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California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) Files

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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Digital Library Collections This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections. Collection: Reagan, Ronald: Gubernatorial Papers, 1966-74: Press Unit Folder Title: CRLA - Press Clippings, May 1971 (4 of 6) Box: P29 To see more digitized collections visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories visit: https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected] Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing National Archives Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/ San Jose, Calif, Mercury (Cir. D. 126,382) MA Allen's P.C.B. Est. 1888 CRLA Says Reagan Obstructing Probe SALINAS - The California sessions will move to Sole- Some of the documents were Uhler responded to the Rural Legal Assistance Mon- dad State Prison Wednes- released by the governor's CRLA's memorandum Mon- day charged Gov. Ronald Re- day. office last week, according to day by saying it represented, the CRLA. agan and members of his The panel already has held The memorandum is in re- "The big lie technique." staff with obstructing pro- six days of hearings in San ceedings of a special judicial sponse to a critical report by Francisco and will hold other Later, a deputy sheriff commission looking into the Lewis K. Uhler, director of hearings in other portions of and a lawyer for lettuce activities of the agency. the state Office of Equal Op- the state. portunity. growers testified that ator- The charge came in the The memorandum also Uhler's report is the basis neys for farm unionist Ce- form of a memorandum at charged the governor's staff for Reagan's veto last year sar Chevez worked out of the first of two days of of inducing a former CRLA of federal funding for the the CRLA offices and used hearings in Salinas before employe to steal confidential CRLA. The agency now is op- its facilities during last three former State Su- documents from the El Cen- erating on a temporary preme Court justices. The tro office of the agency. grant. year's strike. Deputy Sheriff Walter Scott and Andrew Church, a growers' lawyer, testified that United Farm Workers attorneys gave out the Sali- nas CRLA telephone number as the place they could be reached during the lettuce strike last October, Novem ber and December. Dennis Powell, head of the CRLA Salinas office, said the union lawyers were permit- ted to use the CRLA law li- brary and to use its copying machine for a charge. They contended Scott was "just plain wrong". when he said be reached union attorneys on the CRLA telephone. San Jose, Calif. The News (Cir. D. 75,531) MAY 18 1971 Allen P.C.B. Est. 1888 Panel Discredits CRLA 'Violations' SALINAS (AP) - A feder- State Office of Economic al commission has found "no Opportunity head Lewis K. merit" to a charge that Cali- Uhler, a leading CRLA critic, was present Monday, the fornia Rural Legal Assist- first session he had attended ance violated operating since the commission con- guidelines by aiding a farm vened last month in San workers union during a Francisco. strike. Uhler said he hoped the Chairman Robert B. Wil- commission "does not make liams, retired chief justice of a. ruling" about CRLA and Maine, announced the finding UFWOC "until they've been Monday at the initial session around the state." of a hearing that continued Salinas County Sheriff's today in Salinas. Capt. Walter Scott testified The state had contended that he reached union attor- CRLA attorneys acted as neys by telephone at CRLA lawyers for Cesar Chavez' headquarters last year United Farm Workers Or- "That's just completely ganizing Committee during wrong," Dennis Powell, last year's lettuce strike. CRLA director in Salinas, Gov. Reagan has vetoed said in later testimony. $1.8 million in federal funds Cruz Reynoso, CRLA exec- for CRLA, accusing it of a utive director, filed a memo- randum with the commission number of improprieties. The federal antipoverty agency charging that Donna English, a state welfare worker in El provided temporary funds pending outcome of the in- Centro, was being prevented quiry headed by Williams. by the state from testifying before the commission there Thursday and Friday. San Francisco, Calif. Chronicle (Cir. D 478,704 Sot. 443,306) MAY 18 1971 Allen 5 P.C.S. Est. 1888 CRLA Probers Told of Witness 'House Arrest' By George Murphy Chronicle Correspondent Another read "The CRLA Additional fuids provided should not help UFWOC to at the time were inadequate Salinas shackle the farm workers." to make $50m illion available A special federal com- But inside the retunda. the many states and cities have mission investigating audience was composed been running out of money charges against the Cali- mostly of CRLA supporters, and may have to curtail the fornia Rural Legal Assist- and some of them, who spoke service. ance program opened three no English, were provided Associated Press days of hearings yesterday with earphones by which in this agricultural com- they could listen to the pro- munity where "strike" is a ceedings being simultaneous- CRLA executive director one-definition word. ly translated into Spanish. Cruz Reynoso aimed a strong The State of California at- The CRLA's harshest crit- attack in a memorandum tempted to show that CRLA ic, State Office of Economic filed with the commission attorneys worked closely Opportunities director Lewis yesterday morning. with lawyers for Cesar Chav- K. Uhler, was present at to- Reynoso charged that a ez' United Farm Workers Or- day's session-the first time Donna English, a welfare de- ganizing Committee during he had attended a commis- partment employee in El last year's lettuce strike, but sion hearing since they Centro, "was placed un- the state gained little ground, opened in San Francisco late der what can only be de- at least during the hearing's last month. scribed as a form of "house first day. And it was at Uhler that arrest," to prevent her from Simultaneously, CRLA at testifying before the commis- torneys claimed that a wel sion when it meets in that fare worker in El Centro - School Lunch Imperial county city Thurs- where the commission wil day and Friday. hold hearings Thursday ano Fund Increase "She is not permitted by Friday is being held under the department even to leave virtual "house arrest" to her office. She cannot use the keep her from testifying. OKd by House telephone," Reynoso de- The hearings. in Salinas' clared. City Hall Rotunda. a circular Washington When a Chronicle reporter building off by itself in the The House approved yes- attempted to phone Mrs. En- Civic Center complex. got off terday a $150 million in- glish at her El Centro office to a start indicative of the re- crease in the program to pro- from Salinas, his call was sidual bitterness here from vide free or reduced-price transferred to Florence Kin- the farm workers' strike. meals to needy children: loch. welfare department As spectators arrived, they It sent to the Senate a bill director. were handed bumper stick- to make $50 million available Mrs. Kinloch said: "Mrs. ers reading "Kick Out for the balance of the current English is on restricted CRLA" with an underline year and $100 million for the phone calls this week. "Waste of Taxpayers' Mon- year starting July 1. "The policy has been the ey." The visitors were also Congress recently expand- same here for the past three handed flyers charging the ed the lunch program. The years any newspaper calls CRLA and UFWOC work result was an increase from come through me." hand in hand. They have 2.3 million children receiving Mrs. Kinloch said she been a negative, disruptive the meals in 1969 to 7.2 mil- and dividing force in our Sa- linas vallev." 1 lon in March of this vear. would take a phone number for Mrs. English to call and let her know she could "call that number after business hours.' Uhler. asked about the charge concerning Mrs. Eng- lish. said, "I have no knowl- edge of it, and I have no com- ment on it." Commission chairman Robert B. Williamson, re- tired chief justice of Maine, announced after yesterday's noon recess the commission had found "no merit" to charges that CRLA attorneys had represented persons in criminal actions and acted as lawyers for UFWOC during the lettuce strike in violation of guidelines set for CRLA. While this was an obvious setback to the state's case, Uhler said those particular The commission, appoint- charges were "about the ed by the Nixon Administra- least significant of the points tion, is attempting to deter- raised here today." mine whether the CRLA He added he hopes the should be fully financed to commission "does not make continue its work. Governor a ruling" about alleged rela- Ronald Reagan in January tions between the CRLA and vetoed a $1.8 million Federal the farm workers union "un- appropriation for the pro- til they've been around the gram. The CRLA is currently state. operating on a temporary Robert Hinrichs, a Salinas six-month grant. attorney who said he was The hearing wiil resume in acting "for individual per- Salinas at 9 a.m. today. sons who requested me to represent them," presented witnesses to attack CRLA's position. Hinrichs said he had "no connection" with the State OEO, but he and Uhler were seen conferring at the coun- sel table and outside the hearing room. Hinrichs produced Monte- rey Sheriff's Captain Walter Scott, who said he had been told by UFWOC attorneys during the strike that they could be contacted at CRLA headquarters. Dennis Powell, CRLA di- recting attorney here, later testified that when he learned UFWOC attorneys were using his office phone number as a contact, he or- dered it stopped. As to Scott's testimony that Scott reached union attor- neys at CRLA headquarters by phone during October, No- vember and December of last year. Powell said: "That's just completely wrong. because they didn't." Hinrichs did not cross- examine Powell on that statement Fresno, Calif. Bee (Cir. D 110,294, Sun. 142,020) MAY 18 1971 Allen 3 P.C.B. Est. 1888 CRLA Is Cleared On 3 Counts SALINAS (UPI) - A commission refused to take part in it because it of three judges investigating the Rea- objects to its adversary-like nature. gan administration's charges against Reagan, who vetoed Office of Eco- California Rural Legal assistance has nomic Opportunity funding for ruled three of the allegations have no CRLA, said the commission should merit. have been a fact-finding body, not a The charges involved CRLA taking trial tribunal. on a traffic court case, helping three Despite the administration's refusal women pickets arrested in the United to participate, however, two lawyers Farm Workers lettuce strike be freed were retained to assist anti-CRLA wit- on their own recognizance and help- nesses. ing a Chicano boy be transferred from jail to juvenile hall on a misde- meanor charge. On other charges against CRLA, Sheriff's Deputy Walter Scott testi- fied Monday that CRLA lawyers worked out of the offices of Cesar Chavez' farm union. The hearing was being held in un- usual fashion. The administration has may 18-71 CRLA HEARING Probers See No Link to Strike SALINAS (UPI) -A sheriff's lawyers using the telephone in deputy testified Monday that his office. California Rural Legal Assis- He also asserted that Scott tance lawyers worked out of the was "just plain wrong" when offices of Cesar Chavez' farm he said he had telephoned union union. lawyers at the CRLA office The testimony by Walter during October, November and Scott came during a hearing by December. the federal Office of Economic The hearing concerns a veto Opportunity investigation into by Gov. Ronald Reagan of CRLA activities. federal funds for the CRLA Robert B. Williamson, retired which he says has inadequately Maine chief justice who is the carried out its job of serving hearing committee chairman, the legal needs of the poor. The said his organization had found governor also holds the legal no merit to assertions that poverty agency has violated CRLA attorneys had represent- OEO regulations against taking ed persons in criminal actions part in partisan politics. in violation of OEO rules. Neither did the commission CRLA spekesmen say the find merit in an assertion that governor is angry because the they acted for the UFWOC agency defeated him in court during the strike, he added. on welfare questions. Scott, a Monterey County Cruz Reynoso, the CRLA sheriff's captain, said that executive director, asserted in attorneys for the AFL-CIO a memorandum that Donna United Farm Workers Organiz- English, a welfare department ing Committee had told him employe in El Centro, is being they could be reached at the held "under what can only be CRLA office during a strike described as a form of house against lettuce growers. arrest" to prevent her from Dennis Powell, CRLA direc- testifying before the commis- tor in Salinas, testified he had sion. The commission will meet ordered a stop to farm union there Thursday and Friday. Sacromento, Calif. The Bee (Cir. D, 172,411 Sun, 200,546) MAY 1 8 1971 Allen'sP.C.B. Est. 1888 Harassing Of Pair Charged 242 A social workers union to- day charged tow Imperial County Welfare Department workers are being prevented by their employers from tes- tifying before a federal com- mission. The charge was leveld by Bob Anderson, Legislative lobbyist for the Social Ser- vices Union, Local 535, AFL- CIO. He identified the workers as Donna and Michael En- glish, who he said are being kept under virtual house ar- rest." Sitting next to Assembly- man David Roberti, D-Los Angeles County. chairman of the Assembly Committee on Labor Relations, at a press conference, Anderson said it was a case of "apparent in- timidation and coercion" of the social workers. Roberti said he was "out- raged" by the action of the Imperial County agency in the case of the Englishes, possible witnesses in the in- quiry being conducted by a federal commission into the Reagan administration charges against California Rural Legal Assistance. Anderson said their names were mentioned in a press release Friday from Gov. Ronald Reagan's office. The release concerned CRLA memos which purportedly linked the CRLA to activities of Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers Organizing Committee. Shortly after the release, Anderson said. the social workers were told by their supervisor, Mrs. Florence Kinloch, they could not leave he building for an indefinite period or testify for CRLA during working hours. Riverside, Calif. Enterprise (Cir. 5XW 44,294) MAY 181971 1 Allen P.C.B. Est. 1888 Salinas growers claim CRLA-farm union tie [ SALINAS (P) - A deputy sheriff and given a temporary allowance pending a lawyer for lettuce growers testified the inquiry. yesterday that attorneys for farm un- Deputy Sheriff Walter Scott and An- ionist Cesar Chavez worked out of the 3 drew Church, a growers' lawyer, testi- California Rural Legal Assistance of- fied that United Farm Workers attor- fices and used its facilities during last neys gave out the Salinas CRLA tele- year's strike. phone number as the place they could The testimony before a special fed- d be reached during the lettuce strike last eral investigating commission was ad- October, November and December. a mitted over CRLA objections. Dennis Powell, head of the CARLA e Gov. Reagan has vetoed federal Salinas office, said the union lawyers funds for CRLA, charging