J8 t 30,i| jhursday, August 30,1990
The Battalion
Page 7
osbacher criticizes use of taxes
■ion File Pin
3ert Party
AUSTIN (AP) — The Republican candidate
or lieutenant governor Wednesday accused his
emocratic rival, state Comptroller Bob Bullock,
If lavish spending of tax money .
GOP hopeful Rob Mosbacher said Bullock had
ent $137,000 on items “ranging from the
ange to the opulent.”
The list included $84 brass ashtrays, a $749
utomatic icemaker, $3,991 worth of bronze
ps, 10 sets of stereo headphones for $491,
d a $165 magnet shaped like a dollar sign and
eading “Comptroller’s Suggestions,” Mosbacher
aid.
"There is simply a clear pattern of abuse of
axpayers’ dollars for the personal convenience
ma comfort of Bob Bullock and his staff,” Mos-
jacher charged.
Bullock said the purchases were legitimate and
criticized Mosbacher for his management of the
fiscally troubled state Department of Human
Services. Mosbacher, an appointee of GOP Gov.
Clements, chairs the board overseeing that
agency.
"If Rob Mosbacher spent half as much time
studying his budget at DHS as he has on the com
ptroller’s old records, he would have known
about the $1 million in bonuses paid the DHS
employees while the agency had an $800 million
deficit,” John Bender, a Bullock spokesman,
said.
Bender said the items purchased were for the
use of comptroller staff, who collect state taxes.
"We’re not going to debate these things with a
state agency head who said yesterday he doesn’t
have to defend his mismanagement and ineffi
ciency because he has never claimed his office is
well-managed,” Bender said.
Bullock has been state comptroller since first
winning the election in 1974. '
On Tuesday, Mosbacher criticized Bullock’s
purchase ol $32,000 worth of briefcases for state
auditors. The comptroller’s office said they were
needed on the job and belonged to the office, not
individuals.
Mosbacher said Wednesday that his review of
the comptroller’s budget records had turned up
“extravagant spending.”
His examples included three $3,495 mobile
telephones; 61 coffee makers totaling $8,219; a
$429 portable oxygen system; a $1,303 riding
lawn mower; 697 computer and calculator carry
ing cases costing $36,287, and three $89 portable
electronic spellers purchased from The Sharper
Image.
“T
I here is simply a clear pattern of
abuse of taxpayers’ dollars for the
personal convenience and comfort of
Bob Bullock and his staff.”
— Rob Mosbacher,
GOP hopeful
Mosbacher said Bullock also spent $71,750 in
state funds on his state airplane “to, as the work
order said, ‘paint all necessary components to
match existing color scheme’ among other
things.
“Bob uses campaign contributions to pay his
country club dues and taxpayer money to make
his airplane look pretty. Enough is enough,”
Mosbacher said.
Bullock’s spokesman said most of the money
for the airplane repairs went to purchase safety-
related equipment. The paint was a minor item in
two pages of specifications so the new gear
matched, Bender said.
He also said the state would be better off if
Mosbacher spent more time minding his own de
partment’s business.
“Mosbacher didn’t mention the fact that the
comptroller’s office spent $47 million on com
puter equipment while he spent over $100 mil
lion for computers,” Bender said. “He didn’t
mention it because the comptroller’s work and
his don’t.”
“If he spent half as much time on DHS child
protective services, this state might be a safer
place for our children,” Bender said.
In other political news:
• Democratic state treasurer hopeful Nikki
Van Hightower renewed her criticism of GOP
candidate Kay Bailey Hutchison, saying she
should make public her income tax returns.
“My opponent’s refusal to release her tax re
turns raises one basic question. What is she trying
to hide?” Van Hightower asked.
Hutchison’s campaign manager, Gary Bruner,
said she has released her 1988 tax returns and
soon will make public her 1989 return.
“Nikki Van Hightower’s latest exercise in
whining, unsubstantiated charges and rhetorical
questions about tax returns and ethics should go
only one place — in the ash can,” he said.
• Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ann
Richards proposed a stepped up effort to pre
serve rural hospitals and health care.
“It’s time Texas had a governor who thinks the
problems of rural Texans are just as important as
those of city folks,” she said. “We need a gover
nor who will fight for rural health care in Wash
ington.”
Suspended police chief
won’t resign in Dallas
Investigation of police shooting
evolves into perjury charges
DALLAS (AP) — Perjury charges
were filed Wednesday against sus
pended Police Chief Mack Vines, on
leave because of an investigation into
his testimony to a special panel
looking into a police shooting.
