Bullock began to understand the power of the press, particularly newspapers,
during his years as comptroller. He rarely gives television interviews, but he
and his staff comb through four papers every morning and meet briefly to
discuss the stories of the day. Yet while he depends on the press for a lot of
his information, he doesn’t like having the press focus on him and he’s not shy
about fending off reporters.
During the development of this story, he displayed the efficiency of his
political machine. The Texas Observer originally assigned this article
to Jan Reid, a former senior editor at Texas Monthly magazine. Reid
called Bullock’s office and an interview was quickly granted. However, shortly
afterward, Tony Proffitt, a former journalist who heads Bullock’s political
machine, called Reid and told him Bullock would not cooperate. Proffitt had
found a note that Reid had sent to Bullock last summer. On the back of a
fundraising postcard sent out by Bullock, Reid, a yellow dog Democrat, had
written, half in jest, “I might give that Republican son of a bitch a ride to
the hospital.” Reid did not send in the requested $1,000 check.
In retaliation, Proffitt and Bullock refused to cooperate until another
reporter was assigned. And when I walked into the conference room adjacent to
Bullock’s office shortly before Christmas to do an interview, before anyone had
a chance to sit down, Proffitt slid a photocopy of Reid’s postcard across the
table, saying “Here’s why we didn’t want to talk to Jan Reid.”
After everyone sat down (in addition to Proffitt, Mike Haley, a Bullock press
aide, also attended the interview), Bullock quickly launched into a diatribe
against the media. “I don’t mess around with the press,” he said. “I don’t go
around kissy ass.” When a member of the press “gets a hernia,” he said, “I’d
like to know about it.”
With an ashtray close at hand and dressed in a plaid work shirt, Bullock sat
beneath a large portrait of one of his political heroes, Sam Rayburn.
Immediately behind Bullock stood a bronze bust of (who else?) Bullock.
The lieutenant governor’s defensiveness may be understandable, as he’s
certainly had his share of embarrassing press. Perhaps the most revealing
profile ever written about him was done in 1980 by a former aide, Bill Collier.
The article, which ran in Texas Monthly and Inquiry magazine,
detailed Bullock’s drinking, temper, and love life, and included allegations
that Bullock had misused state planes and funds. The article coincided with a
lengthy grand jury investigation by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie
Earle into Bullock’s activities. (Although the grand jury released a damning
report of Bullock, he was never indicted.)
Shortly after Collier’s story appeared, Lee Jones of the Houston Post quoted Bullock as saying of Collier, “He’s my Judas and he’s my Brutus. I
really did treat him like a brother, held his hand when he was sick, gave him
money when he was broke, helped him when he was in trouble… It really hurt
me.”
In another incident, one longtime member of the Capitol press corps was
forbidden by Bullock to enter any of the comptroller’s offices — for eight
years — after writing an unflattering story about political files that Bullock
maintained at the comptroller’s office at state expense. The story, which ran
in 1975, found that Bullock was spending $4,091 per month of taxpayer money to
maintain his personal clipping files. — R.B.
This article appears in January 31 • 1997 and January 31 • 1997 (Cover).