Louisiana: The State We're In; 449

Production funding for Louisiana the state we're in is made possible in part by Gram's from Kaiser Aluminum and Southern Research Company Incorporated. Again a hard person to buy presents presents for. Yes it's hard to buy Christmas presents. We usually dress. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. This week on Louisiana state we're in doti Treen talks about life in the mansion. We have so little good things that we take a lot for granted. And we the people will observe it and just know what we know. We have gone on a way that will sound good as well as our Bourbon Street art. Mary Louise Krista vetches a crusader for historical preservation and with her book New Orleans interiors she's hoping to win new converts. Louisiana State where. Both George and Ron blown.

Welcome to this edition of Louisiana the state we're in in this week before Christmas we'll have a conversation with Louisiana's first lady about how Christmas is celebrated at the governor's mansion. Christmas is a time for children though and families and we have a report tonight on how some children have found new homes. As we look at adoption in Louisiana and for those of you looking for last minute Christmas presents there's a new book called New Orleans interiors that just might be the solution. But first the residents of Ascension Parish got a present this week that they'd rather not have the world's largest chemical waste disposal plant. The Environmental Control Commission gave the corporation a permit to build the plant after a lengthy hearing process. You know the hearing stretched over three months and the corporation spent almost $14 billion on engineering and legal work to arrive at Tuesday afternoon's vote on a permit for the controversial hazardous waste facility. Those in favor of the granting of this permit for hazardous waste facility. I say the problem is in the right hands.

Those opposed the modem and six to one in favor of the permit. Hazardous Waste fight. The vote was one sided. One in favor of granting the permit to the high technology disposal unit in IGY corporation vice president John Thies considered it a vindication of the company's plans. I would say that we've had an opportunity to present our case. We've spent a great deal of time a lot of people have said have provided I think a great deal of blood sweat and tears and providing the kind of information that was absolutely essential for the commission to feel comfortable with the rather sophisticated kind of technology that was being expressed her what has had occurred today is what I believe is in fact that vindication or we have been successful in helping them feel comfortable with it. With that in mind we now are ready to move on. And with that faith and the trust that has been been provided to us to demonstrate that in fact it has been well placed and provide the solution to Louisiana's hazardous waste

management problem as a result but disposal side opponents who formed the organization Save ourselves to come back. The site felt the State Environmental Control Commission had abandoned them. I'm surprised that you know that the people's voice was not heard at all. You know that they seem to have just bulldoze this over the local people and they had no say so in what's going to happen you know in the years to come to their own lives in the lives of their children you thought that they could have put some more conditions onto this permit to protect you then. We definitely thought that they would require the study proposed by George Fisher into regard to whether it would contaminate our groundwater contaminate the Mississippi River. How would it affect the people in the area. And they're not going to do the study and that that's a great error. Most of the commission members said however that they were satisfied that these disposal plans would not pose a threat to the environment if they follow the requirements of the state permit. One member who disagreed was Jim Harris who represented Department of Health and Human Resources boss George fishier. On Monday Harrison Fisher appealed to the governor for an independent study of the site and asked the

commission to put the permit process on hold. But the commission refused to stop the already lengthy proceedings and the governor said that after meeting with Fisher and ECAC Chairman Frank Ashby he was satisfied that the state's new environmental licensing process was working. I'm satisfied that the Environmental Control Commission has had extensive hearings that they've given. All points of view on an ample airing. And that they are qualified to make the decision they are sincerely motivated I think they're honest. They've heard all the evidence over many many months. I haven't been able to do that. No way that the governor can do that. So I think that this mechanism that we put in place the seven member commission that's a part of our law is the appropriate agency to make the decisions with the decision made the opponents of the facility have promised to appeal the permit authorization through the courts. But officials say the big hurdle has been cleared and that they will begin construction later this month to go around state government usually slows down for the holidays.

But for one lady this time is busier than ever. Delores Brisbane Treen better known as Dody is Louisiana's first lady but she's also wife mother and grandmother. And during this holiday season she faces the same hectic schedule everyone else does in preparing for Christmas. But this year is a special one because for her family coming home for Christmas means going to the governor's mansion. Inaugural Day 1980 day Treen becomes the first Republican governor since reconstruction at his side his wife Dody. And if she doesn't take an oath of office she might as well because on this day she has a new job as Louisiana's first lady. One of the fringe benefits and headaches of that job is moving into a new home. The former occupants Edwin and Elaine Edwards wrapped up the mansion as an early Christmas present for the trains last year. This week we paid a visit to the mansion to chat with Mrs. Green about her preparations for Christmas and her role as first lady. Mrs. Green last year at this time the Edwards had wrapped up the mansion as a Christmas

package for you and your husband. Were there any surprises in that package. Some surprises. Not too many really. It's the lifestyle really is rather what I expected it. The what I like is what I expected and some of the things I don't like what I expected. Certainly it's life in a fishbowl sometimes. Was that a surprise for you so much attention focused on the final little bit. A little bit because we were not used to it. I should have realized you know and I did sort of realize but until you really get into it you don't you don't really realize just exactly how much attention especially in Baton Rouge you know Baton Rouge type is of course I have a lot of material on the governor and his family. How does the governor's family celebrate Christmas. What are you doing anything special this year. We're probably going to do what we normally do. It's always been a family time for us and it's gotten to be a tradition to have Christmas dinner at Dodi's. So Christmas Day is at Dodi's at the mansion this time and I think it's going to be much nicer for.

