ustxtxb_obs_1995_04_21_50_00024-00000_000.pdf

Postmaster: If undeliverable, send Form 3579 to The Texas Observer, 307 W. 7th St., Austin, Texas 78701 POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE V SCRAPPING THE FACADE of bipartisan cooperation, state Republican officials led by Chairman Tom Pauken are preparing an all-out effort to capture con trol of the Texas House and Senate next year by targeting 20-25 Democrat-held districts. Associated Republicans of Texas recently sent out a letter soliciting donations for an April 26 fundraiser in Houston and forecasting the 1996 elections as offering Texas Republicans “an historic opportunity to win a majority in the Texas House and Texas Senate.” Republicans are 14 seats short of a majority in the House, while a swing of only two seats would give the GOP control of the Senate and possibly demote Lieut. Gov . Bob Bullock to a figurehead. Among the Democratic senators seen as vulnerable are David Cain of Dallas, who has compiled a conservative voting record in the first half of this session as he tries to live down his moderate-to-progressive record from the House, and Bill Sims, a conservative from Paint Rock who recently returned to the Senate floor after recuperating from a stroke. In the House, the targeted seats include those of Calendars Committee Chairman Mark Stiles of Beaumont, Public Education Chairman Paul Sadler of Henderson and Speaker Pete Laney of Hale Center. SMALL CHANGE. Raising funds in Texas for Bob Dole’s presidential campaign is not particularly difficult, even with Senator Phil Gramm in the race, according to oilman T. Boone Pickens, who chaired a luncheon fundraiser at Dallas’ Loews Anatole Hotel on April 12. Of course, Dole has a natural entree as Senate Majority Leader, but Pickens said federal limits on campaign contributions have cramped his style. “At $1,000 a pop, it’s pretty tough to raise $26 million [Dole’s fundraising goal],” Pickens said. “I’m used to raising $25,000 a pop. I don’t know why we have that law [limiting contributions to $1,000].” Through his first week of official campaigning, Dole had raised a respectable $7 million. V LOW-LEVEL EARTHQUAKES. Opponents of a low-level radioactive waste dump in Hudspeth County, near El Paso, are saying “I told you so,” after the epicenter of a magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook Alpine and environs, only 100 miles southeast of the dump site at Sierra Blanca, on April 13. The Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority minimized the risk of seismic activity when it cleared the area for the dump, although Radioactive Waste Management Associates, a New York firm that reviewed the dump site on behalf of Alert Citizens for Environmental Safety, noted the Texas Lineament, along which the Sierra Blanca site lies, is the most tectonically active area in Texas. From 1923 through 1993, 64 quakes of a magnitude 3.0 or greater have been recorded within 200 miles of the dump site. Opponents of the dump fear that an earthquake could crack the cover system, which is supposed to protect the buried concrete waste canisters, and expose them to corrosion. V YELLOW DOG SHOW. Progressive Democrats will get together Saturday, May 6, in Austin to talk about the future of the party and plans for next year’s election. Democratic National Committeewoman Billie Carr, a longtime leader of the liberal Harris County Democrats, has set up the daylong program, to start at 10 a.m. at the AFL-CIO auditorium, featuring members of Congress and the Legislature as well as representatives of Democratic caucuses and Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, who will run Bill Clinton’s re-election effort in Texas. “My call is to liberal/progressive/yellow-dog/true-blue Democrats,” Carr said. “We need to be seen, heard and organized, especially with what’s going on in Congress, and and I think we have to start now.” The $10 registration fee will include a chicken lunch box. For information or to preregister, call Carr at 713-667-6194 V LEGISLATING TASTE. People like Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh and others in the “hate radio” and TV spawn make it difficult to live up to the ideal that “I disagree with what you say but defend your right to say it,” Senator Peggy Rosson, DEl Paso, said Feb. 11 after radio and TV “shock jock” Stern’s tasteless ridicule of the slain Tejana pop star Selena outraged Mexican Americans. While many have called for removing Stern’s show, which is carried on many cable TV systems, Senator Continued on p. 11 ira Ira MI MI I Texas Civil Rights Project United !Farm Workers 4:310 “for” Jim Harrington 6pm 10:30pm Thursday, May 4, 1995 La Zona Rosa $10/ticket Cheap Food And Liquid Refreshments ROASTERS Jim Hightower Sissy Farenthold Rep. Elliott Naishtat Rep. Glen Maxey Gus Garcia Rebecca Flores Harrington Dorothy Lee CO-HOSTS Malcolm Greenstein Deborah Hiser MUSIC Todd Jeffrey Fundraiser for Client Litigation Costs 24 APRIL 21, 1995