Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 134, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 5, 1980 Page: 4 of 20
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4—THE NEWS-TELEGRAM, Sulphur Springs, Texas, Thursday, June 5,1980.
rum
In our opinion
Informed public may
save personal freedoms
Personal freedoms of Americans are
in danger. Economic' and political
freedoms are being eroded through
short-cuts, by the creation of more
agencies, departments, bureaus and
commissions, and by excessive taxes.
In Dallas, many of the taxpayers are
waking up to the fact that recent law
changes direct that properties be
placed oq the rolls at 100 percent of
value. This concerns not only Dallas,
but it is something that will concern
every real property owner in the state.
Where inflation has caused real
estate values to soar, the new values
may well prove shocking, expecially to
people with older homes which were
constructed years ago for only a few
hundred dollars. It will not be the
exception when the new appraisers
come up with current values that will
place the older homes in double, triple
or higher brackets. And people who
have inherited idle farms or
agriculture lands will find that current
values fueled by inflation bring about
assessments that may not have a true
relation to worth.
,j- If taxing entities take the new
assessments and are prudent with tax
rates, some of the heat could be
removed. But if experienced observers
are correct, the various entities will
find it easier to enlarge budgets, spend
more, and expand the demand for tax
dollars. .4
An informed public might be the
most powerful deterrent to excessive
taxing, which threatens in America. It
is better to sound off early and be
alerted to possible higher taxing.
Repackaging PAC 'gifts'
1 .
WASHINGTON .(NEA) - An important revision of the feder-
al law governing the financing of political campaigns, neces-
sary to restrain the influence of wealthy special-interest
groups, is in danger of being scuttled by Congress
The measure would for the first time establish a ceiling on
the aggregate amount of campaign contributions a candidate
for the House or the Senateeould receive from political-action
committees ' ’
Those PACs -r organized and operated by trade associa-
tions. corporations, labor unions and other groups seeking to
influence congressional legislation have experienced explo-
sive growth in recent years
During the 1974 campaign candidates for Congress
received S12.5 million in PAC donations. That figure soared to
$22,5 million in 1976, increased to $35 1 million in 1978 and
almost certainly will top $5<f million this year
Si*.
A/
IN WASHINGTON
■ Robert Walters
Texas near bottom
in federal money game
Accounting for most of the growth are business-related
PACs, which numbered fewer than 250 at the end of 1974 but
proliferated to 1,100 by the dose of 1978.
Expenditures bv PACs within the pharmaceutical industry,
for example, rose from $61,000 in 1976 to $314,000 in 1978,
while PAC outlays went from* $77,000 to $354,000 in the air-
line industry and from $214,000 to $502,000 in the chemical
industry.
Any naive notions that such expenditures are made by
patriots seeking to advance the cause of democracy by provid-
ing financial assistance to outstanding public servants can be
promptly dispelled by a cursory examination of where the
money comes from and where it goes'
Corporations and trade associations invariably Concentrate
their giving in the areas where their parochial interests can be
most efficiently advanced That usually means contributing to
senior members of the congressional committees that have
jurisdiction over legislation affecting their industry
Thus, an average of $23,000 in PAC contributions was
received in 1978 by candidates who had no opposition in either
the primary or general elections but whose support was being
solicited by various special-interest groups:
Similarly, several senior members of the House Ways and
Means Committee, which initiates tax-legislations that can
cost (or save) individual corporations millions of dollars annu-0
ally, received more than $100,000 apiece in PAC contributions
in 1978.
Federal law currently limits individual PAC contributions
to each'House and,Senate candidate to $10,000 per election
year - $5,000 in the primary and $5,000 in the general elec-
tion — but there is no ceiling on the aggregate amount a
politician's campaign treasury may receive from all PACs.
Last October, however, the House voted 217-198 to amend
the law to reduce the maximum amount a candidate could
receive in any election year to $6,000 from a single PAC and
$70,000 from all PACs collectively.
