Enlarge Marjorie Kamys Cotera

George P. Bush at the state Capitol on Jan. 7, 2013, the day before the beginning of the 83rd session.

Someone with a sharp pencil could probably hang a dollar amount on the political value of a well-known name. Suffice to say it’s easier to get started if someone else has done the work that would otherwise go into making a name for George P. Bush.

As it is, he starts with the advantage of huge and mostly positive name ID in a state where that’s an expensive thing to acquire. Just look at Greg Abbott, as an example: Three statewide runs for office and in the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, 29 percent had no opinion or impression of him, and another 24 percent said they view neither favorably nor unfavorably.

Branding is hard.

The latest Bush has to define himself for voters who, left alone, will attach what they like and don’t like about his political forebears to him. That’s easier than doing those things while also trying to get people to remember your name.

And his declaration for land commissioner this week clears the way for everyone else. Nobody wanted to be the pol who got into a race for something only to have a Bush show up with a claim. Better to have him locked into something — anything — so that running statewide in the Republican primary isn’t complicated by a dynast.

Why declare now? Depends on who you ask. Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who got a heads-up call from Bush about what office he will seek, said it’s hard to stay on message when everyone else is speculating about what you might do. Those musings among the civics set ran from land to attorney general and even to governor. It was distracting. One argument against a declaration is that money might flow more freely into the political accounts of someone who could be running for anything. You might be giving to a governor, or an AG.

With the announcement, Bush can redouble his already hyperactive fundraising efforts. He had already raised nearly $1.4 million by the end of 2012. And since he doesn’t hold office now, he is not restrained, as others are, from raising money during the legislative session. Fundraising flotsam and jetsam provides evidence of fundraisers from the Rio Grande Valley to Georgia; Bush’s July report could be full of commas after the dollar signs.

It’s early to say the 2014 ballot is shaping up, but it’s also true that the primary is now one year away. With Bush locked in, others can queue up. Talk on the Democratic side has been muted. On the Republican side, here’s the state of play:

• Gov. Rick Perry and Attorney General Abbott have an understanding, at least according to Perry, that they won’t run against each other for governor. Neither has said he won’t run, and this potential race seems to be the favorite parlor game in politics right now. Perry loves being underestimated. Abbott has scads of money. They share a lot of big donors.
• Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is still suffering from his loss to Ted Cruz in last July’s Republican primary. Whether he’ll run for another term, drop out, or run for something else — governor? U.S. Senate? — is an open question. Patterson, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and Comptroller Susan Combs have all expressed interest in running for Dewhurst’s job. Patterson and Staples are openly working on it, Combs less so.
• Dewhurst isn’t the only Texas Republican who gets night sweats about Cruz. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is acting like a guy who thinks he’ll be challenged in his own primary in 2014, and the Dewhurst experience, for anyone with an imagination, provides all the rationale a worrier might need. No real names have surfaced, however.
• If Abbott runs, his spot is open. Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, who has also talked about lieutenant governor, has put his name in the hat. Bush had, too, until he locked in the land thing. Dale Wainwright, who left the Texas Supreme Court (where the last two AGs, Abbott and Cornyn, matriculated), is possible. Until Abbott’s intentions are clear, the talk about a successor will probably remain vague. Abbott’s long tenure, unlike Perry’s or Dewhurst’s, has not generated conversation about possible challengers.  
• If the comptroller’s job is open, Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, and former gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina are among those who might be interested.
• Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, is looking at agriculture if Staples moves on.

That is, at best, a partial listing. All of it will change a dozen times as current officeholders’ intentions become clear and candidates ambitions, strengths and weaknesses are revealed. The pent-up ambitions are strong, what with record-setting tenures underway in the governor’s and attorney general’s offices, and others who haven’t moved up or out as a result.

If the logjam breaks, who knows who’ll show up?

Enlarge Tamir Kalifa

The Texas Railroad Commission, comprised of Chairman Barry T. Smitherman (center), and commissioners David Porter (left) and Christi Craddick (right) hold an open meeting in Austin, Texas on Jan. 15, 2013.

