THE RECORD

APRIL 7, 1975

VOL. 1, NO. 5

LYNDON B. JOHNSON SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

EDITOR Hoyt H. Purvis

STATE SENATORS DISCUSS LEGISLATION, CAMPAIGNING

State Senators Max Sherman of Amarillo and Ray Farabee of Wichita Falls along with Charles Schnabel, Secretary of the Senate, discussed legislative and political issues with LBJ School students and faculty at a brown-bag luncheon on April 1.

Sherman and Farabee are both young attorneys who were active in student affairs during their collegiate days, Sherman having served as president of the student body at Baylor, and Farabee having held the same position at UT-Austin in addition to being president of the National Student Association.

Both Senators described their experience of running for the Senate as "underdogs", neither having previously sought public office. Sherman, who has served since 1971, stressed that campaigning and serving in office require considerable personal sacrifice and that anyone deciding to seek election should carefully consider the situation.

Farabee, serving his first term, said of campaigning, "You'll never have a perfect campaign organization, but you can do a lot with organization." He said the single most effective element in his campaign had been direct mail. Utilizing volunteers, he sent out about 100,000 first-class letters—one to every household in the Senate district with registered voters—addressed by hand and not by computer.

The Senators noted that there is some likelihood of an annual legislative session in future years instead of the current biennial session. They indicated, however, that the additional sessions—which would be held in even-numbered years—would probably be restricted to budgetary and emergency matters and that general legislative questions would continue to be considered in regular biennial sessions.

Schnabel said that such additional sessions would not necessarily make the Legislature more productive because experience elsewhere has shown that "the more you are in session, the more you have to do."

As for current legislative issues, Sherman said that "many cities and towns" are opposed to statewide utility regulation, and that "a telephone commission has the best chance." Farabee said, "It will be very close."

On restructuring public school finance, Farabee said he had "serious doubts about the possibility of extensive revision or substantive change." Sherman expressed agreement "unless there is a strong push from the Governor."

Both Senators felt that the Legislature has become a more democratic and more serious body in recent years, although this is not always reflected in the press. Sherman noted that in a sense these developments do not necessarily make the Legislature more efficient since "it is no longer so easy to ram through appropriations or other important bills."

Schnabel commented that many journalists have a highly cynical attitude toward the Legislature and that this is reflected in their reporting.

Max Sherman [photo]

Ray Farabee [photo]

"ON THE RECORD"

. "The Information and Referral Function and the Delivery of Human Services" is the subject of a conference scheduled at the LBJ School April 24-25. The conference is being organized in conjunction with a policy research project at the School studying the function of information and referral (I&R) practices in the delivery of human services. Purpose of the conference is to present preliminary findings of the policy research project and to consider various approaches to the I&R function.

. Professors Henry David, Kenneth Tolo, and Anthony C. Neidhart of the LBJ School attended a meeting of the National Academy of Science's Committee on Vocational Education Research and Development in Washington March 29. The three are directing a policy research project on vocational education policies.

. LBJ School alumni and the Texas Ex-Students' Association were hosts at a reception and discussion on job placement for graduating students at the Alumni Center. LBJ School graduate Mike Naeve moderated a discussion on "Outside and Beyond the LBJ School."

. Professor Kenneth Tolo will attend the Associates Conference of the Institute for Educational Leadership in Atlanta on April 10-11. Tolo is the state associate for Texas of the IEL and, as such, is director of the Texas Educational Seminar (for state legislators). Twenty states will be represented at the Atlanta conference, and selected state and federal education leaders will be taking part.

. Angel Leshikar of the LBJ School Business Office suffered a mild stroke on March 26 and has been hospitalized at Brackenridge Hospital. Her condition has improved rapidly and she is continuing to recuperate at Brackenridge.

. Beryl Radin and Anthony C. Neidhart of the LBJ School faculty attended the 1975 National Conference on Public Administration in Chicago, April 1-4. Theme for the conference, sponsored by the American Society of Public Administration, was "Public Administration and Urban Governance."