Although that measure, co-sponsored by a Republican and a
Democrat, received the support of more than two. dozen GOP
members of the House, it has been opposed by the Republican
leadership in both the House and the Senate
Those GOP leaders claim their objections are based not on
what the bill contains but on what it omits: There is no provi-
sion dealing with labor unions' use of members' dues pay-
ments to finance unrelated but equally controversial political
operations
Although outnumbered in the Senate, Republicans have bot-
tled up the bill by threatening to mount a time-consuming
filibuster if the House-approved measure is called up for
debate on the Senate floor.
If the legislation isn’t approved by the Senate before Con-
gress adjourns in early autumn, the,House effort will have
been futile and the process will have to begin anew when the
97th Congress convenes next January.
In addition to thwarting a needed reform, the Senate
Republicans are hurting themselves because more than half of
all PAC contributions go to the chairmen of congressional
committees — and they're all Democrats
iNEWSPAPKR ENTERPRISE ASSN ,
Texas ranks No. 1 in a good many
lines but not in the bargain it gets from
the federal government.
Only one other state did worse last
year in getting back its federal tax
dollars in the form of state and local
aid.
Every dollar received in state aid in
the fiscal year 1979 cost Texas citizens
and businesses $1,116 in taxes, the Tax
Foundation reports.
Indiana was the only one of the 23
“paying” states that did worse with a
cost figure of $1.41.
The Texas cost was up one cent from
the previous year, however, while
Indiana’s was down three cents.
With this trend prevailing, Texas
soon may hold the unenviable
distinction of ranking last in the
federal money roulette game.
Who were the big winners?
As might//be anticipated,
Washington, D.C., stayed on top of
things by sending in only 34 cents in
taxes for each dollar of aid. Mississippi
ranked second with 53 cents.
Demise of disco sound
is cheering forecast
With all the turmoil and uncertain-
ties in the air, the gloomy prophets
have been having a field day recently.
Most of their forecasts are definitely
on the disturbing side, but every now
and then a relieving element slips into
the lists of anticipated things to come.
Jack Anderson
Such is the case with a recent pro-
nouncement that the disco sound is dy-
ing.
If any feature of contemporary life
could disappear without being missed
this is it.
The Almanac
Today In History
By The Associated Press
Today is Thursday, June 5,
the 157th day of 1980. There are
209 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in history:
in 1968, Sen. Robert Kennedy of
New York was shot and mor-
tally wounded at a Ix>s Angeles
victory celebration after
winning California’s
Democratic presidential
primary. ►
On this date:
In 468 B.C., the Greek
philospher Socrates was born.
In 1940, the battle of France
began in World War II.
In 1947, Secretary of State
George Marshall oQtlined a
program to help Europe rebuild
economically after World War
II. It becafne known as the
Marshall Plan.
Thought For Today: We have
two ears and only one tongue in
order that we may hear more
and speak less — Diogenes, a
Greek philospher (412-323
B.C.).
Is Pentagon budget pushing
defense or pork barrelling?
By JACK ANDERSON
WASHINGTON ~ The
patriotic rhetoric that is
accompanying the Penta-
gon's pending massive budg-
et increase serves to obscure
a sordid, potitics-as-usual
fact of life; The American
flag is being wrapped
around one of the biggest
peacetime pork barrels in
nistory.
While Senate and House
hawks raise shrill alarms
about Soviet military superi-
ority, the private talk in
Capitol cloakrooms centers
on more practical considera-
tions - how to ensure fat
defense contracts for home
states and congressional
districts. Here are some
examples of the super-patri-
ots’ super-salesmanship:
• The powerful Texas del-
egation - led by Rep. Jim
Wright, the House Demo-
cratic leader, and Sen. John
Tower, ranking Republican
on the Armed Services Com-
mittee -- is demonstrating
once again that it can bring
home the bacon. Without
even a vote, Wright succeed-
ed in getting approval of $10
million to study expansion of
production on the F-lll
fighter-bomber, which Gen-
eral Dynamics builds in his
district. And when the White
House eliminated $112.9
million for A-7K attack
planes produced by Vought
Corp. in Grand Prairie,
Texas, the Texans bullied
the administration into res-
toring the money.
