Inside The Lobby
(Page 4 of 4)
The Houston Chronicle reported that the noise of the lobby leaving the gallery was so great after Parker admitted defeat that Speaker Daniel told the House to stand at ease until quiet was restored. Watching the phoning and commotion was Mr. Whitworth, as serene and secure as a moo-cow.
A similar fate killed Rep. Menefee's bill almost exactly a month earlier. A crippling amendment won passage and the bill never saw the light of day.
Sadly enough, the 63rd Session passed only a few environmental reform measures, one the endangered species act. Mrs. Char White, chairwoman of Environmental Action for Texas, no doubt wishes Harry Whitworth was one of those critters included on the list under her new law. But Whitworth's still very much around and, although not in the cat bird seat, still a winner.
Another winner this session, as at every session he participates in, was Frank C. Erwin, Jr., a man few people have ambivalent feelings about. Depending on your point of view he has either single-handedly ruined the University of Texas or he has pulled it up into the 20th Century.
He is a complex man: emotional, mean as a rattlesnake in a sleeping bag, defiantly loyal, shy but unfailingly polite with women. He is what used to be known as a gentleman of parts, a man who is as much at home with Puccini's Turandot as he is passing statehouse gossip with the coarsest representatives.
Since 1965, Frank Erwin has presented the huge UT System's budget before the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, as well as testified for or against bills affecting the UT System.
He has a brain as sharp as an awl, and as the Appropriations Committee chairman makes his way through the several-inches-thick budget, it's very clear that Erwin has done his homework. Erwin's participation began in 1965 when one of Governor John Connally's aides recommended vetoing funds for UT's Memorial Museum. Erwin was appalled that such a thing could occur to his beloved UT.
That year the appropriation for the UT System was $77 million. Erwin has lobbied for UT every session since, and, for the 1974-75 biennial, the UT System will receive $427 million, a 453 per cent increase over 1965. Even with new institutions added in, it is an impressive figure and a credit to Erwin's skill.
"There was a considerable difference in the House Appropriations Committee this time. Many committee members were new and were unfamiliar with the institutions and their backgrounds," said Erwin.
"However, I think the appropriations bill is exceptionally good, considering the no-new-tax constraint and flexible welfare situation the committee had to work under."
He concluded: "Gov. Briscoe gave us no leadership or help whatsoever. He has expressed interest in vocational education, which is fine, but he has made no pitch for higher education, either general or academic instruction, medical or dental units."
The Coordinating Board of Colleges and Universities introduced five bills to denude UT's power. None was enacted. There were 35 or so unfriendly bills introduced, mainly by freshmen members. All failed.
Erwin and UT are used to being number one. Railroads, on the other hand, are not. If his friend and fellow power-lobbyist Bill Abington was left holding the bag, Walter Caven had the other half. Chief legal counsel for the Texas Railroad Association since 1959, the tall, patrician-looking, blue-eyed Caven had the dubious pleasure of having a much sought-after bill become Gov. Briscoe's first veto.
Caven's bill would have authorized special railroad agents to be peace officers, carry weapons, and move from one county to another with no legal hassles. There was no indication of trouble and Caven was confident. When Sgt. Julius Knigge of the Houston police department, lobbyist for the Texas Municipal Police Association, found out about these about-to-be 150 new peace officers, however, he fired off a letter to Gov. Briscoe protesting that for the first time private industry would have its own police force.
That's all it took. In a press release announcing the veto, the Governor agreed that it was a problem and a study would be the best thing.
Unique among the big four industrial lobbyists, Caven has manpower to aid the cause. The major railroads in Texas—Missouri Pacific, Santa Fe, Southern Pacific and Katy—send down between four and ten lobby-drones during the session to do the dirty-collar work. Each drone is assigned three or four House members a day for lunch. Mr. Caven looks after the Senate.
Caven vehemently disapproves of Price Daniel, Jr. ("I haven't said anything to him except hello since the session started and I don't intend to"), calls lobby reform a false issue, and thinks the present lobby law was adequate and only needed to be enforced.