. Professors Kenneth Tolo and Emmette Redford represented the LBJ School at the 1975 National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) Conference on Public Service Education in Chicago, April 3-6.

CALIFANO TO SPEAK AT APRIL 9 SEMINAR

Joseph Califano, who was special assistant to President Johnson from 1965-69 and has been General Counsel for the Democratic National Committee, will speak at a schoolwide seminar in the East Campus Lecture Hall on Wednesday April 9 at 4 p.m.

Califano, who will speak on "Views on the Presidency," served as Johnson's chief aide on policy matters. Prior to joining the White House staff, Califano served in several positions in the Department of Defense.

Currently he is a partner in the Washington law firm of Williams, Connolly, and Califano.

He is the author of The Student Revolution: A Global Confrontation.

Other scheduled speakers at schoolwide seminars in April include:

April 21—Amos Jordan, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 4 p.m.

April 24—William R. Polk, professor of history at the University of Chicago, 4 p.m. Polk, author of several books, including The United States and the Arab World, has been President of the Adlai Stevenson Institute for International Affairs and was Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

April 25—Robert C. Good, Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, 3 p.m.

April 30—Phillip S. Hughes, Assistant Comptroller General, who has been Director of the Office of Federal Elections, 4 p.m.

Ben Wattenberg, co-author of The Real Majority and political analyst and consultant, will be visiting the School on April 22.

ACCOUNTING, FINANCE TOPICS OF INSTITUTE

The 21st Governmental Accounting and Finance Institute, sponsored by the LBJ School and the College of Business Administration of UT-Austin, in cooperation with the Texas Chapter, Municipal Finance Officers Association and the Texas Municipal League, will be held at the Thompson Conference Center April 13-15.

The Institute is a continuing education program designed to enhance the professional development of municipal financial executives and other city officials whose responsibilities involve financial management.

Speakers and workshops will focus on various aspects of municipal finance and operations. Scheduled speakers at the opening general session on April 14 include S. G. Fullerton, Jr., county auditor, Harris County, and President, Municipal Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada; W. E. Tinsley, executive director, Municipal Advisory Council of Texas; and Philip W. Barnes, consultant, Austin.

The Institute is being organized by the Office of Conference and Training and the LBJ School which is also conducting an Advanced Seminar in Public Purchasing and Materials Management April 1417 at the Thompson Center.

The Office of Conferences and Training is also preparing for the 2nd City Management Institute, April 28-29.

"RIGHT TO KNOW" PANEL SCHEDULED APRIL 17

A panel discussion on "The Citizen's Right to Know" is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Thursday April 17 in the East Campus Lecture Hall. The panel is part of a symposium on "Citizen Values and Law Enforcement Policy," sponsored by the UT Law School and the Human Rights Research Council, a Law School student organization concerned with issues of civil rights and civil liberties.

Dagmar Hamilton, assistant professor of public affairs, will serve as moderator for the panel.

Panelists will be:

. Tom Susman, Counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure, headed by Senator Edward Kennedy. Susman was active in the drafting of the Freedom of Information Act and amendments.

. Peter Petkas, staff director of the U. S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights, which is chaired by Representative Bella Abzug. Petkas was formerly with the Southern Regional Council.

. Professor Hardy Jones, Department of Philosophy, UT-Austin.

. Molly Ivins, co-editor of The Texas Observer.

. Professor Roy W. Mersky, UT School of Law.

Other sessions are scheduled April 11-22 at the Law School and the Symposium will be climaxed by an address at 2 p.m. April 22 by Houston attorney Leon Jaworski, former Watergate special prosecutor.

CLOSED-CIRCUIT SYSTEM NOW INSTALLED

The LBJ School is now equipped to receive television programs through the University's closed-circuit cable television system. Television sets in the Dean's Conference Room (first floor), the Faculty Lounge (second floor), and the Media Center Office (third floor) have been connected to the closed-circuit system. Technical problems prevented installation of the system in the Student Lounge.

