Clements' stand blasted White pounds • .,. utility rates By JIMMY BROWN LONGVIEW — Attorney General Mark White Friday afternoon again blasted what he says is Gov. Bill Clements favoritism for utility companies and lack of interest concerning utility rates in the state in a brief news conference here at Democratic Party Headquarters. White was accompanied by former Gov. Dolph Briscoe who appointed White as Secretary of State in 1971. White who opposes Clemmts in the Nov. 2 election kept firing away at what he considers the campaign's major issue — utility rates. "Everywhere we go it seems the big concern is over the etty rates that we pay in he said. He took a healthy cut at Clements by pointing out what he said has been unaction by Clements on rates. He vowed if elected to fight the utility companies "doesn't get to continue to a automatic fuel adjustment pass-through." He claimed the fuel adjustment was created as an emergency during the fuel crisis of a few years ago and has outlived its usefulness. "The fuel crisis is gone now and we have over 801 gas wells shut in throughout Texas and all I'm asking is for those utility companies to go back to work and get back into the market place and start competing for the fuel that they buy just like other companies," he said. White linked what he called "the increaisng costs" keep business out of the state and claimed this contributed to the *sive layoff of workers d this state." He pledged to "do away" with the fuel adjustment clause. "All you have to do is change the rules" for the Public Utility COmmission. He said changing "two votes on that Commission" will eliminate the tuel adjustment clause and hit — ill 1 te (Continued from page 1) Clements' appointments to the PUC. White indicated he laid utility rates and the fuel adjustment costs squarely on Clements. Utility companies, said White, "are buying the fuel from one of their affiliated companies and there's no way on earth that you can ever be sure a fair price for it that's not inflated, that they don't add profits to it, that they don't increase it because they add interest on top of the fuel cost," he said. He claimed the state has had "over one billion dollars in increased electric rates over the past four years." White hit what he called "work in progress" costs which he said are passed on to consumers. "Why do we have to pay for a new generating plant. . . before they build it?" He kept up a drumfire of criticism of utility companies, their fuel adjustment pass- through and indicated the companies care little for their customers. "What do they care if they make a mistake, they're going to let the rate payers pay for it." White said Clements "made a dramatic mistake" in stating he does not know any housewife qualified to serve on the PUC. He also claims all Texas' neighboring states have lower utility rates and slammed his opponents position on utility rates. Mirror Gladewater, Texas OCT 3 1 1982 "When he says he's a businessman, not a politician, I'm afraid the business he's working for is the utility companies," said White. He said if elected he would "challenge the Texas Industrial Commission to start off on a high priority to .search for new industries, new jobs to bring He again accused Clements of causing what he called "in- creasing taxes in Texas" by failure to prevent raising taxes. The Unemployment Compen- sation tax, said White "has gone up almost 500%" and property taxes are also going up. He called the implementation of the Peveto Bill "a disorderly" and "expensive process." "I think it was a mistake to ( have) gone into that process until it was ready to be worked out fully and completely..." He said he thought the Peveto Bill "needs modifying to make certain there are no automatic increases in taxes." Asked by this reporter what the latest polls indicate, White said the polls "show we're moving forward andd I'm very pleased...( we have) momentum in the campaign, the undecided votes moving in our direc- tion..." White hedged in answering a question about the unem- ployment rate in the state by pointing to Clements' suggestion on "guest workers" in Texas and inferred these jobs are going to such workers. White managed to keep returning to utility bills and rates as one of the root causes of the state's problems. He spoke of education is not getting the concern and atten- tion it deserves. He made a pit- ch again for teacher support by calling for higher salaries. He said the state is "losing" qualified teachers for this reason and the country's scien- ce, technology, and engineering are suffering.