it with as. were permitted to use the CRLA law li- - sorted improprieties, but it has been I brary and to use its copying machine for a charge. They contended Scott was "just plain wrong" when he said he reached union attorneys on the CRLA telephone. CRLA meanwhile filed a memoran- dum with the commission, saying it wished to question Mrs. Donna English, an Imperial County welfare worker, but that the Department of Welfare had or- dered her not to leave her office, use the telephone or have any contact with the CRLA. Riverside, Calif. Enterprise (Cir. 5XW 44,294) MAY 18197K Allen'se.C.B. Est. 1888 Certainly investigation is war- Stupid' memos ranted, but-the whole controversy - Governor Reagan VS. the con- Two interoffice memos from tinuation of CRLA - cannot rest a California Rural Legal Assist- on this single incident, damning ance attorney in El Centro to to CRLA as it is. The Governor, CRLA's director of litigation not who has been unwilling to CO- only got into Governor Reagan's operate with the existing OEO's hands, but played into them. The existing investigation of CRLA's memos were given the Governor activities, seems to want to make by another El Centro attorney, this one disclosure the proof of an avowed enemy of CRLA. his entire case against the agency. The Governor, a critic of And for what it is worth, the CRLA, has characterized them as Governor, lately concerned about representing a "brazen" and invasion of privacy where his "dishonorable proposal that ad- personal tax situation was in- vocates such practices as coach- volved, showed no qualms about ing witnesses, encouraging false- receiving and publicizing confi- hoods, etc." His description is dential correspondence without close enough to accurate that out- seeming to care much about how right disagreement with it is im- it came originally to unfriendly, possible. hands. Even CRLA Director Cruz Reynoso concedes the memos were "stupid," but says his of- fice can disprove implications in them. Governor Reagan has or- dered an investigation and, sud- denly eager to cooperate with the U.S. Office of Economic Op- portunity, has invited Frank Car- lucci, director, to join in the in- vestigation. Brawley, Calif. News (Cir. 6xW 3,534) MAY 181971 Allen's P.C.B. Est. 1888 1 Eliminate CRLA; 1 pass override To The Editor: I am SO glad CRLA is finally being investigated. They are spending our tax dollars on things such as 1 MECHA, UFWOC, taking away 2 our County Hospital, and drum- ming up business for welfare. Let's out CRLA and pass our E next school override. The mon- I ey would be much better spent. t Sincerely, t SHIRLEY LERNO El Centro t a 1 Sacramento, Calif. The Bee (Cir., D. 172,411 Sun. 200,546) MAY 18 1971 Allen's P.C.B. Est. 1888 Judges Find No Merit Three Anti-CRLA Charges Fold SALINAS (UPI) - A sion chairman, said the body during a strike against let- commission of three judges found no merit to assertions tuce growers. investigating the Reagan ad- that CRLA attorneys had Dennis Powell, CRLA represented persons in crim- ministration's charges director in Salinas, testified inal actions in violation of against California Rural Le- he had ordered a stop to Office of Economic Opportu- gal Assistance has ruled farm union lawyers using nity rules. three of the allegations have the telephone in his office. Neither did the commis- no merit. He also asserted that Scott sion find merit in an asser- The charges involve CRLA was "just plain wrong" when tion that they acted for taking on a traffic court he said he had telephoned UFWOC during the strike, case, helping secure the re- union lawyers at the CRLA he added. lease of three women pickets office in October, November Cruz Reynoso, CRLA exec- and December. arrested in the United Farm utive director, asserted in a Workers Organizing Com- The hearing concerns the memorandum that Donna mittee lettuce strike and veto by Gov. Ronald Reagan English, a Welfare Depart- of federal funds for the helping a chicano boy get a ment employe in El Centro, transfer from jail to juven- CRLA which he says has in- is held "under what can only iile hall on a misdemeanor adequately carried out its be described as a form of charge. job of serving the legal needs house arrest" to prevent her of the poor. The governor On other charges against from testifying before the also holds the CRLA has vio- CRLA, sheriff's deputy Wal- commission. The commission lated OEO regulations ter Scott testified that CRLA will meet there Thursday against taking part in parti- lawyers worked out of the and Friday. san politics. offices of Cesar Chavez's Scott, a Monterey County farm union. sheriff's captain, said that Robert B. Williamson, TC- attorneys for UFWOC had tired Maine chief justice told him they could be who is the hearing commis- reached at the CRLA office Sacramento, Calif. Recorder (Cir. D) MAY 18 1971 Allen's P.C.B. Est. J888 Suit Queries Constitutionality Of State 'Bankers' Lien' Law 242 SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) - A Ukiah, couple claims a bank cleaned out their checking account, didnt, notify them for five days and then charged $4 each for 15 sm- all checks which bounced. Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Jojola filed a federal court suite Wednesday against Wells Fargo Bank and its Mastercharge credit card, asking that California's "bankers' lien" law be declared unconstitutional. The law allows a bank to seize, without notice, the assets of a depositor which it claims owes the bank mo- ney. The Jojolas said they were issued an unsolicited credit card in 1967 and used it to make $400 in purch- ases at Christmas 1968. Although they made install- ment payments, they still owed $200 last November when the bank seized $163 from their checking account, leaving only 67 cents. The plaintiffs, represented by California Rural Le- gal Assistance, said they weren't notified of the seizure for five days and wrote 15 small checks in the interim. The bank bounced all of them and charged the couple $4 for each check. The suite argued the seizure was an arbitrary and unreasonable violation of the 14th Amendment and asked that the "bankers' lien" be declared unconstitu- tional- San Francisco, Calif. Chronicle (Cir. D 478,704 Sgt. 443,306) MAY Allen'sp.C.E.E. Est. 1888 SHARP Labor Dept. Study The Federal investigators recommended a sharp in- crease in the number of peo- ple speaking Spanish in un- State Jobless Aid employment insurance of- fices. CRLA charged that some Spanish-speaking peo- Called Inadequate ple were deprived of unem- ployment insurance benefits when they were terned down by clerks who spoke only By Michael Harris English. The investigators also rec- tiations," said Phelps, who Several United States ommended that job notices has been holding a series of Labor Department investi- be written in both English meetings with state officials. gating teams have con- and Spanish areas with large "The (state) agency wants to cluded that the state's em- numbers of Mexican- find out what the deficiencies ployment offices are pro- Americans and that recep- are, and I am sure good viding inadequate service tionists at such offices be bi- things will come out of our for Spanish-speaking Cali- lingual. meetings." fornians. "A disproportionate num- The investigation was or- They said there were only ber of minority employees dered late last year after 36 Spanish-speaking job are in lower level jobs,' the California Rural Legal As- counselors in the entire State report continued. "The refer- sistance filed a petition with Department of Human Re- ence to the modest increase the U.S. Department of La- sources Development, an in minorities who are receiv- bor Charging discrimination. agency with slightly more ing supervisory responsibili- OBEY than 10,000 employees. ties is encouraging (but) They also found that "ac- The complaint said the De- many of these persons are tual implementation of any partment of Human Re- supervisory clerks and jani- part of the (minority staff- sources Development, which tors." ing) program submitted al- gets more than 80 per cent of A spokesman for Human most a year ago is negligi- its $140 million budget from Resources Development said ble." the Federal Government, he felt the federal charges HARSH had failed to obey the rules were unduly harsh. requiring it to devote 50 per "We agree that is a lot of In spite of the harsh criti- cent of its funds to aid the work to be done, but this de- cism in a preliminary draft of the findings of the investi- disadvantaged. partment has a higher per- gation, Donald Phelps, re- The investigators' report centage and greater numbers was written last month but of minorities than any other gional director of the U.S. Equal Employment Oppor- was not made public unti agency in the state govern- CRLA obtained a copy and ment,' the spokesman said. tunity office in San Francis- released it to the press. "Our black employees ex- CO, was optimistic. "I am sure the problem Phelps, who said he agreed ceed the percentage of can be solved through nego- with the investigators' con- blacks in the state popula- clusions, reported the docu- tion. Our Spanish-speaking ment was not intended for proportion is short of their public release but was a pre- percentage, but we are mov- liminary study. The final re- ing in the direction of cor- port will not be ready, he recting that situation." said, until June 10 or 15. Riverside, Calif. Press (Cir. 5XW 34,405) MAY 171971 Allen's P.C.B. Est. 1888 And for what it is worth, the Governor, lately concerned about "Stupid' memos invasion of privacy where his personal tax situation was in- Two interoffice memos from volved, showed no qualms about a California Rural Legal Assist- receiving and publicizing confi- ance attorney in El Centro to dential correspondence without CRLA's director of litigation not seeming to care much about how only got into Governor Reagan's : it came originally to unfriendly hands, but played into them. The hands. memos were given the Governor by another El Centro attorney, an avowed enemy of CRLA. The Governor, a critic of CRLA, has characterized them as representing a "brazen" and "dishonorable proposal that ad- vocates such practices as coach- ing witnesses, encouraging false- hoods, etc." His description is close enough to accurate that out- right disagreement with it is im- possible. Even CRLA Director Cruz Reynoso concedes the memos were "stupid," but says his of- fice can disprove implications in them. Governor Reagan has or- dered an investigation and, sud- denly eager to cooperate with the U.S. Office of Economic Op- portunity, has invited Frank Car- lucei, director, to join in the in- vestigation. Certainly investigation is war- ranted, but the whole controversy - Governor Reagan vs. the con- tinuation of CRLA - cannot rest on this single incident, damning to CRLA as it is. The Governor, who has been unwilling to CO- operate with the existing OEO's existing investigation of CRLA's activities, seems to want to make this one disclosure the prpof of his entire case against the agency. Oakland, Calif. Tribune (Cir. D 225,033, Sat. 209,931, Sun, 251,534) 1971 Letters to The Forum Spank The Demonstrators The Ultimate Question EDITOR: After watching carefully the behav- EDITOR: 0. L. Brannaman, Forum May 7, in ior of young people on these so-called "peaceful" denouncing those "who say that they will not demonstrations, I believe the following action should be taken by the police in every case: stand by and see Israel defeated" because they might bring on World War III, succinctly states When these youngsters throw a tantrum, kick- ing, yelling, and demanding their own way, then the underlying philosophy of peace lovers every- where and for all time: our police should do what the parents should have done years ago. A good whack on their There can be no reason short of outright armed - and perhaps only nuclear - attack on sitdowns would not only sting but would mortify one's own country to justify going to war and them. Imagine what this would look like on the TV news! The whole world would laugh at such a risking escalation into World War III and Arma- geddon. sight. It certainly would be more effective than ar- Hence, it is each nation and perhaps ultimate- resting them. I'm sure they'd think twice about ly each man for himself, with no mutual defense being placed in such a ridiculous position. treaties worth signing and no allies. MRS. FLORENCE HABELT, It is as if Sen. Henry Jackson's allegorical Oakland. hotel burglar went down the corridor, rattling the doorknobs and found them all open! Sue or Starve? Then would the legendary Horatio - as op- posed to the current Hubert - the defenders of EDITOR: California Rural Legal Assistance is Bataan and Corregidor, Leningrad and Stalin- being threatened. Governor Reagan is critical of it. Naturally then it follows that the Democrats grad and all the countless times throughout histo- are for it. Many lawyers have spoken favorably ry when the relative few have died to buy time of it, claiming it's an instrument to help the poor. that the often indifferent and unworthy many As we all know, CRLA is that tax-supported might live, have fought and ultimately died for legal agency that allows underprivileged lawyers nothing. to sue other underprivileged people - like you Should any man ever, under any circumstanc- and me. I can't afford to sue anyone, I've got es, be required or even asked to lay down his life money. Sometimes in a good month and before for that of another? the deadline for paying my tax, I might have as R. F. VERNON, much as $200 in the bank. Oakland. However, the trial lawyers are not SO enthu- siastic about no fault insurance, a law that might Indian Self Pride just possibly take some of the load off the courts. EDITOR: The members of the American Indi- Could it be that like Briefless, the lawyer friend an Cultural Group of San Quentim are greatly of Art Buchwald says, "they're trying to take the disturbed by the article by Stephen Cook, pub- bread out of our mouths, if we can't sue we'll lished in the May 2 Tribune. starve.' LLOYD MICKELS, The article quotes warden Nelson as listing San Leandro. the American Indian Cultural Group as being among those minority groups at San Quentin that Children: A Costly Luxury are deteriorating into "para-military organiza- tions with revolutionary overtones." EDITOR: In response to the letters by Marian I personally have been involved with the Indi- Vieux and James Harvey (Forum May 5): an group of San Quentin for seven years and I could not agree more that people with chil- have seen this group develop from an apathetic dren should bear all costs of schools, busing, free "no-give-a damn" attitude to establish itself as a lunches, vandalism, etc. Single people and child- most progressive, positive organization dealing less couples should not be expected to contribute. with the issues concerning. their people while We are taxed out of our houses because of their serving time. children. The statement credited to warden Nelson not It is-my opinion that if a person elects to have only threatens the harmony and purpose of the children, he should be prepared to pay all costs American-Indian Cultural Group but also threat- of that luxury. Or hasn't anyone heard of over- ens funds given to carry out an unmet need in the population? prison system today of institling pride, integrity, MRS. SUZANNE VASTAG, and selfworth of the individual while serving Oakland. time. ADAM NORDWALL, Chairman, United