You don't have to do that. It's going to be nice. But that's what we do we have the children going to come over Christmas Day and we do open packages on Christmas morning. And then we have brunch and then we have sort of mid-afternoon dinner and somehow I think we'll never have another bite. But somewhere along about eight o'clock we always have a turkey sandwich. You have a new grandbaby. Yes. Some children children to buy Christmas packages for Christmas is always nice. It is. This is our first year really bad really bad towers for Christmas. Jason was just six months so I think Laius to hear that. But he did not spend Christmas with us last year. They are still at the stage where one year you go one place in one year. You know one family when they go out of town is a the governor hard to buy Christmas presents for. Yes he is. He is hard to buy Christmas presents for. We usually just think and think and think trying to come up with something that he wouldn't buy

for himself. That's what I like to give somebody something not that they need it but you know if they need it that's fine. I want to give to him. It's always fun to get something that maybe he just simply wouldn't spend the money on. And that's that's always a little bit difficult. He's a golfer and so we have to rely on. And of course he's taking up tennis husband attended by giving it up for about 20 years that we have tennis that we can rely on this year. But he doesn't really need anything in those two categories and he may end up buying something for his office. He seems to be a person who was very concerned about details very particular about how something is phrased whether you get the fact exactly right. Is he that way around the home. Does he notice things and you notice whether or how things are arranged or whatever. Well he he notices but hey. I mean he doesn't go and rearrange things and he he's fastidious but it's he's. Not

hard to live with. You know he he really is easy person to live with in spite of the fact that it's his nature. You know everything's perfect in the. If decorating the family Christmas tree seems a monumental undertaking for most of us. Imagine spending weeks preparing your home for hundreds of visitors and state dinners but that just comes with the job of first lady during this time. You're certainly at your first Christmas in the mansion. But it's been a year filled with I would imagine exciting first for you What's the most exciting thing that's happened in this period of time since you've been in the mansion is there anything that stands out or was really the inauguration the highlight. And. I guess the inauguration was really from the day of the inauguration the entire the entire day and really the weekend was really exciting and fun. We look forward to it and it was everything that we'd hoped it would be. But there being other events and there really is not just one thing. It's interesting people that come through and the.

Trade ambassador for Mexico came on the trade commission and we had brought for him. That was fun and exciting and we enjoyed doing it. And then the day that Mike Douglas and Dom DeLuise came over to the manager as they came to the mansion and that was that was fun I think really meeting people who come here and their families in entertaining them in this beautiful home. It's it's exciting and it's fun and there's work to it but it's fun work. It seems that sometimes the media has a fascination with every detail of the first family's life be it presidential on the state level. Does this concern this attention by the way well it's not that. I guess what really troubles me is that it's interesting particularly in newspaper articles to read what I said you said.

And that's always interesting to me because somehow if you say it smilingly laughingly it doesn't quite come out that way in so many it sounds like she was really serious. And so that kind of bothers me because it doesn't read the way I meant for to read. Does it trouble you when. Your husband's criticized. I would think that giffgaff it is it is. I have. Over the years I have this little thing in my head that when I read something that I think is maybe not quite right. You know they really don't have their facts right. That's really what I keep telling myself. Well if they really knew the whole story then they wouldn't be saying that. And so you know that helps me. Your husband works an awful lot. I seen his car at the Capitol 11:00 at night. You want to come home sooner. Has words too. Much.

Well I think he does put in more hours than he does too. You know we were both trying to work it down. And in fact I put in more hours than I would like to but in my job isn't anywhere near what what he has today. But he he's trying to. Cut back some because he he doesn't really enjoy working that many hours later. So it's slowly coming around. Are you a wife that gives advice as does Governor to discuss issues and concerns problems with you. Now. We talked about. Somethings not some things I really don't have any background on so he could tell me about him but I wouldn't have any input on it. But other things we want to give my opinion on. I think really I have kind of a. Task and I average person opinion just because I don't have all the background. For decisions that he's making. So my opinion would probably be based on the same background information that a majority of the public's opinion is based on.