One of the strongest lobbies in Austin is the Texas Trial Lawyers. The 1100 members are by profession advocates and persuaders; their business is to sell juries. They sell legislators, too. Phil Gauss has been the executive director since 1949 and has had two pieces of legislation on the front burner for a long time. They finally passed this session.
The two long-awaited bills: 1) A bill making comparative negligence part of state tort law, passed last session and vetoed by Gov. Smith. It made it this time and was signed into law on April 9. 2) A bill providing for voluntary first-party insurance. If you choose to pay an additional $25-$35, this add-on insurance will provide up to $2500 in automatic payoffs for injuries and loss—no law suit necessary.
Much of TTLA's strength comes from their political arm, LIFT (Lawyers Involved For Texas). Headed by attorney Wayne Fisher of Houson, LIFT contributes heavily to Texas House and Senate races.
Name any interest you want and it's a safe bet their concerns are represented by an association or lobbyist in Austin. Below is a random sampling of persons and associations which for better or worse hang around the Capitol:
AFL-CIO—The labor movement in Texas has always had the numbers and the money. The increasing urbanization of Texas may give the labor unions the added political muscle they have missed, although union membership is not picking up rapidly. Secretary-Treasurer Harry Hubbard leads a five-man lobby delegation that worked for passage of collective bargaining for public employees (failed) and an upward revision of workmen's compensation payments to injured workers (passed).
Texas Brewers' Institute— Chief legal counsel Dick Cory is the lobby's acknowledged expert on the drafting and constitutionality of legislation. A former House member for 16 years and participant in two previous constitutional revision studies, Cory had an easy session, putting out brush fires and worrying about a future tax bill.
Texas Automobile Dealers Association— An organization of 1450 franchised new car dealers in Texas headed by former Rep. Gene Fondren. On the job for little over a year, Fondren knows the legislature's whims and, along with Cory and attorney Wade Spilman, ranks among the most competent drafters of legislation.
Texas Manufacturers Association—Six thousand members representing 3,000 firms make up this widespread organization headquartered in Houston. Their ability to raise money has declined as has the prestige of the executive director, Jim Yancy.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)—By taking polls, appearing on TV and radio shows, and by persistent lobbying, state director Steve Simon provided valuable assistance to the already excellent groundwork done by former State Senator Don Kennard's Senate Interim Commitee on Drug Abuse. The combined efforts of the Kennard program and the activities of NORML bore fruit on the last day of the session, when the penalty for first possession of marihuana was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Joe Golman—One of the busiest individual lobbyists in Austin, Golman represents the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Dallas Community College, and the National Association of Theater Owners. Golman is a popular former House member from Dallas who will commute from Dallas to the Austin office between sessions to keep abreast of legislative business which may affect his clients.
There are many, many more, ranging from the powerful Texas Medical Association to the many other medical-related lobbies; to Allen Commander's efforts to work for the University of Houston in the shadow of Frank Erwin's got-it-down-pat work for UT; to shrimpers and oystermen and every delegation and individual who visits Austin at one time or another.
The lobby is hardly a monolithic body, although its major members share certain basic interests and a certain common folklore. When it comes right down to it, the business of lobbying is the business of petitioning the government: it's trying to right wrongs, achieve a special good, or just to get what you can.
Lobbyists will swear up and down that democratic government could not go on without them, particularly as the world, and governing, become more complex. Most legislators will agree with them. The legislators know how difficult it is to keep informed on issues.
The methods that the lobbyist use are pretty much standard; it is the ends that are different from lobbyist to lobbyist. The danger comes when some lobbyists spend too much time around power, and come to equate the public interest with their own.
In the meantime, Bill Abington of Texas
Mid-Continent Oil and Gas is preparing for another session—perhaps a tax
session, perhaps the constitutional revision session this spring,
perhaps the next regular session. If he could just figure a way to get
around Senator McKnight . . . .
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