Bay Area Council of American Indian Affairs. Misdirected Efforts EDITOR: Why is it that the people over 18 involved in the riots and demonstrations don't get, on their "soap boxes" and do something con- structive such as getting more people registered to vote and imploring these people to actually go out and vote at elections? Perhaps by this action these "non-violent dem- onstrators" will get the changes in governmental policy that they would prefer. The place to initiate changes in governmental policy is the voting booth - not the street. MICHAEL E. SWEENEY, San Leandro. Bulldog Symbol EDITOR: In connection with recent demonstra- tions and political activity, it seems incredible to me that people would characterize themselves as either "hawks" or "doves." As a way of life, war is obviously stark terror and hardly merits comment. However peace at any price is slavery. It would seem rather that a more appropriate symbol would be the "Bulldog." That is to hang tight to time-tested values while at the same time firmly keeping an open mind to sensible change. The peace-at-any-price demonstrators show me no class. RAY FISHER, Hayward. The Forum is always open to all reasonable opinion. Brief, legible letters receive preference. All must be signed. Public Lobbyists They Serve Taypayers, Not Business By BILL STALL Associated Press Their interests often overlap and a taxpayer could support two lobbyists who go to Sacramento and wind up opposing Not all lobbyists represent big business. The average tax- themselves in the Capitol-if the city of Long Beach and coun- payer-whether he knows it or not-may be footing the bill for ty of Los Angeles were on opposite sides of an issue, for exam- one, two or more paid registered lobbyists in Sacramento. ple. Eighty-four public and semi-public agencies have regis- The range of public lobbyist activity ranges across the full tered lobbyists in Sacramento this year-ranging from the scope of local government-from cities, counties and school Association of Bay Area Governments to the Kern County districts students. to associations of public employes and state college Water Agency. They include California Rural Legal Assistance Inc., the The rules specifically exempt, however, "a state official war-on-poverty agency under fire from the administration of or an elected nonstate public official acting in his official ca- Gov. Reagan. pacity" from lobbyist registration requirements. Just like the advocates for the big oil firms and the con- One of the first examples of this type of lobbyist cited struction companies, the lobbyists for public agencies have to around Sacramento is the giant University of California which register on the fourth floor of the Capitol and file monthly re- retains Hay Michael as the head of its legislative office in the ports of expenses. Senator Hotel, where a number of lobbyists have their offices. Their goal is the same as that of the private industry lobbyists: to work for legislation that helps their interests and ASSEMBLYMAN Willie L. Brown Jr., D-San Francisco, against legislation that would harm their clients. chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, believes the university and other state agencies should have to register SOMETIMES the reports include payment of tabs at the with the legislative analyst's office just as do all other advo- favorite lobbyist-legislator gathering spots in Sacramento. cates and file expense reports. Some are well-paid fulltimers such as former Assembly "We don't really know to this day how much money goes Speaker Edward Craig who represents Orange County. His into the lobbying process from the general fund appropriation March report listed a salary for the month of $1,725 and expen- we made for all these agencies," said Brown, who once served ses of $922. as chairman of the committee on control of lobbyists' activi- Another is former San Francisco Mayor John F. Shelley, ties. who represents the city and county of San Francisco. He re- "It could be a waste of public money. That's the people's ported $5,021 in expenses in March on top of his $2,363-a-month - university," he said. "They ought not to be here fulltime salary. lobbying." Some of the lobbyists are city or county employes or attor- Brown said his comments apply as well to the state col- neys who spend most of their time at home and travel to Sac- leges" and the people who work for all agencies of state gov- ramento. only. when legislation. affecting their organization. ernment" and serve as legislative. advocates. For instance, comes up. the Department of Motor Vehicles retains a fourth floor Capi- A few of the agencies hire some of the well-known big tol office for its legislative representative, former DMV diret- business lobbyists who handle several accounts. The Califor- tor Tom Bright. nia Highway Patrol Association retains Daniel J. Creedon who Bright's office is a particular convenience for lawmakes also represents the California Brewers Association, California Funeral Directors Association and the city of Vernon. weekender Special THERE ARE lobbyists for at least a dozen cities and towns-ranging from tiny Emeryville to Los Angeles-and eight counties. failed by one vote in the Senate," Smith said. -it handles registration of autos for them and others in the An example of the lobbyist who represents both a public Capitol each year, saving them the trouble of doing it by mail agency and a private firm is John R. Wendt, who works for or at a local DMV office. both the California Savings and Loan League and the Port of MICHAEL DISPUTES Brown's arguments and estimates Oakland. his office operates on a budget of $80,000 a year. "I work for the port on a parttime basis. I don't have a "We feel that we don't lobby in the sense that many others heck of a lot of problems up here affecting the port," he said. lobby," he said. "It's an information function. I wouldn't The port is not just interested in its maritime facilities. It maintain that we don't present our best arguments for policies also operates the Oakland airport, has an interest in the tour- adopted by the board of regents. If that's lobbying, then we ist business through its Jack London Square, and has industri- lobby." al park property. "We do have an objection to the university being singled One example of a bill Wendt watched closely was the measure to ban construction of the Southern Crossing Bridge out from other state supported activities and treated differ- ently from other state-supported activities in this regard. If I across San Francisco Bay. am to report what it costs to perform this job, then I think the THE CITY and the port long have favored the bridge. governor's legislative secretary ought to and a person in the Wendt will talk to legislators and try to persuade them to Department of Public Works and all other state agencies." see his client's arguments, just as he would on a bill affecting Michael added, "I lobby for nothing except the public in- savings and loan firms. terest as it relates to the university. I don't have clients. I "The techniques are the same. The job is the same. The don't make campaign contributions. I don't entertain lavishly work is the same," Wendt said. and all that sort of thing." "What is different, 1 think, is that people are, in general, Assemblyman Brown sees a difference in cities-such as less skeptical if you say you represent a public agency. Maybe his-and counties in having fulltime representatives in Sacra- a little less suspect of the self interest involved in the thing. mento. That's probably a very subtle distinction.' "The counties have enough of a direct interest in what An example of how many agencies with their own advo- happens from an economic standpoint. Their money that goes cates can be involved in a single issue, here are other local to promote revenue into their areas comes from a different government entities that had an interest-either direct or indi- "source," Brown said. rect in the Southern Crossing bridge: ONE OF CRLA'S three registered advocates is James F. Alameda County, ABAG, Bay Area Air Pollution Control Smith, who lists the lobbyist portion of his salary at $10,330 a District, East Bay Municipal Utility District, East Bay Re- year and reported $468 in office and secretarial expenses dur- gional Park District, Town of Emeryville, Golden Gate Bridge ing March. and Highway District, League of California Cities, San Fran- A letter in his file from CRLA director Cruz Reynoso de- cisco city and county, city of San Jose, San Mateo County, San- clares, "He is charged by our organization with representing ta Clara County. the interests of impoverished rural California." Also in his of- fice are registered lobbyists Peter F. Schilla and Arthur A. Torres. Smith said the Reagan administration objected when CRLA decided to open an office of legislative advocates in Sacramento. Last December Reagan vetoed CRLA's $1.8 mil- lion budget approved by President Nixon's Office of Economic Opportunity director. Smith explained, "The position that federal OEO and we took was that it was quite clear that as attorneys we were not only entitled to, but obligated, to represent our clients in the legislature as well as before the courts when their interests are affected." "We are not here as lobbyists representing CRLA, but as attorneys representing our clients on issues that affect them." AN EXAMPLE was a bill CRLA pushed last year to allow some Spanish-speaking residents to register to vote in the June 1970 primary election after the State Supreme Court ruled in a CRLA-brought suit that they could not be denied the right to vote just because they could only read Spanish and not English. San Francisco, Celif. Examiner (Cir. D 203,025 Sot, 159,057) MAY 1971 P.C.B. Est. 1888 Salinas Testimony- 'CRLA Chavez Tie As hearings opened today, By Joel Tlumak CRLA objected to such tes- timony today as hearsay - leafleters were passing out Examiner News Staff but the commissioners ad- leaflets and bumper strips SALINAS - A Monterey linking CRLA to the United mitted it as evidence. County sheriff's deputy and a This was the first time any Farm Workers Organizing counsel for farm growers to- Committee, the union headed cross-examination took place day testifed that lawyers for by Cesar Chavez. Cesar Chavez used facilities at the hearings. About 70 persons attended and worked out of the office Before testimony began to- the morning hearing session day, CRLA attorneys of California Rural Legal As- - most of them attorneys, charged that a potential wit- sistance during last year's newsmen and other officials ness was under virtual lettuce strike. connected with the case. "house arrest" where she The first hearings were They were called to appear works. held the last week in April. before the Special Commis- CRLA said it specifically but Reagan and CRLA Direc- sion probing CRLA to sub- wanted to question Mrs. Don- tor Cruz Reynoso squared off stantiate charges by Gover- na English, an Imperial last week in sharp exchanges nor Reagan that the poverty County welfare worker, but because of Governor Rea- / typical of the entire pro- attorneys were illegally in- ceedings SO far. volved with Chavez' United gan's action releasing infor- Farm Workers Organizing mation about potential wit- Reagan's people will still not take an active part in the Committee. nesses, Mrs. English "was Dennis Powell. head of immediately placed under hearings. although the gover- nor's staff is reported to CRLA's Salinas office, said what can only be described as a form of house arrest." have provided private attor- UFWOC lawyers were per- The CRLA claimed "she is neys for witnesses who are mitted to use the CRLA law library a very expensive not permitted by the Depart- expected to testify this week ment of Welfare to leave her against purported illegal ac- one - and also use its copy- office. She cannot use the tivities by the poverty attor- ing machine at a charge. telephone. She cannot see neys. But he said Deputy Sheriff clients.- She is under specific Ever since these hearings Walter Scott "was just plain- instructions to have no con- by a three-member commis- wrong" when he said he tact with any CRLA person- sion of justices from state su- reached UFWOC attorneys at nel." preme courts were proposed, a CRLA telephone last Octo- Efforts to reach Mrs. Eng- the governor's poverty chief ber, November and Decem- lish at her office in El Cen- Lewis K. Uhler charged they ber. tro today for comment on the Powell said at the second allegations were unsuccess- week of the commission's ful. hearings that CRLA never The CRLA, which is literal- authorized UFWOC attorneys ly fighting for its life in the to give out its phone number. current hearings, further Deputy Sheriff Scott and charged that its witnesses farm grower counsel Andrew are being intimidated by the Church told the commission governor's release of a that UFWOC attorneys said sealed document on file with specifically they could be the investigation panel. reached at CRLA headquar- ters in Salinas. were unfair. The hearings here will last He demanded more than through tomorrow and will just hearings - full-scale, move on Wednesday to Sole- field investigations. dad Prison, where guards Attorneys for CRLA claim and prisoners will be ques- the governor's office is plan- tioned on charges that CRLA ning to present Washington attorneys helped trigger pris- with a separate white paper, on disturbances. attacking the hearings and, On Thursday and Friday presumably,' the decision of the hearings will move to El the commission. Centro, near the Mexican Reagan's people don't ex- border pect to win their case at this The 283-page Uhler report level. But they mean to pres- against CRLA made charges sure Washington on their that the proverty attorneys own and throw up charges illegally represented labor that promises made in Wash- unions, took on criminal cas- ington were not kept on how es when they weren't sup- the probe was supposed to be posed to and interfered with run. rural school districts. San Francisco, Calif. Examiner (Sir, D 203,026 Sot. 159,057) MAY 17 1971 Allen's P. C.B. Est. 1888 'Witness Sealed Off' CRLA/Aides File Charge By Joel Thumak as a form of house arrest.' The first hearings were Reagan's people don't ex- Examiner News Staff The CRLA claimed "she is held the last week in April. pect to win their case at this SALINAS - A potential not permitted by the Depart- but Reagan and CRLA Direc- level. But they mean to pres- witness in the California Ru- ment of Welfare to leave her tor Cruz Reynoso squared off sure Washington on their ral Legal Assistance hear- office. She cannot use the last week in sharp exchanges own and throw up charges ings is-under virtual "house telephone. She cannot see - typical of the entire pro- that promises made in Wash- arrest" where she works, clients. She is under specific ceedings SO far. ington were not kept on how CRLA attorneys charged to- instructions to have no con- Private Attorneys the probe was supposed to be day. tact with any CRLA person- Reagan's people will still run. The allegation was con- nel." not take an active part in the tained in a memorandum The hearings here will last Efforts to reach Mrs. Eng- hearings, although the gover- filed with the three-member lish at her office in El Cen- through tomorrow and will nor's staff is reported to panel of judges who opened a tro today for comment on the move on Wednesday to Sole- second week of hearings into allegations were