ustxtxb_obs_1973_07_13_50_00001-00000_000.pdf

.49,”,6404-. BSERVER A Journal of Free Voices 250 A Window to the South July 13, 1973 Dukes up Free-for-all in Texas labor THE TEXA Austin The Texas AFL-CIO is fixing to have itself a butt-busting. If state President Roy Evans manages to get himself re-elected at the bi-annual labor convention, July 11-13, it won’t be by much. Such is the popular wisdom among labor types around the state with two weeks to go before the election. Although both sides claim to stand for a progressive, aggressive and humanistic program, to most outside observers this race looks like a fight over personality, style and leadership. Basically, there is only one candidate. His naive is Roy Evans and labor will either vote for him or against him. His opponent Harry Hubbard is the Number Two man in the state labor hierarchy. Hubbard, by nigh-universal assent, is a genuinely sweet-natured man, a gentle, honest person. As one honcho put it, “If Harry gets elected, he’ll be the closest thing to a Christian we’ve ever had in that office.” But Hubbard’s detractors charge him with being, if not incompetent, at least ineffectual. It is also asserted that he hasn’t had an idea of his own in the last 10 years. He is not, at least in personal style, a forceful man. Evans himself has a two-year record pocked with errors and hostilities to defend. Evans has a peculiarly ambivalent attitude toward his own mistakes some, those that stemmed from definite actions he has taken, he admits with disarming bluntness, no attempt at cover-up or putting them in a cosmetic light. But the mistakes that stem from the way he handles people he seems genuinely not to see. For example, he sees the current move against him as a cabal of his old enemies, those who fought him two years ago. “They never signed on the program,” he said in disgust, “they never got on board.” But a former labor leader with a well-developed political sense reverses the blame. “Roy never reached out to those people who were against him two years ago,” he said. “He never made any attempt to win them over, tb get them to Roy Evans participate. Sam Rayburn used to say, `You better make a new friend every day, ’cause you’re sure as hell losing your old ones.’ Roy never made any new friends, never even tried to make converts, and he sure as hell alienated his old friends.” Another former labor staffer said, “Roy has shit all over everybody at some time in the last 10 years and I know it as well as anybody because it’s happened to me. And the only thing to do is to just walk off, kick the wall, cuss and remember that he’s the only guy around who’s goin’ anywhere and doin’ anything. Roy can be just as arbitrary and as mean as hell and the funny thing is that after he’s done it, he really doesn’t remember it. The trouble is that he’s done this to a lot of people who have no humor and no perspective. They think Roy’s irresponsible because he does this kind of thing but the truth is that they have no respect for competente. They’re a bunch of time servers. I think this [campaign against Evans] is an exercise in complete juvenile misbehavior. It’s the same song, second verse. Hank [former AFL-CIO President Hank Brown, a long-time foe of Evans’] was brazenly ‘ incompetent but he had style. Harry hasn’t even got style. These guys are a bunch of fickle finks. Just remember that Roy’s ability to deal in this kind of atmosphere has kept him in power for a long time now. I wouldn’t bet against him if I were you. There’s no leadership in the whole damn bunch opposing him. Roy’s easy to get mad at and to stay mad at, but there’s not an idea in the whole truckload of those other guys. Harry would make a real great Sunday school teacher.” If there is anything more to this election than the fight between those who have been dumped on by Evans and can take it and those who can’t, they lie in two areas the pro and anti-establishment question and Evans’ mistakes. One Evans’ fan points out that the whole flap over Evans’ dumping on people is a made-up issue. “If you had been around when Hank Brown was president, then you would know what arbitrary really means,” she said. In general, Evans foes stand for the Establishment and Evans stands \(or would There have always been some Texas labor