Viewpoint
The Battalion Wednesday
Texas A&M University j UNE 14, 1978
Proposition 13 neither revolt nor cure-all
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON—The voters of
California have approved the Jarvis-Gann
property tax roll back initiative by an
overwhelming margin, giving this hum
drum political year the first shot of adrena
lin it has received.
No sooner was the California victory in
the bag than the backers of the tax limita
tion movement were proclaiming that the
revolt triggered by California’s outraged
property tax payers would sweep the
country.
SIMILAR moves are pending in state
legislatures or as possible ballot initiatives
in about half the states. And with the im
petus of the California victory, tax-limit
advocates clearly sense that the moment is
right for them to strike.
No one is likely to underestimate the
significance of the vote. But there is some
danger of exaggerating its meaning, and of
rushing headlong into conclusions that are
unwarranted.
The Jarvis-Gann initiative is the late-
1970s equivalent of George Wallace’s
“send them a message” politics of the late
1960s. It is a protest against the growth of
government and all its costs—bureaucratic
as well as financial.
Bill Roberts, the veteran Republican
California campaign consultant, was right
when he told the Los Angeles Times:
“Proposition 13 has less to do with tax re
duction and more with people using it as a
vehicle to express their unhappiness.”
Mickey Kantor, the Los Angeles Demo
cratic lawyer-campaign manager, is right
when he says it is the voters’ way “of
throwing a monkey-wrench in govern
ment.
LIKE THE WALLACE campaigns, it is
a threat to both political parties. It puts
Gov. Jerry Brown’s presidential hopes
under a cloud, at least temporarily, be
cause he now faces a fiscal crisis as serious
as that which occupied New York Gov.
Hugh Carey for the past four years. But, at
the same time, it deprives the California
Republican party of its strongest potential
challengers to Brown, and its brightest
hopes for the future. Assemblyman Ken
Maddy and San Diego Mayor Pete Wil
son, who might have worried Brown as
opponents, were defeated in the GOP
primary, in part because of their opposi
tion to Proposition 13.
Jarvis-Gann was a poke in the eye to
organized labor, minority groups, public
employees, politicians, the downtown
press and the self-styled public interest
groups. It was, like the Wallace campaign,
a win for the talk-show listeners and the
folks who never attend Commonwealth
Club lunches or League of Women Voters
foru ms.
Like a lot of Wallace’s populist rhetoric.
it was also a bit of a fraud. Behind the
smoke-screen of helping the homeowner,
it shackled the state government’s ability
to raise progressive corporate and personal
income taxes, thus protecting the interests
of the wealthy.
ONLY ONE-THIRD of its immediate
benefits go to homeowners, and that por
tion is likely to decline over time, thanks
to a wrinkle in the plan which opponents
failed to make clear to California voters.
Under Jarvis-Gann, assessments can
rise only 2 percent a year, until a piece of
property is sold, when it is reassessed at
market value. Homes change hands every
seven years, on the average; commerical
and industrial property, much less often.
Over time, the homeowners will see their
share of property tax burden increasing,
while commercial and industrial
property-owners benefit.
Jarvis-Gann is like the Wallace cam
paign in one final respect: It is not likely to
travel well. As John Shannon of the Advi
sory Commission on Intergovernmental
Relations has pointed out, “It would be
difficult to duplicate in most other states
the factors that have given the Jarvis-Gann
approach such strong support in Califor
nia. ”
Those factors include an overburdened
property tax, a big state treasury surplus, a
rapid increase in the overall tax burden
and an exceptionally fast growth in resi
dential property values. Jarvis-Gann is, as
Shannon points out, “an extremely dras
tic” tax-limit measure, and as such, proba
bly not the wave of the future.
But it is a symptom of an important
political force. Since 1970, 14 other states
have adopted lids on local tax authority
and four states have imposed limits on
state spending growth as well.