unsuccess- have provided private attor- dad Prison, where guards CRLA affairs. ful. neys for witnesses who are and prisoners will be ques- The broadside - aimed at The CRLA, which is literal- expected to testify this week tioned on charges that CRLA Governor Reagan - came ly fighting for its life in the against purported illegal ac- attorneys helped trigger pris- just before today's first wit- current hearings, further tivities by the poverty attor- on disturbances. ness took the stand in these charged that its witnesses neys. On Thursday and Friday politically-charged hearings are being intimidated by the Ever since these hearings the hearings will move to El which for the first time have governor's release of a by a three-member commis- Centro, near the Mexican moved to grower-dominated sealed document on file with sion of justices from state su- border. farm country. the investigation panel. preme courts were proposed, Earlier hearings were in Leaflets the governor's poverty chief The 283-page Unler report San Francisco. As hearings opened today, Lewis K. Uhler charged they against CRLA made charges Welfare Worker leafleters were passing out were unfair. that the proverty attorneys CRLA said it specifically leaflets and bumper strips He demanded more than illegally represented labor wanted to question Mrs. Don- linking CRLA to the United just hearings - full-scale, unions, took on criminal cas- na English, an Imperial Farm Workers Organizing field investigations. es when they weren't sup- County welfare worker, but Committee, the union headed Attorneys for CRLA claim posed to and interfered with because of Governor Rea- by Cesar Chavez. the governor's office is plan- rural school districts. gan's action releasing infor- About 70 persons attended ning to present Washington mation about potential wit- the morning hearing session with a separate white paper, nesses, Mrs. English "was - most of them attorneys, attacking the hearings and, immediately placed under newsmen and other officials presumably, the decision of what can only be described connected with the case. the commission. San Francisco, Calif. Examiner (Cir. D 203,023, Sot. 167,357) MAY 17 1971 I P.C.B. Est. 1888 Reagan CRLA The hearings here will last through tomorrow and will move on Wednesday to Sole- dad Prison, where guards and prisoners will be ques- Drama Plays tioned on charges that CRLA attorneys helped trigger pris- on disturbances. On Thursday and Friday the hearings will move to El Salinas Valley Centro, near the Mexican border. The 283-page Uhler report By Joel Thumak Examiner Staff Writer against CRLA made charges SALINAS - Act Two of the He demanded more than that the proverty attorneys Reagan-CRLA melodrama just hearings - full-scale, illegally represented labor opened here today as the field investigations. unions, took on criminal cas- governor and the poverty at- And Uhler has refused to es when they weren't sup- torneys continue their bitter abide by the ground rules of posed to and interfered with fight both in and out of the rural school districts. the hearings, which means hearing chambers. neither he nor his staff will These charges will be This is the second week of be permitted to cross exam- checked out here and in El the hearings on the gover- ine witnesses or present the Centro. And the staff of the nor's charges against Cali- state's case in the court- special commission expects fornia Rural Legal Assist- room-type proceedings. the justices to hold further ance. Continuing Clashes hearings during one more The first hearings were As a result, Reagan and week. held the last week in April. 1 CRLA have clashed repeat- but Reagan and CRLA Direc- edly out of the hearing cham- to Cruz Reynoso squared off bers. attacking each other at last week in sharp exchanges press conferences, revealing - typical of the entire pro- secret documents and por- ceedings so far. tions of pre-hearing, Private Attorneys closed-door transcripts. Reagan's people will still Attorneys for CRLA claim not take an active part in the the governor's office is plan- hearings, although the gover- ning to present Washington nor's staff is reported to with a separate white paper, have provided private attor- attacking the hearings and, neys for witnesses who are presumably, the decision of expected to testify this week the commission. against purported illegal ac- Reagan's people don't ex- tivities by the poverty attor- pect to win their case at this neys. level. But they mean to pres- Ever since these hearings sure Washington on their by a three-member commis- own and throw up charges sion of justices from state su- that promises made in Wash- preme courts were proposed, ington were not kept on how the governor's poverty chief the probe was supposed to be Lewis K. Uhler charged they run. were unfair. San Francisco, Calif. Chronicle (Cir. D. 480,233 Sot. A.M. 450,227) MAY 1 1971 Allen's P.C.B. Est. 1888 New Hearing at Salinas on CRLA By George Murphy Francisco during the last eting by farm workers, and The relations between the Chronicle Correspondent week in April. fomented disorders in State Nixon and Reagan adminis- During that session, the prisons. trations at least between Salinas judges narrowed to 39 the their representatives dete- A three-judge commis- Among the charges relat- riorated somewhat as number of charges brought sion investigating charges ing to Salinas, the commis- against CRLA by the State the CRLA investigation pro- against the California Ru- sion will attempt to deter- Office of Economic Oportu- gressed. ral Legal Assistance pro- mine if, as the Uhler report LEAK nity. gram opens its second charges, "CRLA acted exact- A Federal OEO evaluation week of hearings here to- There were many more ly like a labor union," in re- day. charges contained in the report on Uhler's operation lation to the United Farm was leaked to The Sacramen- 283-page, so-called "Uhler Workers Organizing Commit- The commission, headed to Bee late last month. Report," named for State tee. by retired Chief Justice of OEO Director Lewis K. Uhl- It was highly critical of the PICKETS Maine Robert B. Williamson, State OEO, and brought er. will spend two days here, Among them were allega- Another charge was that about an angry letter from Wednesday at Soledad Prison, tions CRLA attorneys en- CRLA attorneys were advis- Uhler to Carlucci demanding and Thursday and Friday at ing UFWOC pickets who had Carlucci find out how the re- gaged in unethical practices, El Centro. did legal work beyond the been arrested on trespassing port was leaked. The commission held its scope of existing OEO regu- charges, and appeared in During the April hearings, first week of hearings in San lations, participated in pick- court on behalf of a UFWOC Governor Reagan told a attorney. press conference that if the commission did not "go into The Uhler Report served the field" its members as the basis for Governor "should resign." Ronald Reagan's veto of a Chairman Williamson, in $1.8 million Federal grant for later ordering hearings in Sa- continuing CRLA activities. linas and El Centro, noted But Frank Carlucci, the sternly the commission Nixon Administration's "would hold hearings where- Director of Federal OEO, er the evidence warrants." granted CRLA six months temporary funding pending the recommendations of the commission. ABSTENTION The State has refused to take part in the hearings in an adversary role, and Chairman Williams ruled last month in San Francisco that State OEO attorneys could act only as "observ- ers" in the hearings because of their decision not to produce witnesses or to cross-examine. Fresno, Calif. Bee (Cir. D 110,294, Sun. 142,020) MAY 16 1971 Allen P.C.B. Est. 1888 State 242 Welfare Chief Works 'In A Hot Kitchen' By George Williams So far, Uhler has refused to cooper- McClatchy Newspapers Service ate with the justices, insisting along SACRAMENTO - Lewis K. Uhler: with Reagan that they leave San Fran- alumnus of Yale, Boalt Hall and the cisco, go out in the rural areas and in- John Birch Socity - and now Gov. vestigate CRLA themselves. The jus- Ronald Reagan's antipoverty chief. tice panel has scheduled hearings in Uhler is an attractive man, athleti- Soledad Prison, in Salinas and in El cally built. Hair well-brushed and Centro. But the justices are adamant clipped above the ears and far up the that Uhler must present witnesses in neck, he has the look of a man who a public forum SO their testimony has a shave and facial after lunch may be subjected to cross- each day. He is square-jawed and examination. smiles often, showing white, even-set More Important Things teeth. He is the epitome of what has "I hate to take the time necessary come to be known at the Capitol as to wrestle with CRLA," says Uhler, "the Reagan-aide look.' smiling, as he sits in his second-floor "I think we are doing what too air-conditioned office in the Human many Republicans have been unwill- Resources building. "There are just ing to do," said Uhler. "We wanted to more important things to be done for get into politics in a very real way. It the poor people of California." Lewis K. Uhler His large office, overlooking Capi- Bee Photo is a very hot kitchen. The flak level is intense. It has meant a total change in tol Mall, has been paneled, carpeted County to a stylish home in Hidder life pattern. But we came in and ac- and redecorated especially for him. Valley, a Sacramento suburb. cepted the challenge, and now we are Over his right shoulder hangs a pic- sitting in the kitchen." ture of US Atty. Gen. John Mitchell. Uhler was born in Alhambra or "Best wishes, Lew," it is inscribed. Nov. 22, 1933, the son of an executive Fighting CRLA Signed, "John." for the largest orange grower in the The heat in Uhler's kitchen is gen- Uhler, his wife and three children world. erated by his battle with California Rural Legal Assistance, the federally moved from his native Los Angeles At Yale he was in Yale Key, Calia Pean Society, and Young Republicans funded legal-services organization for After graduation, he married Cynthia the poor which incurred the wrath of Louise Ross of Alhambra and went or the Reagan administration by win- to law school at Boalt Hall, University ning class-action suites against the of California, Berkeley. Mrs. Uhler at state. tended Brigham Young University. Uhler took the state Office of Eco- "He has very incisive mind," re nomic Opportunity job last July after called former Sacramento Count managing the successful congression- Chief Dep. Dist. Atty. Robert Puglia al campaign for nomination of John a Boalt Hall classmate. "He seemed t Birch Society official John Rousselot have a very well-organized philosoph in Pasadena. Since then he has been of law even at that stage, a wel wrapped up in the fight against CRLA. organized idea of what our legal sys tem ought to achieve. In contrast t His lengthy report on CRLA activi- many of his classmates, he knew wha ties, prepared last summer and fall, he believed, had confidence in who was used as the basis for Reagan's he believed and had confidence veto of CRLA's S1.8 million federal where he was going. He was a ver grant for 1971. The federal Office of Economic Opportunity postponed ac- personable and bright young man." tion on the veto. It released money to keep CRLA operating for six months while a federal panel of out-of-state Supreme Court justices studies Uhl- er's report. Another classmate was cruz Reyno- so, now executive director of CRLA. While Uhler was preparing for Yale at Alhambra High School and his fa- ther was a traffic manager for Sun- kist Growers, Reynoso and his father were in the orchards picking oranges in Orange County. "He-was a pleasant young man at Boalt Hall, Reynoso re- members. "He did not participate vig- orously. "I was surprised about his work in See Uhler page D8 Uhler: Young Reagan Aide Continues Fight On CRLA Continued from page D1 the state Office of Economic Opportu- Closed Meetings nity. I'm not used to dealing with un- He attended closed-door meetings truthfulness and deception from a fel- with Birch Society founder Robert low attorney. Good, straightforward Welch, and Uhler's wife was on the disagreement - yes. But Lew violates host committee for a Robert Welch regulations. He now believes the ends testimonial dinner in Los Angeles. justify the means. He's Machiavellian. Uhler was with a law firm in Covi- I really don't know how to handle it na when Reagan chose him to serve when a person deals with other hu- on the California Law Review Com- man beings in that manner." mittee. He served also on the Califor- Reynoso recalled a recent incident nia Republican State Central Commit- tee. during the CRLA justice panel hear- ings in San Francisco. Uhler, Reynoso Uhler reorganized state OEO last said, had indicated he would not coop- July when he came to Sacramento. He erate with the panel, closed his brief- abolished a statewide advisory com- case and walked halfway to the door. mittee made up of representatives of Then he stopped, turned to the panel, the poor because he did not believe and said, "I am not walking out, gen- the poor should be involved in mak- tlemen.' Then, he left. ing decisions at the state level. "Just how do you deal with that?" "We've got to get the private sector Reynoso asked. involved," he often says. "We've got to start thinking private sector." After law school, Uhler was com- missioned in the Army and became a A federal OEO official said Uhler counter-intelligence officer. This mili- told a mayors' convention in San Die- tary background is apparent today in go last summer: "The problem with his speech. He purses his lips careful- the War on Poverty is that poor peo- ly before letting words escape in an ple are on the boards of directors." effort to be precise. "Precise and pre- Among the casualties in the state cision" are words he uses often. Also, OEO reorganization was black attor- "on target" and "search and kill." ney Carl Johnson, a Republican. John- After completing his Army hitch, son said he was fired because he Uhler went into private law practice worked with a team of 13 CRLA evalu- in Southern California where he got 'ators, which included Tom Clark, for- involved in a political campaign and mer US Supreme Court justice. This was hooked on it. team concluded that "while not per- He met John Rousselot, a national fect, CRLA is an exemplary legal ser- officer of the John Birch Society, joined the society and helped Rousse- lot on his first campaign for Congress in 1960. Rousselot won and Uhler be- came the congressman's administra- tive assistant, running the Pasadena office. vices program." Johnson is still unem- T1 wouldn't deny it for a moment," ployed. Uhler said. "The facts are not correct Uhler says he would like to forge in some places. We had to draw some about CRLA and start working on h. To replace men who differed with quick conclusions. Some of the an- "premise for the poor." his philosophy, Uhler hired a number swers we got just don't do the job. He wants to create more job of former lawmen and investigators But I think essentially we are abso- through the "private sector." in other fields - a former Central In- lutely on the money." "Creative and innovative pro telligence Agency operative, a former But why would a bright lawyer grams," he said. "Get the National FBI man - virtually all with right- with a reputation for painstaking Guard involved to search and kill poy wing political backgrounds. thoroughness and skillful research re- erty. There is SO