The Legislature has some big decisions to make as it takes up the sunset legislation on the Texas Railroad Commission.  The most obvious is whether the antiquated name finally get scrapped, and changed to the more-apt Texas Energy Resources Commission or (as the three commissioners prefer) the Texas Energy Commission.

But another, more contentious issue is also wrapped into the RRC sunset bill: campaign finance reform. The three Railroad Commissioners, who are elected, regularly get their campaign coffers replenished by oil and gas industry, which they regulate. The lawmakers who are carrying the Sunset bills seem eager for reforms, though the three commissioners are not.

“We must do something” on campaign-finance reform, said  Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, speaking on a panel at a Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO) conference in Austin last month. Bonnen is carrying the Sunset bill, House Bill 2166. Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, has the Senate companion.

The legislation essentially proposes three big changes to the campaign-finance and elections process. First, the commissioners, who are elected to six-year terms, could only raise campaign funds during the year and a half preceeding their November election date. Second, the commissioners could not knowingly accept funding from companies involved in disputed cases before the commission.

Third, the commissioners would be forced to resign prior to running for another office if they had more than 18 months remaining on their Railroad Commission term. That is a response to rapid recent turnover, and to potential conflicts of raising money from donors who might be subject to a commissioner's rulings if the new campaign falls short. Despite the six-year terms, none of the three current commissioners was in office three years ago. And the commission has long been a springboard for Texas politicians seeking higher office.

Last session, RRC sunset foundered after intense debate over proposals to change the structure of the commission from three commissioners to just one. That contentious provision has been left out of the bill this time, allowing reform advocates to focus on the campaign-finance provisions.

“From my perspective,” Bonnen said at the TIPRO conference, “if you’re not going to change the governance structure, you need to change some of the issues around campaign finance.” He seemed eager to make at least one campaign-finance reform change, even if all of the proposals do not survive.

The three commissioners staunchly oppose the campaign-finance changes. They argue they should be treated just like other elected officials, who do not have to resign to run for another office.

“The agency position is, we think we should be treated like every other statewide non-judicial [office],” said RRC Chairman Barry Smitherman, in an interview in January. “I think it is a slippery slope to start putting restrictions on statewide candidates, whether they have a four-year term or a six-year term.”

Some lawmakers are not buying. “The answer to that is they are different,” Nichols said in an interview this week. The commissioners serve six-year terms, two years long than those of the governor or state senators.  The state's Supreme Court justices serve six-year terms, but also operate under different campaign finance laws. 

In addition, Nichols said, whereas lawmakers vote on policy issues, the commission votes on rate cases and also makes quasi-judicial rulings on specific cases before it.

“There’s a perception out there, right or wrong, that if you’re accepting campaign contributions right before you do a rate case or right after you do a rate case, there’s something wrong with that” Nichols said. “That came out very clearly from the public testimony.” He noted that he was “not saying anyone is doing anything wrong” and that the energy industry is thriving in Texas.

Commissioner Christi Craddick, speaking at the TIPRO conference, said she was open to this type of change, “if we could find a bright line about that.” However, she said, logistically it was hard to know the identities of every group making modest contributions — small operator may have parent companies, for example  —  and she would be concerned that an inadvertent slip could lead to a misdemeanor. 

“I think we all try to be ethical and do what we’re supposed to do,” she said.

As for raising money for only the 18 months prior to an election, Craddick was skeptical. “We have a $5,000 travel budget, period, each year for a commissioner,” she said. “I can go through that in one week. This is a huge, huge state. … We can’t go for six years without raising money. It’s not realistic.”

Years ago, Railroad Commission watchers say, the three commissioners had something of a “gentlemen’s agreement” that only the one with the next race could raise money. But that has long since fallen away. Smitherman said that such an agreement seemed worth considering, but was not something that should be put in statute.

Nichols noted that state senators and representatives are barred from accepting campaign contributions from 30 days before the legislative session to 30 days after the session.

“This should be a position [in which] people really focus on that job, because energy is so important to Texas,” Nichols said.

In other Railroad Commission news:

• It’s a spring of discontent. According to the Texas Energy Report, commission chairman Barry Smitherman complained that he was the last one to get Commissioner David Porter’s recent Eagle Ford Shale task force report.
• The Commission is expected to vote on water-recycling rules on March 26th.
• Finally, don’t miss the Texas Tribune series on water and hydraulic fracturing.

