Oral History Interview with David Allred, August 9, 1967 Page: 21
This book is part of the collection entitled: UNT Oral Histories and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Oral History Program.
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Allred
21
of the Appropriations Committee and the chairman of the Revenue and
Finance Committee or whatever it is called...and I believe that
the chairman of that was Ben Atwell, of Dallas...are very powerful.
This is true because they dealt with income and outgo of money.
Heatly, for example, says, "I am good to my friends and a devil to
my enemies." He plays it for power. He has done a lot of good,
I don't mean to detract from him. I think he is really doing what
he believes and he has done a lot of good in state employee pay
raises, supporting of mental health, and this type of thing. But
he is well aware of the power of the Appropriations Committee
chairmanship and when he wants to push a bill he doesn't go around
and threaten, he goes around and suggests that you might want to
consider his viewpoint. And, as I say, he himself says he likes
to take care of his friends and he can be a demon to his enemies.
Now in this last session of the legislature we adopted a rules
change which gave us a sort of modified seniority. The strict
seniority, as you know, works with the idea that whoever is the
senior member of the majority party, as it is practiced in the U. S.
Congress, becomes the committee chairman. This is not the way it
runs in the Texas legislature. Prior to the adoption of this rule,
the speaker could appoint anyone that he wanted, to any committee.
Let's say, for example, when I went down there this time, nobody
knew much about me; about my political belief, or anything else.
I drew support from the conservative and the liberal camps. Some
of the speaker's friends here suggested that I would be a good
man for Appropriations and I was put on the Appropriations Committee.
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Marcello, Ronald E.; Kamp, H. W. & Allred, David. Oral History Interview with David Allred, August 9, 1967, book, November 20, 1968; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth223569/m1/22/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Oral History Program.