MM1 Texas A&M m m m •
The Battalion
v /ol. 82 Mo. 190 (ASPS 045360 6 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, August 7, 1986
hite proposes temporary increase in sales tax
USTIN (AP) — Gov. Mark
gambling with his political fu-
alfiture three months before the elec
tion, on Wednesday asked the Legis-
'aitjature for a temporary sales tax
xlttincrease to help close the state’s $3.5
■‘'"•.pillion budget deficit.
ylmiB'Some say this might cost us our
— and it might,” White told the
first day of a special legislative ses-
lo* sion. “I know what I’m asking of you
'il: when I call for a tax increase.”
sneHl-fowever, he said, the need to save
essential state services should rule
out spending cuts alone, the path
Jit! mtmy conservative lawmakers say
"I they prefer.
haiiB'It’s not a question of want, it’s a
ten question of need,” White said. “We
‘t. must do our job for the people of
Texas — regardless of the conse-
I quences.”
■White’s proposal called for the tax
hike to be combined with $ 1.4 billion
in spending cuts, an action he said
would be “agonizing.”
■The one-year tax increase would
dt take effect Sept. 1 and expire auto-
u st matically on Aug. 31, 1987, the end
nil of the state’s current two-year bud
get cycle.
rdaHThe plan would boost the sales tax
raie from 4.125 percent to 5.25 per
ron Item. The hike would raise $810 mil-
Si lion said White’s budget aide, Bill
mi Hamilton.
19. ■Calling layof f s of state workers
cemBie last resort,” White proposed
1 jtl eliminating the 3 percent pay raise
| Hey were supposed to receive Sept.
1 and asked that their salaries also be
rolled back 3 percent for the 1987
budget year.
White also pledged to continue
full spending for public schools, say
ing the sweeping improvements
passed in 1984 and funded with a
tax increase then are too important
to drop.
“We didn’t build public education
in 1984 to tear it down in 1986,” he
said.
White, a Democrat, faces a re-
election battle against the man he
ousted in 1982, former Gov. Bill
Glements. Glements, the only Re
publican to hold the state’s highest
office in this century, quickly at
tacked White.
“His plan for Texas is taxes,”
Clements said, adding that White
has been making no-tax statements
since last spring. “Mark White has
done it again. He promised not to
raise taxes and then he proposes a
$810 million tax increase with the
promise for more increases next
January.”
Apparently to head off some crit
icism, White asked the Legislature to
endorse a constitutional amendment
prohibiting imposition of either a
personal or corporate state income
tax. Clements has charged that if
White is re-elected, he would impose
an income tax.
White asked for bi-partisan sup
port. It would be mandatory, since
Republicans hold 54 of the 150
House seats and 100 House votes
House speaker pronounces fox plan 'dead'
AUSTIN (AP) — Speaker Gib
Lewis on Wednesday pro
nounced Gov. Mark White’s tax-
plan dead in the House, and said
many lawmakers would prefer
pari-mutuel gambling or a lottery
if more state money must be
raised.
Lewis and House Ways and
Means Committee Chairman
Stan Schlueter promised to block
any tax hike, including the one-
year sales tax increase White pro
posed Wednesday in opening the
special session.
“We can balance the budget
without any tax increases,” Lewis
said.
White’s decision to open the
session to revenue measures
could clear the way for consider
ation of pari-mutuel gambling or
lottery measures.
“I favor pari-mutUel,” Lewis
said. “I’m a little softer on lottery
than probably some are. But I’m
for giving the chamber an oppor
tunity to vote on either one of
those proposals.”
He said either measure has a
better chance of passing than
does a tax hike.
But House leaders like
Schlueter are persuaded no new
revenue measures are needed.
“I think we’re going to make
the cuts, resolve the cash flow
problem and go home,” he said.
Any tax bill would have to begin
in Schlueter’s committee.