IT WOULD NOT be surprising to see a
widespread adoption of the Tennessee and
New Jersey formulas, which, in essence,
say that government spending can grow no
faster than the state’s economy is expand
ing; the public sector cannot increase its
slice of the total pie.
But this is a somewhat more modest
goal than President Carter has set for
himself—without prompting by a Proposi
tion 13—when he aims to reduce the fed
eral government’s share of the gross na
tional product from 22.6 percent to 21
percent.
It is a big victory for conservatism to
have the public policy debate centering on
the rate at which the scale of government
should be reduced—not expanded. But it is
not quite the revolution which some have
seen in the wake of Proposition 13’s pas
sage. Reports of the death of the welfare
state are, to borrow a phrase, exaggerated.
(c) 1978, The Washington Post
PUC wants ‘fighting macT
United Press International
AUSTIN — Texas’ Public Utility Com
mission is looking for people who are angry
about their electricity bills and don’t want
to take it anymore.
DESPITE THE VAST resources of
natural gas in the state for generating elec
tricity, many Texans’ utility bills are among
the fiighest in the nation and state regu
lators are looking for something to do about
it.
“I think if anybody in the country can do
it, we can,” said Al Erwin, a former re
porter serving on the pace-setting commis
sion.
The commission opened a special hear
ing Monday to consider alternatives to
present procedures for setting the price of
electricity.
Information gathered at the hearing —
expected to last three to four weeks — will
be studied by the state regulatory agency
and included in a report to the 1979 Legis
lature.
Experts predict some consumer groups
may be surprised at the potential impact of
popular rate relief measures such as
“lifeline” rates.
Lifeline rates — calculated to provide a
minimal amount of service to the elderly or
poor at discounted prices — do not always
benefit the needy, Erwin said.
Chief beneficiaries when such a system
was instituted for electricity rates in
California, Erwin said, turned out to be
wealthy residents of Palm Desert — a rich
suburb of Palm Springs — who vacationed
away from their homes much of the time.
“THEY WERE TRYING to help poor
people but they wound up subsiziding
Palm Desert homeowners,” Erwin said.
“The assumption that low income equates
with low usage is not always correct.”
Erwin said the commission looked at the
potential impact of reduced rates for mini
mal electricity use in considering prices to
be charged by Central Power & Light of
Corpus Christi.
“In CP&L it was the beach homes on
Padre Island that would have benefited,”
he said.
Erwin said he hopes the hearings will
increase public awareness about problems
in establishing rate structures and compli
cations hindering efforts to slow increases
in bills.
“It’s really sort of our responsibility to
tell everybody the price of electricity is not
going to go down,” Erwin said.
Conservation efforts may reduce the bills
of individual consumers and changes in rate
structure may shift the burden of utility
costs somewhat but the cost of producing
power is going to continue to increase,
Erwin said.
PROSPECTS FOR re-distributing the
costs among utility users are the central
issue in the hearings — sessions state offi
cials hope this may lead to some innovative
proposals for revamping rate-making.
Representatives of the U.S. Department
of Energy will participate along with or
ganized consumer groups such as ACORN
(Association of Citizens Organized for Re
form Now), CASE (Citizens Associated for
Sound Energy) and the Dallas Energy Task
Force.
Testimony by utility company experts is
expected to take most of the first week.
Representatives of the federal govern
ment, large industrial and commercial
electricity users such as Dow Chemical Co.
and J. C. Penny Co. are slated to testify the
second week.
Spokesmen for consumer groups and
representatives of individual cities such as
Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso
and the Texas Municipal League also are
expected to appear the week of June 19-21.
Private individuals, and representatives
of any other group, business or organiza
tion interested in participating will have a
chance to present their views during the
week of June 26-28.
“We determined that the public should
have the benefit of hearing all expert tes
timony before being asked to speak, so in
dividuals would have the benefit of ad
dressing specific subjects brought up by
the utility companies and other formal par
ties,” said Commission Chairman George
Cowden.
