MM m T exas A&M
The
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I Vol. 82 No. 181 (JSPS 045360 6 pages
I
College Station, Texas
Friday, July 17, 1987
Poindexter:
oal of plan
as secrecy
p roa c l i *|WASHINGTON — Former Na-
iated tional Security Adviser John Poin-
»xter testified Thursday that he
ales' ^■lint Oliver North a “well done” note
kecarepi ter a ide misled Congress about
to alar|f| e secret Contra supply program,
men f(j|id he said President Reagan made
s haiifa mistake in firing North when the
HA, '. affair became public,
is reptl ] “Our objective here all along was
dindrjto withhold information” from Con-
jf Bess, said Poindexter in a second
lationilBy °f testimony before the congres-
, said jsional Iran-Contra committees.
ConiJ“There’s no question about that.”
untiljB The stocky rear admiral, dressed
icforeB civilian clothes, defended again
Hisarrajhis tearing up of a signed presi-
Ivhireldential order — known as a “fmd-
mam pig” — that authorized sending arms
Admir to Iran in the expectation that it
^Bould result in release of American
^casio postages held in Lebanon.
;s-J “I simply didn’t want this docu-
, Mient to see the light of day,” Poin-
adfloJ dexter said.
, adwd House committee counsel John
le 2 v. Nields asked, “Admiral Poindexter,
what made you believe that the pres
ident of the United States would
want you to destroy a finding in or
der to save him from political em-
arrassment?”
Poindexter said, “I recognized
hat it was politically embarrassing. I
nought one of my jobs was to pro-
|ect the president.”
Asked whether the purpose was
Iso to protect himself, Poindexter
aid, “In no way.”
mgs ail
Reagan, queried by reporters at
the beginning of a Cabinet session
on the budget, repeatedly refused to
comment on Poindexter’s testimony,
saying, “I’m going to be making a
statement when all these hearings
are over, and then I will be ready to
talk.”
Spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said
preparations were under way for a
Reagan speech after the hearings.
Poindexter said Wednesday he
believed Reagan would have
thought the diversion a good idea if
he had been told. But Fitzwater said
Thursday that Reagan “has said on
past occasions that had he been told,
he would not have allowed, and he
should have been told.”
On Capitol Hill, there were again
frequent clashes between Richard
Beckler, Poindexter’s attorney, and
a Senate committee counsel, Arthur
Liman. Responding to a Liman ques
tion, Beckler said:
“If counsel wants to know what
the president knew and what he
thought of when he signed that doc
ument, then perhaps you ought to
have the president come down here
and answer that because we haven’t
spoken to the president on this sub
ject.”
There were only about three
hours of testimony because many on
the committee journeyed to Phila
delphia to celebrate the 2()()th anni
versary of the constitutional com
promise that created a two-house
national legislature.
Help! We’re Stuck
Janet Perry, 5, peeks from behind the bars at left, as Grace Smith, 4,
Diana Savage, 4, and Nichole Meyers, 4, join in the fun. The blond
Photo by Sarah Cowan
boy in the background is Zachary Braswell, 7. The children are play
ing at A&M Methodist Day School, where they attend classes.
er viap
e sad it
de sue
-andd
House OKs bill to put A&M System up for review
By Yvonne DeGraw
Reporter
A bill that would put the Texas
k&M University System — and most
bther state university systems — up
ifor regular review has been passed
bv the Texas House.
Rep. Patricia Hill, vice chairman
of the sunset commission, intro-
iuced the bill, which would put six
university systems up for sunset re
hew every 12 years.
The review would be conducted
ay the sunset commission, but unlike
most agencies, the systems would not
be abolished automatically if the
commission fails to give its approval.
“The bill does provide that noth
ing can be abolished,” said Hill, R-
Dallas.
Legislators passed the bill in a
non-record vote without debate
Thursday morning. There was no
debate before a preliminary vote
Wednesday, either. The bill now
goes to the Senate.
Dr. William Mobley, deputy chan
cellor for academic and resource de
velopment, said A&rM’s administra
tion is not opposed to the bill.
“I think we would fare very well in
a review of our system offices,” he
said. “We don’t view with concern
the fact that this might be enacted.”
House Bill 2181, the work of the
Select Committee on Higher Educa
tion, describes the role of university
system offices. Mobley said A&M’s
current system matches what that
law lays out.
He speculated that the Legislature
might be more interested in looking
at the smaller systems the bill in
cludes.