Enlarge Spencer Selvidge

The Texas Tribune Festival 2012 Opening Session: A conversation with Gov. Rick Perry and Evan Smith, Sept. 21, 2012.

Political insiders rarely take things at face value, so it’s not surprising that they are scratching their collective heads over Ann Bishop’s sudden entrance and exit from the office of Gov. Rick Perry.

First, some background.

Bishop, who became executive director of the Employees Retirement System in 2004, was tapped to become Perry’s chief of staff on Nov. 27 of last year. On that day, ERS trustee Cheryl MacBride said she was happy for Perry but sorry that “Ann will not be here to lead us through the legislative session.”

Exactly three months later, on Feb. 27, the governor’s office announced that Bishop would return to ERS. A few weeks after that, The Texas Tribune reported that Bishop had been paid a $162,000 bonus just before she left ERS, prompting criticism from legislators looking into high executive compensation. (And Bishop is No. 1 in that category among state agencies).

Bishop was at the helm of ERS when Perry was told by the agency that he could retire and begin drawing a lucrative pension — without ever leaving the job he has held longer than any Texan.

And so he did.

Here is what Perry said in late 2011 after revealing on federal disclosure forms that he had availed himself of the provision and began drawing over $90,000 a year in pension benefits: “ERS called me and said, 'Listen, you're eligible to access your retirement now with your military time and your time and service, and I think you would be rather foolish to not access what you’ve earned.'”

Amid all of Bishop’s sudden moves, inquiring minds wanted to know: Was she the one who had called Perry way back when? Has Bishop retired, too? And why did she leave ERS so suddenly only to return so quickly?

While a former Perry aide recalled that it was, in fact, Bishop who alerted the governor that he was eligible to double dip, neither the governor’s office nor ERS would play ball.

“We are not privy to the private conversations of the governor,” said Perry spokesman Josh Havens.

ERS was even less forthcoming.

“Individual retirement communication for all members of ERS is confidential,’’ said agency spokeswoman Mary Jane Wardlow.

Double-dipping employees — i.e., those drawing both a salary and a pension — are afforded no less protection under ERS’s airtight exemption from state transparency laws. In Perry’s case, it was only because he ran for president that the public was notified. The pension was revealed on disclosure forms submitted to the Federal Elections Commission.

Despite the state-sanctioned secrecy, ERS's Wardlow did volunteer this answer: Bishop did not retire when she briefly left the system and is not collecting a pension now.

By the way, her compensation while at the governor’s office — which included a $9,000-per-month stipend from Perry’s campaign account — was $325,000 a year, according to Havens.

That is precisely the scenario Bishop walked back into when she returned to ERS, but Wardlow gave more insight. She said that while Bishop expected to run the governor’s office through the session, she decided to return earlier than she originally envisioned, adding that it was “safe to say that it put a strain on her family, and her commitment to put her family first.” 

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In this edition of the Texas Weekly Newsreel: George P. Bush officially enters the race for Texas land commissioner, the Senate Finance Committee passes a $195.5 billion budget and educators spend spring break at the Capitol.

You can view the video at: https://trib.it/ZLlbUo

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Local school districts can grant property tax exemptions as economic development incentives. We asked the insiders this week who should make those decisions: The districts or the state — which bases its school finance formulas, in part, on how much money is produced by each district’s local property taxes. A small majority said the state should not have control, while 45 percent said it should.

Maybe it won’t matter for long, as 58 percent of the insiders said major tax revisions are coming in Texas. They differed a bit on when, with 51 percent saying those revisions will come after the courts are finished with school finance lawsuits. Another 38 percent don’t expect major changes.

Most of the insiders don’t believe John Cornyn will have a serious GOP primary challenger in 2014 and about the same majority — 58 percent — do not believe his political future is at risk.

As always, we gathered commentary as we went along. A full set of verbatim comments is attached, and a sampling follows.

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

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Should the state control whether local school districts grant property tax exemptions for economic development and other purposes?

• "This should be a local decision."

