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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1998)
The Battalion Tuesday • February 24,199 Tue Study says judges accept questionable money AUSTIN (AP) — Forty percent of the $9.1 mil lion in campaign cash raised by justices on the Texas Supreme Court came from parties and lawyers with cases before that bench, according to a study released Monday. A decade after the CBS program “60 Minutes” asked whether Texas justice was for sale, that question remains valid, said officials of Texans for Public Justice, the nonpartisan group con ducting the study. “It’s the system that stinks,” said Andrew Wheat, one of the study’s authors. “Every court member up there has somebody who’s paying the piper.” While plaintiff’s trial lawyers were making the controversial donations 10 years ago, today’s big donors are corporations, corporate defense lawyers and business trade groups, the study said. “I don’t think it smells any better,” Wheat said. Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips, long an advocate for changing the way Texas picks its judges, described the report as brim ming “with accusations and innuendo.” He said he is convinced no current justice “has ever been influenced by a campaign contribution.” However, Phillips added, “In the end it (the study) says only what everyone should already know — that Texas has a lousy system of judi cial selection.” But statewide partisan campaigns are the law, Phillips said, and running takes money. “Almost any contribution can be criticized on some ground, as every citizen has an interest in the rul ings of our courts,” he said. Craig McDonald, director ofTexans for Pub lic Justice, likened the practice to the home team "paying a visit” to an umpire before a baseball game. “Members of the highest court should not be allowed to solicit or accept money from people who are appearing before that court. That’s the bottom line," he said. “We think any dollar linked to the docket is too much. It raises the appear ance of corruption.” The study examined contributions to seven of a Every court member up there has somebody who’s paying the piper.' Andrew Wheat Study author the nine justices, all of whom ran in the 1994 or 1996 elections. Texas Supreme Court justices are elected to staggered, six-year terms. The seven raised a total of $9,166,450 in con tributions of $100 or more. Donors closely linked to cases before the court contributed $3.7 million. Among other findings, the study said: — Sixty percent of the 530 opinions issued by the court from 1994 through October 1997 “are tainted by the fact that at least one of these sev en justices took money from a contributor with close links to a party or lawyer involved.” — Lawyers and law firms contributed 42 per cent, $3.8 million, of the total. Of that money, 80 percent was described in the study as coming from “docket-linked” sources. Fifteen law firms with 113 cases before the court gave a combined $1.5 million. — Political action committees and executives of 50 corporations contributed 15 percent, or $1.4 million. In the mid-1980s, when the “60 Minutes” re port aired, the Supreme Court was controlled by Democrats. Today, Republicans hold seven of the nine seats. “Most of the current justices first ran as ‘Clean Slate’ reformers, who promised to clean up the court. As incumbents, however, the justices ap pear to have become what they set out to re place,” the study says. Texas is one of only nine states in which Supreme Court judges are chosen in partisan elections, the study noted. It suggested changing to a system of judicial selection that would eliminate the need for cam paign cash. Possibilities include gubernatorial appointment of Supreme Court justices, or ap pointing judges and holding periodic retention elections in which voters say “yes” or “no” to leav ing them on the bench. Numerous efforts to change the way Texas picks judges have failed in the Legislature. Phillips, the chief justice, said he was pleased Texans for Public Justice was joining the call for judicial selection reform. TABC rule preventing minors from entering bars dies AUSTIN (AP) — Texans under the legal drinking age of 21 can continue to frequent bars — but still not drink in them — after the majority of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission refused to act on a request to keep them out. Mothers Against Drunk Driving asked the commission to draft a rule to prevent those under 21 from entering establishments that make more than half their rev enues from the sale of alcoholic beverages, unless they were ac companied by a parent, spouse or legal guardian. The move would have been the first step toward adopting such a rule. It would have allowed the rule to be proposed for public com ment and possible adoption But just one of the three com mission members wanted to take that first step — John T. Steen Jr. of San Antonio. The other members, Martha S. Dickie and commission Chairman Allan Shivers Jr., both of Austin, said they did not see the need for it. Shivers noted that the state al ready has rules that prohibit mi nors from buying or consuming al cohol in bars or restaurants. “I have a hesitancy to impose any other regulations on society unless there is an overwhelming harm to be remedied,” he said. Dickie added of the proposal, “I think it imposes a significant re striction on personal freedom and fools around with long-estab lished cultural traditions in this state ... without any real evidence that it accomplishes anything.” Steen said he would like the commission to make an