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matter-of-factly that he would not tolerate civil disorder in Texas, an assertion that would not be couched in the somewhat lurid terms that Smith employed in discussing civil disorder. Yarborough predicted that lack of respect for law in Texas “will be a fantasy rather than a reality” and pledged to reverse the rising crime rate. A second approach Yarborough took was to assert that Smith “has offered no specific programs to assure the safety of every Texan.” For his part Yarborough proposed a law enforcement academy, pledged to work for higher pay for law officers, and repeated his proposal to convene a law enforcement coordinating conference within 48 hours of his inaugura tion. Yarborough often voiced his charge that Smith would be a weak leader in the context of combatting crime. He noted that in Smith’s 18 years in government the Texas crime rate has tripled, though Yarborough did not specify how this might reflect on Smith’s ability to fight crime. As to Political Philosophy SMITH AND Yarborough exchanged few personal barbs though for a time the lieutenant governor waged a war on Yarborough’s political philosophy and prolonged absence from the country last year. As the month long runoff campaign got under .Way in early May, Smith clearly was intent on hanging the “ultra-liberal tag around Yarborough’s neck, a strategy that has worked well for conservative candidates in the past in Texas. Smith repeatedly referred to Yarborough as “my liberal opponent” or as a “radical liberal,” or as an “ultraliberal.” “If he isn’t, let him renounce the endorsement of the [Texas] AFL-CIO,” Smith said, adding that liberals are “for every conceivable type of service and against any taxes,” whereas conservatives favor only those programs considered “essential to the state.” “It is from ultraliberals,” Smith said during a Central Texas swing, “that our police got into the position of wearing straitjackets when trying to deal with criminals … I will take every means possible to see that the ideas of reason prevail instead of ultraliberal guilt feelings for the poor criminals … Texas could have a chaotic government if it should elect a governor who would submit to people whose philosophies are different. He could appoint to the University of Texas or A&M board of regents or to other offices some of those long-haired hippie weirdos.” At Victoria Smith expressed fears that Yarborough would appoint “long-haired weirdo, hippie-looking creatures” to positions in the state government. “The only issue in this race is whether to continue sound, proven, experienced leadership in this state or to turn the government over to radical, leftwing extremists such as we have in some Eastern states where the results have been chaotic,” Smith said at Pasadena. At Dallas Smith said Yarborough should turn his back “on the hazy-minded liberal giveaway programs being pushed by those who tell the government to pay them or they will burn down another neighborhood.” Ancillary to this assault on Yarborough for being a liberal was Smith’s assertion that substantial sums of out-of-state money from organized labor were being infused into the Yarborough campaign. June 7, 1968 5 Smith in Victoria said, “My opponent in this race is not a sincere liberal. He is a political opportunist of the worst kind. He is a radical placed in this race and supported financially by big Eastern labor bosses.” In Abilene earlier Smith had raised the question of out-of-state labor money being put into his opponent’s campaign. “What do the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union of New York and Trainmen’s Political Arm of Cleveland, Ohio, expect to get from the thousands of dollars that they and other big labor organizations have poured into my laborbossed opponent’s race? He owes the people of Texas an answer on this,” Smith said. “Big labor bosses don’t give away money for the fun of it. They buy things with their money.” In South Texas Smith asked, “If my ultraliberal opponent fluked into the governor’s chair, would Texas big labor control him and take control of the state? Or would the strings on this Eastern big labor money be so strong that my ultraliberal opponent would have to completely sell out the governor’s office and the entire state in return to these thousands of dollars in campaign funds coming from the Eastern union bosses?” Smith said he has received “not one dime from anybody out of state.” Smith’s third type of assault on Yarborough himself came about because of what the lieutenant governor called Yarborough’s career as a sunshine politician. “He goes to Europe on vacation when he is through with a campaign. He comes back in time for another race and starts his career as a professional candidate all over again,” Smith said. Despite his emphasis on the crime issues, Smith said his main aim as governor would be excellence in education. He often mentioned, in particular, greatly expanding vocational education. Other items he frequently mentioned were fostering industrial expansion, tourism, agriculture, water planning and development, and fighting pollution. YARBOROUGH was generally quite successful in turning aside Smith’s thrusts that related more to questions of Yarborough’s personal fitness than to more abstract issues of the campaign. In fact Yarborough was successful to the extent that Smith gave up mentioning Yarborough at all during speeches in the last ten days of the campaign. As for the assertion that Yarborough is a liberal, the Houston attorney sought throughout the campaign to avoid being so tagged, contending that such labels are outdated in Texas politics now. There are those who did not consider Yarborough sincere in this assertion. Smith said Yarborough’s denials were “the political joke of the year.” The Dallas News, a week before the runoff, noted in an editorial that Yarborough had told the New York Times in April, “There is probably no man in the country who is a better philosophical liberal than I am.” Yarborough “is nobody’s political fool,” the News editorial continued. “He knows that Texas is a conservative-to-moderate state …. To win, he must lull that majority to sleep. He must make conservatives feel so secure that they won’t show up on election day …. The base of Don Yarborough’s political support includes professional liberals, organized labor, and the minori. ties. The News believes the future of Texas should be entrusted to those of a sounder philosophy ….” Yarborough urgently sought to portray himself not as a liberal but as a candidate of tomorrow not of yesterday, a candidate of the people not of the lobbies, as a man who could work with, and unite, factions of Texas society that traditionally have been at oddslabor and management, minority groups and the well-to-do. For example, he cited his proposed vocational training program which would be a cooperative venture between labor and management; labor would furnish instructors and machinery, and other facilities would be donated by management. “Texas needs a governor who’ll not demagogue against business or demagogue against labor,” he said. Being interviewed by the Amarillo News-Globe, Yarborough said, “I am certain in my own mind that I am not a liberal and I am quite satisfied that I am not necessarily a conservative either that I am a man that has risen above labels and is willing to represent all sides …. I think the conservative-liberal labels are old-fashioned today. It is strictly out of date, and we must think in terms of who can come up with creative new approaches because so much of the old conservatism and so much of the old liberalism has held this state back. They have had conflicts that are really not germane to the needs of a modern Texas.”