The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 26, 1973 Page: 13 of 16
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Giving Texas state government the once-over-lightly
. ,, , . . _ - - , . - i . ii _ i i_.,x xj
by FORREST JOHNSON
Behind a bronze statue of
Jefferson Davis stands the
Capitol of the State of Texas.
Inside, strange things are hap-
pening. "Senate stands ad-
journed until 10:00 Tuesday
morning pending the reading of
Bill 222," says the Lt. Gov-
ernor.
Everyone leaves the Senate
chamber except the Secretary,
who reads the bill to an empty
room. Why? Because everyone
knows what's in the bill, but
the Texas Constitution requires
the reading. A 1969 reform
amendment removed some dead-
wood — such as a provision
denying the right to vote or
hold office to persons engaged
in dueling and an authorization
for pensions for Texas Revolu-
tion veterans — but a good deal
Sissy speaks
before PoliSci
students here
Sissy Farenthold, chairper-
son of the National Wom-
en's Political Caucus, spoke to
Profesor Emmanuel's local po-
litics course last Tuesday. She
discused her political career
and its relation to politics in
general.
Sissy got into politics by
taking jobs nobody else wanted.
For example, she became legal
counselor for Nueces County
because no "responsible male"
could be found for the $250/
month job. In the beginning
she was naive. "I remember
one black lady said to me, 'It
doesn't do much good to get
into restaurants if we can't
get jobs.' I didn't know what
she meant." But the legal of-
rice, and a seat on the Human
Relations Commission, soon
gave her plenty of gut-level
experience.
In 1968, after variety of oth-
er odd jobs, she ran for a
seat in the legislature. Her op-
ponent was a young, bright, in-
cumbent Republican - in- a -Re-
publican-district with a strong
following in the Mexican-Amer-
ican community. Sissy won. In
the legislature she organized
the Dirty Thirty, led by the
fight against Gus Mutcher (she
pronounces his name "mucher")
and, oh yes, took on a lot more
drudgery.
Then came the Governor's
race. Sissy came out ahead of
almost everybody in the pri-
mary but got walloped when
the conservatives lined up
against her in the run-off.
Now that she is out of office,
Sissy feels the ranks are closed
to keep iier out. When asked
about her plans for her polit-
ical future, she replied, "I
haven't got any."
remains, especially procedural
superfluity.
Secondly, the constitution is
too restrictive. De we need
more sessions? Bigger legisla-
tor salaries? A larger welfare
budget? You can't do it without
a constitutional amendment,
There are over 200 amendments
and will be more, unless the
scheduled constitutional com-
mission gives more power to
the legislature. (It probably
will, since it is the legislature.)
More important is a re-struc-
turing of the government it-
self. It is now divided into a
number of little duchies — the
Highway Commission, the Rail-
road Commission, the Land
Commission, etc.—over which
the governor and legislature
have little control. In fact, the
Governor has precious little
control over his own adminis-
tration, to which many mem-
bers are independently elected.
Regardless of what the Com-
mission does, a basic source
of snafus in the government
will remain: the influence of
business interests on the legis-
lature. Due largely to their
ample funds for advertising,
campaign contributions and lob-
bying, and to the weakness of
Texas unions, business groups
exercise power far beyond their
numbers.
IT'he history of the Environ-
mental Protection Bill sponsor-
ed by Rep. Hawkins Menefee
of Houston, provides a good ex-
ample of business influence.
Originally the bill would have
made the environment a "public
trust," and citizens wiuld have
been allowed to sue polluters
without having to prove per-
sonal damage. It quickly be-
came obvious that the bill had
no chance of passing, since it
was opposed by homebuilders,
feed-lot owners, oil interests,
etc. The sponsors tried to cut
down on the opposition by pro-
was too late. Lobbyists had
already lined up a majority of
the House against the bill. A
gutting amendment passed that
withered the force of the bill.
Menefee withdrew the bill to
deny lobbyists credit for pas-
sage of an envii'onmental pro-
tection act.
The merits of the bill were
not as simple as might appear.
No one wants pollution, but
many people are willing to
tolerate it. For example, archaic
smelting equipment in Amarillo
has produced large amounts of
dangerous air pollution, but the
citizens of Amarillo tolerate it,
because the industry brings
them so many jobs. But the fact
that special interests some-
times represent the interest of
the majority does not excuse
the excessive power of those
interests.
There have been several at-
tempts to control interest
group influence, but these have
met with little success. There
is a law against corporate or
union contributions to cam-
paigns, but it is easily circum-
vented. A 1907 statute makes
lobbyists subject to fines and
imprisonment, but the law is
unenforced. The Lobby Control
Act of 1957 requires lobbyist
registration, but no one is
charged with enforcing it, so
no one does. Most recent is an
ethics bill sponsored by Re/p.
John Bigham of Bel ton. The
version passed by the House
would have required cate-
gorical financial disclosures
by all€ state officials and ite-
mized expense reports by lob-
byists and their employers
(if any). Provisions were to
be enforced by an ethics
commission. This version also
included the famous Agnich
amendment that provided dis-
closures be kept secret unless
probable cause was found to
warrant an investigation.
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The bill was referred to a
Senate sub-committee that had
a friendly chairman, Oscar
Mauzy of Dallas, but he was
outvoted 3-1. The other mem-
bers of the committee presented
a bill so watered-down that, in
the opinion of House Speaker
Price Daniel, it was worse
than the 1957 law. Mauzy later
proposed his own bill that eli-
minated the ethics commission
and the Agnich Amendment,
provided for more complete fin-
ancial disclosure by state and
local officials, and allowed any
citizen who suspected an offi-
cial had falsified his disclosure
to file a complaint with his
local district attorney.
Whatever version of the bill
emerges, it cannot eliminate
corruption completely; basic-
ally, the problem lies not in
the laws but in officials. Honest
officials need no ethics bill. In-
telligent legislators can over-
come constitutional handicaps.
Says Hawkins, "Get intelligent
people down here and you'll get
good legislation."
But to get good people, we
have to offer good salaries, and
to offer good salaries, we have
to get rid of the Constitution
of 1876. Constitutional rewrite
is a pressing need if Texas
government is to serve the peo-
ple properly.
Checks Cashed for
Rice Customers
Jackson Lee
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Mechanic On Duty
PEKING RESTAURANT
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the rice thresher, april 26, 1973—page 13
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Jackson, Steve. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 26, 1973, newspaper, April 26, 1973; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245165/m1/13/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.