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83 No. 23 USPS 045360 10 pages
College Station, Texas
Thursday, October 1, 1987
I*:#
Photo by Robert W. Rizzo
Here’s lookin at you
Members of the Corps of Cadets Fish Drill Team give “eyes right” to
check their separation distance. The drill team has been practicing
about four weeks. The drill team is comprised entirely of freshman
cadets who volunteer for the unit.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Presi
dent Reagan on Wednesday de
nounced an investigative book about
the late CIA Director William J. Ca
sey as “an awful lot of fiction” and
first lady Nancy Reagan called the
book “distasteful.”
The president, in an exchange
with reporters, said the terminally ill
Casey “was unable to communicate
at all” when author Bob Woodward
claims to have talked to him but he
“is now being quoted as if he were
doing nothing but talking his head
off.”
Mrs. Reagan, asked for her reac
tion to Woodward’s book, replied
through her press secretary, Elaine
Crispen, “I find it distasteful to have
things written about someone who’s
dead and who has no chance to reply
thereby leaving it up to Bill Ca
sey’s widow and daughter. I think
Sales tax hike takes effect
to ease state budget deficit
By Cindy Milton
Staff Writer
Texans may want to start saving
their pennies, because the state sales
tax increases today from 5‘/a percent
to 6 percent — the third highest tax
rate in the nation.
The state comptroller’s office an
nounced after a special budget ses
sion this summer that tax increases
and a broadening of the tax base
were needed to solve the state bud
get deficit.
The higher and broadened taxes,
which will raise an estimated $3.6
billion over the next two years, are
part of a $5.7 billion overall tax in
crease in Texas.
“This is something the Legislature
has been talking about for a long
time,” said Mary Jane Wardlow,
spokesman for Bob Bullock, state
comptroller. “They needed to raise
money and taxing seemed like the
best way to do it.”
In addition to the state sales tax,
consumers in metropolitan areas —
including the Bryan-College Station
area — pay a 1 percent city sales tax.
This means seven cents out of almost
every Texas dollar goes to the state
or one of its cities. Six other states in
the nation have a 6-percent sales tax
rate.
Most food items — along with
medicine and most professional
services — continue to be excluded
from the sales tax. Beginning today,
however, a loosening of the defi
nition “ready-to-eat” makes more
categories of food taxable. This
means the sales tax now will be
charged on all food and drink pur
chases from such businesses as res
taurants, hotels and drug stores.
In addition to the state levy and
the 1 percent city sales tax, taxpayers
in Dallas, Austin and Houston pay a
1 percent sales tax for transit, -so
their total levy now is 8 percent.
Mary Smith, from the fiscal de
partment at Texas A&M, said the
sales tax may show up in an increase
in student fees next semester, but
specific items to be taxed haven’t
been set.
Libertarians urge Clements
to change mind on taxes
AUSTIN (AP) — A day before
the sales tax increased, the secretary
of the Texas Libertarian Party on
Wednesday urged Gov. Bill Clem
ents to call a special legislative ses
sion to repeal it.
“I am optimistic Gov. Clements
will take my advice,” Libertarian
Party Secretary Gary Johnson said,
referring to Clements’ decision to
sign the tax bill despite promising
voters he would not. “He has
changed his mind on taxes several
times before.”
But Reggie Bashur, Clements’
press secretary, said there is no
chance Clements would change his
mind this time.
Asked if the governor would call a
special session to erase the tax in
crease, Bashur said, “No.”
The state sales tax increased to 6
percent from 5'A percent Thursday.
In addition, the sales tax ex
panded to cover some goods and
services that had been exempt.
These services and goods include
garbage collection, landscaping, pest
control, private club memberships
and insurance damage appraisals.
Also Thursday, the state cigarette
tax increased to 26 cents per pack
from 20V2 cents per pack.
The changes are part of a $5.7 bil
lion tax increase approved this year
by state lawmakers who scrambled to
balancejijgj^j^^iyjj^igfi^^
In a letter to Clements, Johnson
urged the governor to follow the ex
ample set by Florida Gov. Bob Marti
nez, who has called a special session
in that state to take another look at a
July tax increase that has sparked
opposition.
“Once upon a time,” Johnson said
in his letter to Clements, “there lived
a conservative Republican who ran
for governor of a large Southern
state.
“He promised to cut government
spending and ‘no new taxes.’ He
won in the year 1986.
“But after he took office, he be
gan to work with his rivals, the Dem
ocrats, and to support higher taxes.
“He signed into law the biggest
tax increase in the state’s history.
And the people were angry.
“Meanwhile, back at the ranch,
there lived another conservative Re
publican who ran for governor of
another large Southern state.
“He, too, promised to cut govern
ment spending and ‘no new taxes.’ ”
Johnson added that that governor,
like Martinez, wound up signing a
record tax bill.
“That governor, of course, is
you,” Johnson reminded Clements.
“If you take this prudent action
. . . your popularity with the people
will surely increase,” he said.
You will live happily ever after,”
lie said.