In addition to A&M, the measure
covers the University of Texas Sys
tem, the Lamar University System,
the University System of South
Texas, the Texas State University
System and the University of Hous
ton System. The community college
system is not covered by the bill.
Hill said her bill was originally
going to be added to H.B. 2181, but
the committee did not want a lot of
amendments. Speaker Gib Lewis is
co-sponsoring her bill, she said.
“There’s nothing wrong with hav
ing at least a part of the agencies that
spend 22 percent of the state budget
looked at periodically,” she said.
Until now, she said, higher educa
tion was the only state agency that
did not come up for review.
The commission — made up of
four state representatives, four sen
ators and one member appointed by
both the lieutenant governor and
the speaker of the House — would
first examine the systems in 1993.
Hill said they will look at how well
the central offices of each system are
managed. This includes looking for-
top-heavy administration and over
lapping curriculum at nearby cam
puses. They also will examine how
systems and units within a system
coordinate their activities.
“I just bet that — with the possible
exception of UT and A&M — there
is very little sharing of information
or coordination among the various
university systems,” Hill said.
“Anything we can do to spend
that money more wisely is advanta
geous,” she said.
Mobley said A&M’s administra
tion is small for the University’s size.
“We are relatively lean on a na
tional scale, as well as on a state scale,
in terms of our operation,” he said.
helicopter crashes in rescue mission; 6 servicemen killed
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — A
U.S. military helicopter crashed in a squall
and killed six American servicemen on a
inission to aid a wounded U.S. military ad-
per, the U.S. Embassy said Thursday.
One of those killed in the crash Wednes
day night was the deputy commander of
fthe U.S. Military Group attached to the
gU.S. Embassy in San Salvador, according to
a Defense Department spokesman in Wash
ington. One of the seven aboard survived.
The crash brings to 12 the number of
U.S. servicemen killed in El Salvador since
the war between the U.S.-backed govern
ment and leftist guerrillas began in 1979.
The Huey UH-1H helicopter went down
“because of bad weather” at 10:52 p.m.,
seven minutes after it left the capital, said
Col. Ron Sconyers, director of public aff airs
for the U.S. Southern Command in Pan
ama.
The servicemen were bound for the Sal
vadoran military training center in La
Union, 113 miles east of the capital, to pick
up a U.S. trainer wounded in the neck in a
gun accident and transport him to a mili
tary hospital in San Miguel, 86 miles east of
San Salvador, Sconyers said.
The craft went down along a steep cliff
along the side of Ilopango Lake, a volcanic
crater filled with water about 10 miles east
of San Salvador, he said.
Robert Sims, the Pentagon’s chief
spokesman, said the U.S. helicopter was try
ing to return to the Ilapango Airport at the
time of the crash.
“The survivor of the crash climbed a hill
and found a Salvadoran national who as
sisted in his call for help,” Sims added.
“U.S. and Salvadoran personnel were then
dispatched to the crash site.”
The crash survivor and the soldier
wounded in La Union were in very serious
condition at the military hospital in San Sal
vador, the embassy said.
Among the dead was Air Force Lt. Col.
James M. Basile, 43, of Cheshire, Conn.,
the deputy commander of the U.S. Military
Croup at the embassy, said Capt. Nancy La-
Luntas, a Pentagon spokesman.
Witnesses said the bodies were strewn
along a grassy incline. U.S. military person
nel and Salvadoran soldiers recovered the
bodies and put them aboard U.S. helicopt
ers.
. ■
Marcos sued
by Philippines
for $22 billion
MANILA, Philippines (AP) —
I The government sued deposed
President Ferdinand E. Marcos
I and his family Thursday for
I more than $22 billion, claiming
I they plundered the treasury, be-
I trayed the public trust and bra-
I zenly abused power.
Marcos fled the country he
I ruled for two decades on Feb. 26,
I 1986, driven out by a military-ci-
I vilian uprising that put President
I Corazon Aquino in power.
Officials also said they refused
I an offer by a Saudi Arabian busi-
I nessman to invest $ 1 billion in the
■ Philippines if actions against Mar-
I cos were dropped.
Criminal charges are to be filed
I next week against the former
I president. The officials did not
I specify the charges, which are ex-
I pected to cover the same ground
I as the civil action.
The Presidential Commission
I on Good Government filed the
I civil suit in a special anti-graft
I court. Aquino appointed the com-
| mission and gave it the mission of
fc finding the fortune Marcos is ac-
■ cused of stealing.