* Fairchild Republic's
plant in Hagerstown, Md,
was to have closed produc-
tion of the A-10 anti-tank
plane this year after deliver-
ing a final order of 106
aircraft. But under pressure
from the Maryland delega-
tion, the administration
agreed to increase the pro-
duction run to 198 A-10s and
extend it over four years.
Rep Beverly Byron, D-Md ,
even managed to secure a
J30 million House authoriza-
tion to produce a new two-
seater version
• Frank Saltinshek used to
be the House Armed Ser-
vices Committee counsel.
Now he's a lobbyist for
Grumman Aerospace Corp.
A legislative aide told my
associate Peter Grant that
Saltinshek "is hovering
around constantly" and
“calls every day.” His
efforts apparently paid off:
The House granted Grum-
man 6500 million of the Pen-
tagon budget increase.
• A weapon's perform-
ance sometimes runs second
in importance to political
clout. Northrup’s F-18 plane,
for example, has had prob-
lems with landing gear
malfunction, leaky fuselage
and faulty wing design. But
Rep. Charles Wilson, D-
Calif., in whose district
Northrop manufactures the
F-18, had no difficulty get-
ting approval for an
increase in this year's plane
orders from 48 to 72, at an
additional cost of about 6500
million.
• The House Armed Ser-
vices Committee staff, not-
ing that the Patriot missile
had performed properly in
only five of its last 12 tests
shots, cut back its budget by
690 million. But the missile’s
builder, Raytheon, is in a
district next to House Speak-
er Tip O’Neill’s. After a few
words in the right places,
the committee reinstated
the $90 million. One Capitol
Hill veteran remarked
wryly: "The speaker’s
>by’ is
lobby
named.”
appropriately
IRANIAN JEWS: When I
reported last March > that
some 100 Iranian Jewish
refugees were having trou-
ble getting visas to enter the
United States, the State
Department hotly denied the
story. "Thousands" of Irani-
an minority refugees,
including Jews, had been
allowed into the country in
recent months, the depart-
ment said.
New evidence has come to
hand that confirms my origi-
nal story, and exposes the
State Department’s denial
as misleading at best. One of
the nation’s most distin-
guished Jewish leaders, who
dislikes publicity and
requested that his name be
withheld, wrote me a letter
on the subject. The Iranian
Jews who were allowed into
the United States, he wrote,
were largely those who had
been to this country before
and held valid re-entry visas
enabling them to return
within four years.
But he indicated that first-
time applicants were often
running into bureaucratic
red tape at our Paris and
London consulates - just as
I had reported.
In addition, a confidential
internal State Department
memo confirms my report
that Foggy Bottom officials
can’t decide how to handle
the Iranian Jewish refugees
stranded in Europe. When
immigration authorities
tried to get some guidance
on the subject, the State
Department failed to send a
key representative to dis-
cuss the situation.
My report brought quick,
if temporary, results Less
than two weeks after it was
published, cables were sent
to U.S. consular officials
instructing them to show
"sympathy and understand-
ing" in processing entry
applications from Iranian
Jews and other minorities.
But since April 7. when
President Carter announced
tighter restrictions on Irani-
ans, even those with long-
standing visas are having
problems getting into the
United States.
SPOOK SCOOPS: Frus-
trated in their efforts to deal
with Iran’s mercurial
mullah, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, the CIA’s head-
quarters personnel have
resorted to voodoo: The
swivel-chair spooks have
installed a dartboard center-
ing on Khomeini’s portrait.
This black magic may not
hurt the ayatollah, but it<
helps the CIA let off a little
steam. /
* Bluestocking bureau-
crats at the CIA were scan-
dalized to learn that a tooth-
some young secretary had
“blown her cover” in a
recent issue of Playboy
magazine. Her willingness
to bare everything may cost
her her job; she has already
been transferred. Insiders
suggest the superspooks
may simply have been
offended that their pert
poseur didn't even rate the
centerfold, and was in fact
paid less than 6100 for her
exposure.