The House mood showed on
the lapels of many members who
wore buttons bearing a picture of
scissors. Appropriations Commit
tee Chairman Jim Rudd, also
unimpressed with White’s plan,
convened his committee after the
speech to begin swinging the bud
get ax.
“We are going to start hatchet-
ing and butchering,” Rudd said.
White’s combination tax-and-
cut plan appeared to find more
favor in the Senate, where Lt.
Cov. Bill Hobby has offered a
proposal similar to White’s except
that the tax increase would be
permanant.
Hobby would not critique the
White plan, saying only, “The
process is underway and in a few
weeks it will produce a good re
sult.”
Sen. Chet Brooks, D-Pasadena,
said the tax hike is unavoidable.
“You can’t balance the budget
with the kind of shortf all we have
by just cuts,” he said. “You have
to do something about the reve
nue side of it.”
Senate Finance Committee
Chairman Grant Jones, D-Abi-
lene, said Texans would reject the
size of program cuts it would take
to balance the budget without a
tax hike.
“If you look at what it would
take through spending cuts
alone, we would be dismantling
programs that would take years
and many more dollars to bring
back in years to come,” he said.
On the House side, pro-tax
hike sentiment came from mem
bers who fear the budget ax could
fall heavily on their constituents.
Rep. Bob Bush, D-Sherman,
said it is a fight between two
groups — “The ones who depend
on the state for income and the
ones who don’t.”
would be needed for the tax increase
to take effect on Sept. 1.
White blamed the budget deficit
and the tax hike on falling world
wide oil prices.
“We would not be here today if oil
were $26 a barrel,” White said.
Comptroller Bob Bullock last
month estimated a total state deficit
of about $3.5 billion, a figure which
included loss of some federal funds,
lost interest payments and contin
gency factors such as the possible
outcome of various lawsuits.
White’s proposal would erase
$2.23 billion, which his aides said
would cover the governor’s estimate
of the deficit total without the con
tingencies.
The governor’s long-awaited bud-
The Reel Thing
Photo by Tom Own be y
essf#i
era«
Scott Kirkham threads a reel of the film “Animal Crackers” through a
projector at The Grove Wednesday night. Kirkham, a senior theater
arts major from Dallas, has worked as a projectionist for Aggie Cin
ema for the past two years. Aggie Cinema will end its Wednesday
night summer film series next week with a showing of “Best Little
Whorehouse in Texas.”
jrmcm
onvicted
ies anfll
if spying
BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif.
1 ll|[ (AP) — An airman was found guilty
ces oi espionage Wednesday for passing
classified Air Force documents to
undercover FBI agents posing as So-
let spies.
I Airman 1st Class Bruce Ott was
convicted by Lt. Col Howard Swee
ney, who deliberated over two days
after testimony ended in the court-
iiartial.
1 Ott, 26, faces up to 32 years in
prison. A sentencing hearing began
Wednesday afternoon.
I Ott was arrested Jan. 22 in a Da
vis, Calif., motel when he allegedly
passed a copy of an Air Force Strate
gic Air Command regulation relat
ing to the SR-71 spy plane to two
§BI agents posing as Soviets.
I Ott was charged with contacting
the Soviet Consulate in San Fran
cisco without obtaining permission
and with taking the Strategic Air
i,Command regulation with reason to
AC believe the information would be
Vr*| Used to injure the United States.
p He was also charged with passing
a copy of an Air Force unit recall
roster to an FBI agent Jan. 13 dur
ing another clandestine rendezvous.
.■ Military prosecutors contended
.xaniilthat Ott, of Erie, Pa., hoped to be
| paid up to $ 160,000 for his work as a
nned'l s Py> and offered to work for the So-
hattisf vict Union.
50 « In summaries Tuesday, Ott’s law-
^ ^ yer, Lt. Col. William K. At Lee Jr.,
in nK'l
:y art j
, j said his client was a terribly mixed
tiJp young man on a course to self-de-
e dii« :
st',
uction.
