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Reflections of Ken Towery
"I Remember When Ben Barnes Was a Republican" Several days ago, a few of us were sitting around the Old Fitz table in the Headliners Club in Austin, reminiscing about days of yore, passing away the time with a few drinks (for those who could partake of such things), when former Lt. Governor Ben Barnes came in and greeted those in attendance. Generally, what is said at the Old Fitz table stays at the Old Fitz table. That's the way it has always been, and as far as we are concerned, that's the way it will remain. But sometimes, things that are said there trigger other memories, and sometimes, when the subject goes off and speaks in other venues, one figures the rules don't apply. (The table was named many years ago after the brand of whiskey, Old Fitzgerald, which was usually served at the table unless one specified otherwise.) I say "a few of us", because nearly all the oldsters, of whom I now happily call myself one, have passed on to better things. Gone is Orville Wiese, a delightful, left wing Professor out at the University of Texas who (as a Professor of something or other at the University of Wisconsin), discovered and perfected that stuff we put on our feet to kill "athletes foot." Gone too is Waggoner Carr, former Attorney General of Texas, a Lubbockite who became Speaker of the House of Representatives in Austin before becoming Attorney General and a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate against Republican John Tower back in the 1960s. Joining Waggoner among the missing is a whole host of noted Texans; one Jerry Williams, a Federal Judge appointed by Lyndon Johnson to the Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Byron Tunnell, a former member of the Railroad Commission and a former Speaker of the House before a new Governor named John Connally eased him out of the way for someone who would do his bidding, (that being Ben Barnes, a neophyte legislator from DeLeon), Eddie Joseph, part of an old Austin family originally from Lebanon to whom LBJ quite often turned in the early years when he needed to make some money, plus untold others who have, over the years, made the table a regular Friday noon gathering place. But there are still a few survivors left, and we gather occasionally and reminisce. One of those present on this particular occasion was Jon Ford, former Editor of the newspaper in Odessa, former top reporter for the old San Antonio Express (before it became owned by Rupert Murdock's News Corporation and then the vast Hearst Corporation out of New York) and, after his retirement from the news business, an aide to former Governor Bill Clements and then the Insurance Department. Another present was Bill Berger, the Publisher of the Hondo Anvil Herald (among other things) and another guy who is a lawyer for the University of Texas and probably wouldn't want his name mentioned. We'll just call him "Paul". Anyhow, Ben came in and was greeted warmly by those assembled. After handshakes all around, one of those in attendance, reflecting on a story by Ken Herman in the Austin paper that morning, in which Barnes recounted his claimed efforts to get George W. Bush into the National Guard, and repeated his apologies for doing so, told Barnes "I remember you when you were a Republican." (Barnes came to Austin as a Democrat, backed heavily, the story went, by a contractor-benefactor in Brownwood, but temporarily followed John Connally off on his expensive, futile chase for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980.In those days, Barnes couldn't say enough good things about Republicans.) That comment was followed by a general round of laughter and a good bit of razzing, all of which Barnes took in good stride, and then he said: "Well, to tell the truth, when most of you guys knew me, I didn't know what I was." True, True. And there is some question, in some quarters, whether Ben knows today what he is, or who he might support on any given day. One thing for certain: he is, and always has been, for Ben Barnes. And an awful lot of people who make up the political milieu like it that way. Ben has become a multi-millionaire in the years since he arrived in Austin as a penniless kid from DeLeon, a small town up near Brownwood. Then, he sat down at the press table in the House of Representatives (in those days the press table was on the floor of the House, between the front microphone, where advocates of any bill stood, and the back microphone, where the opponents stood), and sung the blues about his quandary. He was about to cast his first vote, and he didn't know what to do. He wanted advice. Ben Barnes, who was to become the master wheeler-dealer of Texas politics, was asking a reporter how to cast his first vote in the Texas House of Representatives. That first vote was to organize the House by deciding who would be the Speaker, Wade Spilman, from McAllen in South Texas, or James Turman, from a place called Gober in East Texas. Spilman was a seasoned attorney and clearly the better choice, but Turman, a former teacher who would become a Ph. D, and be appointed by LBJ to some federal job after his defeat by former Governor Preston Smith, when both were running for Lt. Governor, was the choice of trial lawyers, labor unions, school teachers, etc. If