LIBERAL LEGISLATORS demanded
the study of alternative pricing procedures
in hopes that the commission could come
up with some method of providing rate re
lief to residents of areas such as South and
Central Texas where electricity rates have
skyrocketed in the past five years —jump
ing as much as 10-fold in many instances.
One frequent suggestion to reduce
prices for electricity used during off-peak
times is certain to be discussed, although
Texans
utility companies are indicating the plan
might not be feasible in Texas because
heavy summer air-conditioning use keeps
many systems operating at near capacity for
far too long every day to allow adequate
time for offpeak usage.
The utility commission, created in 1976,
may have to rehash many of the precedents
it has set on rate making such as disapproval
of declining block rates that make electric
ity cheaper with each additional amount
consumed.
State regulators also hope to get public
input on what types of rate structures are
acceptable to Texas consumers.
“There are some things we have thought
about doing that are just not palatable to
the public,” said John Cunningham, the
hearing examiner who will preside at the
sessions.
Today fingerprints —tomorrow cowlicks?
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — One of the worse
curses that could befall a boy child of my
generation was being born with a cowlick.
Some girls had cowlicks, too, I suppose,
but in their case it didn’t much matter.
Girls of that day wore their hair either
long or frizzed. If long, the strands were
heavy enough to overcome the upward and
outward thrust of the cowlick. If frizzed,
the cowlick was incorported into the overall
convolutions.
The Tighter Side
or tuft growing in a different direction from
the rest of the hair and usually turned up or
away as if licked by a cow.”
The classic cowlick does indeed project,
refuse to lie flat and turn up or awry. But
the part about it growing in a different di
rection from the rest of the hair is woefully
singular.
A cowlick does not grow in a different
direction. It grows in different directions.
It takes at least three tangential routes from
the thatch’s mainstream.
All of which mean, in the case of small
boys, that the victims of cowlicks were
FEEM
forced to spend miserable hours enduring
the rigors of their mothers determined but
vain attempts to brush their hair down in
the back.
Some mothers, in fits of desperation,
even applied dabs of spittle to the wayward
locks. We now know, perhaps, why these
anguishing exercises were foredoomed.
According to the Agriculture Depart
ment, two veterinarians recently have es
tablished the cowlicks on horses are both
highly individualist and apparently perma
nent.
The department says equine cowlicks,
called whorls, are like human fingerprints
in that no two are alike. It says the whorls
form a trichoglyph, or hair picture, that
holds promise of becoming a new identifi
cation technique.
A press release containing this informa
tion does not mention human cowlicks.
Obviously, however, that is something the
FBI may want to look into.
It may be that a child born with his head
in a whorl is exhibiting a uniqueness that no
amount of maternal brushing can eradi
cate. If so, criminals will need to wear wigs
to avoid leaving hairprints.
by Doug Graham
Boys were not so lucky. The style of that
period required that small boys have short,
slicked-down hair. With a cowlick, those
terms are mutually contradictory.
There was no way in God’s world a
closely-cropped cowlick could be slicked
down. No amount of water, oil, adhesives
or coagulants would cause a cowlick to fol
low the contours of the scalp.
It takes, as a matter of fact, two dic
tionaries just to define cowlick. And even
the combined meaning doesn’t quite catch
it.
One dictionary I consulted rendered it!
thusly: “a projecting tuft ofhair that will not
lie flat. ” The other construed it to be “a lock
Top of the News
Campus
Record enrollment set
A record 10,644 students enrolled for the first session of summer
classes at Texas A&M University. The figure, which represents the
fourth class day enrollment, is a 6 percent increase over the same time
last year. Associate Registrar Don Carter said. Texas A&M set its
previous summer school record last June with an enrollment of 9,996
students.
