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* * rebuttal draws suit SAN ANTONIO After GOP candidate Desmond Barry used his speaking time before the labor delegates to explain his long controversy with the Teamsters, the convention, upon request of a Teamster official in the audience, granted 15 minutes equal time for a rebuttal the next morning. The result was that Murray Miller, regional director of the Teamsters, which does not belong to the AFL-CIO, called Barry an “unmitigated liar,” and challenged the Houston trucker: “If you want to sue me for libel, I’ll get on the witness stand and prove you’re a liar.” Barry countered with a press conference, in which his attorney disclosed he was immediately filing a libel suit in Bexar County against Miller and the Teamsters. The suit seeks $1 in actual damages, $500 in exemplary damages. Capital Punishment ‘CLOSED CORPORATION’ ayes vs. Smith POOL REMAINS ADAMANT Barry Blasts Teamsters SAN ANTONIO In the lieutenant governor’s race, COPE refused to endorse either Democratic conservative Preston Smith of Lubbock or Republican Bill Hayes of Temple. Smith stresed fiscal responsibility and sound finance and said he was not identified either “with Big Business or Big Labor. I am a small businessman with conservative views who believes, however, in a constructive and aggressive approach to the problems we face. I believe in individual responsibility, but not in irresponsible individualism.” As presiding officer of the Senate, the Lubbock senator promised not to use his office “as a vehicle for rewarding his friends or punishing his political enemies.” All sides “will be given a chance to be heard.” He pledged not to “dictate to the Senate” or “unduly influence” the flow of legislation. His platform, he said, included simplification of the sales tax, “effective loan shark regulations,” and the “development of Texas industry and tourism.” He praised organized labor for its “unyielding opposition to communism” and for its determination to take the “broader view on economic and political issues both state and national.” Hayes, a lifelong Republican who once served in the New Hampshire legislature, declared: “I am not a token candidate. I’m in this to win.” November 6, he predicted, would be a “turning point” in Texas history because the results would firmly establish a two-party system. Later he said, “I stand tall and proud as the nominee of the new Republican Party of Texas.” “I’m a Republican and proud to be one,” he said, adding: “My door will always be open.” Reasoning that “closed doors create smoke-filled rooms,” he promised open Senate hearings. “I don’t feel the gavel should be SAN ANTONIO The exchange between the attorney general candidates, conservative Democrat Waggoner Carr of Lubbock and Republican T. E. Kennerly of Houston, was considerably more relaxed and flavored with bantering fun than the others. COPE adopted a hands-off policy in the general election campaign. Carr. said he has “always been a Democrat and I plan to stay that way.” As speaker of the Texas House, he declared, “no restrictive legislation against labor was passed.” He said he was dedicated to the principle that “this is a law office and not a political office wherein decisions are made upon the basis of what the daily political climate might indicate to be most popular.” He promised to establish a “labor desk” in the attorney general’s department “where those interested in \(laexpert a,ttention instead of being shuttled among several lawyers, none of whom have . . . expert knowledge.” used as a hatchet to cut out a man’s tongue,” he said. He pledged that “immoral railroading on voice voices in the Senate will be a thing of the past. The legacy of a one-party system in the Senate, he argued, has been “special interest” control, a “closed corporatIon” atmosphere, and “selfish control group” domination. He criticized the “Irreponsible control by a giant, power-hungry group of self-perpetuating politicians” and said he would not be “beholden to any lobby, group, society, or organization.” Hayes challenged Smith “to debate anywhere, anytime, and on any subject.” In the question period, the candidates were asked if the Senate under their leadership would stay on the calendar and would bills need a majority or a two-thirds vote? Hayes promised to “adhere to the Senate rules as I stated in my speech.” Smith said he would “stay as close to the calendar as is possible.” Both said they favored the present right-to-work laws. Quizzed on repeal of the poll tax, Smith replied that he favored submitting the proposition to the people in constitutional amendment form, “brit enabling legislation should be left to the legislature” to restore the funds raised by the poll tax to the schools and to devise “an effective registration system.” Hayes said he favors the poll tax, but “the people should have their say.” Would they employ workers in their office without regard to race, color, or creed? Said Hayes: “When I was general manager of the Lincoln had prejudice in regard to race, color, or creed.” All, he said, were represented. When people display such prejudice, he said, it is “disgusting beyond belief.” Smith replied that the Senate in the past has shown no prejudice on grounds of race, color, or ci.eed, and that “qualifications would be the determining factor.” Carr said he upheld the idea laid down by James Hogg as attorney general that “it is the solemn obligation of the attorney general to do his duty as stated in the law regardless of whether he personally believes the law to be good or bad . . . Every man, every woman, every child, every working man, every businessman, every Texan, has the inalienable right to the protection of the law whether he dresses in cotton overalls or silk suits.” Kennerly, calling himself a “lifelong Republican,” said he had been “ridiculed and accused of being a carpetbagger, and a lot of times people thought I had a strange disease.” John Connally’s statement that the Democratic Party had given the state good government in the last hundred years, Kennerly said, prompted him to observe that in the last hundred years “a lot of Texans have learned to read and write. These pesky Republicans are going to be around for another hundred years. “You’ll see in the future,” he said, “that the best thing on earth is a two-party system.” In Houston this summer there was no complete GOP ticket and the Democratic candidate for probate judge was unopposed. Since being renominated, “he has been indicted on nine counts.” SAN ANTONIO Neither conservative Democrat Joe Pool of Dallas or Republican Desmond Barry of Houston got labor’s endorsement in the general election battle for congressman at large, but if the choice had depended on the excitement created at the convention, Barry likely would have won hands-down. \(see separate Barry, a truck-line owner, explained he had been circulating among the delegates and said he was asked six times ” ‘why is it you’re anti-union?’ It makes me doggone mad.” He described himself as a “constitutional conservative” who bases “my whole philosophy on individual freedom.” Barry devoted practically his entire talk to an account of his seven-year-old dispute with the Teamsters, beginning in 1955 when that union tried to organize his Galveston trucking workers. He argued that the official who “came into my office, threw a contract on my desk, and said sign it or else,” did not represent the workers. The management of the union, he said, was “corrupt,” the leaders “improper,” and the workers were “entitled to make up their own mind . . . You can see why I believe in the right-towork laws.” Later, Barry said, he testified before the McClellan committee investigating the Teamsters, and he wanted to know why “not one working union man” was allowed to testify. Barry said he adhered to the “constitutional conservatism which made this nation great,” and argued that he wants “to get this country back on the road to recovery.” He said he opposes reductions in spending and taxes, and wants sharply reduced foreign aid and smaller government. Pool, a former state legislator, said he favors gradual reduction of the income tax and government spending, a balanced budg He stressed his belief in states’ rights and in free enterprise and said the issue today is “America against the world. We’re at the crossroads.” Only one person in every 16 is American. “Which side are you on? The American Way of Life or the other side?” Citing America’s great preponderance in the ownership of cars, radios, and television sets, he asked: “Isn’t that a fine system? There are those who would change that system, even though gradually.” The two were questioned on loan shark regulation. “There isn’t room in the state of Texas for a single loan shark,” Carr replied. The next legislature, he predicted, will again “take up the task” of passing regulations. “Whatever legislation passes, the attorney general’s office will fulfil it from morning to night.” Kennerly replied: “Any thinking man who favors loan sharks ought not to be in public life.” The records in Harris County, he said, “will show how I fought those guysand I’m still fighting ’em.” Asked if they had always supported the nominees of their respective parties, Carr said, “I have always.” Kennerly said he always supported the GOP nominees and that his support goes back a long way. “When we started in Texas,” he said, “I used to elect myself precinct chairman.” et, and suspension of foreign aid to “any country that is just even nice to the communists or their satellites.” Workers engaged in antra-state commerce should not come under a federal minimum wage, but inter-state minimums should be “adequate and realistic.” Pool said he does not seek the endorsement of “any organized group, industry or labor, in this campaign. It is not fair to the vast number of independent voters who belong to no organization or special group.” The two candidates were querried on Kennedy’s medicare program. Barry said he opposed it because “local responsibility should be handled by the people locally.” Pool, agreeing, said -legislation in Texas provides for a co-operative plan with Blue Cross. “I think it will work out well.” Would they favor a federal poll tax constitutional amendment? Pool said the issue “should be left up to the states.” Barry replied similarly that this is the for opposition at greater length. He said capital punishment is “simply un-Christian and uncivilized.” It “does no good,” since, he said, the most exhaustive, years-long studies have failed to turn up any conclusive proof either that the death penalty deters or does not deter major crime. The penalty is unequally applied as to social and economic status, he contended, citing in point Percy Foreman’s record of losing only one death penalty case out of 200 he has defended. Whitfield believes that giving a district attorney the prerogative of deciding whether the state will ask a man’s life in settlement for an alleged offense “puts too much power in the hands of the district attorney.” He also employed an argument advanced by Walter Oberer of the University of Texas law school that disqualifying persons with scruples about the death penalty from sitting on juries in capital cases stacks the juries against the accused. Whitfield said this procedure results in “a hard-nosed jury, a jury with less compassion than otherwise. You rule out about half the public. The jury becomes oriented more toward the protection of property and less toward the protection of human life.” Whitfield wondered if the practice of the death penalty might not some day be set aside under the equal protection of the laws clause of the constitution because it is not uniformly applied to women. \(No woman has been electrocuted in Texas. One is presently under sentence; Whitfield Finally, said Rep. Whitfield, death penalty cases run the costs “responsibility of the states themselves.” As employers, would they deal with duly constituted union leadership? Barry said he “certainly would bargain in good faith.” Pool was more negative: “I’d be put in ;ail if I didn’t bargain with unions.” Should organized labor be placed under anti-trust laws? Pool said yes, because of “restraint of trade and in the public interest.” Barry drew a round of applause in answering no. “I do not believe man should be placed under the anti-trust laws as an article of commerce,” he said. On public school integration in Texas, Pool said he has opposed it, but he would “abide by the Supreme Court decision” to prevent violence and legal disobedience. Barry said the matter “can best be handled as a state issue.” Integration, he added, “is moving on, I think to the satisfaction of most Americans. But I do not like it used as an article of political expediency.” of courts too high, since selections of juries for such cases take as long as a week and a half. Eckhardt, in the ensuing discussion, feared that giving a jury the power to sentence an accused to life without possibility of parole would result in 20 such sentences for every death sentence presently assessed. “The thing that worries me is any kind of a backward movement with regard to our concepts of rehabilitation,” he said. He believes the only way to keep utterly hopeless prisoners in line would be with cruelty; with whipping. “I don’t think there’s any room in modern society for a concept of punishment, unless of course you’re speaking of preventing recurrence, in which case you’re not thinking about punishment as punishment,” he said. Eckhardt suggested that after nine years but he is “not a board other than the parole board could decide whether a prisoner given the life sentence in lieu of the death sentence