So sometimes it's interesting to him. To. Have my reasoning because it hadn't occurred to him that a person who doesn't have the background on it. You know might come to this conclusion and of course it's difficult for a person to make decisions. You cannot possibly please everybody. And. That. He. Will try. But I know it won't happen all the time. You know Mrs. Edwards hated this man and she was very anxious to go back to a private life. She said she wanted to go to a kitchen where she could do the cooking to get away from it it was very difficult to live and. Deal. Would you like to see yourself for another term living here. I would enjoy it. It does take some coping and it is and it's ongoing because it is a totally different lifestyle and it's a lifestyle that you really were not. Intended to be. In. And so it is difficult too. You're doing things you find staff having to do things that. You need to do because you were on first light. Now they might be interesting that they

might be exciting they might be fun but it's not really what you would choose to do. And that's that's the real problem and you find it's very difficult to find personal time. And personal time today. My personal shopping. Get our tennis court or. Go to lunch with some friends go to an art show. Daytime activities that used to be easy to put together are really difficult to put in your life. Now you're trained by security and drivers right. Right. A path that you're used to that. Is it difficult to wonder sometimes where the people are reacting to you as first lady or as Dodi train. Is that ever a problem for you. Not really. I don't think people be friendly and. That I think. I think that they say they think of me more as Daudi train fare. I think that's the way to. My day. I'm. Just. Meeting with them. Sometimes it's probably our way but I think this test.

Starting from Louisiana's first lady is looking forward to Christmas in her new home. But she's also anticipating in the new year a trip to Washington for the inauguration of Ronald Reagan and a visit with the country's new first lady. For those of you who haven't finished your Christmas shopping yet and may take some comfort in the fact that Mrs. Crane says the governor doesn't do his shopping until Christmas Eve. Well I haven't started Christmas of course is come through with a really dramatic and credible program to be enacted quickly and the best way to start it off is for you Mr. President to declare a national economic emergency. Now his own people. Reagan's own people are pulling back from this because it's one of them said to me that word emergency is double edged. Suppose Congress did not devote the first 100 days as Mr. Stockman would like Congress to do to handling the economy. Suppose they did not pass the Reagan program then. The word emergency becomes overblown and it backfires but that whatever the language finally

is it should not obscure the fact that everyone in Mr. Reagan's following is deeply concerned that the economy is in such bad shape because probably there will be a recession and very high inflation at the same time that unless the president elect has a credible program in place quickly people will become disillusioned and things will get worse. And one thing which bothers particularly is that recession adds greatly to federal outlays. The government for every one tenth of one percent increase in unemployment loses about $400 billion one way or the other. But one of the basic parts of that program will be a tax cut and whether we have a tax cut or not will largely be determined by the Democratic controlled Congress. I think there will be a tax cut even though the House of Representatives is controlled by the Democrats because everyone realizes that it might be a democratic kind of tax. It might be it might be. If so. Interestingly enough it might

actually be slanted more toward capital formation to helping business giving businesses tax incentives. Then Mr. Reagan's own program that's very interesting. But come January 1 every worker in this country is going to be hit by higher Social Security taxes. We now have OPEC's raising prices which means that gasoline and home heating oil are going to cost several cents a gallon more. Decontrol of domestic oil is going to add a penny a month a gallon to these fuels so that there has to be a tax cut simply to keep people from paying Additionally more taxes than they are now. Why does the Fed continue to raise interest rates and is Ronald Reagan going to be able to get rid of Paul Volcker to answer the last part first. I don't think he's going to try to. But Mr. Volcker's close associates at the Fed assure me that Mr. Volcker will not resign and that they feel that the opposition to him that has been voiced from some of Mr. Reagan's advisers comes from the strict monetarists who believe that the Fed's policy has failed. But Volcker is going to

remain I believe. I talked with one of the governors of the Federal Reserve Board who said to me there is no doubt in his mind that interest rates now are high enough to produce a recession early in the year and yet he said at the same time we have not made a dent in inflation and we cannot relax on trying to curb the money supply because we are the only people in government now trying to beat inflation. They are waiting almost desperately for Reagan to come in and to get his own program in there to help them. But in the meantime they're going to keep those curbs on the growth of the money supply even though it pushes interest rates even a little higher. Harry do the do the Reagan people have a magic formula for saving Chrysler. They are being very cagey about this. And Chrysler of course is a typical example of what happens when interest rates get so high. Now Chrysler like the other automobile giants but Chrysler in particular had very much needed brisk

sales of its new fuel efficient cars in order to meet the Japanese competition and then head on came this latest rise in interest rates as well as rising price of gasoline which means that people are staying away from those dealers lots. And so Chrysler is having to apply for another 400 million dollars of loan guarantees from the federal government. We'll get it probably they will get it. Yes. If the decision is made before Mr. Reagan comes into office. But Reagan's close associates are saying we have not yet adopted a position on Chrysler and I think the reason is that they foresee that the government might be forced into the position of putting more and more of taxpayers money into bailing out ailing industries when actually a number of Reagan's people think government help should go to the new high technology companies that have not yet accumulated much capital but which will be the most competitive firms in the future. What about the latest oil increases from OPEC's price increases. How bad are they.