• "The state should not control local school district property tax exemptions and the state should not replace the district's property tax loss with state funds. Better local decisions would be made if economic development projects had to produce at least enough local revenue to replace the property tax loss."

• "Purely a local choice for local taxpayers."

• "As long as we are in this unwieldy 'recapture' system, and exemption in Tyler ISD screws up the numbers for everyone. Once we fix this, with a statewide property tax or other revenue option, this will not be an issue."

• "It's difficult to come down hard on one side or the other because the state, or the other school districts, will eventually have to make up the money that the district exempts for economic development."

• "The reality of local control of school district finances died after Edgewood II. We're just pretending now. The state runs finances, and should be able to grant whatever tax incentives are necessary for competitiveness."

• "There should be some boundaries set by the state, but control should still primarily rest with local school districts."

• "We have way too many property tax give always and the only ones being stuck are homeowners."

• "If the ISD wants to eat the cost of an exemption, that's not the state's issue; but if the state is equalizing funding to the lower property values, then the state should have approval authority"

• "Making local government compete against each other is as stupid as states competing against each other to 'grow' their economies through poaching, but giving Texas state government more power over local governments is rarely a good idea."

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

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Will legislators make major revisions to state and local taxes?

• "'Major' is in the eye of the beholder. They will amend the franchise tax but not repeal it. They need to leave it in place as the bottom floor to potentially address school finance and ad valorem taxes next session."

• "Minor tweaks this session. Major overhaul after the TXSC is done, assuming they uphold the district court's findings. If they reverse course, then all is well and nothing to see here."

• "Tax cuts are likely during the regular session. Tax increases are likely during the special."

• "The small-business exemption is a slam-dunk. Some changes in Chapter 313 are likely -- hopefully shrinking the program, which the Comptroller has let run totally amok. R&D tax credits are way too expensive. And swapping property taxes for sales taxes works only in TPPF and Debra Medina's dreams."

• "Tax INCREASES are reasons to UNELECT officials before, during or after a session."

• "Only major tax changes will be those forced by the courts"

• "Why anger the folks back home when you can wait until after the 2014 primaries to address 2010's woes?"

• "Tax bills = MQS = scared legislators. Ergo tax bills = scared legislators"

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

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Will U.S. Sen. John Cornyn face a serious challenger in 2014’s Republican primary?

• "The Wack-A-Doodle tea party will put up a challenger to Cornyn but he/she will not get serious traction in a regularly scheduled primary and in an off election year."

• "Cornyn seems to think he will. Otherwise, he wouldn't be saying 'me, too' to everything Ted Cruz says. After all, who's the senior senator here?"

• "With Senators Paul, Cruz and Lee making so many headlines and chipping away at the Obama administration, someone is going to try to replicate Cruz's victory in Texas."

• "He'll have a strong record he can defend against any primary opposition and he'll work hard to do so."

• "He certainly doesn’t deserve one. Senator Cornyn is a serious conservative who gets things done in DC. He is also one beat away from being the GOP leader in the Senate."

• "It depends on what your definition of 'serious' is. No reasonable person would have considered Cruz serious two years ago."

• "He's fortunate, because there is no Cruz-quality challenger for him on the horizon."

• "Too early to tell but it is very possible"

• "Cornyn is the most articulate and well-liked leader in Texas and one of the best campaigners. He has a strong record standing up to the president and has not given any Republican a reason to challenge him. Whatever hapless Democrat they put up against him will be lucky to pull 40%."

• "But keep your eye on Dan Patrick"

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

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Is Cornyn politically at risk, given the current mood of Republican voters?

• "Cornyn has proven conservative credentials, is the incumbent, and the timing is not good for a challenger (regular primary and off election year)."

• "Cornyn has been a conservative stalwart since his days on the Texas Supreme Court, as Texas Attorney General, and as U.S. Senator. If anyone thinks otherwise, they're either new to Texas politics or have short memories."

• "Cornyn would have been at risk in the previous two cycles of rabid idiocy. Calm seems to have come to the majority who want a competent class in elected office. You may not like Cornyn, but incompetent he is not."

• "Senator Cornyn votes correctly on those issues most important to Texas Republican primary voters -- taxes; defense; foreign policy; judges; and families."