much expertise in Uhler issued to members of his lease such a report? the private sector. We have got to ge staff - those who were "on target" From interviews with Uhler, mem- them involved. in agreement with his pilosophy - bers of his staff and others, the fol- "We can't have these confronta special flip-out, FBI-type investigator tions. In conflict situations, these pri identification cards. vate sector people get turned off Embossed in gold on the leather We've got to end such agitational ac were the words "Special Agent." Af- lowing sequences of events was tivities, some of which intentionally ter a critical federal report on Uhler's pieced together: agitate, and start creating an atmo- agency was released April 29 charg- -Gov. Reagan wanted to build a sphere for the private sector. We ing him with using federal money to case against CRLA, which had a repu- have to take a no-nonsense approach. spy on the poor, Uhler picked up all tation for attracting Ivy League law- "We want to bring this up to an ele- *of the special agent wallets and had yers who could run circles around vated level, far away from the con- them locked away. country judges and attorneys in Cali- frontation approach," says Uhler. fornia. "This is my premise for the poor." Investigates Rumor The Sacramento Urban Coalition -Reagan sought Uhler, the Yale Cruz Reynoso, Uhler's law school man with the reputation for thor- classmate and now executive director investigated a rumor last fall that oughness, to start the job early last of CRLA, sees it differently. Uhler's investigators were being year. But Uhler had a commitment to "What he has put together is a armed and given firearms training manage the campaign of his old phalanx to fight the poor. It's ironic,' for their work among the poor. The says Reynoso. investigation was inconclusive. Uhlei friend Rousselot, who was running in said some former law enforcement of the June primary against popular Dr. ficers on his staff could be carrying Bill McColl, a former professional guns but not in connection with their football star. After the successful duties. campaign, Uhler came to Sacramento The focus of state OEO shifted to a and tried to catch up fast on his inves- tigation of CRLA. concentrated probe of CRLA. -But he found his staff - new Uhler mailed questionnaires to 3, and old - was not up to it. He recog- 400 judges and attorneys throughout nized their work was not adequate. So the state asking pointed questions about CRLA activities. He followed he called in a supervising investigator from the State Bureau of Criminal In- up on the negative replies and his in- vestigation and Identification to give vestigators started to construct what his investigators an accelerated has come to be known as the Uhler, course on how to probe. Document - a 283-page indictment of the rural legal assistance program. Then the shocker came. Uhler This was used to justify Reagan's vete thought he had until Dec. 29. But of CRLA. Washington OEO authorities had set The report was not well-received. the deadline for Reagan's decision - A San Francisco Barristers commit- to veto or not to veto the CRLA ap- tee said the report was "filled with propriation - for Dec. 12. Reagan or- half-truths, misrepresentations, mis- dered Uhler to release the report. understandings and recriminations. Uhler was reluctant. His reputation was at stake. But he had no choice. Some of its mistakes would be hilar- ious were the repercussions not SO se- See Reinstatement rious. The fault seems to lie in incom- Many federal OEO officials say it is plete, biased and sloppy investiga- inevitable that the justice panel eval- tion." uating the Uhler document will ad- Sloppy Job vise President Nixon that the report Conservative columnist James Kil- lacks sufficient merit and that Nixon will reinstate CRLA. patrick, an avid supporter of Reagan and Uhler, called the report "a tho- Legislation has already been intro- roughly sloppy job." duced to replace antipoverty lawyers He said further: "The gentleman's with a new federal program. Shriver evaluation runs to 283 pages, half of said the new program would "shac- them repetitious; the document is kle" attorneys seeking to help the about as objective as a non-partisan poor. Shriver said he would not be evaluation of the Chicago police pre- surprised if Nixon named Uhler to pared by Eldridge Cleaver." head the new legal service. Long Beach, Calif. Independent (Cir. 5XW 51,114) MAY 16 1971 Allen's P.C.B. Est. 1888 Demos urged to 'consider' wright cast all of its 20 South in 1972 votes to defeat the mea- FARM prices, he said, sure. dipped from 74 per cent to 67 per cent of parity under THE CONVENTION in- Nixon and SO Nixon hauls By BOB HOUSER IN EARLY voting the terrupted deliberations on some machinery onto the Political Editor convention did adopt. by other reforms, including White House lawn "so the 414 to 184, the recommen- consideration of making President can look farm- SAN JOSE - Speaking dation that local elections most party positions elec- erish. Then back with not for a Democratic be made partisan. That tive and starting them at Bebe (Rebozo) to Key Bis- Southern strategy but for a would mean City Council the precinct level, to listen cayne." "Southern consideration," candidates, for example, to Hollings as featured Democrats, Hollings ac- U.S. Sen. Ernest F. (Fritz) would have to run as speaker at a Jefferson- knowledged, "are far from Hollings, D-S.C., left a members of a political Jackson Day dinner in San blameless for the country's drawling intimation of party, not as nonpartisans. Jose's Hyatt House con- condition." He said the availability for the 1972 Implementation, however, vention center. war was escalated under a vice presidency here Sat- will require state legisla- Hollings contended Democratic administra- urday. tion. America finds herself in tion, fires of inflation were Hollings' cordiality to Delegates also soundly 1971 "overpoliticked, over- stoked under a Democratic delegates at a marathon rejected the idea of having promised and underper- party reform convention the official party make formed. He added: "The was as broad as his Ran- preprimary election en- richest nation cannot dolph Scott accent. But he dorsements. Opponents provide work unem- dismissed any pretensions argued successfully that ployment soars to 6.1 per to a spot of the national such endorsements would cent 3,000,000 veterans ticket, other than his stat- destroy the open character are jobless. We are still 26 ed. conviction that the of political primaries. Only million housing units be- South should be included in volunteer political groups hind the need - there is the Democratic Party's na- may now make prepri- no home for the brave." tional strategy. mary endorsements. The Government is on trial, The 49-year-old South vote against the scheme Hollings said, not for con- Carolinian inserted a bit- was 463 to 184. The Long spiracy- but for failure- to ing anti-Nixon dinner Beach area's 32nd Con- coordinate. "The people speech in Saturday night's gressional District delega- stand leaderless and the convention program to pro- tion, headed by Mrs. Cora government directionless vide a relished respite to Cocks and Richard Cart- - everywhere the ques- about 700 Democratic ac- tions are the same - what tivists wrestling with a is the policy, who is in complicated plan to charge, and why can't gov- change the state party's ernment work?" structure. Hollings charged the Re- publicans with "govern- ment by accountant custodial care without op- portunity always seek- ing policy advice fronther captains of industry, the leaders of finance. administration, and ""the mensions." personal fight to not only "is obviously feared by the first chasms of a credibili- Lumping President Nix- thwart Reagan's attacks President," Tunney said. ty gap were opened under on and Gov. Reagan into on the California Rural Le- "He's the most insecure a Democratic administra- another mold, Sen. Tunney gal Assistance, but to work man in Washington." tion. charged they represent the for greater funding for it. And Reagan, he charged, Democrats learned from Republican three R's - re- The governor, as a po- "is preening and postur- it all, he said, "but the cession, repression and re- tential 1972 presidential fa- ing" over the plight of the President refuses to I gression. He pledged a vorite son in California, poor in this state. learn." Nixon can't win, Hollings said, "but we can lose if we act like prima don- nas if we practice ka- mikaze politics." He used former Minneso- ta Sen. Eugene McCarthy as an example kamikaze politics in which the candi- date was more interested in being right than in win- ning an election. Hollings, South Carolina chairman for John Kenne- dy's presidential cam- paign, said several Demo- crats could carry South Carolina in 1972, including Sen. Edward Kennedy. He said Kennedy ranks high with Democrats but "doesn't come on strong with the independents in the polls." He said he thinks Kenne- dy, however, could get the 1972 presidential nomina- tion if hc tried for it. Sen. John V. Tunney de- livered a two-part mes- sage, one castigating the Nixon and Reagan admin- istrations and one appeal- ing for convention unity. On unity, Tunney called for Democrats to "over- turn the tradition of weak parties that shred into remnants after an elec- tion." Too long, he said, have California's parties operat- ed under "the limp parti- sanship of turn-of-the-cen- tury reformists." He told reformists here that they "are about to recast histo- ry, to mold it into new di- Los Angeles, Calif. Times (Cir) D 955,915 $ 1,269,459) Allen's P.C.B. Est. 1S33 CONSTANT REMINDERS What Kind of a Lawyer Is Nixon? JOHN Γ. MACKENZIE WASHINGTON -HOW could he and John N. Mitch- President Nixon is a lawyer. All ell, his attorney general and former America knows it. Anyone who law partner, lump in the innocent failed to appreciate this fact when bystanders in their denunciation of he took office has, only to watch a those arrested and held in Washing- Nixon press conference, where the ton's antiwar demonstrations? subject of his legal background -How could the President comes up repeatedly-if not in the knuckle under to Gov. Reagan's veto questions from newsmen, then cer- of the California Rural Legal Assis- tainly in the answers. tance program when virtually every Reminders that the chief execu- professional adviser agreed that tive has practiced law often crop up CRLA was worthy of more federal without warning. In a recent press funding? gathering when a reporter asked Richard Nixon was a grind as a law student at Duke. A full scholar- ship student during the Depression, From the Washington Post. he achieved the envied rank of third in a class of 50 "not because I was smarter but because I worked longer about new tax depreciation benefits and harder than some of my more for business and received the reply, gifted colleagues," he wrote in "Six "I, as President, and as I may say, Crises." too, formerly one who practiced a Mr. Nixon's most intensive period good deal of tax law of daily general law practice OC- Increasingly, however, the ques- curred between 1937 and 1941 in his tion is raised: Just what kind of native Whittier. He handled divorce a lawyer is Richard Nixon? cases, real estate cases, even tax ca- "A towering legal mind," says ses, and served as city attorney for Charles S. Rhyne, former president nearby La Habra. As the result of of the American Bar Assn., friend of applying the same "iron butt" tech- Mr. Nixon's since their days at Duke nique that he had employed at law school and 1968 chairman of Ci- Duke, he was receiving professional tizens for Nixon. recognition when the war began. If Mr. Nixon is such a fantastic Running for Congress and win- lawyer, critics ask, then how could ning in 1946, almost immediately af- he ever utter in public the word ter leaving the Navy, Mr. Nixon as- "guilty" about a defendant whose sumed a prosecutor's role in the trial was in progress? How could he House Un-American Activities Com- solemnly sign a letter proclaiming mittee in the Alger Hiss investiga- himself the sole constitutional au- tion. His next association with a law thority for choosing a high court jus- firm was brief, in Los Angeles dur- tice? How could he shatter years of work to reduce "c m a in- fluence" with a premature intrusion upon the military justice system? * Other questions about the Pres- Ident's legal brilliance are being raised, some of them more political- ly barbed: ing 1961 and 1962 after leaving the should have signaled that any dis- Vice Presidency. cussion of an ongoing trial was la- He became a full-fledged Wall St. den with danger. lawyer in 1963 after losing the race The judgment about Mr. Nixon's for California governor. As head of pretrial reference to My Lai as a the firm that eventually became "massacre" prompted dismissal mo- Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alex- tions from Calley's lawyer but more ander & Mitchell, he specialized in complex reactions from others. attracting business and making Many were willing to overlook the friends. My Lai remark in light of the need Candidate Nixon ran part of his fo recognition throughout the 1968 campaign against the Supreme world that the United States recog- Court, rapping criminal law deci- nized, if belatedly, the need to come sions on "law and order" grounds to grips with the Vietnam tragedy. and the campaign hardly expanded What aroused many, however, was his legal vistas. He vowed to appoint the contrast between the Nixon pre- "strict constructionist" justices and trial statement at a Dec. 9, 1969, judges, sloganeering rather than news conference and the posttrial LURiE educating the electorate on the rule intervention over Calley's confine- of law. ment. cal grounds, proceeded to explain, Limited in scope as the crime and In 1969, the President said: correctly, that bail rules do vary If courts package was, it was not the I am going to do everything I among the states. He did not correct product of original Nixon thinking. possibly can to see that all of the the impression that states vary in Instead it was a carbon copy of an facts in this incident are brought to the way they treat persons convict- election strategy worked out by con- light and that those who are ed of multiple murders. gressional GOP task forces. charged, if they are found guilty, are Lawyers' lingo, the President has Once in the White House, Mr. Nix- punished." shown, is something that can be uti- lized or ignored as the occasion on understandably stopped attack- ing court decisions and his Adminis- seems to require. A suggestion for When the military jury found that negotiations between "two Chinas," tration looked forward to turning Calley, for one, was guilty of preme- the courts around. Bad lawyering as he said two weeks ago, might be "a ditated murder of 22 Vietnamese ci- well as bad investigative work nice legalistic way to approach it, vilians, there was intense reaction helped to defeat his nominations of but I think it is completely unrealis- that caused the President, saying he tic." Clement Haynsworth and G. Har- wanted to "cool down" the country, rold Carswell, thereby prolonging By contrast, a question about to order Calley's release from a mili- how he would deal with school dese- the wait for more conservative high tary stockade and to announce that court actions. gregation in the wake of the Su- he would review the case personally. preme Court's 