Clements calls need for session 'urgent' By Sam Attlesey Political Writer of The News AUSTIN — Republican guberna- torial nominee Bill Clements, main- taining there is an "urgent and des- perate need" for a special session of the Legislature, said Monday that Democratic Gov. Mark White is "fid- dling around while Austin burns." Clements said White's continued refusal to convene a special session will make it impossible for the Leg- islature to cure a budget shortfall that Comptroller Bob Bullock esti- mates could widen to $2 billion dur- ing the next 15 months. —Ile longer this budget crisis is allowed to continue, the worse it will get," Clements said at a news conference. Clements, a former governor, also said that special budget-cutting hearings scheduled by the House Appropriations Committee this summer are an exercise in futility. Even with those hearings, Clements said, it would be April be- fore any decisive legislative action could be taken, and that would be too late to solve the budget short- fall. house Speaker Gib Lewis, D-Fort Worth, and White — both of whom oppose a special session — vigor- ously disagreed. Lewis, who ordered his budget- writing panel to conduct the unusu- ally early hearings, said the House could be ready to act on a budget shortfall solutions by the first cou- ple of weeks of the next regular ses- sion of the Legislature in January. "We're doing (through the Ap- propriations Committee) what we would be doing in a special session, except we're saving the taxpayers the expense of having all 150 of the House members meeting," Lewis said. "We're operating in a very busi- nesslike way," he said. White, noting that the Texas As- sociation of Taxpayers has agreed that there is no need for a special session now, said that Clements' proposal was irresponsible. "My opponent doesn't want to take the responsible approach," White said in a prepared statement. "Ile wants to spend up to $3 million of taxpayers' money by calling elected officials back to town when the Texas Association of Taxpayers concludes that there is no need." But Clements said there is an ur- gent need for a special session to "scrub the budget and prioritize spending items" because the budget reductions needed to balance state spending with state revenues con- tinue to increase every month.