The Legislature also placed a tax
on items that were not taxed before,
such as telephone services, garbage
collection, landscaping, pest control,
insurance damage appraisals, cus
tom computer programs, transpor
tation and private club mem
berships.
John Wallace, public affairs man
ager at GTE in College Station, said
inserts with phone bills will be sent to
inform and remind customers of the
tax. He said intrastate calls also will
be taxed on long distance services
like AT&T and MCI, and the com
panies will alert customers of the tax
as well.
The tax hike also will affect and
perhaps discourage smokers and us
ers of tobacco, said Sun Down
Hunter, of the local state comptrol
ler’s office. The tax raises the tax on
cigarettes from 20V / 2 cents to 26
cents a pack. The taxes on snuff,
chewing tobacco and pipe tobacco
also rise to over 28 percent of the
package price today.
More than 64,000 businesses are
expected to join the 420,000 mer
chants already on the state tax rolls
under the new tax law, comptroller’s
office figures show.
Hunter added that a $25 annual
charge is now being collected on
sales permits. Anyone wanting to
buy wholesale items to sell for profit
must buy a sales tax permit, he said.
“This may affect students and
other owners of small businesses —
people who sell things like jewelry
and T-shirts,” he said.
A&M clubs must collect sales tax
on items they sell, but do not have to
get sales tax permits because the
University takes care of getting the
sales tax paid to the state.
The tax placed on membership to
private clubs, which may include
gyms and country clubs, will proba
bly show up as an increase in mem
bership fees, Hunter said.
The sales tax increase is part of a
tax package that is being phased in
this year and next year.
The sales tax permit fee was insti
tuted Sept. 1, when the state’s motor
vehicle sales tax and hotel-motel
room taxes went up.
Further taxing on items like data
processing services — including
word processing — will go into effect
Jan. 1.
Also beginning Jan. 1, taxes will
be charged on repair and remodel
ing services, except on new construc
tion and owner-occupied homes.
A Brazos County auditor’s office
representative said a .05 percent op
tional sales tax will be added to the
state and local tax for the county be
ginning Jan. 1, increasing the effec
tive sales tax rate in Bryan-College
Station to 7 1 /2 percent.
Reagan calls book
about Casey’s activity
an awful lot of fiction’
Dukakis: Campaign was source
of videotape about Biden’s acts
they have done a very good job in
doing so, but that doesn’t take away
the fact that I find it distasteful.”
Crispen said the first lady had read
published excerpts from the book.
Woodward, an assistant managing
editor of the Washington Post, said
in an interview published Wednes
day by the Los Angeles Times that
his hospital meeting with Casey, in
which he described Casey as indicat
ing he had known about the diver
sion of Iranian arms-sale profits to
Nicaraguan rebels, was “not 100 per
cent conclusive.”
“On the reporter level, I don’t
have evidence,” Woodward said. “I
have a nod. I would not describe Ca
sey as completely lucid.”
Woodward, in an article pub
lished in Wednesday’s Post, said,
“The diversion is still a long-term
story. It has not been answered, yet.”
BOSTON (AP) — Two days after
issuing a denial, Gov. Michael S. Du
kakis said Wednesday he had
learned that his campaign was the
source of a videotape that showed
Sen. Joseph Biden lifting part of a
speech from a British politician.
Dukakis, a candidate for the Dem
ocratic presidential nomination, at
first refused to accept the resigna
tion of campaign manager James
Sasso, who distributed the tape, but
Sasso and another staffer resigned
Wednesday afternoon.
The disclosure came two days af
ter Dukakis said he had interviewed
all of his paid staffers and was as
sured none was the source of a vi
deotape showing that Biden had
borrowed, without attribution, a
moving and apparently personal
passage from a speech by British La
bor Party leader Neil Kinnock.
“Although I had no knowledge of
this, as a candidate in this campaign
I accept full responsibility for it,” a
grim Dukakis said at a morning news
conference.
Dukakis called Sasso’s action “a
very, very serious error in
judgment,” but had added, “I think
his contributions as a public servant
outweigh the mistake.”
However, Sasso told reporters
later that he persuaded Dukakis to
accept his resignation. Dukakis also
accepted the resignation of Paul
Tully, the campaign issues director
who was aware of the video distribu
tion, Sasso said.
Tully had joined the Dukakis
campaign after working for former
Sen. Gary Hart, the erstwhile Demo
cratic front-runner who was brought
down by his association with model
Donna Rice.
had misrepresented his law school
career.
In Washington, Biden had noth
ing to say. “I think you ought to talk
to the governor,” the Delaware sen
ator said. “I have no comment at all.”
Among the other Democratic can
didates, former Arizona Gov. Bruce
Babbitt, who happened to be in Bos
“You try to be in control, and yet you try to delegate at
the same time. That’s what a chief executive tries to do.
But all of us have been surprised from time to time. I
certainly have as governor. What you must do is follow
up as quickly as possible when you have found the in
formation. ”
— Gov. Michael S. Dukakis
Leslie Dach, a campaign commu
nications specialist, was appointed
acting manager of the campaign.
Dukakis said he telephoned Biden
early Wednesday and apologized.