9-to-0 call for more But by all odds, the worst lawyer's Since the military review authori- drastic remedies, "involves some goof was the off-the-cuff remark ties knew who their commander-in- very technical legal distinctions, and about the "guilty" Manson, a mis- chief was, the announcement was ta- I will not go into them in detail." take compounded by an inadequate ken as a signal that compassion It is Mr. Nixon's habit of shifting in "clarifying," statement to reporters would be shown at the top. and out of the lawyer's role that but for which the President made a It is as though the Supreme Court puzzles observers and at the same total retraction in a nationally tele- had announced right after the jury time aggravates the President's own vised press conference. convicted Manson that it would re- problems. If he did not continually Knowledgeable persons in govern- view the case eventually, according remind the nation that he is a law- ment have made clear that the Man- to one lawyer. "Everybody knows yer, he might be measured as a poli- son statement was just what the the court will some day receive the tician and not by the additional stan- President said it was-a slip of the case, SO what is the message?" he dard of the lawyer virtues of consis- tongue. asks. tency, restraint and precision. His defenders are on less firm Mr. Nixon's explanation of the Assuredly the President's legal ground, however, when they charge principles of bail prompted CBS re- background, along with his uses of that the quote was taken out of con- porter Robert Pierpoint to ask, after law as tool for decision and a protec- text. In context, the remark was admitting "I am not a lawyer," tive mechanism, are critical ele- part of an extended discussion of whether "in this country men who ments in evaluating his personality Manson as an example of a defen- are convicted of multiple murders and performance. To ask what kind dant who had been "glamorized" in get. out on bail." of a lawyer he is is also to ask what the media despite the luinous char- The chief executive, challenged kind of man he is, and the answer ges against him: A lawyer's caution now on professional as well as politi- may depend on who is asked. Oakland, Calif. Tribune (Cir. D 225,038, Sgt. 209,931, Sun. 251,534) MAY 16 1971 Allon's P.C.B. Est. 1888 Taxpayer Footing Bill for Public Lobbyists Some are well-paid full- By BILL STALL timers, such as former Assem- Public lobbyists represent SACRAMENTO (AP) - Not bly Speaker Edward Craig everything from cities, all lobbyists represent big who represents Orange counties and school districts County. His March report to associations of public em- business. The average taxpay- listed a salary for the month ployes and state college stu- er - whether he knows it or of $1,725 and expenses of $922. dents. not may be footing the bill Another is former San Fran- The rules specifically ex- for one, two of more of the cisco Mayor John F. Shelley, empt, however, "a state offi- who represents the city and cial or an elected nonstate paid registered lobbyists in Sacramento. county of San Francisco. He public official acting in his of- reported $5,021 in expenses in ficial capacity" from lobbyist Eighty-four public and March on top of his $2,- registration requirements. semi-public agencies have 363-a-month salary. One of the first examples of registered lobbyists in Sacra- Some of the lobbyists are this type of lobbyist cited mento this year - ranging city or county employes or at- around Sacramento is the from the Association of Bay torneys who spend most of giant University of California, Area Governments to the their time at home and travel which retains Hay Michael as Kern County Water Agency. to Sacramento only when leg- the head of its legislative of- If the California Rural Le- islation affecting their organi- fice in the Senator Hotel, gal Assistance Inc., the war- zation comes up. where a number of lobbyists on-poverty agency under fire A few of the agencies hire have their offices. from the administration of some of the well-known big Assemblyman Willie L. Gov. Ronald Reagan, has one, Brown Jr., D-San Francisco, too. chairman of the Ways and Just like the advocates for Means Committee, believes the big oil firms and the con- business lobbyists who handle the university and other state struction companies, the several accounts. The Califor- agencies should have to regis- lobbyists for public agencies nia Highway Patrol Associa- ter with the legislative ana- have to register on the fourth tion retains Daniel J. Cree- lyst's office, just like all other floor or the Capitol and file don, who also represents the advocates, and file expense monthly reports of expenses. California Brewers Associa- reports. Their goal is the same as tion, the California Funeral "We don't really know to that of the private industry Directors Association, and the this day how much money lobbyist: to work for legisla- city of Vernon. goes into the lobbying process tion that would help their in- There are lobbyists for at from the general fund appro- terests and against legislation least a dozen cities and towns priation we made for all these that would harm their clients. -- ranging from tiny Emery- agencies," said Brown, who Sometimes the lobbyists re- ville to Los Angeles - and once served as chairman of a port their having paid for tabs eight counties. committee on control of lobby- at the favorite lobbyist- ists' activities. Their interests often overlap législator gathering spots in and a taxpayer could support "It could be a waste of pub- Sacramento: Posey's, the Sen- two lobbyists who wind up op- lic money That the people's ator Hotel, the Firehouse res- posing one another in the Cap- university," he said. "They taurant. itol - if the city of Long ought not be here full time Beach and county of Los An- lobbying." geles were on opposite sides of an issue, for example. He said university officials should be called before the legislature only at lawmakers' goes to promote revenue into that they could not be denied requests as they are needed their areas comes from a dif- the right to vote just because for testimony at hearings and ferent source," Brown said. they could only read Spanish the like. One of CRLA's three regis- and not English. Brown said his comments tered advocates is James F. "It failed by one vote in the apply as well to the state col- Smith, who lists the lobbyist Senate," Smith said. leges "and the people who portion of his salary at $10,330 An example of the lobbyist work for all agencies of state a year and reported $468 in who represents both a public government" and serve as office and secretarial expens- agency and a private firm is legislative advocates. For in- es during March. John R. Wendt, who works for stance, the Department of Mo- A letter in his file from both the California Savings tor Vehicles retains a fourth CRLA director Cruz Reynoso and Loan League and the Port floor Capitol office for its leg- declares, "He is charged by of Oakland. islative representative, for- our organization with repre- "I work for the port on a mer DMV director Tom senting the interests of impov- parttime basis. I don't have a Bright. erished rural California.' Also heck of a lot of problems up Bright's office is particular- in his office are registered here affecting the port," he ly convenient for lawmakers- lobbyists Peter F. Schilla and said. it handles auto registrations Arthur A. Torres. The port is not just interest- for them and others in the Smith said the Reagan ad- ed in its maritime facilities. It Capitol each year, saving ministration objected when also operates the Oakland air- them the trouble of doing it by CRLA decided to open an of- port, has an interest in the mail or at a local DMV office. fice of legislative advocates in tourist business through its Michael disputes Brown's Sacramento. Last December Jack London Square, and has arguments and estimates his Reagan vetoed CRLA's $1.8 industrial park property. office operates on a budget of $80,000 a year. "We feel that we don't lobby in the sense that many others milliom budget, approved by lobby." he said. "It's an infor- President Nixon's Office of One example of a bill mation function. I wouldn't Economic Opportunity direc- Wendt watched closely was maintain that we don't tor. the measure to ban construc- present our best arguments Smith explained. "The posi- tion of the Southern Crossing for policies adopted by the tion that federal OEO and we Bridge across San Francisco board of regents. If that's took was that it was quite Bay. lobbying, then we lobby." clear that as attorneys we The city and the port long "We do have an objection to were not only entitled to, but have favored the bridge. the university being singled obligated, to represent our Wendt will talk to legisla- out from other state-supported clients in the legislature as tors and try to persuade them activities and treated differ- well as before the courts when to see his client's arguments, ently from other state- their interests are affected. just as he would on a bill af- supported activities in this re- "We are not here as lobby- fecting savings and loan gard. If I am to report what it ists representing CRLA, but firms. costs to perform this job, then as attorneys representing our "The techniques are the I think the governor's legisla- clients on issues that affect them." same. The job is the same," tive secretary ought to and a Wendt said. person in the Department of An example was a bill "What is different, I think, Public Works and all other CRLA pushed last year to al- is that people are in general state agencies." low some Spanish-speaking less skeptical if you say you Michael added, "I lobby for residents to register to vote in represent a public agency. nothing except the public in- the June 1970 primary election Maybe a little less suspect of terest as it relates to the uni- after the State Supreme Court the self interest involved in versity. I don't have clients. I ruled in a CRLA-brought suit the thing. That's probably a don't make campaign contri- very subtle distinction." butions. I don't entertain lav- ishly and all that sort of thing." Assemblyman Brown sees a difference in cities - such as his - and counties in having fulltime representatives in Sacramento. "The counties have enough of a direct interest in what happens from an ecomomic stand-point. Their money that Fresno, Calif. Bee (Cir. D 110,294, Sun. 142,020) MAY 16 1971 Allen 3 P.C.B. Est. 1888 Reminder 24 Of State's Iltegal Work Force Wetbacks, alambristas (wire jumpers or fence ly as "coyotes"), crew chiefs and others. He must jumpers), deportables, illegal aliens from Mexico - live like a hunted man, sleeping in orchards and there are many words to describe a nagging social vineyards when the Border Patrol raids a labor and economic problem which seems to have at- camp. tached itself permanently to California's farm in- It is, in the words of Fulton Freeman, former US dustry. ambassador to Mexico, an "evil, dishonest system." A reminder came the other day from a group of And it is pervasive. In the fiscal year ending last Tulare County farm workers who prepared a reso- June the Border Patrol caught almost 80,000 "de- lution complaining that an "influx of illegal aliens" portables" in California. How many individuals this was depriving the domestic labor force of field represents is not known ---- many were repeaters. jobs. However, California Rural Legal Assistance esti- There is no question about it. Officials do not mates fully 20 per cent of the state's seasonal farm deny it. Nor does anyone deny the cost in terms of workers are illegal residents. loss of wages for US citizens, and welfare pay- This is an unstable, unhealthy, unfair situation ments for those who are crowded out of jobs by which is not likely to be corrected until the Border Mexican nationals who have no right to be here. Patrol is given better discovery, identification and apprehension tools and until the laws are tightened For the illegal resident there is an opportunity to SO that contractors and growers who participate in make money, to be sure, but there also is a toll. He and profit from this illegal traffic in human beings often is exploited by smugglers (known descriptive- can be prosecuted more easily. Defends Reagan Raps Governor's Critics Editor, The Union: It seems unfair that so many pounced on Governor thing to happen. Reagan, assuming he was a crook just because he did not have to pay any It was cute of the late Governor Brown to tell all and sundry that he hac state income tax last year because of business reverses. One is supposed to always paid state income taxes. Sure he did, but he never said how many be innocent until proven guilty, but not where partisan politics may be in- more state employes (about 5,000 each year), that he saddled US taxpayers volved with. The Democrats seem bound to get his hide. This seems to be often a Personally, I like Governor Reagan's economical ideas better than method one's political opponents use on a victim to embarrass him. President Nixon's. I did not think that $1,600 per year for every low-income family was the right answer to welfare. AT ONE time, according to a national magazine, the Internal Revenue Service went after a senator from North Carolina because he disagreed EVERYONE PICKS on the Governor, including the University of Cali- with the government officials. After looking down his neck thoroughly, they fornia. I hope the Governor did not give that $50 million the president found nothing amiss. of University of California wants. I have read that 85 per cent of the jobs in It seems to me that Governor Reagan has rendered California real the United States do not require a college education. What we really need is good service. more vocational schools instead of so many junior colleges. The Governor and his wife are surely finding out it is surely not all ro- What Governor Reagan needs from Californians is a boost for his ener- ses eing a target of everyone's grievances. I thought the State Legislature gy in dealing with state problems instead of a boot by his political oppo- tr him shamefully, making him go to Los Angeles to give a talk on nents at every turn! wehare, the biggest graft next to OEO and CLRA. It seems to me the CLRA MRS. D. STRONG are a bunch of well-fed attorneys sitting on their hands waiting for some- Lockeford Sacramento, Calif. The Bee (Cir. D. 172,411 Sun: 200,545) MAY 16 1971 Allen P.C.B. Est. 1883 CRLA Denies Charge Of Union Ties By United Press International CRLA and what he asserts is a "nefar- present an "apple pic" appearance The California Rural-Legal Assis- ious scheme" to present false testimo- before the commission who would tance has denied Gov. Ronald Rea- ny to a special federal commission and will "basically say anything we gan's charge of an "illegal relation- studying CRLA. Reagan said it advocates "coaching ship" between the antipoverty agency The governor sent federal antipov- witnesses, encouraging flasehoods" and Cesar Chavez's Farm Workers erty director Frank Carlucci a letter and "establishes once and for all the Union. announcing he has ordered a new illegal relationship between CRLA "The governor is again either mis- state investigation. and United Farm Workers Organizing construing or ignorant of our rela- "In order to avoid unnecessary du- Committee." tionship," contended Cruz Reynoso, plication," Reagan said, "I recom- statewide director of the