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Sadberry versus Gramm Bryan I guess we’ll go over again why you’re running. What’s your motivation? I’ve got several motivations. The primary thing is trying to call attention to the prevailing attitude in terms of how to accomplish balancing the budget. And the main thing I want to counter is the notion of cutting social programs without any notion of balance. And the people that are hurt by these cuts are primarily those people who tend not to be that visible, that vocal. . . . . That does seem to go against the grain of the prevailing attitude, especial when I hear Gramm talk. He talks about special-interest groups in Washington and he talks about government bureaucrats and he say,i these people have initiated these programs and these are the people who will fight for them. And he seems to think that there is really a high-profile sort of lobbying for these programs going on in Washington. Well it could be in terms of the East Coast. Yeah, I don’t doubt that New York City could generate an awful lot of activity on behalf of any kind of program versus the 6th District. I don’t think you have the same kind of cohesiveness and bigness in terms of these type programs. So I was viewing it from the perspective of people in this area. They are in isolated communities like Iola and Normangee and Snook. So I don’t think they are comparable to what’s going on in New York City in terms of the activism and voicing concerns on that basis. . . . Faceoff . . for most of the right causes. Endorsements from consumer groups, the Texas AFL-CIO and the Progressive Voters’ League surfaced almost immediately after his announcement. The mailing announcing the campaign rally went out the Monday before the Thursday rally. No follow-up calls were made. More than 200 people showed. That says something. Bryant was in a good mood that night. His speech was short, asking for volunteers and loose change. “I’ve led as many fights as I could get into against the special interests,” he said. “I’m not with the lobby and I’m not with the special interests. I’m with the public.” And the public, at least some of it, is with him. By Greg Moses Are we ever likely to hear from these people in Normangee and Iola and Snook? I don’t know. I think when you’re that isolated, that far removed from the center of power generally, you just take what you get. People are frustrated and fed up. And it’s when someone comes along and says something they agree with that they then see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. . . . You’re talking about the people in Iola and Normangee and Snook when you’re talking about your candidacy. Yes, I would think so. And I don’t want to predicate it solely on places like that, but I use that as an example be Wayne Sadberry, a 38 year-old Bryan native, is one of three challengers to 6th District incumbent Phil Gramm. From an old and respected family in Bryan, Sadberry is the only black in the race. cause I circulate in some of these communities and you know a sewer project or a water project or paving streets these things are of tremendous magnitude to communities like that. An increased water supply, a garbage pick-up service. It’s a big thing. We take it for granted here. It has become big business in the city of Houston . . . I mean that may be the biggest thing North Zulch gets a post office that’s a big thing. It’s convenience, it’s progress, it’s a lot of other things. These are things that bring the federal government to these people. These are physical things they can see. They don’t have an Army base or an Air Force base. They’re not apt to get some big defense plant located in Iola so they normally see the small things. But it’s the small things that are functional and useful and that make a better life for the whole community. And you see these small things endangered. I think so. They are competing for whatever money is left in terms of UDAG or Community Development grants or the Farmer’s Home Administration-type loans there’s going to be tremendous competition. They are going to have to compete with other cities . . . So it’s moving into an area where I see tremendous competition and perhaps a lot of politics involved. I guess the prevailing philosophy is that if they can’t afford it in Normangee they shouldn’t have it in Normangee.. Well you can say that. It’s their economic theory what you can’t afford you can’t have, but I think this country has reached the point where we’ve come to appreciate and desire certain standards of living and that’s part of the can-do philosophy . . . As long as people know there is a way that I can get a college education I’ll just have to get in there and hustle and seek information and try, then fine. But we don’t want to discourage people from trying. There should always be some hope and I think it’s comparable to this whole notion of telling people that you only get what you pay for. Some of the things you say sound like the things Phil Gramm talks about. I know you’re coming from different philosophies, but I think he is also in favor of more congressional oversight into these individual programs. Well I don’t mean oversights in the way he probably means it where you get people up there and they badger you and you’ve got to tell them what you didn’t do and why you didn’t do these things. I mean go look and see, how these programs functionally are set up, and what kinds of real problems they have to deal with. And you only get that type of overview when you go in and see it . . . I realize you can’t look at everything and they depend on organizations like the to do the looking for them, and the GAO makes some very good reports. I’ve looked at some of the reports on the labor programs, and there are a lot of insights that can be gained from that. But you don’t see that coming into new legislation. Now the OMB \(Office of Management Which is more politicized than the GAO. You don’t think David Stockman is going out and looking .. . Anything that David Stockman does has to be geared to Stockman’s own philosophy and notions, so if he says this is a bad program and it’s wasted, he’s looking at it from that perspective. He’s not looking at it with an open mind to say THE TEXAS OBSERVER 29