Biden withdrew from the race last
week amid controversy over the tape
and other incidents of borrowed
rhetoric and over disclosures that he
ton, said the disclosure is “not going
to sink (Dukakis’s) campaign.” But
he said he would have fired Sasso.
“It simply cannot be tolerated,” Bab
bit said. “If there are rules and they
are broken, you’ve got to go.”
Although supplying reporters
with damaging information about
political rivals is a common tactic in
Massachusetts politics, the Demo
crats running for president have all
stressed their commitment to “posi
tive” campaigns.
It was the second time that Sasso,
who took charge of Dukakis’ last two
campaigns for governor, caused his
boss political problems.
Sasso also embarrassed Dukakis in
1982, when he was attempting a po
litical comeback in a tough guberna
torial primary against former Gov.
Edward J. King.
A Dukakis supporter obtained a
campaign radio spot featuring
King’s wife, Jody, in which she
praised her husband for helping her
overcome polio.
The supporter edited the tape to
give it a sexual connotation and
Sasso played the edited version for
several reporters. When the incident
was revealed, Sasso apologized.
Dukakis, who has campaigned on
his reputation as an effective man
ager, addressed reporters’ questions
about his command over his own
staff by saying no chief executive can
be aware of all his staffs actions.
“You try to be in control, and yet
you try to delegate at the same time.
That’s what a chief executive tries to
do,” Dukakis said. “But all of us have
been surprised from time to time. I
certainly have as governor. What
you must do is follow up as quickly as
possible when you have found the
information.”
Reagan takes up offensive, urges Senate to confirm Bark
nation
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Rea
gan on Wednesday disputed a Democratic
neadcount showing his nomination of Rob
ert Bork in trouble and exhorted the Senate
to choose “statesmanship over
partisanship” in voting on the embattled
Supreme Court nominee.
Reagan said he is optimistic Bork will be
confirmed, and both he and White House
Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. chal
lenged Senate Democratic Whip Alan
Cranston’s tally showing at least 49 senators
now against confirmation.
Baker acknowledged the administration
ean count only 40 votes for Bork — the
same figure Cranston has — but the Rea
gan aide said there are just 30 sure votes in
opposition and about 30 undecided “souls
yetto be saved.”
Cranston had said of Bork on Tuesday,
"I think he’s licked.” But his Republican
counterpart, Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo.,
predicted on Wednesday that Bork would
be confirmed.
By his count, Simpson said, “we’re four
up with about 20 to two dozen undecided.”
He said of Cranston, “AI might have
cooked his numbers a bit; that’s not the
kind of trend we see.”
Reagan and top-ranking administration
officials, reacting to statements by Bork
critics that the nomination is endangered,
took the offensive as the Senate Judiciary
Committee hearings wound to a quiet close
on Capitol Hill after 12 days and more than
100 hours of testimony.
In other developments Wednesday:
• Reagan’s predecessor, Jimmy Carter,
announced his opposition to Bork’s confir
mation, saying the nominee’s views on civil
rights are “particularly obnoxious.”
• Judiciary Committee Chairman Jo
seph Biden announced the panel will vote
Tuesday on sending Bork’s name to the
Senate floor. Still to be decided is whether
the nomination will be forwarded with a
recommendation of approval or disappro
val or with no recommendation.
Cranston, at the Capitol, said a vote of no
recommendation would be “a setback to
Bork’s candidacy” because most nominees
receive a favorable recommendation.
Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd, D-
W.Va., has said the full Senate likely will
not take up the nomination until around
Nov. 1, but Cranston predicted the date
would be earlier. White House spokesman
Marlin Fitzwater said, “Whenever they’re
ready, we’re ready.”
At the outset of the final day of hearings
on the 60-year-old Bork, a judge on the
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Dis
trict of Columbia, Biden said that 1,925
deans and professors, from 153 of the na
tion’s 172 law schools, have signed letters to
the committee opposing Bork.
But in the auditorium of the Old Exec
utive Office Building, Reagan was telling an
audience of what the White House called
“grass-roots” Bork supporters that the
judge enjoys a growing and impressive list
of endorsements, including those of retired
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, two cur
rent members of the court, four former at
torneys general and legal scholars from
around the country.
Supporters testifying for Bork have in
cluded two former Carter aides, Griffin
Bell, who was attorney general, and Lloyd
Cutler, who was White House counsel.
But Carter himself, in a letter to Biden,
said, “It is of deep concern to me that Judge
Bork took public positions in opposition to
advances in freedom for our minority citi
zens.
“Only recently, with the vision of a seat
on the Supreme Court providing some new
enlightenment, has Judge Bork attempted
to renounce some of his more radical writ
ings and rulings.”
On the first day of the hearings on Sept.
15, former President Ford sat at Bork’s side
and gave a hearty endorsement.
Reagan, who will use the swearing-in of
FBI Director William B. Sessions on Thurs
day to speak out again for Bork, made an
impassioned appeal to his audience on
Wednesday.
“Let us insist that the Senate not give in
to noisy, strident pressures and that elected
officials not be swayed bv a deliberate cam
paign of disinformation and distortion,” he
said.