• "While he is somewhat worried, as his recent voting behavior demonstrates, there doesn't seem to be strong groundswell of dissatisfaction with Cornyn the way some of his Republican colleagues experienced in 2010 and 2012."

• "The Cruzquester was a perfect storm. No such candidate or circumstance exists in this upcoming primary."

• "His vote for the bank bailout and the perception of him as an establishment Republican makes him vulnerable to a well-funded primary challenge."

• "Anyone is at risk."

Our thanks to this week's participants: Gene Acuna, Cathie Adams, Brandon Aghamalian, Jenny Aghamalian, Victor Alcorta, Clyde Alexander, George Allen, Doc Arnold, Jay Arnold, Charles Bailey, Dave Beckwith, Andrew Biar, Allen Blakemore, Tom Blanton, Chris Britton, David Cabrales, Raif Calvert, Lydia Camarillo, Kerry Cammack, Thure Cannon, Snapper Carr, Janis Carter, William Chapman, Elizabeth Christian, Elna Christopher, Rick Cofer, Harold Cook, Beth Cubriel, Randy Cubriel, Curtis Culwell, Denise Davis, Hector De Leon, Eva De Luna-Castro, June Deadrick, Tom Duffy, David Dunn, Richard Dyer, Jeff Eller, Jack Erskine, John Esparza, Jon Fisher, Wil Galloway, Neftali Garcia, Dominic Giarratani, Bruce Gibson, Stephanie Gibson, Eric Glenn, Kinnan Golemon, Jim Grace, Wayne Hamilton, Bill Hammond, Adam Haynes, John Heasley, Jim Henson, Ken Hodges, Steve Holzheauser, Laura Huffman, Deborah Ingersoll, Jason Johnson, Bill Jones, Mark Jones, Robert Jones, Lisa Kaufman, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Ramey Ko, Sandy Kress, Dale Laine, Pete Laney, Dick Lavine, James LeBas, Donald Lee, Luke Legate, Leslie Lemon, Ruben Longoria, Vilma Luna, Matt Mackowiak, Phillip Martin, Dan McClung, Parker McCollough, Debra Medina, Robert Miller, Bee Moorhead, Mike Moses, Steve Murdock, Nelson Nease, Keats Norfleet, Pat Nugent, Sylvia Nugent, Gardner Pate, Robert Peeler, Jerry Philips, Tom Phillips, Wayne Pierce, Allen Place, Royce Poinsett, Kraege Polan, Gary Polland, Jay Propes, Ted Melina Raab, Bill Ratliff, Tim Reeves, Patrick Reinhart, Kim Ross, Jason Sabo, Andy Sansom, Jim Sartwelle, Stan Schlueter, Bruce Scott, Robert Scott, Ben Sebree, Bradford Shields, Jason Skaggs, Ed Small, Martha Smiley, Todd Smith, Larry Soward, Dennis Speight, Bryan Sperry, Jason Stanford, Bill Stevens, Bob Strauser, Colin Strother, Charles Stuart, Michael Quinn Sullivan, Sherry Sylvester, Trey Trainor, Vicki Truitt, Ware Wendell, Ken Whalen, Darren Whitehurst, Seth Winick, Peck Young, Angelo Zottarelli.

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

Monday, March 18

• House Appropriations Subcommittee on Budget Transparency and Reform, 9 a.m.
• Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Matters, 9 a.m.
• Senate State Affairs, 9 a.m.
• House International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs, 10 a.m.
• Senate Administration, 11 a.m.
• Senate Nominations, 11 a.m.
• House Elections, 2 p.m.
• House Government Efficiency and Reform, 2 p.m.
• House Investments and Financial Services, 2 p.m.
• House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence, 2 p.m.
• House Land and Resource Management, 2 p.m.
• House Pensions, 2 p.m.
• House Technology, 2 p.m.
• House Ways and Means, 2 p.m.
• Senate Open Government, 2 p.m.
• House Economic and Small Business Development, 2:30 p.m.
• Senate Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Homeland Security, 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday, March 19

• House Natural Resources, 8 a.m.
• House Transportation, 8 a.m.
• Senate Education, 8:30 a.m.
• Senate Health and Human Services, 9 a.m.
• House Business and Industry, 10:30 a.m.
• House Criminal Jurisprudence, 10:30 a.m.
• House Environmental Regulation, 10:30 a.m.
• House Human Services, 11:30 a.m.
• House Licensing and Administrative Procedures, noon
• House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations, 1 p.m.
• House Criminal Justice, 1:30 p.m.
• House Jurisprudence, 1:30 p.m.
• House Insurance, 2 p.m.
• House Public Education, 2 p.m.