federally fi- "I am sure you will agree that an mend that we combine our respective nanced legal aid program. organization which practices, or even investigations." He also branded as "ridiculous and condones, such activities as are pro- He enclosed a copy of a controver- cynical" a call by Reagan Friday for a posed is not qualified to receive any sial CRLA strategy memo which dis- further public funding," he told Car- new state-federal investigation of cussed calling prospective witnesses lucci. Santa And, Calif. Register (Evening Edition) (Cir. D 99,393 Sot: Eye 21,114 $ (143,012) P.C.B. Est. ISS8 S: Reagan Asks Nixon Help 1 ti a In Investigation Of CRLA SACRAMENTO (UPI) - as "ridiculous and cynical" all the illegal relationship be- Gove. Ronald Reaga : Il has by Cruz Reynoso, director of tween CRLA and United ( called on the Nixon adminis- the federally financed legal Farm Workers Organizing aid group. tration to join him in an in- Committee." Reagan announced he is or- vestigation of what he said is dering a new state investiga- The April 2 memo also dis- 1 a scheme to present false tion of CRLA in a letter to cusses calling prospective wit- a testimony to a federal com- Frank Carlucci, federal direc- nesses before the commission mission studying the embat- tor of the Office of Economic who would present an "apple P tled California Rural Legal Opportunity. He enclosed a V pie" appearance and will Assistance program. copy of a confidential CRLA "basically say anything we S The proposed investigation strategy memo which Reagan tell him ton was denounced immediately said "establishes once and for S C. Los Angeles, Calif, Times (Cir. D 945,913 7,269,469) MAY 1971 Reagan Calls on U.S. to Join State Probe of CRLA. Memos BY TOM GOFF Times Sacramento Bureau Chief SACRAMENTO - Gov. Reagan rector, upheld the Reagan veto but asked federal antipoverty officials continued funding for the CRLA for Friday to join in a state investiga- six-months pending the outcome of tion of a "brazen" and "dishonora- the commission investigation. ble" scheme to present false and Reagan has objected strenuously misleading testimony to a commis- to the adversary form of hearings sion investigating the California the justices have set up and has re- Rural Legal Assistance program. fused to permit Uhler or other mem- He referred to two interoffice me- bers of the state Administration to mos from Robert B. Johnstone, a participate other than as "friends of CRLA attorney in El Centro, to Mar- the court." tin Glick, director of litigation for the group. Carlucci did not immediately re- Copies of the memos were given to spond to Reagan's call for a separate Lewis K. Uhler, Reagan's anti- investigation into the memos. poverty chief. and to the commis- It was not disclosed how the John- sion, the governor's office said, by F. stone memos, one of which carried Douglas McDaniel, an El Centro at- the warning, "This should self de- torney who has asked to testify struct within 30 seconds after being against the CRLA. read," fell into McDaniel's hands. The commission, made up of three One of the documents recom- Supreme Court justices from other mended calling an Imperial County states, was appointed by the federal social worker and his wife as wit- Office of Economic Opportunity af- nesses because "both of them know ter Reagan vetoed CRLA funds for the CRLA "law and order' song and the year. dance by heart." Frank Carlucci, federal OEO di- Please Turn to Page 22, Col. 1 -"We will prove the CRLA MEMOS falsity of the charges against the Salinas and El "Our position on this IS Centro offices next week Continued Elest Page that we never authorized when the commission con- Johnstone also proposed it and that since we dis- ducts hearings in those certain witnesses because covered this we issued im- areas." "they will basically say mediate instructions to Reynoso said that the anything we tell him to" the telephone company (I memos contained "gross and "he will testify to any- believe last December) exaggerations" but were thing we wish him to that we would accept no written with the view that along the "law and order' more billings to this num- Johnstone and Glick lines." ber on third-party calls would meet in person at a In San Francisco, CRLA and that only credit calls later date for a factual dis- Director Cruz Reynoso would be accepted." cussion of the memo's con- termed the memos "stu- Johnstone wrote that tents. pid," but said his office there was "no way" to "The place where this would disprove implica- deny Reyes' presence at should be tried is in the tions in them. He com- the UFWOC office. hearing room, not in the plained that the doc- "I think our best ap- newspapers," Reynoso uments had been taken proach to this is to readily said. without authorization and admit that he did spend "We will present testi- were "out of context." time there in an effort to mony of witnesses under One CRLA memo com- keep in contact with the oath so that the commis- mented on an earlier farm-working poor sion can decide whose ac- charge by the Reagan Ad- Reagan made public a count of this situation is ministration that CRLA letter he has written to correct." employes were involved il- Carlucci asking the feder- legally with the United al official to join in an in- Nixon proposal for legal Farm Workers Organizing vestigation of the John- aid reform worse than Committee in its attempts stone documents. In any present system, legal aid to organize farm employes event, Reagan wrote, he officials say. Part 2, Page 1. in the state. has ordered his own im- It was this memo that mediate probe into the bore the "self destruct" matter. warning. "It is a dishonorable proposal that advocates Remarks on Reyes Johnstone pointed out that one Hector Reyes "for such practices as coaching the past four years" had witnesses, encouraging "basically worked full falsehoods, etc.," Reagan time out of the United wrote. Farm Workers office in "It also establishes once Calexico" and explained: and for all the illegal rela- "Our offici 1 position on tionship between CRLA this, of course, is not that and UFWOC. his time has been that ex- "I am sure you will agree tensive in that office but that an g anization that as a good community which practices, or even worker he uses that office condones, such activities as an outreach on the basis as are proposed is not that hundreds of poor qualified to receive any farm workers pass further public funding." through it every day and Reynoso's Charges he is able to communicate CRLA director Reynoso with them in regard to conceded that Johnstone their legal problems he had written "stupid" me- then refers to CRLA. mos. "Since the refunding He charged, however, in crisis, Mr. Reyes has not a written statement that: been spending time in that -"The documents to office. which the governor refers "However, one poten- were taken in an unau- tially embarrassing fea- thorized manner from the ture of his time there is a El Centro office. large number of telephone -"The memos were ta- calls from that office to ken out of context and the Delano UFWOC office which are billed to our give a totally misleading view of the true facts. telephone: San Francisco, Calif. Chronicle (Cir. D. 480,233 Sot. AM 450,227) MAY 15 1971 Allen P.C.B. Est. 1888 Controversial Memo 'DISHONORABLE' In Washington, a spol He said the memo was "a man for Carlucci said R dishonorable proposal that gan's letter had not been Reagan Attacks advocates such practices as ceived there, and that a coaching witnesses, encour- comment would not be for aging falsehoods, etc. coming until the communi "The fact that this brazen, tion had been studied. CRLA 'Scheme' open, unclassified proposal was originated by an offici- al of a government funded agency (CRLA) makes it don- bly repugnant." Governor Ronald Reagan yesterday accused of- ficials of California Rural Legal Assistance of a "nefa- The memorandum was rious scheme" to "encourage falsehoods." filed with a three-judge com- The CRLA's executive director, Cruz Reynoso, mission investigating State OEO charges against CRLA shot back that Reagan is by F. Douglas McDaniel, an "again making a deliberate EI Centro attorney, Reagan's attempt to mislead the office said. public." Reynoso said yesterday "I The CRLA controversy, quiescent since the last week hope the hearings (scheduled to begin next week) will de- in April, reached a minor Mt. Etna stage Thursday termine how Mr. McDaniel, when the Governor's office a member of the State Bar, could dishonor his profession released copies of a private by making a private memo- memorandum sent from one randum public. CRLA attorney to another. "I also would like to deter- SUGGESTION mine how the governor, who In one part of the docu- has recently com plained ment, a CRLA attorney sug- about invason of his privacy gested calling an Imperial (with reference to disclo- county social worker and his sures the governor paid no wife as witnesses "because state income tax in 1970), both of them know the CRLA should make this public." 'law and order' song and At any event, Reynoso dance by heart." maintained, "the memoran- Another part proposed call- dum speaks for itself. There ing a certain witness because was nothing in it to 'encour- he "will basically say any- age falsehood' or anything il- thing we wish him to along legal or unethical. the 'law and order' lines." "It was, perhaps unfortu- Reagan's office did not say nately, written in jocular lan- how it had obtained the guage, a shorthand used be- CRLA memo. tween attorneys. But it in no But its contents so in- way encouraged any actions censed Reagan that yester- to violate the Canon of Eth- day he sent a letter to Feder- ics." al Office of Economic Oppor- CHALLENGE tunity director Frank Carluc- Reynoso said he will urge ci in Washington, asking Car- the attorneys representing lucci to join with him in an CRLA at next week's hearing investigaton of CRLA. to discuss the memorandum "I'm sure you will agree before the commission. that an organization which "And furthermore, we'd practices or even condones like to get Mr. (Lewis K.) such activities as are pro- Uhler (Director of the State posed is not qualified to re- OEO) on the stand to ask ceive any further public what he was doing to get this funding," the governor told type of document." Carlucci. Stockton, Calif. Record A copy of the memo was dis- (Cir. D. 66,769) tributed to Capitol correspond- ents by Reagan's press office. MAY 15 1971 An aide to Lewis K. Uhler, Reagan's state OEO chief, said the memo was obtained le- Allon's P.C.B Est. 1888 gally, "not stolen or anything." But Reynoso said Uhler vio- CRLA Head: Reagan Lied lated legal ethics by making them public. WITNESSES DISMISSED The memo was given to About Link With UFWOC Uhler by F. Douglas McDaniel, an El Centro ittorney and member of the Republican SACRAMENTO (AP) - The State Central Committee. Mc- director of California Rural Daniel was not available for Legal Assistance Inc. says Reagan, who vetoed CRLA's comment on how he obtained Gov. Reagan didn't tell the $1.8 million 1971 budget in De- it. truth when he claimed to have cember, ordered an investiga- The 11-page memo discussed proof of illegal activity be- tion of the memo between Rob- potential. witnesses, and how tween CRLA and Cesar ert B. Johnstone of CRLA's El they would perform, at El Cen- Chavez' farm workers union. Centro office and Martin Glick, tro next Thursday and Friday. Director Cruz Reynoso said director of litigation for CRLA. "I think the memo used un- CRLA would prove the charges NEFARIOUS CHEME fortunate language," Reynoso false before a special commis- Reagan said the memo said. But he noted that John- sion of three state supreme "threatens the integrity of the stone phrased his comments in court justices from outside entire legal services pro- terms that would be under- California in El Centro next gram." He accused the CRLA standable to his fellow attorney week. attorney of a "nefarious but that they might "sound bad Frank Carlucci, director of scheme." to somebody who doesn't view the U.S. Office of Economic "I'm sure you will agree that it in that light." Opportunity, asked the com- an organization which prac- The Reagan administration mission to determine whether tices, or even condones, such has declined to participate in CRLA had engaged in illegal activities 25 are proposed is the OEO hearings on CRLA but activities as Reagan has al- not qualified to receive any Reagan proposed in his letter leged since last December. further public funding," he to Carlucci Friday that "I rec- Reynoso said, "There is said. ommend that we combine our nothing illegal about any rela- respective investigations." tionship we may have with Reynoso said, "The hearings UFWOC. There is a special are about to resume next week condition of our grant that we and the governor again will should not represent a union in refuse to come forward and litigation or a union official in prove anything." union business. HEARING PREPARATION "We have not done that, nor Reynoso said the memo does the document SO indicate. "was a response to the The governor has misconstrued request of our private at- this. torneys in preparation for the "It's an outrage and an in- hearings in El Centro, that sult to the American public to Johnstone gave him a list of have the governor proceed in potential. witnesses and poten- this manner," Reynoso said in tial problems that might come a telephone interview from his out in those hearings." San Francisco office. "The document was taken DISHONORABLE out of context and gives a to- Friday, Reagan sent a copy tally misleading view of the of an intercepted CRLA inter- true facts." office memo to Carlucci, claim- In several cases, the John- ing it contained "a dishonora- stone memo described how wit- ble proposal that advocates nesses likely would perform at such practices as coaching the hearing before the justices witnesses, encouraging false- studying CRLA and in some hoods, etc. It also establishes cases he said they had once and for all the illegal re- "learned the CRLA song and lationship between CRLA and dance by heart." UFWOC." The memo also mentioned UFWOC is the United Farm the involvement of Hector Workers Organizing Committee Reyes, an El Centro commu- headed by Chavez. nity worker for CRLA with UFWOC. "One potentially em- barrassing" situation was a number of calls to the Delano UFWOC office charged to CRLA's telephone credit San Jose, Calif. Mercury (Cir. D. 126,382) MAY 15 1971 Allon's P.C.B. Est. 1888 Brazen CRLA Memo Slammed By Reagan SACRAMENTO (AP) Friday to Frank Carlucci. view of the facts. We will Gov. Reagan denounced Fri- director of the U.S. Office of prove the falsity of the day what he labeled as a bra- Economic Opportunity, Rea- charges against the Salina zen effort by California Rural gan declared: "It is a dishon- and El Centro offices next Legal Assistance Inc. to orable proposal that advo- week when the commission coach witnesses and encour- cates such practices as holds hearings in those age falsehoods. coaching witnesses, encour- areas." The Republican governor aging falsehoods, etc. It also Reynoso said the wording referred to an 11-page docu- establishes once and for all of the memo was "unfortun- ment which was identified as the illegal relationship be- ate" and was taken out of an interoffice memo between tween CRLA and UFWOC." context. The memo regarded Robert B. Johnstone of CRLA UFWOC is the Cesar the preparation of CRLA's in El Centro and