ustxtxb_obs_1972_11_17_50_00013-00000_000.pdf

Eckhardt gets an At The New Republic, which is surely one of the most, if not the most, consistently intelligent liberal publications in the country, has come out with its annual ratings of congressmen. The Texas delegation, as per usual, gets a dismal grade, with one bright exception U.S. Rep. Bob Eckhardt of Houston. On the 12 key votes picked out by The New Republic, Eckhardt voted right 11 times and was absent on the 12th. The next high scorer from our gang was Henry Gonzalez of San Antonio, voting right 6 times out of 12 and absent once, followed by Jack Brooks of Beaumont, who was counted right five times and absent once, and Wright Patman, right four times and absent twice. Thereafter, the records trail off into hopeless wrongthinking and we seem to have set some sort of awfulness record by having seven of our 24 congressmen bottom out with perfect zero records. The supine seven are Jim Collins of Dallas, Ray Roberts of McKinney, Bill Archer of Houston, Omar Burleson of Anson, Bob Price of Pampa, George Mahon of Lubbock and 0. C. Fisher of San Angelo. Even John Dowdy comes out with a better record than that bunch. Of the dynamic duo that comprises our representation in the U.S. Senate, Tower came up with a perfect zip and Bentsen got four out of 12 right with one absent. For details of the votes selected, see the Oct. 28 issue of NR. Well, what’s a week without at least one Bullock adventure? The amiable Secretary of State has taken it into his head to start an anti-John Connally crusade. “Now, you might think that me bein’ just a minor state official and him a member of Richard Nixon’s cabinet that it is kinda like the case of the flea that crawled up a elephant’s leg with rape in mind. But I got some ideas on Mr. Connally. He ain’t never done nothin’ but get shot in Dallas. He got the silver bullet. He needs to come back here and get hisseif shot once every six months. I attack Connally on his vanity. He’s terrible bad vain, y’know. Hell, if George McGovern got hisself a $600 Cardin suit and dyed his hair blue like Connally does, maybe he could do him some good. Connally gets his face lifted too. That’s one I’m spreadin’ around.” On the substantive end, Bullock was set off by the interim campaign financial report of Connally’s Democrats for Nixon organization. Of the $2.25 million raised by DFN, almost $2 million of it came directly from CREEP and 70 percent of the remainder came in fatcat chunks of $1,500 or more. Bullock is a bear for finding out who really gave how Political Intelligence much to whom, as much, one suspects, because he wants to know himself as because of his noble concern for the people’s right to know. Bullock was frustrated by the reams of efficient-looking computer print-outs accompanying the Dems for Nixon campaign expense reports: he says they’re designed to confuse anybody who tries to trace the sources of the money. “They’ve got committees creating committees and passing money back and forth until it is impossible to tell where their money came from or where it was spent. If this is the type of report Connally used when he was Secretary of the Treasury, we need a quick audit of Fort Knox.” Scooped How embarassing. Scooped by the Baptist Christian Life Commission. The Baptists say that state legislators are being bribed by gambling interests. Tiny mummies! The commission stated in a report to the convention of the Baptist General Convention, “There has been an unbelievable, blatant attempt to buy votes by offering campaign contributions to those who will promise to vote for legalized gambling.” Alas, the Commission’s report does not name any legislator or candidate who has received a contribution from gambling interests. But Dr. James Dunn, executive secretary of the Commission, said some legislators who have been offered such contributions but who refused them will come forward later. The Commission will reportedly distribute a list of Texas legislative candidates who have told the Commission they oppose legalized gambling but who have also told pro-gambling lobbyists that they favor legalized gambling. Atty. Gen. Crawford Martin has . issued a one-page opinion stating that female employees of the state are entitled to maternity leave with pay regardless of their marital status. The length of the maternity leave is still dependent on the amount of sick leave the employee has accumulated. The maximum is 36 days. luckless reporters who had to cover the last days of Dolph Briscoe’s campaign. Briscoe has perfected the art of saying absolutely nothing at great length. Valiant Bo Byers of the Houston Chronk gamely produced the following hard news lead with a Carthage dateline: “Dolph Briscoe predicted today that the 1973 legislative session will be a problem-solving one which will make some of the greatest contributions in Texas history.” Nice try, Bo. Ron Calhoun of the Dallas Times-Herald did a little better one fine day when he found himself desperate on deadline, as reporters following Briscoe always are. Grover had blasted. Briscoe earlier in the day, saying that the only program Dolph has is to endorse motherhood and apple pie. Calhoun, inspired, asked Briscoe if he is in fact in favor of motherhood. Briscoe said he certainly is and Calhoun used it as a lead. However, Briscoe has not yet taken a stand on apple pie. A Dallas Legal Services Project survey indicates that Southwestern Bell Telephone charges more for installing phones in poor folks’ homes than it does in average wage earners’ homes. The DSLP charges that average-income customers pay $43.45 for a security deposit, compared to $50 paid by low-income residents. The average deposit for poor customers without prior telephone usage was found to be $72.50, compared to $48.62 for others surveyed. The Dallas phone company has asked the city for permission to raise an additional $16.8 million in revenues from service charges next year. The DSLP is trying to get low-income customers exempted from the rate increase. And what has Ralph Nader done for you lately? Among other things, his Congress Project has produced a profile of Sen. John Tower which includes the following quote from Little John, the people’s man: “$42,500 a year is just not a living wage.” Pity, please Pity, pity and succor, please, for the a