ustxtxb_obs_1988_07_29_50_00016-00000_000.pdf

Page 15

by

isn’t much good if you can’t read it. Our production department is packed with experience in getting your ideas on paper. From design to full service computer typesetting, we can put the power of the pen to work for you. Call us at 442-7836. AUSTIN, TEXAS 1714 S. Congress 442-7836 Data Processing Typesetting Printing Mailing 16 JULY 29, 1988 POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE V AN OBSCURE economics professor by the name of John Tower was the beneficiary last time a Texan ran for the Vice Presidency and the Senate on the same ballot. Some will remember that 71 candidates filed for the “ya’ll come” special election to fill Lyndon Johnson’s Senate seat in 1961. Among those interested at the moment are: Dallas Congressman John Bryant, Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, Houston Congressman Mickey Leland, San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros, Attorney General Jim Mattox, Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, State Comptroller Bob Bullock, State Treasurer Ann Richards, former Governor Mark White, and Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower. Many, according to Hightower, have only tentatively thrown their hats in the ring. “Most of those hats have strings on them and can be pulled back,” Hightower said. Hats that are likely to remain in the ring are those of Hobby. the frontrunner in a race that doesn’t yet exist; Hightower, who has been gearing up for a Senate race against Phil Gramm; and Mark White, who might have nowhere else to go. “I like and respect Mark,” one state representative said, “hut I hope that he runs for the Senate and not for Governor. I just can’t see him reelected there.” //v EVERYONE, it seems, is on the Bentsen bandwagon. Dr. Ramiro Casso, from McAllen, described the nomination as “very positive, a great thing for the Valley.” “Lloyd Bentsen grew up here, he understands our culture, he speaks fluent Tex-Mex,” Casso said. He also described Bentsen as being very sensitive to the needs of the economic underclass. McAllen attorney Bob Sanchez, who in 1970 joined Austin attorney Dave Shapiro and Kountze editor Archer Fullingim to found the Democratic Rebuilding Committee, is also singing Bentsen’s song. “We will be voting una palanca [a straight ticket] in the Valley now,” Sanchez said. The 1970 committee that he helped form urged Texas Democrats to vote for George Bush over Bentsen in the Senate election. Bentsen had defeated then-Senator Ralph Yarborough in the Democratic primary. “At the time there was no Republican party,” Sanchez said. “The idea was not to oppose Bentsen but to create a two-party system. We were not against Bentsen.” Now we have a Republican Party and Sen. Bentsen. V MAURY MAVERICK was one of a few liberal activists in the state who expressed reservations about Bentsen. Maverick described him as “intelligent and capable. . .mechanically good as a Senator.” But the San Antonio Express-News columnist expressed concern about the Senator’s conservatism and his 1953 statement that the U.S. should use atomic weapons on North Korean cities. V JOHN HENRY Faulk is also concerned about the Senator. Faulk, the Austin writer and political activist, said the Bentsen appointment could be intended to head off the Hightower movement in the Democratic Party. Faulk called Hightower progressivism the most encouraging development in party politics in years. V WHEN THE SENATE voted in June to permit federal courts to order the execution of people convicted of drugrelated killings, Lloyd Bentsen was one of 65 Senators voting yes. \(Republican Phil The death penalty is one of several issues that Bentsen and Gov. Michael Dukakis disagree on. Bentsen has consistently favored the death penalty. As George Bush regularly points out, Dukakis is against capital punishment. V NARY a newspaper in the state had a discouraging word to say about Bentsen’s selection for the V-P slot. The Austin Atnerican-Statesman and the Dallas Times Herald, generally the state’s most liberal edit pages, gave the Bentsen move approving nods. Most editorials were along the lines of the one in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which said the Bentsen selection “certifies Texas’ national importance.” But how was Bentsen being perceived beyond our provincial boundaries? The Capital Times, in the liberal bastion of Madison, Wisconsin, said Bentsen “represents some of the worst aspects of contemporary politics” and that his selection “embodies the politics of money.” The Madison daily saw Dukakis’s move as embracing “the politics of the past instead of charting a bold new course for the future.” Of course, they’re just jealous. FOR LIBERAL PORTIONS AT CONSERVATIVE PRICES * REMEMBER SCHOLZ GARDEN * * 1607 San Jacinto * 477.4171 *