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friend, to come in on the venture. “It’s not any big deal. It’s an investment. That’s all it is. . . . I didn’t abrogate all my friendships when I went on the Railroad Commission.” Your regencyships The normally quiescent Austin American-Statesman has been going after the University of Texas regents neck or nothing. First Brenda Bell reported that university police administrators regularly chauffeur some regents in state-owned cars. Regents Allan Shivers and Ed Clark, both of Austin, used 65 percent of the free transport offered by the police. Most of the trips were business-related, but sometimes they got rides to social events. Next came a juicier story. It seems that half of the nearly $130 million banked by the UT system is in institutions where regents 8 The Texas Observer Jim Langdon Bob Wieland are major stockholders or directors. The largest chunk, $30 million, is in Austin National Bank where regents’ chairman Shivers is a stockholder and officer. Three years ago when Shivers was appointed a regent, Austin National had only $9.3 million in deposits. Capital National Bank, where regent Clark is senior chairman of the board and regent Lady Bird Johnson is a major stockholder, has $18.5 million in deposits, up from $9.1 million in ’73. Austin National and Capital National have two-thirds of UT’s $4.4 million in non-interest bearing cash deposits. Shivers says that UT’s bank deposits are placed in the banks that offer the best interest rates. He said that the regents have nothing to do with selecting banks for UT deposits. For three weeks, union shuttlebus drivers at the University of Texas have been on strike against Transportation Darden working on political coordination, Kay Sandlin in charge of administration, and Joyce Sampson coordinating volunteers. Here we go A national survey by Newhouse News Service and the Chicago Daily News shows Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter probably winning in 12 states \(with 108 electoral with 206 electoral president, since 270 electoral votes are enough to win. That is no idle “if,” however, as Carter’s own campaign admits: Polls show the Democrat’s support to be less than tenacious in many states now leaning toward him; President Ford intends to contest him hotly in some of those states; and there is the unknown quantity of the forthcoming national debates. Texas is one of those iffy states for Carter, and it is a key one, with 26 electoral votes. Carter’s chief political advisor, Charles Kirbo, says that their own polls show the campaign only 8 or 9 percent ahead of Ford in Texas, well below the substantial Carter edge in other Southern states. And, six weeks away from the general election, there has been little campaign visibility in the state. Now, however, Carter’s Texas effort is gearing up, and not a moment too soon in the view of many of his Texas supporters. A statewide office is open in Austin, headed by Georgian Chuck Parrish. Tony Proffitt, on leave from Insurance Commissioner Joe Christie’s office, serves as a deputy campaign coordinator and is right-hand-man to Parrish. In fact, there’s a covey of deputy campaign managers: Tony Canales of Corpus Christi and Rick Hernandez of Houston. working primarily in the Mexican-American community; David Gault, a Manor dairy farmer handling farm areas; State Rep. Mickey Leland of Houston, working primarily among blacks; John Dalton of Dallas, dealing with business and professional people; and Mary Beth Rogers, working with labor and on voter registration. Other staffers in the state headquarters include Al Reinert as press secretary, Hoyt Purvis as issues coordinator, Martha Tiller as scheduler and director of the speakers bureau, Lynn On the more ceremonial side, Land Commissioner Bob Armstrong and Democratic Party Chair Calvin Guest serve as co-chairs of the state campaign, while Gov. Dolph Briscoe heads a broadly based steering committee of prominent Democrats. Down to business, Parrish says he is operating on a budget in the neighborhood of $150,000, not including media producof Carter’s appearances in Texas. On the last point, Parrish claims that the importance of Texas will be shown by the “considerable number of days that Carter and his family will campaign in Texas,” though he declined to say how many. And, despite Janey Briscoe’s recent suggestion to vice presidential nominee Walter Mondale that he stay out of Texas until after the election, Parrish says that Mondale will campaign here. For campaign purposes, the state has been divided into 10 regions, “based on socio-economic factors, media markets, Democratic strength, and other considerations,” according to Parrish. The regions, and their coordinators, are: Region Coordinator City Regional Headquarters Dallas-Ft. Worth Martin Frost Dallas East Texas Bob Schaefers Tyler Houston Dick Trabulsi Houston Central Texas Rep. Ronnie Earle Austin Corpus Christi Art Zeitler Corpus Christi San Antonio Clinton Cross San Antonio West Texas Glyn Day, Jr. Odessa Panhandle Jim Uselton Amarillo El Paso T. Udell Moore El Paso Rio Grande Valley un-named un-named If good signs are needed, the Carter staff points to a Texas for the first time in memory. Parrish says the campaign has its budget in hand, its staff hired, its targeting done, and its materials in stockand he’s ready to unload on the Texas voter. J.H.