PAINFUL REMINDERS OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

AUSTIN -- Although nagging questions about funerals and illegal drugs -- a
not-unheard-of combination -- haven't buried Gov. George W. Bush's
presidential aspirations, they certainly have ripped some of the magic from
his high-flying campaign.

The outspoken advocate of "personal responsibility" is being painfully
reminded what it means to be personally responsible.

Bush will be responsible for answering or continuing to dodge the queries
about whether he used illegal drugs during his "young and irresponsible"
years -- and for any subsequent political fallout.

Bush also would bear responsibility if he or any member of his staff tried
to interfere with a state investigation of a Houston-based funeral services
company -- the second controversy that has lately shadowed his political trail.

The funeral allegations, which Bush denies, may be more a reflection,
however, of the governmental and political system under which Texas' elected
leaders have long operated.

The system, ripe for abuse, allows special interests to legally purchase
access to governmental officials with large political contributions. It also
gives regulated industries the opportunity to exercise considerable
influence over their state regulators.

The funeral allegations stem from an investigation by the Texas Funeral
Service Commission of Service Corporation International Inc., the country's
largest funeral home operator.

Eliza May, the commission's former executive director and a former official
of the Texas Democratic Party, said her investigation of SCI's embalming
practices, which resulted in a recommended $445,000 fine against the
company, led to her firing by the commission earlier this year.

SCI says the agency misinterpreted the state's embalming law and is
appealing the fine. May sued the state and SCI, alleging interference with
her former job.

May says she was fired nine months after she was called into the office of
Joe Allbaugh, the governor's executive assistant, and asked to explain two
SCI inspections. She said SCI chairman Robert Waltrip and an SCI attorney
also were present. Allbaugh now manages Bush's presidential campaign.

Waltrip is a longtime friend of the Bush family, and his company's political
action committee has contributed $45,000 to Bush since the governor's first
campaign in 1994.

After a Newsweek magazine report, Bush said that he had a brief, passing
conversation with Waltrip and an SCI lobbyist in Allbaugh's office in 1998,
the same day the two SCI representatives had come to deliver a letter
protesting the investigation. But he has denied trying to influence the
investigation and is fighting May's subpoena to testify in her suit.

I don't know if May's complaints are valid. But whether it's the Funeral
Service Commission or some other agency in the cross hairs, Texas' campaign
finance system -- which doesn't limit the size of special-interest donations
to most state officials -- encourages public skepticism of government.

That skepticism would probably be even greater if more Texans realized that
most state agencies charged with investigating consumer complaints about
everything from accountants to barbers to doctors are governed by part-time
boards with a majority (usually about two-thirds) of their members from the
regulated profession.

Board members are appointed by the governor, but the ratio of industry to
public (or consumer) representatives is dictated by laws influenced by
lobbyists representing the affected industries. Not too many years ago, many
of these boards were composed entirely of industry representatives, inviting
anti-consumer abuses by appointees eager to protect their business interests.

For technical expertise, professions and industries have to be represented
on regulatory boards. But balance also requires consumer representation,
and, thanks to recent reforms, one-third of most agency boards is now
reserved for public members.

That ratio seems to be mostly working, but there have been problems. The
Funeral Service Commission, for one, has sparked controversy before.

Several years ago, the Legislature gave the nine-member commission a
majority of five public members. Then, this year, some lawmakers wanted to
abolish the agency and transfer its responsibilities over consumer
complaints to the Texas Department of Health.

The Legislature, instead, overhauled the agency again. Effective Sept. 1, it
will have a six-member board. Four members, including the chair, will have
to be public members.

Robison is chief of the Chronicle's Austin Bureau. (clay.robison@chron.com)