ustxtxb_obs_1964_05_15_50_00007-00000_000.pdf

nally’s appointee and a defender of the present oil proration system which the major oil companies find suitable. Then and therefore, it became obvious that a decision had been made: Langdon must be concentrated on. Huge advertisements began appearing in the daily newspapers for Langdon. The weeklies around the state filled up with ads for him, too, and radio and TV plugs for him began to be seen and heard. The daily papers lined up for Langdon with uniformity: the only exception the Observer noted was a hesitant editorial in the Jacksonville Daily Progress suggesting that it is not healthy for the major oil companies to control the state agency that regulates them. Gen. Preston Weatherred’s advisory to “interested parties”a conservative bellweathersaid Langdon’s nomination was second in importance only to Connally’s. Weatherred’s name appeared in the advertisements of endorsement, along with these others, signifying much: in Austin, lawyers Edward Clark and Frank Denius; lobbyists Jim Taylor, Grogan Lord, Bob Bullock, J. Manley Head, Martin Harris, Pearce Johnson, Wade Spilman, Claude C. Wild, Harry Whitworth, James Presnal, Vernon Lemens, and Callan Graham; Price Dan iel, Will Wilson, W. W. Heath. In Houston, Leon Jaworski, Searcy Bracewell, Dillon Anderson, David T. Searls. . . . In Dallas, Carr P. Collins, W. Dawson Sterling, John McKee, Ed Gossett, John Stemmons. Ads appeared emphasizing Owens’ past defeats and calling him a “ten-time loser” \(later ads specified eleven political defeats he had been a county judge four years, a district attorney four years, and a district judge nine years. Owens also managed one major ad, entitled “The Real Issue, Major Oil Companies vs. 10,000,000 Texans.” Langdon’s victory was overwhelming. The Legislature Becomes More Conservative Rep. Joe Cannon, Mexia, mounted an assiduous campaign against the old-timer from Bryan, Sen. Bill Moore, but Moore prevailed. Labor had sided with Cannon. In West Texas, to replace retiring right-wing Sen. Frank Owen of El Paso, there comes Rep. Pete Snelson of Midland or Rep. George Cook of Odessa, conservatives. Cook was able to sport, in newspaper advertisements, endorsements by telegram from Gov. John Connally, Atty. Gen. Waggoner Carr, Speaker Byron Tunnell, and Sens. Owen, Dorsey Hardeman, David Ratliff, and H. J. Blanchard, but Snelson finished ahead of Cook. Sen. Don Kennard, Fort Worth liberal, has to face a conservative, Don Woodward, in a runoff. Rep. Don Gladden, another Fort Worth liberal, was eliminated from first go-round. Kennard is the obvious favorite. The most vituperative Senate campaign occurred in Corpus Christi, where Sen. Bruce Reagan, feeling himself sorely challenged by Rep. Ronald Bridges, accused Bridges of having a teamsters’ endorsement and dragged Crystal City into the race. The Caller-Times editorially objected to Reagan’s use of a Caller-Times article stating the teamsters had endorsed Bridges, although the newspaper subsequently ran an article reporting from the teamsters that the item was in error. Large newspaper ads for Reagan proclaimed, in black type, “The Facts You Deserve to Know About Ronald Bridges and the Teamsters.” Bridges’ defeat removed one more liberal from the House. Liberal leadership in the House of Representatives was attenuated further by the returns in the House races. In San Antonio, Rep. Rudy Esquivel, who was regarded as one of the ablest liberals in the House, was the only casualty of a drive to throw out the Alamo City incumbents. The San Antonio Express endorsed six challengers; only Esquivel’s opponent won among them. Reps. John Alaniz and Jake Johnson, who openly participated in the Crystal City coup, were renominated. A television sportscaster, Bud Sherman, knocked off Rep. Hugh Parmer of Fort Worth, a liberal. Parmer said in advance of the voting that he felt overwhelmed by the TV figure’s well-financed campaign. Ex-Rep. B. H. Dewey of Bryan, a liberal veteran who was defeated previously, tried for a comeback, but lost to Rep. David Haines, Bryan. Two union men, rubber worker Jesse Sapp of Waco and oilworker Harry Joiner of Wichita Falls, lost to incumbents they were challenging. Conservatives won in Dallas and Austin as expected. While PASO, the Political Assn. of Spanish-Speaking Organizations, sustained a blow to its prestige when Albert Fuentes, Jr., ran far behind for lieutenant governor, PASO did pretty well in some respects. Its state chairman, Bexar Cty. Cmsr. Albert Pena, almost won re-election over four opponents without a runoff. PASO-endorsed Gregory Montoya of Elsa narrowly defeated Rep. Bill Coughran, McAllen. Hidalgo Cty. PASO endorsed Raul Longoria, Pharr, over the former PASO leader, Martin Garcia of Kingsville, and Longoria won. PASO failed in its attempt to defeat Sheriff C. L. Sweeten of Zavala County and to elect Mrs. Virginia Musquiz of Crystal City to the legislature. Against PASO’s limited advances, one must set the losses liberals sustained in the HouseParmer, Esquivel, and C. W. Pearcy, Jr., who retired; the candidates who ran and lost Senate races, Bridges, Gladden, and Cannon; and the three House members who tried for Congress, Max Carriker of Roby, McGregor, and Rodriguez. Nearly all of the liberals who will not be back had performed significant leadership roles in the House on one or more issues. The liberals’ rout was saved from being a disaster by the return of two liberal leaders who had been stiffly challenged: Rep. Dick Cherry of Waco and Rep. Bob Eckhardt of Houston. Eckhardt charges that $100,000 was spent in an attempt to defeat him, and casual perusal of the newspapers in Houston in advance of the primary revealed an unusual quantity of newspaper advertising against him on behalf of his principal opponent, Art Forbes. Forbes charged that Eckhardt had introduced a personal income tax proposal. Eckhardt beat both his opponents without a runoff, getting 52.5% of the vote. Probably the most extensive expenditure in recent years bearing on a mere state representative’s position was an entire advertising supplement in the Houston dailies, warning that thousands of jobs depended on the shell dredgers’ cause and berating Eckhardt in “stories” for his part in the conservation dispute. With congressional redistricting impending, it is likely that Eckhardt will run for Congress from Houston in 1966, which was one factor behind the concentrated attempt to knock him off this year while he was running for a lesser office for which it is more difficult to raise large campaign chests. Otherwise in Houston, the incumbents won, or made runoffs. Barbara Jordan, the Negro leader, made a strong showing against Rep. Willis Whatley \(62,000 for Clyde Miller, formerly a liberal member of the Houston delegation, came within 4,000 votes of turning out Rep. Henry C. Grover, another conservative incumbent. Both the Harris County Democrats, \(the liberal “slate cards”; the H.C.D.’s published their in the newspaper. The conservative card contained the notation to voters, “This does not restrict your vote in November” \(to The oyster beds controversy ramified into the election to the liberals’ benefit when the “Committee for Conservation” endorsed a slate of liberal candidates in the newspapers. Speaker Byron Tunnell breezed past S. G. Hanks in Tyler. Wayne Connally of Floresville, the governor’s brother, won. One of the best-publicized members of the lower chamber, Rep. James Cotten of Weatherford, was beaten by Tom Holmes of Granbury. Cotten was an independent conservative in the House; he was always fighting some unexpected battle, trying to knock a swimming pool out of a college budget or raising a question about lobbyists that might be embarassing to Tunnell’s team. He was also chairman of the constitutional amendments committee and an overt foe of the women’s equal rights campaign, which may have been what did him in. May 15, 1964 7