State and local
Wednesday, J anuary 9, 1990 The Battalion
Navy decision hits home
Layoffof.3,400 workers Gerenfightsfor stealth;
begins at Fort Worth plant Texans react indifferently
House speaker re-elected
Lewis to serve again
despite allegations
AUSTIN (AP) — Fort Worth
Democrat Gib Lewis, under in
dictment for alleged ethics viola
tions, won overwhelming re-elec-
tion Tuesday to an
unprecedented fifth term as
House speaker after a colleague
said, “Today, we make history.”
“This is a proud and solemn
moment for me,” said Lewis, who
is beginning his 21st year in the
House and is the first person ever
to win five two-year terms as its
speaker.
His election on a 146-1 vote
came despite his being indicted
on two misdemeanor ethics
charges by a grand jury that pros
ecutors say is investigating ties be
tween lobbyists and legislators.
Lewis has denied any wrong
doing and said he will plead inno
cent to the charges of failing to
report a gift from a San Antonio
law firm and failing to disclose his
interest in a Fort Worth company
on which the law firm allegedly
paid some property taxes.
The only lawmaker voting
against Lewis was first-term Re
publican Ted Kamel of Tyler.
“I cannot, in good conscience,
support a speaker who is under
indictment on charges of violat
ing the ethics laws of this state,”
Kamel said.
Several lawmakers voiced
strong support for Lewis, saying
he had been fair in dealings with
other* lawmakers and that he tries
to do what is best for the state.
Helping administer Lewis’ oath
of office was former Speaker
Billy Clayton, who was elected to
a fourth term as speaker in 1981
after being acquitted of federal
charges of racketeering and con
spiracy.
“You have just set a historic re
cord,” Clayton told Lewis.
Richards rejects proposal
for ethics commission
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) —
General Dynamics on Tuesday be
gan firing 3,400 workers who were
developing the A-12 stealth attack
plane at the company’s giant Fort
Worth plant.
The layoffs, about 13 percent of
the plant’s 29,000-person workforce,
will trim some $500 million from the
local economy. But an economist
said Fort Worth and Tarrant County
can absorb the shock.
“I would rather be in Fort Worth
than Boston right now,” said Ber
nard Weinstein, a University of
North Texas economist, referring to
the fallout from the $2.3 billion fail
ure of the Bank of New England.
Rusty Stewart, a 21-year-old tool-
maker, has two job offers. He started
looking for new work in November
when the government review inten
sified.
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney
on Monday canceled the radar-evad
ing, carrier-based A-12 because
General Dynamics and McDonnell
Douglas Corp. were a year behind
schedule and $1 billion over budget
in its development.
Judy Bell, who worked on the A-
12 but was not laid off, said workers
are “just kind of in awe.”
“We just blame a lot of people,”
Bell said.
“We certainly regret the disrup
tion this is going to have on the pro
fessional and personal lives of some
very good people in the A-12 pro
gram,” said Chris Schildz, spokes
man at General Dynamics headquar
ters in St. Louis.
The company opened career
counseling offices with the state em
ployment agency to help laid off
workers find other jobs. Gov.-elect
Ann Richards pledged the state
would help workers any way it could.
“I think we also must make certain
that the federal government is not
making an error here and explore
every opportunity ro have work on
that stealth (plane) continue,” Rich
ards said in Austin.
The A-12 was designed to replace
the A-6 Intruder, which entered
service in the early 1960s and is the
Navy’s only bomber that can attack
at night and in bad weather.
Another 150 General Dynamics
workers were fired at a plant in
Tulsa, Okla. McDonnell Douglas
plans to lay off 5,000 workers at a St.
Louis plant.
Both companies said last month
that layoffs would occur if the pro
gram was canceled. They proposed
restructuring the $4.8 billion con
tract with the Navy. But Cheney re
jected the idea, saying the companies
could not say how much more
money they would need to get the
plane into production.
Vicki Park of the Fort Worth
Chamber of Commerce said the lay
offs would send the Tarrant County
unemployment rate from 5.1 per
cent to 5.5 percent, still below the
nation’s 6.1 percent jobless rate and
Texas’ 7.2 percent figure.
The chamber is trying to lure
some aerospace companies to the
Fort Worth area and the availability
of experienced workers may help,
Park said.