Reaction mixed to Clements’ OK of $38.3 billion budget
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Bill Clem
ents, whose no-new-taxes campaign
promise melted under the heat of
political reality, drew mixed reviews
from fellow Republicans Thursday
over his endorsement of a $38.3 bil
lion state budget.
Rep. Chip Staniswalis, R-Am-
arillo, said, “I think we ought to have
a shredding party of our own,
Texas-sized, and put that bill in it.”
Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Plano, said,
“I think that he has gone back on
what the people of the state of Texas
want. He is not listening. I think had
he stuck by his guns, we would have
come back and done some real bud
get reductions.”
Rep. John Willy R-Angleton, said,
“I’m disappointed that we haven’t
addressed some of the cuts that
could be made.”
But Clements, who said the bud
get is larger than he would have pre
ferred, charged that House mem
bers had their shot at cutting state
spending and misfired.
“They had their opportunity over
about a four-day period over in the
House to see what they could do
with the budget,” Clements said.
“And I would remind all of you they
reduced it, what, $17 million? I’ve
reduced it about $300 million.”
Clements agreed Wednesday to
the $38.3 billion 1988-89 state bud
get — about a 4-percent increase
Clements admits to changing his thoughts
about replacing State Board of Education
with old-style 27-member elected body
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov. Bill Clem
ents, acknowledging he has reversed
his thinking, Thursday said he fa
vors keeping the State Board of Ed
ucation as an appointed body. He
blamed a judge’s ruling for his
change of heart.
Later in the day, the Senate gave
approval to a bill that would allow
tbe appointed system to continue if
voters agree.
“I haven’t, uh, I haven’t, uh, what
shall I say about it? I have changed
my mind,” Clements told a news
conference. “I have changed my
mind after lengthy discussions with
Speaker (Lewis) and Lt. Gov. (Bill)
Hobby.”
Clements said the reason for his
shift was the decision by State Dis
trict Judge Harley Clark, who ruled
that the state’s current system of
funding for 1,100 local school dis
tricts discriminates against property-
poor districts.
Clark’s decision, which state offi
cials are appealing, ordered Texas to
come up with a new way of funding
that doesn’t discriminate.
“I think we’re in jeopardy,” Clem
ents said of Clark’s ruling. “I think
that would be disturbing to the
whole situation.”
The Legislature, in passing the
sweeping school reform law known
as House Bill 72 in 1984, eliminated
the old, 27-member elected State
Board of Education. The law re
placed that board with a 15-member
panel appointed by the governor.
But the law also called for elec
tions to resume in 1988, with the
elected board taking over in 1989.
Clements, who throughout his
1986 campaign pledged to make cer
tain the board would be elected
again, Thursday said Clark’s ruling
means it would be difficult to change
formats.
“I certainly do not want to restruc
ture public education in the state of
Texas during the next two years,”
Clements said. “I think a big factor
in that that will be helpful for conti
nuity of purpose would be to retain
... an appointed board vs. an elected
board.”
over current spending — that law
makers said would require tax in
creases of greater than $5.5 billion.
Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and Speaker
Gib Lewis, who worked out the
agreement with Clements, are ex
pected to be able to push the
agreement through the Senate and
House.
The agreement still leaves a battle
on the taxes needed to balance the
budget.
The House voted to raise the state
sales tax from the current b'A per
cent to 6 percent and apply it to in
surance premiums, in addition to
keeping the motor fuels tax at 15
cents per gallon instead of letting it
revert to 10 cents Sept. 1.
The Senate earlier this week
passed a smorgasbord tax plan that
would set a 6-percent sales tax rate
and make a yariety of other changes.
On Thursday, senators also OK’d
the fuels tax hike, which would raise
about $669 million. That bill was re
turned to the House for action on
minor amendments.
Lewis said he planned a Monday
vote on whatever compromise tax
plan is written by a conference com
mittee. The current special session
ends Tuesday.
Asked about the no-new-taxes
promise that some observers say was
a key in his 1986 defeat of incum
bent Democratic Gov. Mark White,
Clements said, “I sure did not see
the deficit being carried over to the
extent that it had been.”
In January, Clements proposed a
$36.9 billion budget he said could be
balanced by keeping the 15-cent fuel
tax and 5 VI percent sales tax.
“I certainly did not anticipate an
other $700 million hickey from Mr.
Bullock,” he said, referring to State
Comptroller Bob Bullock’s series of
reduced revenue forecasts.
Some House Republicans were
sympathetic to Clements’ plight.
“I think he has looked at it and
made a decision based on what he
feels is best for the state of Texas,”
said Rep. Ed Kuempel, R-Seguin.