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- NATION, Page 24Grapevine
-
-
- PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim, a chicken tycoon
- from east Texas, buttonholed several state senators earlier this
- month and urged them to change the state workers' compensation
- law to make it less costly to employers. As he left, he gave
- nine solons checks for $10,000 each. Bribes? Just campaign
- contributions, said Pilgrim. Eight lawmakers have returned his
- checks, and the senate two weeks ago voted down the changes
- Pilgrim wanted. Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is
- not sure any laws were broken. Says he: "The bribery statute in
- Texas has a loophole big enough to drive a truck through."
-
- GRUDGE MATCH. White House deputy chief of staff Andrew
- Card, the Bush campaign's expert on everything negative about
- Michael Dukakis, is contemplating a bid for the governorship
- Dukakis is vacating. But obtaining the Republican nomination
- will not be easy if Bob Dole has his way. Card is chief of staff
- John Sununu's pal, and Dole, who hasn't forgotten the drubbing
- he took from the Sununu crowd in the New Hampshire primary, is
- helping raise funds for the rival campaign of state
- representative Steven Pierce.
-
- IF OPRAH CAN DO IT. Roly-poly former Atlanta Mayor Maynard
- Jackson is trying to shed some of his 300 lbs. as he seeks to
- return to city hall. He has spurted to a 34-point lead in the
- polls over lanky county commissioner Michael Lomax, who has put
- together a crack campaign team of Jesse Jackson and Andy Young
- alums. Whatever he weighs by the Oct. 3 election, Jackson is
- expected to roll over Lomax.
-
- FOR LOVE, NOT MONEY. If Heather Foley weren't married to
- Tom Foley, she would be making $89,500 a year. But nepotism laws
- keep her from collecting pay as chief of staff to her husband,
- the new Speaker of the House. Casual (sneakers and pants) where
- he is formal (dark suits), tough (she ushers visitors out of the
- office unceremoniously) where he is soft (he sees, says former
- Speaker Tip O'Neill, three sides to every issue), Mrs. Foley was
- both loved and loathed when her spouse was majority leader. Will
- things work out in the Speaker's office? They have to, says a
- congressional aide: the Speaker doesn't have the heart to fire
- anybody.
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