ustxtxb_obs_1978_05_26_50_00012-00000_000.pdf

ii Just three days before the May 6 balloting, Rep. John Young was at the regular Wednesday luncheon of the Texas delegation in Washington, apparently confident of his renomination back home in the 14th district. Overconfident, as it turned out. The 11-term incumbent, who has been caught up in some untidy charges of catting around on Capitol Hill at taxpayers’ expense \(hiring a secretary paign funds in his personal account, not only has been forced into a run-off, but ran behind challenger Joe Wyatt, 42 percent to 38 percent. Former Corpus Christi mayor Jason Luby took 20 percent of the vote. Wyatt, a four-term conservative state representative from Bloomington, reportedly spent $175,000 in the primary, at least three times the combined outlay of his opponents. Wyatt now has Young’s full attention the incumbent says he is taking a “leave of absence” from Congress to spend full time campaigning. There are run-offs in three sprawling West Texas districts. In the 17th, which runs from Fort Worth’s western boundary almost to the New Mexico line, a rancher and an attorney will battle for the nomination to replace Omar Burleson, who is stepping down after 32 years in Washington. Charles Stenholm of Stamford edged Abilene attorney A.L. “Dusty” Rhodes in a seven-man race, and the two will fight it out for the chance to take on Republican Bill Fisher. After 44 years in Congress, George Mahon is stepping down, and State Sen. Kent Hance of Lubbock easily won the Democratic nomination for Mahon’s seat, beating a Lubbock minister by taking 65 percent of the vote. Republicans are making a major bid to win the 17th, and a closely contested, three-way primary produced the only Republican congressional run-off in Texas. George Bush Jr., a Midland oilman and son of the former Nixon-Ford handyman, led with 47 percent of the vote, even though he only carried his home county. Jim Reese, a former Odessa mayor, banker and television announcer, carried the other 16 counties and won 42 percent of the vote. In the 21st congressional district, which covers an area larger than the state of Pennsylvania, former state senator Nelson Wolff took 51 percent of the vote against Hondo mayor Woody Glasscock to win the Democratic nomination for the seat given up by Bob Krueger. Wolff will tangle with Republican Tom Loeffler in the fall. More of the same While Texans voted for a change in the governorship, they more or less sanctioned the status quo in the Legislature. Only one state senatorFrank 12 MAY 26, 1978 Lombardino of San Antoniowas ousted on May 6. Lawyer Phil Hardberger and Rep. Bob Vale are in a run-off for the Lombardino seat. Three House incumbents were unseated. Chris Miller and Gib Lewis were forced by court Sam Houston Clinton: wins out ordered redistricting to face each other, and Lewis beat the lady politician twoto-one. In a surprise result, Rep. Abe Ribak of San Antonio was squeezed out of office by advertising man George Pierce. And 10-year veteran legislator John Bigham of Belton, one of the “Dirty 30” votes in the 62nd session, lost to Bill Messer. Six other House incumbents have June 3 run-offs ahead of them: Leonard Briscoe of Fort Worth will face Reby Cary; Sam Hudson of Dallas is matched with Wes Pool, son of former U.S. Rep. Joe Pool; Clay Smothers of Dallas is up against auto worker Charles Rose; Hector Uribe of Brownsville meets Frances Morales; Ernestine Glossbrenner of Alice is challenged by Homero Canales; and Robert Valles of El Paso takes on Mike Graham. So far, counting those who have retired or been defeated, only 28 of the 150 House members will be newcomers next session. The results of June run-offs and the November general election could raise that number, but it is likely that the normal election-year change of 40 to 50 seats will not occur this time. House Speaker Billy Clayton, who was quick to claim that the low turnover “spells public satisfaction with the Legislature,” said that the election results point to a more conservative House \(if that’s posvotes he needs to be re-elected speaker, which turn of events would give him an unprecedented third term at the helm. Seventy-six votes are needed to win the speakershipClayton says he is assured of 110, while his challenger, Buddy Temple of Diboll, lays claim to 70 votes, which all adds up to 20 more votes than is possible. Temple says he is confident he could win if Clayton would join him in calling for a secret ballot, thereby giving members the chance to vote for speaker without fear of retaliation from the incumbent. Clayton says rather disingenu ously that a secret ballot would be a violation of Texas’ open records law. Odds and ends The State Bar of Texas may have a high opinion of itself but the public paid little mind to the bar’s recommendations in the top judicial racesonly one of four bar-approved candidates was elected, Franklin Spears, who won a Supreme Court seat. Waco defense lawyer Robert Campbell unseated incumbent T. C. Chadick, who had the bar’s blessing for the other contested Supreme Court seat. The bar also failed to get its favorites on the Court of Criminal Appeals Sam Houston Clinton upset incumbent Jim Vollers, and sitting judge W. C. Davis held onto his seat by beating Marvin Teague. Perhaps the most significant development of the 1978 campaign was the incredible inflation in the cost of running for public office. Not only are the major statewide posts becoming prohibitively expensive to contest, but even the price of local races is being bid out of sight. A state district judge in HoustonBruce Wettmanspent $80,021 trying to stay on the bench. He was forced into a runoff against Ken Harrison, who spent $34,523 on his bid. Another district judge in Houston, Henry Schuble, laid out $70,630 to hold his seat, and a family court judge, Wells Stewart, put up $63,848 to retain his judgeship. The loan shark referendum on the Democratic ballot was trounced almost ten-to-one, though 150,000 Texans said they wouldn’t object to an increase in interest rates on small loans. Chances are they either own stock in loan companies or work for them. After the election, Briscoe PR man George Christian admitted that the governor’s own polls never showed him getting more than 40 percent of the vote. And, finally, who is Pepe Zambrano? Well, he’s the Rockport restaurateur who ran for justice of the peace and lost to a dead man, 437 to 153. His 83-yearold opponent croaked in the last weeks of the campaign, but the dead man’s family wanted one last win for the fellow and continued to stump for himthey even bought space for four posthumous ads in the local papers. Zambrano claims the ads were racially motivated, since the deceased’s victory allows the Aransas County Democratic Party executive committee to name the fall nominee, and Zambrano doesn’t expect the local Democratic establishment to choose a chicano. But Zambrano is philosophical about the defeat”After all,” he asked, “what can you say against a dead man except that he is dead and can’t work? If he had been alive, I’m sure I would have beaten him. I just hope my next opponent lives.” Eds.