South African truck inspections
slow traffic for ‘statistical survey’
JOHANNESBURG, South Af
rica (AP) — Customs agents
stalled truck traffic from Zambia
and Zimbabwe on Wednesday,
one day after the two countries
endorsed tough economic sanc
tions against South Africa.
Both black-ruled nations trans
ship exports and imports through
South Africa.
Customs said the lengthy bor
der inspections were for purposes
of a statistical survey. They fol
lowed imposition of a levy on all
goods passing through South Af
rica to Zambia.
“The screws are undoubtedly
being tightened,” said Allan Cow
ell, executive director of the
South African Association of
Freight Forwarders.
Zambia and Zimbabwe were
among six countries which voted
at a Commonwealth mini-summit
this week to impose sanctions be
cause of South Africa’s apartheid
race policy.
Trade Minister Dawie de Vil-
lers said in a speech Wednesday
night that businessmen and offi
cials should be careful what they
say about the country’s responses
to sanctions.
“If an economic war is to be
waged against us, then we are
bound, just as would be the case
in other warfare, to become less
talkative about the issues lest we
jeopardize our position,” he said.
Cowell and freight agents in
Zimbabwe said customs agents at
the South Africa-Zimbabwe bor
der grossing at Beit Bridge were
unpacking trucks from Zim
babwe, Zaire and Zambia. All use
South African ports for exports.
Freight agents said some trucks
were being delayed 24 hours.
Similar checks of export cargo
were reported at the border with
Botswana.
The import levy on goods
bound for Zambia takes the form
of a cash deposit equal to 125 per
cent of the customs duty, which
must be paid before South Africa
will release a cargo for shipment.
Afrikaanse Handelsinstitut,
the main business federation of
white Afrikaners, pledged sup
port for government action
against neighboring countries
that “create difficulties for South
Africa.”
Sanction proposal caught
in partisan Senate fighting
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen
ate leaders worked Wednesday to
untie a legislative knot that
threatened to delay votes on im
posing sanctions on South Africa
and approving President Rea
gan’s aid package to Nicaraguan
rebels.
Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-
Kan., told reporters “I think we
have the seeds of an agreement”
that would resolve the impasse
and permit the Senate to go
ahead with consideration of an
unrelated bill authorizing the
Pentagon’s budget for fiscal 1987.
“My hope is that you can work
out an agreement to have both
votes freestanding,” he said, ref
erring to goal of having the two
issues removed from the defense
bill.
The two issues did remain for
mally tied to the defense bill
Wednesday, but the Senate sim
ply ignored them as it plowed
through the measure. Sources
had said a likely compromise
would permit the Senate to go
ahead with the bill and consider
the two issues later.
The specific issues involve
whether to impose sanctions on
Pretoria’s white-ruled govern
ment, a move Reagan opposes,
and whether to approve the $100
million package of aid to Nicara
gua’s Contra guerrillas, which the
president and Republicans
strongly support and which many
Democrats oppose.
But the fight was complicated
by partisan politics in a chamber
where Republicans hold a 53-47
edge.
Both sides are trying to win
their issues and block their oppo
nents before that recess date.
get plan met with skepticism from
many legislators.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Gib
Lewis vowed to block a tax increase..
Since any tax legislation must start in
the House, Lewis’s support is crucial.
“I’m still holding firm. No new
taxes,” Lewis, D-Fort Worth, said af
ter White’s speech.
Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, who has been
f >ushing his own plan for $650 mil-
ion in cuts and a permanent sales
tax hike, called White’s proposal
“the beginning.”
White told the Legislature their
30-day special session will be the
most difficult they have ever seen.
“We’ve never had to face anything
like this in our lives,” he said.
Rehnquist memos
show no evidence
of wrongs so far
WASHINGTON (AP) — Confi
dential documents from the Nixon
administration have not revealed
any “smoking gun” to undermine
Supreme Court Justice William H.
Rehnquist’s confirmation as chief
justice, members of a Senate com
mittee said Wednesday.
