ustxtxb_obs_1981_03_20_50_00012-00000_000.pdf

Doggett Replies to a Charge Austin In the discourse here published, the governor said Senator Lloyd Doggett of Austin had knowingly used inaccurate figures about the reduction in state employees since 1978. We asked Doggett for a response on this point. “The figures I used the Thursday after his speech were the fighis speech the Thursday before,” Doggett said. “I don’t know where he’s now getting the figure 1,100 [fewer employees] unless he’s done as much in the last two months as he did in the previous two years.” Did Doggett take offense that the governor said he had deliberately used inaccurate figures? “One of the governor’s big problems,” Doggett said, “is that he talks before he thinks. I’m not insulted by that. He thinks that if he talks long enough and loud enough, people will think it’s true.” According to figures provided the Observer on March 16th by the comptroller’s office, total state employees of all kinds increased 6,704 from 167,144 in January, 1979, to 174,848 in February, 1981. This counts as an employee anyone who receives a state check, whether the employee is permanent, part-time, hourly, or whatever. “These figures go up and down wildly every month,” said Tony Proffitt, the comptroller’s director of tax information. “He \(the goving only full-time equivalents. I’ll agree . . . . They have a figure and how they get to it, you’ll have to ask them . . . . I’m not sayin’ he’s right or he’s wrong. Just depends on where you stand to do it.” Jon Ford, the governor’s press man, said the governor’s figures come from his budget director, who calculates them by revising the comptroller’s figures to consider only full-time-equivalent employees. Church they’re all sayin’, Participate in the process, you know, pick your candidate and vote for that candidate and work for that candidate. They’re not sayin’, they’re not sayin’, a particular candidate, and they’re not sayin’ a particular party. Well, they’re putting out voting evaluations that generally knock the liberals pretty good. So what? You know that’s what the labor unions have been doin’ for years, that’s what Common Cause has been doin’ for years, that’s what ADA’s been doin’ for years, so whose ox is gettin’ gored? And you’re sayin’ that’s not bein’ in politics in the sense that you meant? . . . I’m sayin’ that, you know, let’s alert everyone to what these issues are, and no one is tellin’ someone else what to do. They’re sayin’ to the contrary, we do have a political process in this country, our country was founded on a political process, and for God’s sake participate. That’s all they’re sayin’. I want to say one last thing. Participate, but participate knowin’ full well what your candidate stands for. Don’t be hoodwinked. Know what the issues are. Make your own evaluation, and then par 12 MARCH 20, 1981 ticipate. I see nothin’ wrong with that. In fact I favor that. No Spying on Citizens There have been some developments in Washington and Michigan, governor, that go to the question of whether there will be more legislative and congressional security investigations, and make me wonder Security investigations. Political security, subversive activities orientations. A new committee on “security and terrorism” has been formed in mond’s committee, and in Michigan there has been litigation concerning the Michigan state government’s activity surveilling private citizens’ politics. I know that some years ago there used to be an internal security division at the department of public safety, and I wonder if there still is. No, there isn’t. I can answer that. Well, is there surveillance going on in the department of public safety intended to be designed to control subversive activities? When you talk about surveillance, you know, surveillance to me has one definition, and that’s wiretapping No sir, I don’t mean that Well you need to make yourself clear what you’re talkin’ about. Because that isn’t so. There’s no wiretappin’ goin’ on in the department of public safety. I wanta say that with no equivocation. I didn’t mean that. All right, so what are you meanin’? General surveillance of political activities, political organizations, the kinda thing that COINTELPRO did in other words, is the state attending to political activities of citizens and does it have dossiers on citizens? No, it does not. It is not doin’ that, and it has no records of anybody and so forth and so on that’s a I can’t even respond about whether I don’t even know anything about what happened in the past. You tell me that that went on in the past. I don’t know that. I don’t know it for sure, but I think it did. I’d have to check I can assure you that it’s not happening now. Thank you, governor. OK. Promises Not Broken A leader of the opposition, Senator Doggett, to just briefly characterize Who’d you say? Senator Doggett. From Austin. How do you spell that? D-o-g-g-e-t-t. I hope you may have noticed in the last issue of the Observer: He says you’ve broken your promises on