Commentary: Deep Throat deeds felt deep in heart of Texas

New Orleans CityBusiness, Jun 6, 2005 by Mark Singletary

When Max Felt revealed himself to be the infamous Watergate Deep Throat last week, I admit I was caught up in all the hoopla. Serious flashbacks rifled through my brain.

I couldn't help myself; Watergate defined so much about my generation and changed so much about how we view the world. It was time for a trip down memory lane.

I was 21 years old in 1973 as the nation turned its attention to the third-rate burglary that eventually brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon. The aftermath of Watergate brought down the mayor of West Orange, Texas, too - and I'm ashamed of my part in that affair.

One of the significant byproducts of Watergate was that it focused lots of attention on government corruption, even the city of West Orange.

By 1974, the Watergate investigations were in full swing. Congressional hearings led by the venerable and colorful Sen. Sam Irvin, a Democrat from Georgia, were tightening a noose around President Nixon and his inner circle. The hearings were broadcast live, all day, every day. Since I worked evenings and didn't feel like studying most of the time, I watched the hearings religiously. I graduated from college that year and had to become a grownup. I got a job and soon found myself sitting on a grand jury, looking for corruption.

Grand juries in Texas are powerful political bodies with the power to subpoena witnesses, conduct investigations and consult with just about anyone. An indictment by a Texas grand jury means trouble.

Our grand jury got the notion there was probably some corruption going on in our little county. After all, Watergate had just gone down and this was also about the time that The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas was closed down, driven out of business by the investigative reporting of Houston television personality Marvin Zindler.

So we knew what to do. Find some corruption, any corruption, indict the scoundrels and bask in the glory crime fighters bring upon themselves.

We found out pretty quickly that we needed some help.

Since we had lots of power and were completely intoxicated by it, we felt comfortable calling Texas Attorney General John Hill and telling him we smelled a rat and needed his help. We thought the local county attorney couldn't be trusted because we probably needed to investigate him, too.

Hill, for some strange reason, was convinced by our evidence and referred us to his criminal investigation unit, headed by this unforgettably big Texas Ranger. Among the accoutrements in his office was a Winchester 30-30 rifle leaning against the wall, right near his desk.

The grand jury had gone through a laundry list of accusations and it wasn't looking good for our team - lots of innuendo but no smoking guns. We had investigated nearly every major politico in the county.

When it came time to focus our attention on the mayor of West Orange, we struck gold. Our sources had informed us the mayor was using city and county employees to take care of his automobiles and his property. The superficial evidence was damning. This was our big chance.

We came through because we had the big ol' Texas Ranger on our side.

During one interview where we asked the standard questions about doing work for elected officials with public employees and equipment, the ranger smelled a rat. A city maintenance man swore before God and man he hadn't done anything untoward or illegal for the mayor, the city council or anyone else.

Sensing a lie, the ranger leaned forward, got in the witness' face and said, Son, do you know that you'll go to hell for lying? And I'll throw you in jail to boot.

The intimidation factor was incredible. The poor fellow didn't have a prayer. He cleared his throat and asked if we could start over. The ranger said he thought that would be a good idea.

Well, it didn't take long for us to get the goods on the mayor and his cronies. This man, whom we trusted to make big, important decisions, was using city labor and city equipment to mow the grass at his house and take care of his children's cars. We couldn't let this go. We had to throw the book at him.

Thank goodness it wasn't a very big book. We asked for and received his resignation, just like the Watergate investigators did with Richard Nixon.

Mission accomplished. Thank you very much Mr. Deep Throat.