ustxtxb_obs_1990_01_12_50_00011-00000_000.pdf

check in any public building. I mean that’s an easy enough thing to adopt. But, the issue is whether or not campaign contributions effect public policy. The fact is that they do. And, I have always been an advocate of the public financing of elections. But, we’re not likely to have it in a fair system. And so, we should have a reform of the system in a number of ways. And I would be in favor of it. And I helped passed the open records, open meetings, full financial disclosure, lobby control, and campaign disclosure laws. They were all compromises also as they were going through the system. They could each be strengthened and should be. How about fundraising? You’ve been raising money for two years now At least. Four million dollars. Is that in a two month period, with a two-month primary season, is that adequate? Is that more than adequate? If you have three people in the race, you’re probably going to have a runoff. That’s the first problem. We budgeted four million dollars. And, that was without a runoff. And so, we felt that that was a reasonable amount. I know that when Ann Richards announced, she said that she was going to she said that when she was thinking about running she said she would need five million dollars for a primary race. And I think that it should not cost that much. As you know, I had hoped that I would not have primary opposition so that I could spend that money beating a Republican in the general election. That was not to be. And the overall campaign will probably cost 10 to 12 million dollars, counting the primary and the general election. A very expensive process. That would be on the order of what Mark White and Bill Clements spent when they ran. Does it disturb you that it costs that much to run for governor? Very clearly, very clearly. And there’s, and I wish it were not so. Again, I would have liked to have been able to avoid spending the tremendous amount that we’ll spend in the primary. But I could not persuade even though I’d already raised the money and was out running I could not persuade Ann Richards to stay out of the race and obviously I could not persuade Mark White to stay out of the race. And that will cause, in all probability, a runoff. Do you a general perception of your candidacy and your campaign is that it’s aggressive, it’s tough, that you’ve been running for two years. Do you think that there’s a public perception that you’re overly aggressive in running for governor? Well, I think that there’s a perception that I’m an aggressive individual. And I am. I think that people that make changes, and people that are leaders, have to cause a certain amount of ripples in the lake as you’re out there moving around to try to cause things to happen. It would have been easy for me to have been an attorney general that did nothing. Or it would have been easy to have been a candidate who simply does nothing but, let’s say, deposit money in the bank and generate no enemies. I’ve never known anybody to generate enemies by depositing money in the bank. But in my job, if you’re going to do good things, it means that you’ve got to cause somebody to dislike some of the things you do. This district judge decision is a perfect example. Many of the incumbent district judges do not like what’s taking place. The Republican Party hates it. The editorial boards and owners of most of your major newspapers severely dislike it. And so, I know that I am going to cause some hostility towards me by doing what I think is right. And I might add, too, that you haven’t heard “And if you don’t have any enemies, it means that you haven’t done anything. And that’s a real distinction.” either one of my opponents utter a single peep about whether or not what I’m doing is right or wrong. You noticed how quiet they were on workers’ comp. You noticed that there was no outspoken position taken on abortion until after the Webster decision. Each one of these and I could go down the list. And what I would say to you is if you’re going to speak out, you’re going to cause enemies. If you cause enemies, it causes people to say that you’re aggressive and that you have high negatives. If you have no negatives, it means that you haven’t been doing anything. Harry Truman once said “You judge a man by the enemies he makes.” And if you don’t have any enemies, it means that you haven’t done anything. And that’s a real distinction. Even adopting the word tough, as in “Texas Tough” as a campaign slogan. Is that an attempt to project that image or what Texas needs a tough leader. Texas has been going thorough tough times. It needs a tough leader. It needs somebody who will go to the legislature and try to make the changes that are necessary to be made rather than having those decisions all made by the state courts and federal courts. We’ve got to have a strong leader and I believe Texas needs a strong leader. Let me tell ya’, if I’m going to go up the hill to battle, I want a strong tough leader leading me. I don’t want somebody that’s going to be standing around giving pretty speeches but won’t fight the fight. What I’d like to see happen in this campaign would be for people to honestly take and lay out the resumes of the candidates. Look at the background, look at the experience, look at the jobs that we’ve held. Look at the acts of leadership. The acts of courage. The acts of vision. And then compare the candidates. If I can get that to happen, I have absolutely no doubt that that I will prevail in this election. None whatsoever. But I don’t know if I can get the people to actually look and compare the job of the treasurer’s office or the job that Mark White did as governor. I don’t know if I can get that to happen. If I can get all that to happen, if I can get people to look at the opportunities that each of us has had to take action and has not taken action, then that would be an adequate thing. For instance, the child support program. I’ve taken a lot of heat for takin’ on the childsupport-collection program. But we’ve increased collections by 700 percent. It would have been much easier for me, and much easier for my office to have not taken on that job. But I’ll tell ya’, Ann Richards could have taken on that job. Mark White could have taken on that job. And both of them did not. I did. And because I took it on I’ve taken some hits. But as governor, I’m going to take on similar jobs that need to be done. And it will not be calm cool water out there in the governmental process, because I intend to shake this government from its hat to its boots. And there will be a lot of people who won’t agree with what I intend to do. But, I’ve been waiting a long time to get to be able to propose the policies and make the changes a governor can make. A Journal of Free Voices Obefier Please Subscribe name address city state zip ID $27 enclosed for a one-year subscription 0 bill me for $27 307 W. 7th, Austin, TX 70701 THE TEXAS OBSERVER 11