Sen. Charles Mathias, R-Md., said
the memos, dealing with Rehnquist’s
role as a Nixon administration law
yer from 1969 to 1971, revealed
nothing to threaten his nomination.
Meanwhile, as Democrats contin
ued to study the memos, partisan
wrangling erupted over whether in
formation from the papers was
leaked to the news media.
Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C.,
Judiciary Committee chairman,
charged that there were unautho
rized disclosures and said he is
asking the FBI to investigate
whether any laws have been broken
by the alleged leaks.
“I will not tolerate these kind of
disclosures,” he said. “This is a se
rious breach of the agreement we
reached on the review of these docu
ments. It’s also a breach of trust.”
But Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del.,
the ranking minority committee
member, said it was all “a tempest in
a teapot.”
He said if any leaks occurred it
would not be illegal. Unless there
was a breach of national security, it is
a matter for the Senate Select Com
mittee on Ethics to investigate and
not the FBI, he said.
Biden later told reporters the re
ports of alleged leaks prompted Jus
tice Department officials to seize the
documents from a Senate office
building. But he said the memos
were returned after what Biden
called the “misunderstanding” over
the leaks was resolved.
Thurmond did not identify what
news organizations obtained the in
formation or what was disclosed.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., told
reporters he had seen nothing to
contradict testimony by Rehnquist
last week denying any wrongdoing
in his role as a legal adviser in the
Nixon administration. But Leahy
later said he had only glanced at the
memos and intended to study them
more carefully.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he
had “looked at every page of the
documents the Justice Department
had released.” He added, “I don’t
think any true lawyer would find
fault with the memoranda them
selves.”
President Reagan named Rehn
quist to succeed the retiring Warren
E. Burger as the nation’s 16th chief
justice.
The Reagan administration, relin
quishing claims to executive priv
ilege, agreed to allow the Judiciary
Committee to see the memos to head
off a constitutional confrontation
threatening to derail Rehnquist’s
nomination.
Two Republicans joined the eight
Democrats on the 18-member panel
in requesting the documents.
They were said to deal with nu
merous subjects, including domestic
wiretapping and the administra
tion’s plans for dealing with Vietnam
War protesters.
On another subject, Sen. Paul Si
mon, D-Ill., said he received a letter
from Rehnquist stating that the jus
tice has quit a men-only organization
called the Alfalfa Club.
Simon previously has refused to
vote for any judicial nominee who
belongs to organizations that dis
criminate against women or racial
minorities.
Artificial heart patient
54 dies after strokes
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Wil
liam J. Schroeder, the longest-living
recipient of a permanent artificial
heart, died Wednesday after suffer
ing multiple strokes that crippled his
ability to breathe. He was 54.
Schroeder, whose 620 days of life
on the plastic-and-metal Jarvik-7
pump were beset by strokes, was the
last survivor among five patients
given the device as a permanent sub
stitute for a human heart.
Doctors determined that Sch
roeder had suffered the strokes af
ter he became lethargic and was hav
ing trouble breathing Tuesday,
implant surgeon Dr. William C.
DeVries said.
Schroeder stopped breathing for
a few minutes and was resuscitated,
DeVries said. The family made a de
cision not to revive Schroeder when
he suffered the next episode of
breathing problems.
Schroeder’s wife, Margaret, and
all six of their children were with
him when he died at 1:35 p.m.
Wednesday, said Donna Hazle, a
spokeswoman at Humana Hospital
Audubon.
The family had decided several
months ago they did not want Sch
roeder put on a respirator, DeVries
said.
The surgeon said he was not giv
ing up on the artificial heart pro
gram and doctors were “ready to go
and move on again . . . We’re very
anxious to find another patient.”
Schroeder, the first of the artifi
cial heart patients to live outside the
hospital, was hailed by DeVries as a
medical pioneer.
“Bill set many milestones during
his 620 days with the heart,” DeVries
said. “But the main one, the one
we’ll remember, is the way his in
domitable spirit lit the path for those
who will come after.”