Special programming on the cable comes from the UT Communications Center's extensive collection of educational video tapes. Among programs currently being televised is a series entitled "Politics and Diplomacy, 1896-1975," taught by Professors Walt and Elspeth Rostow. This series may be seen on Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m. (channel 2), Wednesdays at 5 p.m. (channel 2), or Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. (channel 4).

Persons interested in a catalogue of available programs or scheduling information should contact George Warmingham in the Media Center.

BROWN ADVOCATES NEW POLICY CONCEPTS

New concepts in foreign policy, including "international progressivism", were proposed by Dr. Seyom Brown, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, who spoke at the LBJ School on March 19.

Brown said he would like to see the development of progressivism to counter what he called the "new populism" in international affairs. He said this is a heady period for some of the commodity-rich developing nations, but that a frontal confrontation with the more developed nations won't accomplish what they want.

He said the current preoccupation among the developed nations is how to respond to the new international populism and the profound inequities in wealth, income, and power among nations. He said progressivism had been used to confront populism in this country and proposed that it be applied in the international context.

Necessary steps in this effort would be "a deliberate move away from blocks toward non-alignment" and the "concept of international accountability." He said the U.S. should have a stated policy of nonalignment and noted that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is presiding over a transition period of "very deliberate gradual liquidation of unsound commitments in Indochina and throughout the world."

Brown said the policy "does not yet come to grips with the new global challenge, which no longer comes from Moscow or Peking, but primarily from modernization of the international system." He said the "larger crisis" is the "growing incongruity between the international political system and the international technical, economic, and resource realities. Alliances are not congruent with the patterns of economic and political exchange."

"There is no way," Brown said, "that this country can control access to all resources it needs, nor to the ocean, nor to healthy air and water. Others can affect our basic life conditions and vice versa."

Under his concept of international accountability, "those whose actions affect others would be accountable for them." He said, "We should move away from superpower unilateralism and from populist confrontation to greater international participation. The U.S. should embrace the concept of international equity, that the poorest get a chance to better their lives. The U.S. has not in recent years applied that concept."

Brown, who is an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, was formerly with the Rand Corporation. He is the author of several books including New Forces in World Politics and Faces of Power. During his visit to the LBJ School he spoke to a schoolwide seminar and to the Defense Policy Seminar taught by Lt. Colonel Ralph Furtner.

CANNON TO SERVE ON NIE REVIEW PANEL

Dean William B. Cannon of the LBJ School has been asked to take part in a independent consultative study for the National Institute of Education and the National Council on Educational Research. The study will consider alternative research and development policies at NIE.

The study group is headed by Dr. Roald Campbell, who has extensive academic and administrative experience. The NIE has asked the group to provide an outside review and assessment of the actual and potential value to the education community of R&D institutions originally created or institutionally supported by the Federal Government. The panel will focus on federally funded research and development centers and regional educational laboratories which have been largely dependent on NIE funds.

SPURR ELECTED TO TERM ON TESTING SERVICE BOARD

Dr. Stephen H. Spurr, professor of public affairs and botany, has been elected to a four-year term on the board of trustees of Educational Testing Service.

The ETS is a nonprofit organization that develops and conducts measurement programs and services for schools, colleges, and professional and occupational associations; engages in research on educational issues, and offers a wide range of advisory and instructional programs.

Among ETS board members with whom Dr. Spurr will serve are Roger W. Heyns, president of the American Council on Education; Sidney P. Marland, Jr., president of the College Entrance Examination Board, and Charles E. Young, chancellor of the University of California at Los Angeles.

LIBRARY ASSISTING COMPTROLLER'S OFFICE

The LBJ School has developed a unique program for the provision of technical library assistance to the Office of the Texas Comptroller. The program developed when the newly created Office of Planning and Research within the Comptroller's Office was charged with the responsibility for the development of a tax research library. The Office contacted the LBJ School Library and asked for assistance. In response to this request, the Library has developed and is currently executing a three point technical assistance program:

. Development of a technical processing manual for library operations.