“Today, as a result of (the) investi
gation, seven perjury cases have
been filed and referred to a Dallas
County grand jury against Vines,”
District Attorney John Vance said.
“It’s sufficient to note that we
found in that investigation ... seven
separate counts of aggravated per
jury,” Vance said. “I think the cnief
made two appearances (before the
panel), but we can’t go into what is
alleged in each of those because that
is still pending before the grand
jury.”
Vance said the charges would be
presented to the grand jury on Sept.
10.
City Manager Jan Hart said Vines,
51, would remain on indefinite sus
pension and named a new acting
chief.
Vines’ attorney, Kim Wade, is
“not speaking with the media,” a
woman who answered the phone at
Wade’s office said Wednesday.
Vines in the past has said he did
nothing wrong and has refused to
resign.
In a statement released Wednes
day afternoon, Vines said, “I wel
come the opportunity to have this
matter heard by the grand jury.
“I have said all along that, for the
good of all concerned, I want this is
sue resolved, the statement said.
“While I am sorry the matter has
gone this far, I am also aware that it
has long been the tradition and cus
tom in this community for the dis
trict attorney to refer matters of this
nature to the grand jury. I respect
that policy.”
Some city council members said
the charges alone are enough to cost
Vines permanently the job he has
held since July 1988. During his ten
ure, Vines has angered some veteran
officers while winning the support
of some leaders in the minority com
munity.
“I think it would be nearly impos
sible for Chief Vines to lead this po
lice department with the confidence
of the city into the future,” Coun
cilman Jerry Bartos said. “Humpty
Dumpty is broken and I don’t think
there’s any reasonable way of put
ting that all together again.”
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High priced oil
will hinder
Texas farmers
LUBBOCK (AP) — Iraq’s inva
sion of Kuwait may be causing panic
in the sweltering sands of the Middle
East, but tensions also are rising in
the corn fields and parched plains of
Texas.
Higher harvest and production
costs due to rising oil prices have
Texas farmers stewing.
“We could see general farming
production costs increase as much as
five percent, which is a pretty hefty
increase,” Don Ethridge, an agricul
tural economics professor at Texas
Tech, said Wednesday..ITf oil prices
stay up where theySr^. jt can only
get worse for faruuyA.V ' , "
Alter Iraq invadFuKuwait Aug. 2,
diesel prices climbed from around
70 cents a gallon to around $1.15.
Farmers will feel the pinch as they
begin pouring the fuel into their tra
ctors and combines to harvest cot
ton, corn, sugar beets, pinto beans
and peanuts within the next two
weeks.
All of our combines and
tractors use diesel, which
has shot up 25 to 40 cents
agallon. At the same time,
the cost of corn is going
down. So that narrows our
profit— if there is any.”
—Doug Higgins,
farmer
“Diesel prices have already gone
up 40 to 50 cents per gallon and we
are not even in a fighting situation
over there,” Carl King, president of
the Texas Corn Growers Association
inDimmitt, said Wednesday .
“This has been the most expensive
year 1 have ever seen in agriculture
and right now the outlook doesn’t
look so good. If we get into a war
over there, prices will shoot up even
higher.”
Farmers in South Texas and the
Coastal Bend completed much of
their corn and grain sorghum har
vest before the impact of the in
creased energy prices could be felt,
said Noble Kearney, agriculture ex
tension agronomist in Uvalde.
“Many of the farmers have oil
stored on their farms,” Kearney
said. “So the cotton harvest, which is
just getting under way in South
Texas, should also escape the
crunch.”
But farmers in North Texas and
the Plains, who are preparing for
harvest, fear they will not be able to
dodge the cost increase.
“All of our combines and tractors
use diesel, which has shot up 25 to
40 cents a gallon,” said Doug Hig
gins, a cotton, corn and sugar beet
farmer outside of Lubbock. “At the
same time, the cost of corn is going
down. So that narrows our profit —
if there is any.”
Corn farmers in the Midwest are
expected to yield a surplus crop due
to good weather, which will drop
corn prices nationally, officials said.
In North Texas, where record
flooding in the spring wreaked
havoc with crops, the increased oil
prices may be enough to cancel har
vests, Ethridge said.
“The additional fuel costs could
make it uneconomic to harvest the
crops that are in bad shape,” he said.
“Many will likely scrap their plans to
harvest.”
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