CHAVEZ TACKLES 'DIRTY POLITICS' OF DRUG BUST RUMOR

TEXAS LEGISLATURE

State Rep. Norma Chavez dodged the rumors for a few days but finally
relented to a colleague's coaxing to discuss the police call involving
"narcotics use in progress" at a small after-hours party she attended a
month ago.

The rumors apparently spread during Super Bowl parties because telephone
calls and e-mails raced through the Capitol the next morning.

Legislators spread the word on the House floor: "Did you know that Norma's
been involved in a drug bust? Did you know that Norma's going to be charged
with a crime?"

Of course, it was untrue, but the El Paso Democrat declined to talk about
the incident for two days. Finally last Wednesday, the El Paso Times showed
her a copy of the El Paso police report and informed her of a pending news
story -- with or without her cooperation. From her Capitol office, she
quickly called three of her colleagues, who are lawyers. Rep. Terry Keel,
R-Austin, was the first responder.

"El Paso needs to hear this from you," Keel told her after arriving in her
office. "This is an unfair, rumormongering campaign, and these things take
on a life of their own."

Keel is as former prosecutor and Travis County sheriff who has considerable
credibility among his colleagues.

He reminded Chavez of the rumors circulating through the Capitol: "You need
to say something. Exposure puts it in the light of truth and in the context
of the truth."

She still balked, explaining that she did not want to interfere with the
civil rights complaints two of her friends have filed against the El Paso
Police Department. The Dec. 29 incident resulted in the arrests of her two
friends for allegedly interfering with a public duty. The police found no
evidence of illegal drugs, and Chavez was named merely as "an involved
person."

Keel told Chavez that the rumors inside the Capitol "were a hundred times
worse than the truth."

Chavez upset her House Mexican-American Caucus colleagues when she joined
three other Hispanic Democrats in supporting Republican Tom Craddick for
House speaker a day after the election when it became evident that Democrat
incumbent Pete Laney could not win.

"This is hardball politics," Keel told Chavez, feeding her fear that folks
were out to get her by smearing her reputation and denying her a committee
chairmanship -- the prize for supporting Craddick.

"People will understand that it's dirty politics," Keel told her.

She finally began talking: "It's character assassination ... it's dirty
politics," she said.

She explained how she witnessed alleged improper police conduct. And then
the Capitol gossip stopped.