. Provision of technical assistance in the preparation of a taxation data base.

. Planning assistance for the future of the research facility.

Kent Talbot, Director of Policy Reference Services, is serving as Project Director. The program marks the first time that the Library has engaged in service work outside of the School. According to Talbot, this program is a prototype for future outside assistance programs.

CAREER DAY PLANNED

The Austin Society for Public Administration has announced the scheduling of Career Opportunities in Government Day for April 26. The Career Day, to be conducted at the LBJ School, will be designed to provide spring and summer graduates of schools in the Central Texas area an opportunity talk with federal, state, and local officials about job opportunities. Barry Lovelace of the Office of Research is Chairman of the ASPA Committee on Career Opportunities in Government Day, and Elizabeth Hall, Director of Student Affairs, is a member of the Committee.

STAATS CITES INTEREST IN PROGRAM EVALUATION

Elmer Staats, Comptroller General of the United States, emphasized the growing interest in systematic evaluation of government programs and activities in remarks at a schoolwide seminar on April 2.

Staats noted that the General Accounting Office, which he heads, is concerned with "assessing our returns on our tax dollars" and that the GAO is seeking the best way to "test the effectiveness and value of programs."

He stressed the importance of the new Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act and the establishment of the Congressional Budget Office, which will become fully operative in fiscal year 1977. He said this represents "a radical change in the way Congress deals with the Budget," although he noted that "to some degree Congress was prodded into action" by Executive dominance in the budget area.

He said the new Congressional procedure is "awfully complicated but conceptually a good idea." Staats said, "It will take some time to work the bugs out but what we may see is the separate branches of Government acting on a kind of collegial basis on the budget."

"The most important consequence for the GAO," Staats said, "is the increased interest in program evaluation and in getting our help for analysis for the two Budget Committees. Our role will really depend on how the Congressional Budget Office develops."

Staats said there is "a strong need for Congress to exercise the oversight function more consistently and effectively and to look at programs in their totality, and not just in scattered parts."

He said that "oversight is not as sexy as developing new programs" but pointed out that several members of Congress "have made a political asset" out of their involvement with oversight.

Staats also referred to the continuing controversy about impoundment and "whether an appropriation once made is mandatory or discretionary." He cited the provisions of the new law which establish procedures by which Congress can overrule the President on spending deferrals.

Under the Act the President can legally defer expenditures approved by Congress but he must report the deferrals to Congress, which can then force their release if either House passes a resolution to that effect.

There is also a provision for recision or "deauthorization", Staats pointed out. A Presidential proposal for recision requires Congressional approval within 45 days, however, or otherwise the funds must be released.

"The GAO has the job of reviewing each of these actions—deferral or recision—and reporting to Congress on their potential impact," Staats said.

Also, if the Comptroller General finds that an impoundment has been made without being reported to Congress, he can report this to Congress. If a President refused to comply with a Congressional action overruling an impoundment, the Comptroller General can then ask the court to issue an order requiring that the funds be released.

Staats noted that there is controversy over what constitutes a deferral and a recision and that the Director of the Office of Management and Budget has challenged the GAO's authority to say that what is labeled a deferral is actually a recision and thus requires positive Congressional action.

Staats also mentioned the continuing growth of the public sector, which, he said, now accounts for one-third of the gross national product. He said state and local government are growing particularly fast and indicated that the GAO is "trying to assist and enhance the status and independence of state auditors."

"I think it is important for the Federal Government to bulwark state and local government any way it can," he said.

Staats noted that the GAO is currently conducting a study of Social Security funding and the status of the social insurance trust funds, following conflicting reports about the future availability of such funds.

[news note]

Bill Broyles, editor of Texas Monthly magazine, will be the speaker at a brown-bag luncheon in the Student Lounge at noon on Tuesday April 8. On April 29, Price Daniel, Jr., former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, will speak at a brown-bag luncheon.