ustxtxb_obs_1987_06_26_50_00002-00000_000.pdf

A journal of free voices We will serve no group or party but will hew hard to the truth as we find it and the right as we see it. We are dedicated to the whole truth, to human values above all interests, to the rights of humankind as the foundation of democracy; we will take orders from none but our own conscience, and never will we overlook or misrepresent the truth to serve the interests of the powerful or cater to the ignoble in the human spirit. Writers are responsible for their own work, but not for anything they have not themselves written, and in publishing them we do not necessarily imply that we agree with them because this is a journal of free voices. i.E.rx0BSERvER The Texas Observer Publishing Co., 1987 Vol. 79, No. 13 June 26, 1987 Copyright 1987 by Texas Observer Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without permission. PUBLISHER Ronnie Dugger EDITOR Dave Denison ASSOCIATE EDITOR Louis Dubose EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Kathleen Fitzgerald LAYOUT AND DESIGN: Valerie Fowler CALENDAR: Kathleen Fitzgerald EDITORIAL INTERN: Stephanie Roth WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Richard Ryan EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Frances Barton, Austin; Elroy Bode, Kerrville; Chandler Davidson, Houston; Bob Eckhardt, Washington, D.C.; Sissy Farenthold, Houston; Ruperto Garcia, Austin; John Kenneth Galbraith, Cambridge, Mass.; Lawrence Goodwyn, Durham, N.C.; George Hendrick, Urbana, Ill.; Molly Ivins, Dallas; Larry L. King, Washington, D.C.; Maury Maverick, Jr., San Antonio; Willie Morris, Oxford, Miss.; Kaye Northcott, Austin; James Schwartz, Galveston; Fred Schmidt, Fredericksburg, Robert Sherrill, Tallahassee, Fla. CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Bill Adler, Betty Brink, Warren Burnett, Jo Clifton, Craig Clifford, John Henry Faulk, Terry FitzPatrick, Bill Helmer, James Harrington, Jack Hopper, Amy Johnson, Michael King, Dana Loy, Rick Piltz, Gary Pomerantz, Susan Raleigh, John Schwartz, Michael Ventura, Lawrence Walsh. CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Vic Hinterlang, Bill Leissner, Alan Pogue. CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS: Eric Avery, Tom Ballenger, Jeff Danziger, Beth Epstein, Dan Hubig, Pat Johnson, Kevin Kreneck, Carlos Lowry, Miles Mathis, Ben Sargent, Dan Thibodeau. Managing Publisher Subscription Manager Office Manager Publishing Consultant Development Consultant Cliff Olofson Stefan Wanstrom Joe Espinosa Jr. Frances Barton Hanno T. Beck 600 The Texas Observer paid at Austin, Texas. Subscription rates, including 5 1/8% sales tax: one year $23, two years $42, three years $59. One year rate for full-time students, $15. Back issues $2 prepaid. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm editions available from University Microfilms Intl., 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. Copyright 1987 by Texas Observer Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without permission. POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 to: 600 West 28th Street, #105, Austin, Texas 78705. EDITORIAL The Men Who Would Be Governor WHO WILL BE GOVERNOR of Texas? Many people may have thought this question was decided last November at the polls. Actually, the campaign was just getting underway on a dreary day in January on the south steps of the state Capitol, long after the voters had performed their duty by pulling one lever or another. Governor-elect Bill Clements, of course, had the nominal advantage, having gotten the nod from the electorate. But Lieutenant Governor Bill Hobby had the constitutional advantage he is given the power to preside over the Senate and to control much of what happens in the legislature. Elections are often useful exercises in symbolism, but they are not necessarily the final arbiters of power. The 70th session of the legislature would be the real test of who would govern. They shared the same inaugural ceremony on the Capitol steps, Hobby standing up first to offer his vision of the state’s future, and then Clements. An idle listener may not have detected much difference in the two men’s speeches, except to note that Clements used about 80 percent more platitudes \(“Our only standard of performance must be to do what is good. Hobby spoke of education and research as “tools for the high-technology frontier.” Clements spoke of establishing “new frontiers in research and development” and of “creating new technologies.” Hobby pointed out that “the sectors of the economy that are now the fastest growing are defense, biotechnology, telecommunications, health care and finance.” Both officials spoke of the importance of “quality education,” especially to serve the business sector’s need for an educated workforce. Clearly both men were speaking as leaders of the business community, with visions of a future decided by the captains of big finance and venture capital. And yet something was slightly discordant. Hobby devoted most of his speech to the importance of funding education. “More than one third of our adults don’t finish high school. Nearly one fifth don’t finish junior high school,” he said. “Those figures have ominous implications when you consider that 85 percent of the inmates in the Texas prisons are dropouts. About 63 percent of the parents who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children are dropouts. Some 60 percent of those below the poverty level are dropouts.” Hobby went on to say that the state’s universities are suffering from “brain drain” too many faculty members are taking jobs in other states. He quoted Texas A&M president Frank Vandiver as saying “Texas has turned its back on the future and marched firmly toward oblivion.” The connection between an insufficient educational system and society’s ills was one Clements did not make. Hobby’s message was that his agenda for the 70th session would be to preserve government spending, especially for education. Clements revealed, more explicitly in his State of the State address two weeks later, that his priority was quite different: 2 JUNE 26, 1987