How much are they going to fuel this set of problems. Have been talking about they will add a maximum of five to seven cents a gallon to home heating oil and gasoline and that's bad. That seems more than is justified. And you have to remember that there will be another 10 cents a gallon added by the end of September simply through decontrol of domestic oil prices. So I think that it is simply going to add to this inflationary burden which means that people will have less money left after taxes and paying for necessities to spend on discretionary items. And that's where the rub comes because then consumer spending being two thirds of the entire economy that drives recession closer to home. Well speaking of closer to home some members of Congress have gone home for the holidays Charlie and they've done so after winding up a battle with themselves over an old issue Paul a thrice around in the night time over whether to give themselves a raise.

There were devious sort of unpleasant to watch and they wound up giving themselves no race. But you know that's the very point I think a lot of people in the country would support a pay raise for members of Congress if they weren't so devious and sneaky about it all the time. They have been Paul I think can be said almost objectively in Congress over a decade now for a decade it's been timid and irresponsible and wasteful about the whole matter of pay the $60000 a year that senators and representatives voted for themselves amounts to the lead on the salaries of the top 3000 executives of the United States government. They range down through the 50s under that 60000. Those are a lid on 33000 medical people engineers the high paid people of our society. The pay of those people those top executives and the judges in our system is far below the cost of living increases over the decade and much farther below than you'd believe. They haven't come even a

half as far as the cost of living is in the private sector is out of sight compared to executive salaries in this government. The result is that the best executives in the United States government are run in with their pensions. They are taken early retirement in droves early retirements in this government at this level have tripled in the last three years. People are looking at this seriously say we have a true crisis in the executive establishment. Recruiting is very hard as Mr. Reagan will find out now now this week a nonpartisan disinterested very impressive commission of the Commission on executive legislative and judicial salaries reports every four years it recommended a 40 percent increase for the top 3000 people in the government including Congress more for the judges who had fallen even further back with a 40 percent increase. If you can imagine that that would still leave Congress and our top 3000 people who Congress don't seem to pay too

much attention to 47 percent behind the Consumer Price Index 33 percent behind what private industry is paying stemware executives. It's a mess. Charlie you make a good case there but isn't it a political thing that the members of Congress didn't dare go home. I mean just think of it Lee Iacocca the chairman of Chrysler is asking his workers to accept a 21 month pay freeze. And some of Mr. Reagan's economic advisers are saying we we may have to put a cap on entitlement programs to the elderly to the poor and so on. How could they vote themselves a pay as an old political reporter here. I know it would be very difficult for him but there are people who think if a congressman would look a constituent in the eye and say some numbers written down here our salary has increased 43 percent in the last decade. While that was happening the Consumer Price Index is rising 130 percent.

The private sector salaries for executives were rising 116 percent and the pay of ordinary civil service clerk was rising 118 percent. And even if the congressmen don't deserve it they are 3000 guys and women running the agencies of this government are engineers in the NSA program the space program that the top people in our government. They deserve the raise whether they deserve it or not. They're quitting truly near tears. It would be the patriotic thing today to vote yourself a pay saying I would be the just thing to do would be the just thing that no one's ever wanted to confuse justice and politics. But here's the thing to do to keep this very large operation running Charlie is one thing I don't understand and that is that the present system and even the system you're talking about links the congressional salaries with the executive salaries. Why. Why can't they. Why can't the members of Congress look at the problems you're talking about say it's politically bad for us to do this now with Lee Iacocca all responsible keep

our salaries level but we're going to increase the salaries of the executive branch. Why do they have to link there. I accept the recommendation because they want the race secretly and they're too timid to come out talk about it and get it but we're apps for good. They shouldn't be linked. A real effort was made in this government in 1975 to establish an organization that would sort of index salaries and let the races occur automatically as the price as price index went up mostly for these executives. Congress has acted in every case but one to stop that from happening because they're afraid that those constituents out there they think those constituents out there are going to rebel as a member of Congress and making more than $60000. I'm think most thoughtful people would pay for the separation you suggest because I don't think anyone seriously believes that a federal judge the average federal judge for instance believes a hundred and thirty one thousand dollars a year law practice does take a 54000 job with the government. The guy running the Federal Communications Commission that for $55000 a year

is regulating it theoretically inspiring people where everyone makes hundreds of thousands. I think that's a fitting note unfortunately to wind up the program. This is Paul Duke saying for all of us on Washington Week in Review. A Merry Christmas to all of you. And we'll see you again next week. For. Word.

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