ETHNIC POLITICS: Once
Jimmy Carter was sworn in
as president, he abolished
the White House ethnic
affairs office. But on the eve
of his re-election campaign,
he hastily reactivated the
office. He has been practic-
ing ethnic politics ever
since, with appearances and
appointments calculated to
please the Greek, Italian,
1 A*
.Mu,s
\\ It r *
•« .
m
“Now that things are more manageable . .
Quebec: looking back
So much for the undecided vote
In the recent Quebec referendum it turned out to be, from
all evidence, decisive. * N__
The vote on whether the province should commence negoti-
ation of a new relationship with the rest of Canada had been
chilled right up to polling day.^May 20, as a cliffhanger
* It turned out to be something short of a landslide, but still a
thunderingly unambiguous expression of the public's negative
response on the issue.
As such, it came as something of a surprise. Soundings of
opinion had been taken regularly during the campaign —
which for all practical purposes started four years ago with
the election to provincial power of Rene Levesque and his
separatist Parti Quebeeois - and continued right up to elec-
tion day
Precise figures varied, but most polls concurred that nei-
ther side had a clear majority and that the middle ground was
held by a large bloc of undecided voters — possibly 20
percent A notable exception was one early March sampling
that came up with a bare majority — 52 percent — opposed to
Levesque’s "sovereignty-association" proposal but still a sig-
nificant 7 percent undecided.
None suggested the decisiveness of the actual outcome - a
roughly 60-40 break in opposition.
The outcome suggests that almost the entire undecided bloc
must have opted for "non" once in the polling booths And it
raises a question as to why such an overwhelming trend was
not detected by the persistent and supposedly super-sensitive
pollings of public sentiment
There may be some lesson in that aspect of the Quebec
Berry's World
^ COMMENTARY
g$| Don Graff
experience for the U S public at the current stage of the presi-
dential campaign, in which the pairing of various possible
combinations of candidates is beginning to attract more atten-
tion than the few remaining primaries
There may be some differences of opinion, however, as to
exactly what that lesson is.
Maybe a poll should be taken on it.
Center completion is needed
%) 1*0 Oy NEA X
K
[exican and
communities
Polish
"I’VE GOT ITI Let's put TED TURNER up
against the ayatollahl"
Editor:
It has to be frustrating for the
many people who have given
time, money and dedication to
obtain a fine facility like our
Civic Center, only to have
another attempt to delay its
comjpletion.
I have had the opportunity to
work with many committees
and groups who have worked
hard, taken much time and
their own money to try to obtain
a civic center for Hopkins
County. The original com-
mittee, that worked on what
lead up to the present Center,
was organized from the
Agricultural Extension Service
Program Building Committee
and the Hopkins County
Chamber of Commerce. This
group was made up of the late
Clarence Crouch, Bill Frailey,
Don Smith, Raymond McCaig,
Joe Whitworth and Norman
Dykes. They organized more
than eight years ago and spent
many hours, traveled many
miles at their own expense and
met with many groups to come
up with what they throught was
a good plan for a center. A
board was later appointed by
the Commissioners Court to
take over the planning
program. There followed
several meetings where the
public was invited to add in-put.
The trouble was, there wasn’t
the interest that there should
have been from the general
public.
The final plans for the Civic
Center were drawn up after a
coordinated effort by the
Commissioners Court, City of
Sulphur Springs, Sulphur
Springs Independent School
District, Federal Government
and many individuals who
contributed time and money.
Now that the center needs
that final touch to get it com-
pleted, we have some who are
trying to delay the project
which will only add more to the
costs. Just two years ago the
bid to finish the project was
near 6125,000. Now another
$100,000 is added, due to in-
creased costs. We surely don’t
need more delay. We’ve had
enough of that. Don’t get me
wrong, we do need more con-
cerned citizens, but BEFORE
the fact, not AFTER.
I hope the people of Hopkins
County will get behind tHs
project and get it completed
Sincerely, PAUL D. HER-
SCHLER.
%
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 134, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 5, 1980, newspaper, June 5, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth823855/m1/4/?rotate=90: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.