ustxtxb_obs_1987_06_26_50_00018-00000_000.pdf

Great Moments of the 70th Session Art by Michael Krone He Played Real Good For Free Before Gov. Clements decided to stop submitting himself to weekly press conferences, he was plagued with questions about his involvement in the Southern Methodist University recruiting scandal. One day, Dallas television reporter Carole Kneeland probed back in time to the governor’s own college days. Governor, you played football for SMU, didn’t you?” she asked. “Yes I did,” replied the governor. “Were you ever offered anything?” “No, never.” As quick as a quarterback sneak, Kneeland pressed him, “Were you any good?” Severe P.R. Awareness Within a month of his inauguration, the governor stepped forward and proclaimed that the week of March 1-7 would be Severe Weather Aware ness Week in Texas. But as the troublesome session wore on, the governor’s weather awareness dimin ished when the West Texas town of Saragosa was flattened by a tornado in May, many people noted that several days went by before the governor publically acknowledged the disaster. After comments appeared in the press, Clements hastily arranged a trip to Saragosa. Just Slightly Ahead of His Time Speaker of the House Gibson D. “Gib” Lewis may have been trying to send a subtle message to Governor William Clements on where the power in the legislature traditionally resides when, at Clements’s inaugural ceremony in the House, he said, “Admit the honorable Governor William P. Hobby, Mr. Doorkeeper.” Or he might have just gotten mixed up. Just Another Mexican American With a Motion By the end of the session, when former House member Frank Tejeda had already been serving in the Senate for nearly five months, Speaker Lewis saw San Antonio Rep. Frank Madla approach the podium and said “Chair recognizes Mr. Tejeda for a motion.” \(Madla responded, “Thank you, Speaker ClayLong May He Wave Gib Lewis, more famous for his mixed metaphors than his ideas on how to solve state problems, amused reporters when he announced a proposal to balance the state’s budget. As reported by the Houston Chronicle’s Anne Marie Kilday, Lewis explained, “As the old boy says, ‘You just run it up the flagpole and see who salutes that booger.’ ” The 140-Day Itch Best name for a lobbyist: Marilyn Monroe, who worked for the Texas Society of Association Executives. Capturing the Whelk Vote Senator J.E. “Buster” Brown of Lake Jackson, once thought to be a promising Republican candidate for attorney general, was but a shell of his self this session, so it was fitting that one of his main legislative crusades was on behalf of the lightning whelk, a seashell found along the Gulf Coast. Brown and House member John Willy, R-Angleton, ceeded in getting the whelk named the “official state shell.” Lazy Thinking The wisdom of 25-year House veteran Bill Hollowell, DGrand Saline, as told to Dallas Morning News columnist Sam Attlesey: “Overspending” is the simple reason for the state’s budget crisis. “And all these social welfare programs are eating us up. We have an obligation to care for the helpless, the lame, those that are physically and mentally incapable of being able to care for themselves.” “But we have no obligation to the lazy,” Hollowell said. Time To Get Your Heads Examined Long arcane discussions on the state’s civil justice laws and “tort reform” were held in the House State Affairs Committee and very little of the testimony was what you would call poetic. But when Dr. Charles Neblett, a Houston neurosurgeon, stepped up before the committee to discuss the relationship between medicine and the tort system, he invited Representatives to imagine themselves hospitalized with a brain 18 JUNE 26, 1987