ustxtxb_obs_1974_10_04_50_00010-00000_000.pdf

interest them in helping the company finance a pipeline to transport the gas to their area. There wasn’t sufficient interest, according to Wyatt, so he went to C.A. Tatum, chairman of the Texas Utilities board. \(Tatum and T. L. Austin, Texas Utilities’ president, are the “most forward-looking utilities men in Texas,” Wyatt said. He said that Texas Utilities started mining lignite and planning for nuclear facilities while the utilities people in Austin and San Antonio just sat around Wyatt said he and the Texas Utilities people worked out a deal whereby TUFCO laid a 30-inch pipeline to Dallas and agreed to pay 60 percent of the cost of the gas moved to Dallas. Lo-Vaca supplied the gas and Coastal States and Lo-Vaca got the free use of TUFCO’s 20-inch pipeline to the Gulf Coast, thus providing some of Lo-Vaca’s customers with additional gas. City officials in both San Antonio and Austin insist they had no knowledge of the deal between Coastal States and TUFCO. Austin Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas has voted more wrong than right on the national AFL-CIO’s latest cumulative voting record. Bentsen is running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976. As of the latest U.S. unions’ report on the 1974 Congress in The AFL-CIO News dated Sept. 7, Bentsen has voted wrong 30 times and right 25 times since he has been a senator on the test issues American labor has chosen as those that are most important to the public interest. In the 1974 Congress, labor says he voted wrong six times and right five. Labor said Bentsen voted wrong on these six issues this year: He voted against overriding Nixon’s veto of emergency energy powers which included a price rollback for domestic crude oil. The Senate on Mar. 6 failed to 10 The Texas Observer MARTIN ELFANT SUN LIFE OF CANADA LIFE HEALTH DENTAL 600 JEFFERSON SUITE 430 HOUSTON, TEXAS 224-0686 Wyatt says the terms of the agreement were “well known in advance.” At the House hearing, Wyatt professed himself to be an admirer of the Federal Power Commission. He endorsed the establishment of a state utilities commission, which would take over the Railroad Commission’s duties in the area of utilities regulaton. Wyatt said that under no circumstances should the commission’s members be elected. He suggested that one member be appointed by the governor, two by the House and two by the Senate, to serve six-year rotating terms of office. The commissioners should be “well paid,” Wyatt said. Asked about the general fiscal condition of the Coastal States empire, Wyatt said the parent company and the other subsidiaries , are “profitable,” although continued support of Lo-Vaca could change the situation. In May, Wyatt told Coastal States stockholders that the company expects record earnings this year. K.N. override by the necessary two-thirds, favoring an override 58-40. He voted against no-fault insurance, which passed the Senate May 1, 53-42. “The bill,” The AFL-CIO News said, “would cut costs by reducing legal fees, better allocate premium dollars, and provide immediate and full compensation by insurance companies to accident victims.” Bentsen voted against tabling \(that is, he safety act that would have permitted discretionary rather than mandatory employer penalties for serious safety violations. On May 7 the Senate tabled this, 47-41. Bentsen, on May 15, voted for a would have prohibited the busing of school children between schools even when no other constitutional remedy for racial discrimination was available. This proposal was tabled, 47-46. Bentsen voted for an amendment by to strikers and their families. This amendment was defeated, 52-31. On another labor issue, Bentsen voted against an attempt to kill a bill that would permit, on the Pacific Islands, a 160-clay injunction over and above the 80-day cooling-off period provided in the 1947 Taft-Hartley law. Labor says this affects West Coast maritime trade with the islands, including Hawaii. The attempt to kill the bill failed July 17, 31-65. Bentsen voted right this year, labor said, on these five issues: prohibit unions from collecting voluntary funds for contributions to campaign. Bentsen opposed this. It was defeated 53-36 on April 3. Bentsen voted against extending standby wage and price control authority and providing for wage-price monitoring, and the extension failed, 56-32 on May 1. \(However, Bentsen currently advocates give the secretary of defense veto power over exports to Russia when they could be of possible military use. Bentsen voted against an attempt to kill this proposal, and it was not killed, 50-40, on June 11. On extending NLRA protection to workers in non-profit hospitals, Bentsen voted aye July 10; and the legislation passed, 64-29. An amendment to put labor-management relations under the Consumer Protection Agency was defeated, 49-42, on July 16, and Bentsen voted against this attempt. The AFL-CIO says Sen. John Tower, R.-Tx., has a cumulative record of 82 wrong votes and seven right and that this year, on the eleven test issues, he voted wrong nine times and right two on ending wage-price controls and on Soviet trade. On the House side, the AFL-CIO chose 11 issues involving consumer protection, public service jobs, voter registration, legal services for the poor, rising oil profits, low-cost public power, land use planning, food stamps for strikers, job safety, collective bargaining for hospital workers and union political activities. According to the closely-printed AFL-CIO table on members of the Texas delegation, here is how Texans voted, “right” votes first, “wrong” votes second, and the 1974 Congress total first, the cumulative total second, the congressspecified: Patman, 7-2, 95-34; Wilson, 9-2, 19-3; Roberts, 2-8, 31-64; Teague, 1-9, 38-94; Eckhardt, 11-0, 65-3; Brooks, 8-2, 113-21; Pickle, 5-3, 48-35; Poage, 2-6, 55-72; Wright, 7-3, 87-35; Young, 7-4, 86-35; de la Garza, 4-6, 49-28; White, 2-9, 34-48; Burleson, 0-11, 25-115 ; Jordan, 10-1, 21-1; Mahon, 4-6, 45-95; Gonzalez, 9-1, 95-4; Fisher, 0-11, 15-122; Casey, 3-7, 36,75; Kazen, 5-4, 50-17; Milford, 1-8, 5-15. R.D. Lloyd’s labor record