DRUG REFORM NOT A LIKELY BUDGET FIX

SOME ACTIVISTS who favor criminal justice reform see opportunity looming in
the big budget shortfall that awaits the upcoming session of our state
Legislature.

Bill Hobby, however, lacks such optimism.

The reformers' line of logic contends that if our lawmakers would simply
adjust the penalties on some nonviolent, small-time drug crimes, it would
result in such a big reduction in prison populations that some units could
be closed, we wouldn't need as many guards or as much equipment, and the
savings would be enormous.

And there is growing support for change.

State District Judge Michael McSpadden, a Republican, recently suggested to
a group of black ministers in Houston that one way to help stop the flow of
young men from their neighborhoods to prisons would be to lobby for a
change in the law. He said the crimes of delivery or possession of less
than a gram of controlled substance should be reduced from felonies to
misdemeanors.

Tough, not smart, on crime State Sen. John Whitmire, a Democrat, applauded
McSpadden's stand and said he would work with him.

"While we are tough on crime," Whitmire said, "we also need to be smart."

All this sounded pretty promising. I've been trying to pay close attention
to criminal justice issues the past two or three years, and I agree with
those who are calling for reform.

A couple of days ago a friend and I were discussing the possibilities, and
he suggested that Hobby would be a good person to ask about the chances.

Hobby, a Democrat, was first elected our Texas lieutenant governor in 1972
and got re-elected four times. It added up to 18 years, the longest anyone
has spent in that office. So you couldn't expect to find a more qualified
or astute observer of state politics and government.

"Texas," he said, "locks up more people than any other state."

"And we don't take education very seriously in this state," he said. "Texas
is under-educated and over-imprisoned."

"Why imprison someone for a lifestyle choice to smoke marijuana?" he asked.

"The drug war is a failure."

I nodded agreement vigorously and asked, what are the chances? What will it
take to get some reforms?

Hobby's hand moved quickly to his pocket. It was almost a jerk or a twitch.
He explained the involuntary action developed during his many years as
lieutenant governor.

Across-the-board cuts "When I hear that word `reform,' " he said, "I put my
hand firmly on my wallet."

He said that when people come to Austin wanting to reform something, they
are saying to the politicians that the world will be a better place if you
take the money or the power from the group on the other side of the issue
and give it to our group. Winning a contest like that is never easy. Reform
is always a hard fight.

What about the budget angle?

Hobby said the shortfall could easily go way beyond the early estimate of
$5 billion. The Legislature can't make that much up by cutting prison
funding. And, besides, the senators and representatives would be certain to
face charges of going soft on crime from their opponents in the next election.

Budget problems likely will be dealt with by across-the-board cuts -- each
item getting the same percentage as before, but of the smaller total,
whatever that turns out to be.

I thanked Hobby for helping me understand how things worked. But I told him
that after hearing his explanation I was depressed.

"If you're not," he said, "you don't understand the problem."