Marty Glick Chavez led United Farm case before the commission of CRLA headquarters. Workers Organizing Commit- at the El Centro hearing. CRLA is the war- tee. "It was a document in on-poverty agency designed Reagan added, "The fact preparation for public hear- to aid the poor with legal that this brazen, open, un- ings, which has the highest services. Reagan vetoed classified proposal was origi- privilege," Reynoso said. CRLA's $1.8 million 1971 ap- "It's the shabbiest sort of propriation in December, al- nated by an official of a gov- activity by a lawyer and by leging the group had violated ernment funded agency the governor that I've ever a number of laws and rules. (CRLA) makes it doubly re- seen," he said. "Mr. McDan- In passing on the memo pugnant." No such agency iel is a disgrace to the legal deserves to get more funds, profession." The memo was dated April he said. 2. There was no explanation Reagan said he would in- of how McDaniel obtained it. vestigate and called on One section of the memo Carlucci to join the state in detailed the "involvement of conducting a joint investi- El Centro community work- gation of CRLA. Carlueci er, Hector Reyes, with the has appointed three su- United Farm Workers Or: preme court justices from ganizing Committee." other states to probe charges against CRLA and determine whether it ought to continue receiving feder- al funds. The CRLA memo was sent to Lewis K. Uhler, Reagan's State OEO director, by Doug- las McDaniel, an El Centro attorney who volunteered to testify about CRLA to Car- lucci's commission Cruz Reynoso, CRLA direc- or, denied the Reagan charges, saying there is noth- ng illegal about any rela- ions between CRLA and JFWOC. "The document has been aken out of context and San Francisco, Calif. Examiner (Cir. D 208,023, Solt 167,357) MAY 15 1971 - Allen's P.C.B. Est. 1888 CRLX Chief Clashes With Reagan SACRAMENTO - (AP) - The director of California "We have not done that, Martin Click, director of liti- Rural Legal Assistance Inc. nor does the document SO in- gation for CRLA. said the memo of dicate. The governor has says Gov. Reagan didn't tell misconstrued this. Reagan the integrity pro- the truth when he claimed to "It's an outrage and an in- have proof of illegal activity sult to the American public between CRLA and Cesar to have the governor proceed Chavez' farm workers union. in this manner," Reynoso "I sure will agree Director Cruz Reynoso said said. -Turn am to Page 4, Col. 2 Yesterday Reagan sent a CRLA would prove the copy of an intercepted CRLA inter-office memo to Carluc- charges false before a spe- ci, claiming it contained "a cial commission of three dishonorable proposal that judges from outside Califor- nia in El Centro next week. advocates such practices as Frank Carlucci, director of coaching witnesses, encour- the U.S. Office of Economic aging falsehoods, etc. It also establishes once and for all Opportunity, asked the com- mission to determine wheth- the illegal relationship be- tween CRLA and UFWOC." er CRLA had engaged in ille- UFWOC is the United gal activities as Reagan has Farm Workers Organizing alleged. Committee headed by Chav- Reynoso said, "There is ez. nothing illegal about any re- Reagan, who vetoed lationship we may have with CRLA's $1.8 million 1971 UFWOC. There is a special budget in December, ordered condition of our grant that an investigation of the memo we should not represent a between Robert Johnstone of union in litization or a union CRLA's El Centro office and official in union business. Reagan Fibbing, Says CRLA Man -From Page 1 that an organization which practices, or even condones, such activities as are pro- posed is not qualified to re- ceive any further public funding," he said. Acopy of the memo was distributed to Capitol corre- spondents by Reagan's press office. An aide to Lewis Unler, Reagan's state OEO chief, said the menio was obtained legally, "not stolen or any- thing." But Reynoso said Uhler violated legal ethics by making them public. The memo was given to Uhler by F. Douglas McDan- iel, an El Centro attorney and member of the Republi- can State Central Commit- tee. McDaniel was not avail- able for comment on how he obtained it. The 11-page memo dis- cussed potential witnesses, and how they would perform, at El Centro next Thursday and Friday. "I think the memo used un- fortunate language," Reyno- so said. But he noted that Hohnstone phrased his com- ments in terms that would be understandable to his fellow attorney but that they might "sound bad to somebody who doesn't view it in that light, Hightstown, N.J. Business Week (Ci), W 526,565) MAY 15 1971 Allen's P.C.B. Est. 1888 LITIGATION Opponents. It is vigorous litigation on behalf of such clients that has produced many of LSP'S critics. At hearings this week to determine whether the pro- A public corporation gram should continue past its deadline, Representative Edith Green (D-Ore.), a for poverty lawyers member of the House Education & La- bor Committee, asked whether the poor are getting "superior access to the law Any law outfit that wins 85% of its an advantageous position" com- court cases must be doing something pared to middle-income people. right. And that is the record compiled for their poor clients-about 1-million of them a year-by the lawyers who Another politician at the hearing, work for the Legal Services Program Representative Carl Perkins (D-Ky.), of the Office of Economic Opportunity. chairman of the Tot e Labor Com- For this reason, Richard Nixon last mittee, told OEO Director Frank Car- week moved to take the LSP out of the lucci and LSP chief Fred Speaker that faltering OEO, which is due to expire at legal service lawyers "down my way the end of next month, and give it a [have] got all the local bar associations life of its own. Praising the program as against them." He asked whether the an "effective mechanism for settling new bill should provide for "policing" differences and securing justice within legal service lawyers by local bar asso- the system and not on the streets," the ciations. President proposed a bill that would Perhaps the most celebrated oppo- create an independent public corpora- nent of the OEO lawyers is Governor tion to run LSP. Ronald Reagan of California, who six At the same time, a different version months ago tried to kill the OEO-funded of the bill is being backed by a biparti- California Rural Legal Assistance san group in both the House and Sen- (CRLA) program. He acted after a CRLA ate. The Senate measure is sponsored suit forced him to restore a cut of some by Minnesota Democrat Walter F. $200-million in medical services to the Mondale and 22 others; the House bill poor. is being introduced by Representative Under OEO law, governors can veto William A. Steiger (R-Wis.) and 80 of LSP programs, but can themselves be his colleagues. overridden by the OEO director in Under the Administration's plan the Washington. Carlucci was about to corporation would be funded with its override Reagan, but after a Nixon- existing budget of around $70-million a Reagan summit meeting he opted for a year, and would be run by an 11-mem- six-month extension of CRLA. At the ber board appointed by the President. moment, the controversy is being At least six would be lawyers, their fueled by a three-judge commission, terms would be staggered, they would which Carlucci appointed to investi- be approved by the Senate, and no gate Reagan's charges against CRLA. more than six would be from one politi- Just this week, CRLA won an important cal party. The bipartisan group is sug- class action suit against a food freezer gesting a 19-member board, five of sales firm and the finance companies whom would be appointed by the Presi- that bought the firm's sales contracts. dent, one by the Chief Justice, three by The six-month agreement on CRLA an advisory group of poor clients, three expires June 27, but since the Demo- by LSP lawyers, and six by major bar crats are enjoying the spectacle of groups. Nixon and Reagan quarreling, they are Nixon would give the LSP board the in no hurry to get the bills through. In- authority to represent "the collective stead, they will support a continuing interests of the poor before federal resolution to keep LSP going until the agencies to avoid multiple litigation on new public corporation is approved and the same issue." But the President organized. would not limit the right of an LSP law- yer to bring a suit against such an agency if he thought it in his poor client's interest. Los Angeles, Calif. Times (Clr. D 955,915 - $ 1,269,469) NIXON PROPOSALS GET SURPRISE REBUFF Agency Officials Hit Legal Aid Reform Plan BY HARRY BERNSTEIN program is now under the federal Similar opposition to Mr. Nixon's Times Labor Writer Office of Economic Opportunity plan came from Terry J. Hatter, exe- which can override a veto by a cutive director of the Western Cen- President Nixon's proposal for le- governor or mayor, but such vetoes ter on Law and Poverty, and How- gal aid reform is worse than the pre- are usually upheld. ard Van Elgort, head of the Long sent system which puts antipoverty legal agencies under the threat of The opposition to Mr. Nixon's pro- Beach Legal Aid Foundation. posal came as a surprise because The legal aid chiefs all said they political interference from Gov. several of the agencies have been strongly approve of a drastic over- Reagan and others, officials of the battling with Gov. Reagan, whose haul of the present system, and the agencies said Friday. influence on the agencies would be concept of an independent legal ser- Mr. Nixon last week asked Con- eliminated if the President's plan is vice corporation financed by the gress to put legal aid for the poor in adopted. government and not a part of the the hands of an independent agency Even Cruz Reynoso, director of OEO. to make it "immune to political pres- California Rural Legal Assistance The objections to Mr. Nixon's pro- sure" from governors, mayors and which was charged again Friday by posals center on the composition of others. the governor with illegal activities, the proposed legal corporation's But leaders of legal aid agencies said: board of directors and on what the said the proposed cure is worse than "We feel the Administration bill is agency leaders say would be the re- the problem and they would prefer SO bad we would rather continue the strictions put on their relations with the present system with all its system as it is despite the terrible poor clients. faults. problems we now have because of The President's plan would prohi- The $70 million-a-year legal aid local and state interference." Please Turn to Back Page, Col. 3 REFORM Law Firm Issue Continued ft First Page The legal aid agency chiefs complain that many bit the legal aid agency so-called "back-up opera- lawyers from handling cri- tions" now used by the le- minal cases, but the agen- gal aid agencies become cy leaders say that in the public-interest law firms southern part of the Unit- which specialize in pover- ed States especially, the ty law, and that the Ad- poor often need lawyers ministration proposal and cannot get the m would force cancellation through systems of public of such support. defenders. The President's plan The President's proposal calls for him to name the would require the corpora- 11 directors of the pro- tion to set up guidelines posed corporation, with aimed at avoiding "frivo- the advice and consent of lous and duplicative ap- the Senate, and with no peals," which the agency more than six from any leaders say would mean one political party. that Mr. Nixon's political The agency leaders are appointees who head the supporting a measure legal corporation would sponsored by Sen. Walter decide which cases fall in F. Mondale (D-Minn.), and that category. 22 other senators, which would create a board of di- Called Violation rectors of 19 members, "This is a violation of with a third named by the the cannon of legal ethics, President, another third since the lawyer handling from the bar associations, the case must decide what and the rest representing is in his client's best inter- legal services lawyers and est." said Reynoso. the poor. The President's bill also prohibits poverty lawyers from attempting to in- fluence legislation at the federal, state or local level. But Earl Johnson, USC law professor and former director of legal services : for the OEO, contends that l this, too, is in "direct viola- tion of the canons of ethics of our profession in which admonish us to seek - changes in the law where we believe such changes ; are helpful to our clients." The President's proposal prohibits the use of feder- al funds to any "public-in- terest law firms" which in- tend to spend at least 75% of their time in cases in- volving class actions or other broad-interest" suits involving the poor. Burbank, Calif. Review (Cir. 6xW. 11,492) MAY15 1971 Allen P. C.B. Est. 1888 CRLA Denies Reagan "I am sure you will agree Charge that an organization which practices, or even condones, SACRAMENTO (UPI) - The such activities as are proposed California Rural Legal Assis- is not qualified to receive any tance has denied Gov. Ronald further public funding," he told Carlucci. Reagan's charge of an "illegal relationship" between the anti- Reagan did not publicly poverty agency and Cesar specify the "illegal relation- Chavez' farm workers union. ship" nor did he say who would "The governor is again either conduct the state investigation. misconstruing or ignorant of The state Office of Economic our relationship," contended Opportunity conducted a probe Cruz Reynoso, statewide direc- of CRLA last year shortly tor of the federally financed before Reagan vetoed a $1.8 legal aid program. million federal grant for the He also branded as "ridicu- program. lous and cynical" a call by A state OEO official said his Reagan Friday for a new state- office didn't know now who federal investigation of CRLA would perform the investigation and what he asserts is a but assumed it would be his "nefarious scheme" to present agency. "It also could involve false testimony to a special the state bar," he said. federal CRLA. commission studying Reynoso said CRLA attorneys had never represented the The governor sent federal UFWOC but many times had antipoverty director Frank handled cases for individual Carlucci a letter announcing he UFWOC members because has ordered a new state "they are the rural poor." investigation. "In order to avoid unnecessa- ry duplication," Reagan said, "I recommend that we combine our respective investigations." He enclosed a copy of a controversial CRLA strategy memo which discussed calling prospective witnesses before the commission who would present an "apple pie" appea- rance and will "basically say anything we tell him to." Reagan said it advocates "coaching witnesses, encourag- ing falsehoods" and "esta- blishes once and for all the illegal relationship between CRLA and United Farm Workers Organizing Commit- tee."

nara / coll_rr-0840 / doc

CRLA - Press Clippings, May 1971 (4 of 6)

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identifierLocal	840
collections	Ronald Reagan's Governor's Papers of the Press Unit California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) Files
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url	https://catalog.archives.gov/id/118564766
naId	118564766
coverageEndDate	logicalDate 1975-12-31 year 1975
coverageStartDate	logicalDate 1967-01-01 year 1967
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