ustxtxb_obs_1977_01_14_50_00010-00000_000.pdf

County Judge Ray Ramon. Judge Ramon, considered one of the Valley’s more promising political figures, says he is not interested in a post in the Carter administration but plans to remain in public office and active in Democratic party politics. `Medieval’ The Dallas Times Herald, not heretofore known for its criti cism of the governor, called Briscoe’s attitude toward the Zavala County Economic Development Corp. “appallingly ridiculous.” The ZCEDC is a nonprofit corporation with close ties to La Raza Unida. The Times Herald said maybe the proposed $1.5 million federal grant to the ZCEDC “is not a good idea” but Briscoe’s position in opposition to the grant is “medieval.” The ZCEDC planned to use part of the grant to buy a farm on which a number of migrant workers would settle and work cooperatively, sharing in the profits. Noting Briscoe’s remarks that the project would be “un-Texan and unAmerican” the Times Herald editorialized: “In other words, it is more ‘Texan’ to work for some land baron such as the governor, who owns more acres than nearly anyone in the state, than to try to better oneself with a ‘socialist’ cooperative enterprise. “Such thinking and such statements as the governor’s lend validity to the opinions of many people elsewhere that Texas still does, indeed, live in the Dark Ages, particularly when the number of Texans below the poverty level is considered. The state has more poor people than nearly any other and does less for them than most.” The editorial concluded: “. . . To reject the plan out of hand simply because a narrow-minded governor considers it `un-Texan’ is sillyand embarrassing to those who hold less medieval opinions of what ‘Texan’ means.” Dolph Briscoe, who is supposed to be governor of all Texans, said “no” to a request to share a network TV forum with Jose Angel Gutierrez or any other member of La Raza Unida party. He was asked by CBS correspondent Dan Rather to appear on a “Sixty Minutes” segment with Gutierrez. “I have never knowingly appeared on a program with a member of the La Raza Unida Party, and I do not intend to,” huffed the governor, whose vendetta toward the Mexican-American political party continues to puzzle. 10 The Texas Observer Worried about Charlie Schnabel, the deposed secretary of the sen ate? Don’t. Schnabel, who pleaded guilty this fall to a misdemeanor rap and then beat a bunch of more serious charges, has landed a job with the Texas Rehabilitation Commission. Of course, he paid a price: instead of the $37,500 he earned in his senate post, he now will receive only $25,608. Proof again that crime doesn’t pay! Ann Lower, 38, an experienced campaign worker in Houston and manager of Rep. Bob Eckhardt’s recent successful race for re-election, is Eckhardt’s new administrative assistant in Washington. Lower has worked her way up from the campaign volunteer ranks to become a top political organizer. She believes in touching base with constituents and insists Eckhardt is going to work to strengthen ties to his district over the next two years. Lower has been active in a number of Houston-area campaigns and managed State Rep. Ron Waters’ successful effort in 1972. Earlier she served as treasurer of the Harris County Democrats. Plenty hot State Comptroller Bob Bullock lit . into U.S. Rep. Bob Krueger just before Christmas, telling him to leave two Bullock aides alone or put them on his own payroll. Garry Mauro and Tom Henderson, high-level appointees in the comptroller’s office, were once Krueger’s political aides and helped him get elected to Congress. Krueger has not tried to disguise his intention to run for U.S. Sen. John Tower’s seat in 1978, and word that Mauro and Henderson were advising Krueger on preliminary moves found its way into print. Bullock described himself as “plenty hot” about Krueger’s staff meddling, saying it could lead people “to believe there is politics involved in my tax administration.” Krueger says it’s all a misunderstanding, and his two former aides say they hardly see Krueger any more and certainly plan to stay on with Bullock. Lane Denton, who served three legislative terms as a representa tive from Waco before making an unsuccessful bid last year for the Railroad Commission, has signed on with the Texas Farmers Union as lobbyist for family farmers. Denton, a former Dirty Thirtian, had been sponsor of several bills to limit corporate farming in Texas. He replaces Bob Mullins, who served as TFU lobbyist for years before moving on last November to the big leagues Mullins has joined the National Farmers Union in Washington as assistant legislative director. Small business Those concerned about the future of small business will be alarmed to hear that the U.S. Senate’s Small Business Committee may be abolished through a proposed reform of the Senate committee system. A study committee chaired by Sen. Adlai Stevenson III \(Dness functions be given over to a new Committee on Agriculture and Small Business. Of the 21 jurisdictional areas under the revamped committee’s purview, only one involves small business. The Select Committee on Small Business, established in 1950, has often been, the only Senate body willing to challenge the rise of monopoly power. Under current chairman Sen. Gaylord Nelson series of important hearings on corporate .. secrecy over the last several years. Ray Watts, counsel to the committee, told the Observer that “we might not be able to keep the monopolies from rolling over all of us, but at least we can make the bastards tell us what they’re doing.” If the committee folds, chances are they won’t have to do even that. Neither Sen. Lloyd Bentsen nor Sen. John Tower has taken a position on the proposed merger of the committees. The “Redford,” awarded for journalism that is only skin-deep, is shared this month by the capitol bureaus of AP and UPI for their alleged coverage of a hearing held in December by the Senate subcommittee on consumer affairs. The hearing, chaired by Sen. Ron on their shelves so consumers can shop comparatively among disparate weights have to put an item’s price directly on it, rather than merely displaying prices somewhere on the shelf or in a central location in the store, as the chains propose to do when they convert to computer checkout terminals. If experiences in California and several East Coast states are a guide, these two questions will be a hot political item before they are finally resolved. Yet, the wire services gave the hearing perfunctory coverage, stopping by to pick up the prepared testimony given by chain store executives, then moving on. As a result, they got only the negative side of the story, totally missing the fact that the Retail Clerks Union and consumer representatives testified strongly for both unit and item pricing. In fact, there’s a fair chance that the subcommittee will report a bill favoring