ustxtxb_obs_1966_04_29_50_00008-00000_000.pdf

ring I’ve ever heard. It was kind of a glib answer coming from a man who didn’t support the President’s program.” Spears, obviously harried by Connally’s efforts against him, indicated that he would start fighting back harderfirst, with the information that of the three candidates, only Spears has qualified to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court, and that Martin left the University of Texas law school without a law degree. GALLOWAY CALHOUN, JR., of Tyler is the most conservative of the candidates, the only candidate to have worked as a prosecutor or an assistant attorney general, and the candidate least likely to win. His strategy, he said last week in his windowless office in an Austin building, will be to force Martin out of a runoff primary spot. Calhoun is counting on a heavy vote in East Texas, his home region, where several heated races \(DiesDowdy, Roberts-Beckworth, Colson-Moore, a high voter turnout. Calhoun talks less about Spears’ COPE endorsement than Martin does, and talks little about Martin at all other than to chide him for his reluctance to appear with his opponents. Talking about the Houston COPE convention, Calhoun said, “I didn’t go because I didn’t feel that the great majority of the programs there were in the best interest of Texas. I didn’t see the sense of seeking the bloc endorsement of COPE. “Up to this time, I don’t know of any occasion where Martin has appeared on the same platform with Spears. I have appeared with Spears four or five times, and one of those was a debate. Apparently, Franklin and I don’t mind inviting comparison. “I think it’s clear that Crawford has voted about half and half, and Spears has voted pretty consistently along the lines organized labor likes, and I have voted along the lines of business.” Calhoun voted in the Senate against final passage of the amended code of criminal procedure, and he has enumerated the faults he finds with it and wants the legislature to change. For example, a peace justice costs provision which had been killed as a simple bill was returned in the conference committee version of the code, which passed, and Calhoun would like to see the old language restored. “As it is now, the judge can’t tell a jury the effect of a suspended sentence,” Calhoun said. “In fact, the jury can’t even be advised of the pardon and parole laws.” Calhoun wants, as Spears says h6 does, to see the minimum time before parole lengthened. The old law said one-third of the sentence, and the new code, onequarter. Calhoun is also concerned over what he considers to be unnecessary speed in haling a suspect before a magistrate and, as Spears, believes that a suspect does not need to be advised so many times of his rights to counsel. Calhoun also is disturbed about confusing language in the new misdemeanor probation section, which, 8 The Texas Observer he says, allows some who face trials to pay a fine and receive a suspended sentence, but never requires them to face final conviction. Calhoun is, as his opponents are not so much, ready to admit that the attorney general is primarily a civil, not a criminal, lawyer. “By and large, the function of the attorney general is in the civil field as counsel for the state and all of its boards and agencies. There is no other officer who has the right to tell the attorney general what position he should take, and his opinions are binding on the boards and agencies until they are tested in court.” ALTHOUGH CALHOUN would not speak of the effect Connally’s actions on behalf of Martin have had upon his campaign, he did stress the independence he feels the attorney general must maintain: “I definitely feel that I have no strings or ties that would, in any way, prevent me from completing the functions of the officeno bloc organizations or other party officials . . . I won’t say that . . . other persons . .. in carrying out the duties of Austin There will be the usual fight between national and Texas Democrats for control of the Texas Democratic Party this year. Beginning with precinct conventions the evening of May 7th after the voting, culminating in the state convention Sept. 20, those who call themselves Democrats in Texas will decide whichthe liberals or the tories, Sen. Yarborough or Gov. Connallywill control the state party. Connally has attended closed meetings of Dallas precinct leaders, bracing them for the onslaught expected from the liberal Democrats. Yarborough attended a closed meeting of liberal and labor leaders in Austin upon his return from the interparliamentary conference in Australia. In Houston Connally leaders are distributing a paper called “Project Dozen,” outlining how a Connally person can get a dozen people to work on precincts. “Twentieth Century Democrats for the Great Society,” with Mrs. Jean Lee of Austin as temporary secretary, has mailed out letters to Yarborough Democrats statewide, calling for a return of the Texas party to the principles and legislative program of President Johnson’s Great Society. This being a rather strange year in Texas politics, there was, latently, some question whether the liberals would fight for party control again this year. But then the free’ registration period for voting happened, and 635,000 new voters qualified. This qualified them for precinct conventions as well as for voting. “Things are stirring,” said a liberal leader in the precinct fight this week. “It’s quiet, but there really is unrest in Texas. I don’t know whether it’s going to be crystallized into the office on behalf of the people of Texas. “In fact, if I have one big fault in practical political life, it’s the problem that I’m too independent.” He said that, if necessary, “The state must accept the responsibility of offering financial assistance to the cities and counties.” His main innovation as attorney general, he said, would be to establish a separate desk in the office to defend Texas against what he calls “further invasion of state sovereignty.” This desk’s activities would not be confined to the courts. “We ought to have a special division whose primary concern is to preserve the proper division of state and federal authoritiesnot just through the courts, but by advising people through the media when Congress considers measures taking over the functions of state government. “In a republic, the people are going to be happier if the laws are closer to them. The closer the government is to the people, the happier they are going to be with the laws. This is a very definite feeling I have had for a long time.” L.L. something this time or not, but there certainly is unrest.” “I don’t anticipate a rump convention, but I wouldn’t be surprised,” Gov. Connally has said. Roy Evans, secretary-treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO, has predicted Texas will have two state conventions in September, “one of national Democrats and one of Connally Democrats.” Hank Brown, state labor president, says the issue is whether national or Connally Democrats will control the Texas party machinery going into the 1968 national Democratic convention. A PRECINCT CONVENTION generally is decided by one test vote \(alcome on election of officers or on resolutions. The state’s two Democratic fatlions mail to their precinct supporters test resolutions, on which the key votes often occur. The Connally group’s resolutions have not yet appeared, but this week the 20th Century Democrats, the Yarborough side, mailed out five resolutions, the key one of which is symbolic: “Resolved that our Texas Democratic Party enthusiastically supports the programs of the Great Society of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Senator Ralph W. Yarborough \(and local Congressmen where for the aims and principles of the Great Society and to those dedicated Texans who have provided the leadership to improve the lives of the citizens of this state and this nation.” The other four resolutions . propose: Limiting a governor to two two-year 3. Precincts: the polls close and the schism opens.