ustxtxb_obs_1989_05_19_50_00015-00000_000.pdf

Japanese automotive lighting manufacturer, causing alarm in the nationalistic Japanese business system. In Tokyo, according to the International Herald-Tribune, he was asked if he had done this to enhance his chances to be elected governor of Texas \(he has said in Tokyo several times he was thinking of thought it well might help him. Back in Texas Pickens is saying there is a 50-50 chance he will run. On the Senate race the Texas Poll provides less information. Before it was published, U.S. Rep. John Bryant, DDallas, made it clear he is running for attorney general \(against Land Commisin fact was to have a fundraiser for AG in Dallas May 19. Senator Gramm had a 55-16 favorableunfavorable rating, with 29 percent undecided. On Parmer, 89 percent said they didn’t know him or were undecided about him. \(On Bryant as a Senate candidate, this t/ “OF DRUGS, of death, and the devil,” intoned the odious Geraldo_ Rivera on a recent edition of his “Geraldo” TV show. Starring. . . Jim Mattox! Mattox appeared with several other guests on Rivera’s show, including some who described themselves as former Satanic cult members and spoke of cannabalistic rituals. Mattox and some of the guests hooked up with Geraldo from a studio in Brownsville and discussed the recent cult killings in Matamoros, about which Mattox has been actively promoting himself as an expert. Mattox served as the voice of reason on the otherwise tacky show. “We do not think there is a cultist living next door to every single one of us,” Mattox pointed out. But he added, at the end of the show, “If any of y’all have any information on Satanic cults or mutilation-type activities, y’ought to report it to your local police departments.” V CORPUS CHRISTI REP. Eddie Cavazos plans to leave the House when his term expires this session. Some have Cavazos returning home to begin a campaign to replace retiring Nueces County Judge Robert Barnes. Cavazos’s departure will be noticed by the capitol press corps, who find in his quick wit a respite from the work-a-day drone of most House members. It will also be noticed by those who have depended upon Cavazos to make the fight against bad bills while promoting the interest of something other than the business lobby. Democratic Rep. Hugo Berlanga of Corpus Christi is leaving the of the problems. Senators are grumbling that very few Senate bills have been put on the House calender. Meanwhile, Schlueter got his bills to the Senate early and the Senate has already passed some of them. “He’s so self-serving,” one Senator’s aide recently commented with disgust as he watched Schlueter working the floor. Lewis has not made things easy on himself by appointing Schlueter to the calendars post. According to several sources, Lewis called Schlueter back into the Speaker’s office in the first week in May for a frank discussion of the role of the Calendar’s chair. The two-member conference was heated. According to some there was considerable loud discussion before Schlueter departed in anger. Where will Gib put this fellow in the 72nd session? One blessed pre-session rumor had Schlueter bolting to the Republican Party. But if he sticks around, perhaps Democrats can recruit a retired Republican Colonel from Fort Hood to run against him. “What’s he going to do to us if we find him an opponent?” one progressive lobbyist said of Schlueter. “Sit on our bills? Promote more bad legislation?” Nothing new there. V EVERYBODY KNOWS that when legislators rise to speak, either in commitee hearings or on the floor, their words are fair game for any reporter within earshot. Isn’t that what public sessions are all about? Not so, according to Seguin Republican Rep. Ed Kuempel. Kuempel contends that anytime a legislator is unaware that he is being taped on the floor or in committee hearings the reporter with the recorder is guilty of an invasion of privacy. V AS SENATORS paid tribute to Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby recently, most observers probably could not help but wonder what the Senate will be like next session, when Hobby will not be presiding for the first time in almost 20 years. The two leading Democratic aspirants to the lieutenant governor’s chair, Comptroller Bob Bullock and Senator Chet Edwards, both were present for the “Bill Hobby Day” proceedings. Bullock was invited to the podium to say a few words, while Edwards looked on. The Comptroller’s political wit was sharp: he said he had run into Governor Clements the previous day and had told him he was going to be present at the events honoring the lieutenant governor. “Shoot, eight states don’t even have one!” the governor said, according to Bullock. In related news, Bullock puts out a campaign newsletter with the unsurprising headline “Bullock Way Ahead in the Polls.” The newsletter criticized Chet Edwards in an item entitled “Some Choose the Low Road.” According to the item, Edwards “has already started negative campaigning, even before formally announcing his candidacy.” Meanwhile, the Bullock campaign goes merrily along. As the newsletter put it, “The campaign office continues to be a flurry of activity with massive mailings and phone calls to voters across the state. Concerned voters across Texas are jumping on the Bullock bandwagon, and calling the office every day to help Bob Bullock in whatever way they can.” THE TEXAS OBSERVER 15 criticized for having been unsympathetic to increased funding to fight AIDS in Texas. Mike Alfaro, one of four co-chairs of the march, said Cavazos was wrong to ignore the AIDS victims. “Yes, they live in your district, and yes, they need this funding,” said Alfaro. “Goddarnit Eddie, get off your butt!” he said. I REMEMBER Terral Smith the Republican environmentalist from Southwest Travis County?. Smith represents one of the most ecologically sensitive a district that sits atop part of the recharge zone for the Edwards Aquifer and includes much of Barton Creek. Smith is the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources and of a subcommittee on State Affairs. From these two posts Smith has managed to keep his thumb on two pieces of good-government legislation that would serve the interests of a healthier environment. Both bills, one introduced by Houston Democrat Ralph Wallace and the other by Pearland Republican Jack Harris, would slow down the revolving door that has_ ambitious young .bureaucrats bolting from regulatory agencies to hire on with the very companies they were paid to regulate. In some situations under existing law regulators have left agencies midstream in a prolonged permitting process to go to work for the very firm on whose case they were working before they left the public sector. Environmental activists involved in the regulatory process consider this revolving door to the private sector an egregious conflict of interest. Not Smith. The West Austin Republican representative recently told one lobbyist that the state’s regulatory agencies are “a good training ground for young lawyers.” V WHO’S IN CHARGE? In the third quarter of the 71st session and it’s deja vu all over again. As daily House sessions adjourn we again have Killeen Democrat Stan Schlueter holding court before a gaggle of reporters on the House floor. Last session it was Schlueter on taxes a topic on which he seemed to be holding all the cards until it became evident that he couldn’t carry the tax bill through the House. Then House Speaker Gib Lewis regrouped his offense and turned the tax package over to San Antonio Rep. Dan Morales. This session Schlueter has found himself in the center of the action again as head of the Calendars Committee. His apparent willingness to delay the Texas Department of Agriculture sunset bill has been only one House, too. V NOT EVERYONE has been impressed with Cavazos this session. At the April 30 march on Austin that was organized by Lesbian and gay activists, Cavazos was ,…..”,0.