Wednesday, March 20

• House Agriculture and Livestock, 8 a.m.
• Senate Transportation, 8 a.m.
• Senate Veteran Affairs and Military Installations, 1:30 p.m.
• House Corrections, 2 p.m.

Thursday, March 21

• House Defense and Veterans' Affairs, 8 a.m.

The deadline for filing major legislation has passed — local bills can still be filed, and major bills, if the members agree. About 5,700 bills were filed, and most of them will die. That’s the way of things. Education and taxation legislation of various types led the way. The most prolific filers: Sens. John Carona, R-Dallas, and Royce West, D-Dallas; Reps. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, and Richard Raymond, D-Laredo. The halfway mark of the 140-day session lands on Monday, March 18.

The Senate Finance Committee unanimously voted for a $195.5 billion two-year budget that undoes some of the cuts from the 2011 legislative session. The budget, which now heads to the full Senate, is 2.9 percent higher than the estimated size of the current two-year budget, which is $189.9 billion after factoring in extra spending lawmakers are expected to approve later this session.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, the state's largest health insurance provider, is launching a statewide campaign on Tuesday aimed at getting Texans enrolled in health plans through an online marketplace created by federal health reform. Texas won’t have its own state-specific health insurance exchange; Republican leaders here have rejected that option as part of their opposition to the Affordable Care Act.

Sounding the alarm over a 70-year-old treaty that governs the release of water to Texas by Mexican officials, state and federal lawmakers say that Mexico is again falling short on its part of the agreement and that water users in the Rio Grande basin are feeling the impact. Technically, Mexico is in compliance and has two more years to release the amount covered in the treaty. Lawmakers and stakeholders, limited in what they can do to compel the Mexicans to deliver the water, are turning to the agency tasked with enforcing the treaty to step up its efforts to ensure the required total is delivered.

After a week of forced negotiations between craft brewers and wholesale beer distributors resulted in a compromise, the Senate Business Commerce Committee amended the Alcoholic Beverage Code to allow on-site retail sales at breweries, limited sales at brewpubs and self-distribution rights for breweries producing less than 125,000 barrels a year. That’s on its way to the full Senate. 

Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, was sworn in Monday as the newest member of the Texas Senate. The former Harris County commissioner replaces the late Mario Gallegos in SD-6, and will serve (barring redistricting) until 2017. She'll be on four committees: Government Organization, Intergovernmental Relations, Jurisprudence, and Nominations.

Austin police charged Rep. Naomi Gonzalez, D-El Paso, with driving while intoxicated after she apparently hit another car that, in turn, hit someone on a bicycle. No one was seriously injured. 

Kenneth Evans, dean of the business school at the University of Oklahoma, is the sole finalist for the president’s job at Lamar University. He’ll succeed James Simmons, who has held the top post at Lamar for 14 years. 

Former Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, got spanked for a wording problem on his campaign signs and on those campaign emery boards he’s been handing out since black-and-white TVs were all the rage. In his rematch against Rep. Charles Perry last year, Jones’ campaign materials said “Elect Delwin Jones State Representative District 83.” According to the Texas Ethics Commission, they should have said “Elect Delwin Jones for State Representative District 83.” Perry won in 2012, just like he did in 2010.

Deaths: Former El Paso Mayor Raymond Telles, the first Hispanic chief executive of a major city in the U.S. (1957-61). He was also U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica in the Kennedy administration and on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under presidents Nixon and Ford. He was 97.

Lt. Col. (retired) Borah Van Dormolen, Republican national committeewoman from Texas, a one-time professor at West Point, and a stalwart in the Texas Federation of Republican Women.