“There are going to be a lot of
people vying for the same jobs,” said
Ron Leonard Withers, a senior engi
neer who had been with the com
pany three years. He said he may re
turn to school and pick up another
degree.
“It’s hard to say who’s at fault,”
Withers said. “It looks like there
were shortcomings on every area.”
“These 4,000 people have what
will prove to be highly desirable and
marketable skills,” Weinstein said.
He estimates Tarrant County will
lose $500 million over the next year
because of the layoffs. But he said
the ripple effect of the loss of a $150
million payroll is hard to accurately
gauge.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep.
Pete Geren hopes to rally the Texas
congressional delegation behind his
efforts to save the Navy’s A-12
stealth attack plane, but some Tex
ans appeared cool to the idea Tues
day.
“I think that it is likely, given the
gross mismanagement of the pro
gram by both the Navy and General
Dynamics, that Geren is going to
find himself hard-pressed to find
many congressional allies,” a con
gressional aide said. “This program
is a dead duck.”
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney
canceled the $52 billion A-12 on
Monday, ending jobs for 3,400 Gen
eral Dynamics workers in Fort
Worth and at least another 150 in
Tulsa, Okla. '
General Dynamics Corp. and Mc
Donnell Douglas Corp., the project’s
two prime contractors, were de
clared in default of the contract for
failing to design and develop the
wedge-shaped airplane on time and
according to the Navy’s specifica
tions.
The program also is the subject of
a federal criminal investigation.
Geren, a Democrat who rep
resents the General Dynamics plant
in Fort Worth, has declared that the
fight, however, is not over.
“I intend to work within Congress
to breathe life back into the A-12
program,” Geren said. “It will be an
uphill battle but it’s worth the strug
gle. I am committed to fighting for
Tarrant County jobs.”
A Geren aide said the congress
man would be looking for A-12 allies
within the Texas congressional dele-
S ation, known as one of the most in-
uential on Capitol Hill, and else
where in Congress.
But another congressional aide
said the Texas delegation needs to
pick its battles wisely this year, as it
will already be fighting for tight dol
lars for such big ticket items as the
space station and the super collider.
One Texas congressman whose
district includes General Dynamics
workers said he wants more infor
mation on the secret A-12 program
from the Pentagon before they de
cide whether to fight to keep the
fighter, chosen to replace the Viet-
nam-era A-6 Intruder planes.
“If it can be demonstrated that
this is not the first, best choice, I’d be
happy to go with that,” said Rep.
Dick Armey, D-Copper Canyon. But
on the other hand, “don’t leave us
with a big hole in defense needs and
Rep. Richard Gephardt said he
wants to study further the Na
vy’s decision.
two, don’t waste taxpayers’ money.
House Majority Leader Richard
Gephardt, whose St. Louis district
includes some of McDonnell Doug
las workers whose jobs are threat
ened, said he wanted to study the de
cision “to determine whether the
government’s action in this case is
justified.”
AUSTIN (AP) — Gov.-elect Ann
Richards, predicting quick passage
of ethics reform legislation, Tuesday
rejected a proposal to allow a state
ethics commission rather than voters
to set lawmakers’ pay.
Salary decisions should remain
with the voters, Richards said, while
the commission should enforce
ethics rules.
“The purpose of the ethics com
mission is — and should be — to as
sure the people of Texas that the
highest ethical standards are written
in law and to give elected officials
the guidelines by which they conduct
themselves,” Richards said
In the wake of news reports about
special interest lobbyists spending on
gifts and entertainment for lawmak
ers, Richards and Lt. Gov.-elect Bob
Bullock, both Democrats, cam
paigned for a strong ethics reform
bill last year.
Negotiations between their offices
and that of House Speaker Gib Le
wis have been going on in recent
days, and one proposal advanced is
to have a new Ethics Commission set
lawmakers’ pay.
The speaker says he is innocent of
any wrongdoing, and Richards said
she doesn’t think his indictment will
affect ethics reform legislation.
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See all of this and more in living, moving color. And in natural
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mer, but imagine what it will look like in ten or twenty years.
ORDER YOURS TODAY. For the greatest con
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ready ordered a video yearbook, please disregard this message.
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