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the largest question for the convention is whether there will be another intra-party snarl. The grievance of the seated Harris County delegation that Bexar County liberals were barred from the Houston convention persists, and could disrupt the harmony the President had made it known, clearly and definitely, that he wants. Again on the other hand, liberal leaders have no wish to have avoidable disagreeableness in state party politics at a time when it could not help Senator Yarborough’s re-election. Returning from Atlantic City, Connally seemed sick of conventions, and said he was shuddering at the thought of the one in Dallas. He made it clear the state plat-form will be more conservative than the national. “The national platform doesn’t alter my views,” he said. V The Dallas _Democrats’ situation has changed materially. Loyalists and liberals now control the county committee, and the 1,200-member North Dallas Democrats are so sure of their policies, they announced, in advance of an Aug. 29 campaign kickoff dinner, “Every one who shares our interest in electing all the Democratic candidates in November is welcome.” The executive committee has booted out Tom Unis, a conservative, as its secretary and installed in his stead Dan Weiser, an oil company mathematician and a liberal, and designated two other liberals as committee officers. It rejected the conservatives’ choice for legislative nominee-designate and chose instead James Stroud. County Democratic Chairman Bill Clark, whom the loyalists accused of welching on them to give the Dallas County delegation control to conservatives, has been superceded, if the committee has its way, in running party affairs and calling committee meetings; but he accuses “a junta of liberals” of trying to strip him of his statutory authority, which he says he will exercise. Democratic state committeeman John Gray, a Connally man, announced he will not back Stroud on the theory the voters rejected Stroud 2-1 in the primary, and Ed Winn, for the loyalists, retorted that since Stroud is the legal Democratic nominee, Gray has a duty to support him whether he likes it or not. V. In Houston, liberal County Democratic chairman Bill Kilgarlin said Demo crats who can’t back Johnson and all other party nominees should “get the hell out” of the party, later tempered his statement 12 The Texas Observer to say they should step’ aside and be quiet. When a member of the county Democratic committee, James M. Wells, had resigned to support Goldwater, Kilgarlin had said, “I think he has done the honorable thing.” V Parrish Cox, Democratic chairman in Nacogdoches County, resigned, saying he is for Connally, but cannot be for Johnson. He has been replaced. Connally has lost an able and know ledgeable, very conservative aide, Scott Sayers of Fort Worth, whose resignation became effective Aug. 31. The McLendons Expand Meeting in New Braunfels, the board of the Political Assn. of Spanish-speaklisting of public accommodations and industries in Texas that discriminate. State PASO chairman Albert Pena, county -commissioner in Bexar County, announced he will not be a candidate for re-election to his PASO job. V Hidalgo County PASO is one of the forces behind the appearance of a liberal bilingual Valley biweekly, “Tiempos Nuevos,” published out of Mercedes by Antonio Vela. Newsman and liberal Greg Olds is planning to start a liberal weekly in Dallas. The Dallas Morning News put the bite on businesses for contributions to underwrite its Aug. 23 special supplement, “The Story of the Texas Department of Public Safety.” Said the pitch from the News: “This program will require the News to seek a total sponsorship of $25,000. These contributions will come from companies such as yourscompanies who take a civic, state-wide pride in an excellent government agency. Individual sponsors will not be identified in this special section but the Director of the Department of Public Safety will ultimately receive from us a list of all the companies and associations who play a financial part in this special efforts publication.” The adless supplement carried a note mentioning the sponsorship of businesses and individuals, which and who were not named. Political defeats behind them, the Mc Lendons are cleaning up. The McLendon Corp., through board chairman Barton R. McLendon and president Gordon B. McLendon, announced construction of the largest drive-in theater in Texas, for 2,000 cars, in Dallas, on 28 acres of land bought for $840,000; construction of four other drive-in theaters, in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Buffalo, N.Y.; and purchase of a San Francisco radio station and another one in Chicago. V Shirley Wilson, wife of Austin dance studio operator and ultra-conservative Bob Wilson, has already launched her campaign for the state legislature, complete with radio spots. The Travis County Republican standard-bearer plans a strong race to unseat conservative Democratic Rep. Don Cavness. g o o Certain liberal factions in Austin and Houston, alarmed by the possibility of U.S. Rep. Jim Wright or Atty. Gen. Wag goner Carr winning the 1966 Democratic nomination to oppose Sen. John Tower, are talking up Dan Sullivan for the race. Sullivan, the young Andrews attorney who polled more than 200,000 on a poor-boy campaign for congressman-at-large this year, reportedly is willing, if the money rolls in. A Valley radio station says Gov. Connally may oppose Tower. News from the Wings g o. What, asked the Houston Post, is “extremism”? Said Sen. Yarborough: “The big money political goon squads in Texas that have vilified and slandered me for 12 years are the ‘extremists’ I have had the most personal experience with.” Said Gov. Connally : “Webster’s definition of ‘extreme’ includes ‘most remote’ and ‘immoderate.’ Political extremism, therefore, is remote from ideals and values of the majority and immoderate in its approach to problems.” V Cong. Henry Gonzalez charges that in fiscal 1960 alone, the Army gave away 40 million rounds of ammunition at a cost of $1.1 million to the government and is making rifles available to the guerilla-type “Minutemen” through the National Rifle Assn., which he said they join. V Christian Crusade \(that of Billy James Dallas and resolved for the defense of God, local police officers, and the McCarranWalter immigration law, a purge of the American press for “slanted reporting,” and an end to government harassment of patriotic radio programs. V Saul Friedman of the Houston Chroni cle attended an indoctrination-of-newmembers session of a John Birch society chapter in Houston. Ten people joined. Periodically H. L. Hunt, the Dallas oil zillionaire, gets worried about his image and talks to reporters. Last month, in interviews with the New York Times and the AP, Hunt said he stopped making political contributions to candidates around 1958, preferring since then to concentrate on “freedom education.” He said he has not decided yet whom he favors for president. He has no enthusiasm for fascism, he said; he has “always opposed tyranny.” Nor, he said, has he financed the Black Muslims. V For the record, as one supposes some of our readers noticed in the papers, the Richard Goodrow whose story-editorial on the civil rights law in the Muleshoe paper was reprinted in July, has been fired as editor of the paper, as he anticipated he might be because of pressure from the local , John Birch chapter. V Robert Orange of Houston is spokes man for a group of Houston and Austin . socialists who say they are working for Clifton DeBerry and Edward Shaw, presidential and vice-presidential nominees of the Socialist Workers Party. . . . The Houston Socialist Forum sponsored a speech in Houston by John W. Stanford, the San Antonio Marxist, on the 1964 elections. It was announced in advance that Stanford would be joined on the panel by Lyndon Henry, identified as chairman of the Young People’s Socialist League in Austin. 0 SPLIT RAIL INN 217 South Lamar Where Union Men Meet