attempt at drafting the rule. Kirk Brown of MADD said Steen’s support is the first that the group has received from a TABC member. Brown told TABC that those age 18 to 20 make up a disproportion ate percentage of drunken drivers involved in fatalities, and that bars are one source of alcohol. “We believe it would save lives. We believe it would not jeopardize the business of responsible busi nessmen in the state of Texas,” he said of MADD’s proposal. Tim and Barbara Worthy, owners of the Old Coupland Inn and Dance- hall, raised questions about the pro posal. Worthy said while he can un derstand both sides of the issue, at least clubs provide a controlled en vironment for underage Texans. Without access to club enter tainment, those who are underage may be more likely to get alcohol elsewhere and then drink and dri ve, he said. Lawyers say ranchersH mm benefitted from sho 1 AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — The Texas cattlemen who cite Oprah Winfrey for millions in losses might actually have made money from her talk show about “danger ous foods,” a defense damage ex pert testified Monday. Using the hypothetical argu ment that Winfrey’s April 16, 1996, episode caused a drop in cattle prices—and the de fense stressed it was hy pothetical — Bettina Whyte said plaintiffs have no grounds to claim dam age. “Is it your contention that, as a result of ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show,’ that Cactus Growers (owned by plaintiff Paul Engler) actually benefited before tire broadcast. Cattle raise say not enough cattle sold thatdj to generate a valid benchmarj price, so they use an average( rived from the week before. “When there’s a greater voluj^ to look at, don’t you get a betie idea of the market?” Mullin asked Whyte responded that hers of five months’ worthj cattle trading showe that fair market valued ^othe not necessarily reh' large sales volume. jet too Engler and O’Brie ^sitch Schr Winfrey are suing Winfrey, h« production compajftailing and vegetarian activ* iigh sc Howard Lyman for bus tamed ness disparagement They say the showiia to the tune of $421,000?” Engler at torney Mike St. Denis asked. “In fact, they did,” answered Whyte, a damage specialist who has testified in dozens of federal court cases. She once even worked for David Mullin, who in this case represents cattleman Bill O’Brien. Whyte explained that, even if Winfrey’s show discussing mad cow disease prompted the cattle market to plunge, cattle feeders such as Engler and O’Brien bene fited because they were able to buy animals at discounted prices. Ave Tucker, a plaintiffs’ special ist and a former co-worker of Whyte, edrlier testified that Win frey’s show cost Engler and his company $6.5 million. O’Brien’s Texas Beef Group claims $4.5 mil lion in losses. Tucker figured plaintiffs could have brought at least a $62 per hundredweight price for the 2 1/2 months after April 16 if not for the show. Whyte based her calcula tions on a $59 price for the three weeks following. Her figure comes from report ed cattle sales in the region a day plied that U.S. cattle nemor signing vulnerable to mad cow disease. The broadcast came a mom oTexas after the British government a n P re tributed a handful of huraa l,in , n deaths there to eating meat tain ^ ’ ed with mad cow disease, whic IK ( ^ has never been discovered in it ? United States. * d Accompanying Winfrey for th [exas .y first time in court was longtin ore eve friend Gayle King, who sat neait 00 t in t and sometimes exchanged whit fexas. pers during lulls in the action. Earlier, a beef industry spokeAecaus woman testified that her organiza ileand tion knew Lyman, known as asti nosph dent anti-meat crusader, would!) opposing their representative o the program but decided to fat Schmid off with him anyway. Alisa Harrison, who spoke oA s videotape, was in the studio aud ^ ence when National Cattlemed c ^ 00 * Beef Association specialist Gai 11 m ‘ ‘ Weber debated Lyman overt]] threat of mad cow disease. Harrison said her group was fa miliar with Lyman, who chairstl) nends Schn Eating with Conscience prograi for the Humane Society of tli at ’ t United States. hau pi; The Department of Mathematics will sponsor a lecture on February 25, 1998, at 4:00 p.m. in Room 120 Blocker Building given by Professor Sir Christopher Zeeman, F.R.S. one of the pioneers of catastrophe theory and applications in the physical, biological, and behavioral sciences. The lecture is intended for a general audience. Friends Congregational CtiurcH (ucc) 2200 SoutHwood Dr. 9 F.IVL 2818 College Station. TX 77845 693-7021 Working late on Saturday or early on Sunday? Can’t get up on Sunday morning? Seeking a Christ-centered church that is committed to serving God? If so, then join us for Wednesday with Friends, a new contemporary worship hour of spiritual renewal and revitalizing music. Starting March -»th Wednesday evenings 6:15 to 7:15 pm “An Open and Affirming Congregation” JVIay Graduates Official Texas A&M Graduation Announcements On Sale Now through February 27, 1998 For Information and to place your order access the Web at: http://graduation.tamu.edu All orders must be placed over the Web All payments must be received by February 27 MSC Box Office 845-1234 FINAL WEEK! Class of ’98 pictures are being taken for the Elephants! 1998 Aggieland Don’t forget. at A R Photography Texas Avenue TAMU Campus ro ora ro 1410 Texas Ave S. (between Jason’s Deli and Academy) Drop by A R Photography at its new location on Texas Avenue, or call 693-8183 for an appointment “I us indem Schr lereat. ohis re is m chool I “Day