State
East Texas sheriff pleads guilty
Fannin County Sheriff Raymond Taylor abruptly ended his federal
racketeering trial Tuesday in Tyler by pleading guilty to charges that
could send him to prison for 30 years. After a short meeting with
prosecutors during a morning recess, the East Texas sheriff agreedto
plea guilty to bribery and related narcotics charges in exchange for the
government dropping 13 counts of a 16-count indictment against him,
Houston may hire LA policemen
The Houston police department has offered to hire 200 Los Angeles
officers if they are laid off because of a California property tax reduction
adopted by referendum last week, Chief Harry Caldwell saidTuesday,
Caldwell said he conferred with Los Angeles Police Chief Darrel
Gates by telephone about the idea, which arose after Californians
overwhelmingly adopted a Proposition 13 June 6. Proposition 13setal
percent ceiling on property taxes, reducing California revenue from
$12 billion to $5 billion.
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Sleeping burglar escapes
An Austin couple was awakened early Monday by a rude, loud
sound. The burglar who broke into their apartment had fallen asleepat
the foot of their bed and was snoring. The startled tenant picked up a
dowel rod and began shouting at the intruder, but the stranger didn’t
budge until police were called. When police arrived, the burglar had
fled. Several blank checks and $10 was missing from a rifled purse. An
arrest warrant was issued for the sleeping burglar.
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Nation
Search for murder suspect ends
A 10-month-long search for the man accused of killing three Girl
Scouts ended with Gene Leroy Hart cursing his captors and telling
them they would never prove him guilty, a state agent testified Tues
day. Larry Bowles, an agent for the Oklahoma State Bureau oflnvesti-
gation, testified Hart, 34, called him an offensive name and told him at
the time of his April 6 arrest authorities could not convict him. Bowles’
testimony at a preliminary hearing came on the first anniversary of the
1977 sex slayings near Locust Grove, Okla.
Escaped bull runs through city
A 1,500-pound black bull that charged pedestrians, frustrated police
and dented cars Tuesday in an hour-long dash through Kansas City,
Mo., was eventually killed by police. Police said officers fired on the
animal which had escaped from the city’s stockyards area. There were
no injuries resulting from the bull’s adventures. Pursuers watched as
the animal leaped over a five-foot wall and through a downtown
parking garage.
U.S. studies Soviet proposal
American officials said Tuesday in Washington that they are study
ing a Soviet proposal for troop cuts in Central Europe that would leave
both East and West with an equal number of forces. The proposal, the
officials said, was offered by the Soviets in the Mutual and Balanced
Force reduction talks in Vienna. The Soviet proposal, according to
U.S. officials, would limit both sides to a total of 700,000 ground
troops, and an overall ceiling for both sides of 900,000 for ground apd
air forces.
Village fears trouble over march
Fearing violence will erupt at a June 25 neo-Nazi march, the village
president of Skokie, Ill., has requested help from the National Guard.
Albert J. Smith Monday asked for the guard’s presence after the U.S.
Supreme Court refused to halt the march. He also appealed for help
from the Cook County sheriffs police, the Illinois State Police and
seven or eight neighboring suburban police departments.
UFO-spotting course offered
For $50, Southeast Missouri State University is offering two hours of
university credit and a scientific kit to help detect unidentified flying
objects. Harley Rutledge, chairman of the school’s physics department
and a recognized authority on UFOs, said his week-long course that
begins July 24, will include a field trip to Piedmont in southeast
Missouri, the site of several reported UFO sightings in 1973.
World
Victims of storm identified
Grief-stricken parents gathered today for a bus ride to despair —to
identify their dead boys — victims of a violent storm that swamped
their canoes during a school outing on a wilderness lake near Ville
Marie, Quebec. At least a dozen boys between the ages of 12 and 16
and their teacher died in the storm on Lake Temiscamingue. Fifteen
boys and three teachers survived the disaster.
Weather
Partly cloudy skies today, tonight and tomorrow with warm
days and mild nights. 20% chance of widely scattered thun
dershowers today, tonight & Thursday. High today low 90's,
low tonight low 70s. High tomorrow low 90s. Winds from the
southeast at 5-10 mph.
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