texas’ better-known, and reputedly more successful, gamblers, who has for many years operated from Fort Worth where he toiled his way up in his profession to countryclub member status in the cornmunity. Smith was called to testify at the Waco hearing, admitted he was a gambler, but denied any knowledge of the reported gamefixing. Most other gamblers who were called testified likewise or invoked the Fifth Amendment. At least one witness, however, was reported to have backed Curtis’ charges against Preston and Johnson. Andrew Jackson Meador of Lamesa, who wore red cowboy hoots to the hearing and said he was a rancher by profession, told investigators that an Austin bookmaker had refused to take bets on games refereed by the two accused men. EL PASO The El Paso County chapter of PASO voted a few nights ago to publicly endorse Don Yarborough, James Turman, Tom Reavley, and three area candidates for the state legislature. The action superseded a cautious decision, made by the same PASO chapter only a week before, to refrain from openly endorsing any run-off candidates. Reason for the reversal was phrased in the minutes of the meeting simply as “new developments.” But it amounted to a declaration of political warin unofficial alliance with El Paso COPE against a local group known as the Southside Democratic Club, which has endorsed John Connally. Also, it was another attempt to awaken El Paso’s sleeping giant the potential political force of the city’s population of Mexican origin. The PASO meeting began slowly, with informal reports from various precincts. One member told how he planned to break , down his voter lists alphabetically and by blocks in order to be more effective in the few remaining days before balloting time and suggested others do the same. Then Henry de la Garza, executive director of El Paso’s Central Labor Union and of COPE, was introduced as a guest who would like “to F_ ay a few words.” De la Garza talked about the Southside Democratic Club and Senate cumbent, Sen. Babe Schwartz against Rep. Maco Stewart, a lib eral who has moved closer to the political center in recent sessions. The fifth race Saturday is between two staunch conservatives, incumbent Sen. David Ratliff of Stamford and Rep. Truett Latimer of Abilene. In first primary races last month, liberals and middle-roaders registered some impressive gains. The most noteworthy was the unseating of veteran conservative leader, Wardlow Lane of Center by Jack Strong of Longview, who ran with liberal and labor backing. Former Rep. Jim Bates of Edinburg, a liberal, won the Democratic nomination for conservative Sen. Hubert Hudson’s vacancy, and Rep. Criss Cole, whose House’ record has been moderateto-liberal, was nominated for conservative Sen. Bob Baker’s place from Houston. Both will have strong GOP opposition in November but will be favored to win. In a chamher where important votes have been decided by increasingly slim margins, the Harrington-Oliver, Richter -Bartram, and Owen-Anderson run-offs will be crucial. But the battle for Senate control next time, even with the liberal bloc stronger than it has ever been in the history of the traditionally conservative upper house, will largely depend on the outcome of the run-off Saturday for lieutenant governor. Speaker James Turman of Gober, who led the five-man first primary field with strong support from liberal, labor, and middleroad elements, is the clear favor= ite over conservative Sen. Preston Smith of Lubbock. The Turman-Smith battle is of major importance. In its political implica