Friday, June 21, 1996

Texas GOP Convention comes down hard on abortion advocates

By ANNA M. TINSLEY
Harte-Hanks Austin Bureau

SAN ANTONIO - Texas Republicans sent an early signal to abortion advocates Thursday: They won't tolerate abortion under any circumstance.

Members of the GOP's platform committee voted to remove language from the state's party platform that OK'd abortion when a mother's life was in danger.

The move comes as anti-abortion Republicans continue their efforts to keep U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison from becoming a delegate to the national convention because of her pro-choice position.

Meanwhile, Texas Republican Party Chairman Tom Pauken continued his call for unity and promised to help mediate any differences among GOP delegates.

"I think we ought to be able to work something out that the majority of the delegates will be comfortable with," he said. "We have to keep our eye on the ball. It doesn't do us any good if Bill Clinton is there for another four years."

Local delegates agree that Republicans must unite with a common goal: Elect more GOPs into office.

"I think we are going to come out of this convention and be unified," said Tom Galyean, a Senate District 30 delegate from Snyder. "We are going to go out and work for (presidential candidate) Bob Dole and focus on ... state legislative races to try to build a majority.

"I think a lot of the issues have already been fought, and we agree on most issues," he said. "Now I'd like to see us have a good convention and unify. A lot of people are fired up about Dole's campaign. We have got to carry Texas. If we don't, the election is over."

Former Gov. Bill Clements urged Republican delegates to keep their eye on the big goal - ousting Democrats from the White House and state and national offices - instead of getting mired down in smaller debates, which he declined to name.

"We can't afford warfare within the party," he said in a speech welcoming delegates to San Antonio. "This is a luxury we must do without.

"Our biggest and most important issue is harmony within the party,' " he said. "Let's unify and talk about issues that really affect the constituency."

Those, he said, were improving school finance, cutting the state budget, reducing state government and giving more control to local offices.

Anti-abortion forces have threatened to stop the nomination of some officeholders - including Hutchison and U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith - who they feel are too moderate on the abortion issues.

Other officeholders have denounced that move and said they won't be delegates if Hutchison is left off the list. Others are threatening to veto the first list of delegates to the national convention - whether or not Hutchison is on the list - to get their point across.

Harte-Hanks Bureau Chief Steve Ray and staff writer Rosemary Barnes contributed to this report.