ustxtxb_obs_1963_05_02_50_00003-00000_000.pdf

groups engage on legislators’ backgrounds, friends, contacts, and even their wives’ friends. A dentist in Galveston received a questionnaire from his association about Sen. A. R. ently his association wanted the dentist to fill out the form. Misunderstanding, the dentist sent the form to Schwartz with a request that he fill it out. Hopping mad, Schwartz showed it to the Observer. The form is devised to apply to any part of the country \(it begins, “Dental division : NE NW SE legislature or the congress. It asks for this information: “Name and address of personal dentist”; “name and address of personal physician”; “names and addresses of personal friends or relatives in health professions”; “names and addresses of contacts for legislator’s wife”; “ability and availability as a speaker before dental groups”; “campaign promises on health legislation”; “component dental society tacts: dentists and/or other important friends”; and “voting records.” Equipped with this kind of information, smart lobbyists can generate politically painful pressure on key legislators from the right people in their home districts. A hundred letters, telephone calls, or telegrams from substantial constituents can be expected to dispose a politician to vote the way he is urged to vote, especially if the communications are both personal and pertinent. A senator who piefers not to be named calls this kind of lobbying “the clever application of clever pressure” and says it is far more effective than any other kind. heard ofbut will likely hear from again in due time. Every Texas legislator is given a family movie pass by the council of motion picture operators, good in almost any theater in Texas; by asking, he ‘can get extra passes for friends and office workers. Greyhound and Continental bus lines give legislators free bus passes, good for rides anywhere in Texas. A representative says he also got bus passes for his family by indicating he wanted them. The railroads do not give passes. A legislator who handled some pro-railroad legislation recalls that after the legislation was out of the way, a railroad lobbyist gave him free train tickets for a journey he and his family were preparing to make. Legislators told the Observer that they received these Christmas gifts from lobbyists: A transistor radio, from Jimmy Phillips, lobbyist for Dow Chemical; a desk radio with pen staff, from E. M. Stevens, Great Western Loan & Trust, San Antonio; a package of imported liquor and foodexcellent Scotch, bourbon, and rum, and a Danish ham and some cheeses, valued at between $25 and $50from Searcy Bracewell, lobbyist for oyster shell interests; jellies, jams, and marmalades; an artificial floral arrangement \(“It’s the wives who are often the beneficiariesit’s the wife who gets you to go to that nice man’s legislator who writes off for it his choice of one of about ten gifts, ranging from a set of glasses to an ash tray, from Homer Leonard of the Texas brewers’ institute; an ashtray, from Tom Pinckney of the firefighters; fine cheese from George Clark of the dairy interests \(“My family said it was damn good,” says a senator; “I never ate any of it, and a subscription to the Reader’s Digest, from Bailey Jones and Will Ehrle, Lone Star Gas lobbyists \(about which gift a senator exclaimed in exasperation to his wife: “Well, hell, how do you return a subscription to Members are extended courtesies at private clubs. The Club Caravan this session has been used frequently by the small lenders. The Engineers’ Club is the Tabor lobbyists’ lunch club. A senatorspecifying, of course, that his name was not to be usedsaid, “I have had sort of a standing invitation [from lobbyist John Terrell] to take advantage of the hospitality of the homebuilders at the Deck Club. George Clark of the dairy people says, Look, if you want to entertain at the Austin Club, I’ve left standing word there, you can use my credit card anytime. I feel sure,” the senator says, “plenty of other members are confronted with this.” Most members are given free passes to college and university athletic events and to city facilities they may want to use. All of them get a free pass to the city of Austin’s recreational facilities. Beer and whiskey are available in May 2, 1963 THE TEXAS OBSERVER An Independent Fortnightly Vol. 55, No. 11 1001′ May 2, 1963 Editor and General Manager, Ronnie Dugger. Partner, Mrs. R. D. Randolph. Business Manager, Sarah Payne. Contributing Editors, Bill Brammer, Chandler Davidson, J. Frank Dobie, Larry Goodwyn, Franklin Jones, Lyman Jones, Jay Milner, Willie Morris, Charles Ramsdell, Roger Shattuck, Dan Strawn, Tom Sutherland, Charles Alan Wright. Staff Artist, Charles Erickson. Contributing Photographer, Russell Lee. Subscription Representatives: Amarillo, Mrs. Imogene Williams, Rte. 3, Panhandle \(Williams HO 5-1805; Dallas, Mrs. Cordye Hall, 5835 Ellsworth, TA 1-1205; Fort Worth, Mrs. Jesse Baker, 3212 Greene St., WA 7-2959; Houston, Mrs. Shirley Jay, 10306 Cliffwood Dr., PA 3-8682; Lubbock, Doris Blaisdell, 2515 24th St.; Midland, Eva Dennis, 4306 DOuglas, OX 4-2825; Rio Grande Valley, Mrs. Jack Butler, 601 Houston, McAllen, MU 6-5675; San Antonio, Mrs. Mae B. Tuggle, 531 Elmhurst, TA 2-7154. The editor has exclusive control over the editorial policies and contents of the Observer. None of the other people who are associated with the enterprise shares this responsibility with him. Writers are responsible for their own work, but not for anything they have not themselves written, and in publishing them the editor does not necessarily imply that he agrees with them, because this is a journal of free voices. The Observer solicits articles, essays, and creative work of the shorter forms having to do in various ways with this area. The pay depends; at present it is token. Please enclose return postage. Unsigned articles are the editor’s. The Observer is published by Texas Observer Co., Ltd., biweekly from Austin, Texas. Entered as second-class matter April 26, 1937, at the Post Office at Austin, Texas, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Second class postage paid at Austin, Texas. Delivered postage prepaid $5.10 a year for suband $5.00 a year for subscribers living elsewhere in the U.S. Foreign rates on request. Single copies 25c; prices for ten or more for students, or bulk orders, on request. Editorial and Business Offices: The Texas Observer, 504 West 24th St., Austin 5, Texas. Telephone GR 7-0746. Change of Address: Please give old and new addresses and allow three weeks. The lobbyists’ main work, the presentation of information and argument on legislation as it affects their interests, is carried on before committees, in writing, and in discussions. Some of the active Austin lobbyists are advocates in this strict sense and do not go in for the more colorful methods of influencing legislators. LOBBYISTS work yearround, calling legislators for dinner, a fishing trip, a duck hunt. Every legislator in Austin knows that come Christmastime, he will receive presents from people he may never have