Michael Parenti once wrote that Nicaragua during the days of Communist rule was more democratic than the United States; anyone who tried to vote on the school bonds during early voting might agree, as finding a ballot box proved to be a major pain. This reporter, voting in his first AISD election, was surprised to find that the school district's elections are organized very differently from others. A trip to Fiesta Mart, usually an early-voting site and across the highway from the Chron office, did not turn up a polling place. A call to the Travis County Treasurer's office revealed that the voting booths were "in the schools." But which schools? A little further down from Fiesta, Maplewood Elementary also proved to be a fruitless search. Yes, a phone call to AISD no doubt would have shortened the search; nevertheless, there's got to be a better way to conduct an election when low voter turnout is such a problem. Unlike early voting, the polling locations for Saturday's $369 million bond election should be the same as where you normally vote, but some precincts are combining with others. So if you vote in precincts 103,104, 109,110, 204, 205, 213, 217, 220, 230, 249, 258, 261, 265, 303, 305, 322, 326, 335, 339, 351, 355, 360, 361, 362, 404, 425, 428, 429, 430, 435, 449, or 453, call AISD at 414-3916 to find out where to go. -- L.N.
Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before William "Dollar Bill" Cunningham, the Chancellor of the University of Texas, cashed in on his relationship with Freeport-McMoRan. Well, it's finally happened, and it bolsters the argument that Cunningham has placed his personal financial interests ahead of the university's interests. Last week, Ralph Haurwitz of the Austin American-Statesman reported that Dollar Bill made $650,422 in one day by exercising stock options that were granted to him by Freeport during the eight-year period when he sat on the company's board of directors. Dollar Bill reluctantly quit Freeport's board after the company threatened his UT employees with lawsuits. It's easy to understand why he didn't want to relinquish his seat: He earned $40,000 per year for his services on Freeport's board. Last June, compensation analyst Graef Crystal reported in his newsletter The Crystal Report that Freeport's board members were the eighth most overpaid in the U.S. -- earning more than twice as much as board members at comparable companies. Cunningham's stock option cash-in ought to ease the pain of giving up the board seat... -- R.B.
Levy denies going to unusual lengths to promote Freeport's ad, explaining that the magazine sends out advance copies every month to a long list of business people and politicians around the state. Although he says he knew some environmentalists would take issue with his accompanying letter, Levy says it's "standard procedure for all our big advertisers" to provide a letter from the publisher to interested parties. According to the Monthly's National Marketing Manager Marilyn Carter, the list of advance copy and letter recipients was drawn up by Freeport as part of the magazine's "value-added programs... All it serves to do is to point out the advertising."
Despite his rather generous tones in the letter, Levy maintains that he has not taken a position on the company's operations either here or abroad. "I take the ad and write the letter from that. Then I make sure I'm not compromising my integrity," he says. Asked if he felt it was a "sticky situation" with Freeport being so controversial around here, Levy responded, "No. The community gets too wrapped up in these focal points [while missing the] larger issue."
In a follow-up conversation, Carter said Levy wanted her to clarify that the letter was actually a "collaborative effort between Texas Monthly and Freeport," and was not written solely by the magazine's staff or by Levy himself.
Freeport paid Texas Monthly $162,144 for the eight-page ad and the letter-writing campaign, the text of which follows:
Dear Mr. Avery [Sierra Club member]:
Every time we pick up a telephone, use a computer, drive a car or turn on a radio or television, we use copper; yet most of us never give a thought to where it comes from. The same is true of other minerals that are used to make everything from medicines we buy at the pharmacy to fertilizers that grow the fruits and vegetables we buy at the supermarket.
They're all mining products. And as long as we use those products, there are going to be mines to keep us supplied with them. The challenge today, with the awareness we have of our impact on the planet and its people, is to mine responsibly so that the environmental effect is minimized and the economic benefits for the surrounding communities are maximized.
On pages 51 to 58 of the enclosed advanced copy of the April 1996 issue of TEXAS MONTHLY, Freeport-McMoRan -- which mines here in the United States and in Indonesia to help produce all the products I've mentioned -- tells what they are doing to meet this challenge.
I hope that you will pay special attention to Freeport-McMoRan's description in these pages of its achievements as a corporate citizen of Texas and the world.
Sincerely,
Michael R. Levy
cc: James R. Moffett, Chairman of the Board/CEO, Freeport-McMoRan, Inc.
In response to the letter, Avery says, "Freeport's got the money. I guess they can buy all the love they can afford." -- L.C.B.
The 79-acre tract is in Oak Hill, next door to the colossal Circle C development, and is targeted as the southwest Austin campus to replace the overcrowded Pinnacle campus. The purchase price for the property is just over $1.1 million, but Worley thinks ACC can sell the property for more than that because it's in a hot-ticket development area. Trustee Mack Ray Hernandez, while he voted against the Shadowridge site, said he's not sold on the idea of peddling the land off on someone else. "I would look at that motion very carefully to see if it is something I would support," Hernandez offered. "But if it's going to hurt our financial posture, I'd have to vote against it." He said that with closing costs and attorney's fees figured in, the profit could be minimal. Should ACC retain Shadowridge, Hernandez said he would push for more stringent construction guidelines in deference to the site's location in the Edwards Aquifer's contributing zone.
Trustee Pete Foster, whose motion to purchase the Shadowridge tract carried on a
5-4 squeaker, scorned Worley's promise to revisit the property issue after the election. "I hope it was a knee-jerk reaction to [Worley] having a bad night," he said of the emotionally charged April 1 board meeting. "The fact that John Worley has made a public declaration that we have distressed property on our hands would eliminate our bargaining position anyway. The man's not a businessman," Foster continued. "There's a smart way and a dumb way to do business, and Worley evidently has chosen the dumb way."
But Worley thinks locking ACC into a southwest Austin site is pretty dumb, too. He says Pinnacle students are more likely to live in south central, far south and southeast Austin. "We should have chosen a south, central location that's more accessible to working-class and middle-class students. A south-central location would be in a much better position to serve the southeastern portions of Austin and Travis County," Worley said. Opponents to the Shadowridge site had favored building a campus at one of two Manchaca Road tracts -- one north of Slaughter Lane and the other south of Slaughter -- but ACC staff rejected the locations because of their clay-soil content, which would drive up construction costs. Still, ACC's Riverside campus was built on clay, and ACC candidate Spelman contends: "It's easier to build on clay than limestone. With clay, you have to dig deeper, but with limestone you have to blast it." -- A.S.