ustxtxb_obs_1975_08_22_50_00013-00000_000.pdf

At long last Austin One keeps wondering how the situation in Duval County could possibly get any more screwed up than it already is. One sad thing about Judge 0. P. Carrillo’s impeachment by the House of Representatives is that it automatically removes him from office pending his trial in the Senate. And that in turn will prevent Carrillo from presiding over the disbarment proceedings brought against Archer Parr in Carrillo’s court. Rep. Terry Canales, who introduced the resolution to have Carrillo impeached, was to have acted as Parr’s attorney in that proceeding. Now that would have been a record, even for Duval County. But the House spoiled the fun by impeaching Carrillo on Aug. 5 by a vote of 128-16. It took the House only two days to arrive at this “historic” decision. There never seemed to be any question in anybody’s mind but that the House select committee that had investigated Carrillo had come up with enough evidence to justify an impeachment vote. However, quite a few folks had serious doubts about whether impeachment was the best way to get rid of Carrillo. It is, for certain sure, the most expensive way possible. Rep. Paul Moreno of El Paso and Rep. Dan Kubiak of Rockdale, neither of whom is chiefly famous as a penny-pincher, both groused that the process could cost the state up to a million bucks. “This should have been taken care of by disbarment proceedings or by the Judicial Qualifications Commission,” said Rep. Gonzalo Barrientos of Austin. The trouble is, neither the bar nor the JQC has yet acted to oust Carrillo, though both bodies have hearings underway. The fact is that they have been intolerably slack about it. “They don’t deserve a slap on the wrist,” said one lawmaker, “they deserve a slug in the jaw.” The JQC, which is the state body officially entrusted with monitoring the activities of the judiciary, is not a hive of activity at the best of times. One of the main reasons advanced for preferring the impeachment procedure was that the Senate can not only convict Carrillo but additionally see to it that he is never again allowed to serve in public office. Of course, conviction of a felony would serve the same purpose \(Carrillo is up on several counts of federal income tax unfortunate precedent. The late Duke of Duval George Parr was once convicted of a felony and did time in prison. However, he managed to get himself a presidential pardon and then went back to holding office. Among some of the more sensitive House members, uneasiness was created by the political nature of the whole proceeding. The impeachment resolution was, after all, the work of Terry Canales, and Canales is, after all, allied with Parr and Parr is, after all, involved in a desperate power struggle with Carrillo. The question for some members was whether the Legislature of Texas properly belonged in the middle of a grimy political fight. The chicanos in the House were so emphatically split on the matter that it became known as “the Mexican standoff.” Though no chicano representative would say so for public consumption, at least part of their concern stemmed from a sneaking feeling that there was a little racism involved in the whole impeachment effort. Of Carrillo’s wrong-doing, few of them had any doubt. But Carrillo, who has been in control or attempting to gain control of Duval for only about six months, got his brown self impeached. The anglo Parrs have run Duval County in a fashion everyone admits is outrageous for the last 65 years. And no one ever impeached them. There was some understandable resentment, even though no one was really for Carrillo. Rep. Craig . Washington, a black liberal from Houston, made most of the procedural motions against the impeachment. Washington kept trying to say that the process was unconstitutional ILL Ati Ze i rE NIADAI EX. S do .1 , 1 2116 BROWSE GARNER TILL 10:00 P.M. MONDAY thru FRIDAY Now In Our 13th Ycir of *Kyles/ to Austin AND SMITH—-1 B4r TORE 1 , Guadalupe Austin, Texas 71705 477-9725 \(though it is difficult to see how a process set out in the constitution can be the House’s peerless parliamentarian, doing his dynamic imitation of the Supreme Court at several points. Part of the problems seemed to stem from the ignorance of some members. For some reason, the excellent work done by the select committee \(comps, by the way, to chairman Rep. DeWitt Hale of Corpus, the committee members, and counsel Terry not widely available to members. But Canales, who has never previously been noted for his eloquence, went straight to the heart of the charge that politics was behind the impeachment effort. “Over the last 35 years,” he said, “the only opportunity to investigate [the plight of the people in Duval and Jim Hogg Counties] has been caused by a political split.” With that, most everyone voted to impeach Carrillo. Governor Briscoe has set trial in the Senate for early September and the prosecutor in the case will be none other than Leon Jaworski, taking on the job unpaid as yet one more public service. M.I. August 22, 1975 13 CLASSIFIED Classified advertising is 20d per word. Discounts for multiple insertions within a 12-month period; 26 times, 50%; 12 times, 25%; 6 times, 10%. BOOKPLATES. Free catalog. Many beautiful designi. Special designing too. Address: BOOKPLATES, P.O. Box 28-1, Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387. PLAYING THE RECORDER IS EASY. Free catalog, best recorders, recorder music. Beginner’s Pearwood Soprano Book, $11.95. Amster Music, 1624 Lavaca, Austin. GUITAR PICKERS. Buy your guitar strings from us and save 20%. Mail orders accepted. Amster Music, 1624 Lavaca, Austin. JOIN THE ACLU. Membership $15. Texas Civil Liberties Union, 600 West 7th, Austin, Texas 78701. BOOK-HUNTING? No obligation search for rare or out-of-print books. Ruth and John McCully. Austin, Texas 78703. 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