the election were decided in today's terms, Spilman would probably be the Republican choice, while Turman would be the Democratic choice. Turman would be the Dave McNeely-Molly Ivens, Ralph Yarborough choice, while Spilman would be the Shivers-Kilgore choice, and maybe, after much soul-searching and testing of waters, the John Connally choice as well. But, at that time (in the 1950's) the entire fight was carried out in the Democratic Party. To my knowledge, there were then no Republicans in the House, or no one who called himself a Republican. Anyway, Barnes had a problem. In his heart of hearts he wanted to vote for Spilman. But he had been promised, if he voted for Turman, that his wife had a job waiting over at "E&I Printing", a concern favored by certain segments of the lobby. He had, or rather his wife had, he said, been promised $400 per month if he would commit to Turman. "And we need the money," he said. I could offer no help, or little help. I told Barnes that the upcoming vote would be merely one of many on which he would have to search his conscience, make a decision and live with the consequences. I had my own opinion, I thought Spilman was clearly the better, more honest, choice, but I could advise no one on how to vote, for in every case many factors had to be considered. I don't know how Ben finally voted. Rumor had it that he went ahead and voted his conscience (and the way his benefactor wished), that he voted for Spilman, and that the deciding vote was cast by Rep. James Cotton, of Weatherford. Turman won and Cotton ended up as Chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. If Barnes ended up voting for Spilman, I am now inclined to think he voted that way because he thought Spilman was going to win. If not, it was probably one of the few votes cast by Barnes that did not take into consideration all the plusses and minuses, and come down on the side of the most apparent plusses. Ben, like his idol Lyndon Johnson, never developed a history of turning down financial support for services performed, or promised to be performed. In fact, as we noted earlier, Barnes went from a confused, penniless Legislator from Deleon, Texas to an Austin multi-millionaire while, like Lyndon, protecting the people from shysters and con men. Herman, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter now with the Austin American-Statesman, quoted Barnes as saying he helped young George W. Bush get into the Air National Guard, (for which he is sorry) and that he helped "a lot of rich guys" back in the days when he was Lt. Governor. Indeed he did. He probably also helped a "lot of rich people" when he was Speaker of the House. We suspect that is how he, himself, became rich; helping rich people. Except Barnes may have misspoke on this occasion, confusing the time when the future president went into the Air National Guard with his own clouded career in politics. There is a question, for instance, whether the alleged help was forthcoming when Barnes was Speaker of the House, or when he was Lt. Governor, years later. The time question is not unimportant here. Why anyone, especially the son of a well-connected Texas Congressman (or was the elder Bush then Ambassador to the United Nations, or head of the CIA, or Ambassador to China?), who had himself been shot down in World War 11, needed any help getting into the Texas Air National Guard from a Texas politician mired in scandal, (and of another political party) is beyond us. Still, we were not involved with the politics of Vietnam, or the shenanigans involved in going in or staying out. It could have happened, It is doubtful, as we see things, that young George would have asked his own father for any political favor in any case, probably because the youngster knew the help would not be forthcoming. It could be that Barnes is entirely right, that his decision to back Kerry is well thought out and based on principle. Those principles helped make Barnes a multi-millionaire, like Kerry, and a very big player in Democratic politics. A goodly portion of Barnes' wealth came from his share of the millions paid into the Texas lottery by risk takers encouraged by State television advertising. There was a time, while being involved in various scandals that rocked Texas politics, Barnes was an embarrassment to the Democratic Party. But things do change. Now he is a Democrtic hero. We wish them both (Barnes and Kerry) well. They deserve each other. Two peas in a pod. Still, there are problems. Barnes own daughter says her father is, oh, how shall we say it…"less than truthful." She said on some radio talk show, and repeated on television, that her father's latest version in support of Kerry is entirely different from what Barnes told her years ago. She offered no reason, or reasons, for Ben's alleged prevarications, other than to say…well…her father "is a politician", one of the best around. Indeed. But now, rather than being a poor, dependent politician, asking a reporter how he should cast his first vote, he's a very rich lobbyist, a mover and shaker in his party's politics. He's not the first, or only, former Speaker of the House who has fallen upon good times by virtue of debts being paid, nor will he be the last. But he is certainly one of the slickest.
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