A sad day for Texas

Photo: Jack Plunkett, AP

Former governor Ann Richards has died after a six-month battle with cancer. She got my vote in my very first election in 1990, and she will be especially missed by those of us who lean to the left.

Excerpts from the Houston Chronicle article:

Richards was the quintessential Texas woman, with a sassy homespun charm, sharp wit and tough pioneer spirit. With bright silver hair, a weathered face and an affinity for cobalt blue suits and pearls, Richards was instantly recognizable to national television audiences.

As a Democratic politician, Richards' 1990 race for governor against Republican cowboy oilman Clayton Williams became a battle of the sexes. Her victory symbolically broke down gender barriers for a generation of Texas women who were seeking professional careers.

Richards labeled her administration the "New Texas," appointing more Hispanics, blacks and women to state boards and commissions than any previous governor. She pushed for increases in public education funding and promoted business expansion in the state.

A recovering alcoholic, Richards also pressed lawmakers to increase funding for drug and alcohol abuse treatment programs.

. . .

As state treasurer, Richards was a little-noticed public official. She managed state investments and the sale of bonds and cash management notes. She was best known on the "rubber chicken" circuit, making humorous speeches to civic organizations, women's groups and Democratic clubs.

Her profile changed dramatically in 1988 when Democratic National Chairman Paul Kirk asked her to be the keynote speaker at the party's national convention that summer. Her speech was to draw differences between the parties and take aim a fellow Texan: Vice President George Bush, the GOP nominee for president.

Richards thrilled her national audience with some of her feminist humor on the ability of women to equal men: "Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels."

What became memorable, though, was a line she delivered to show Bush was out of touch with the economic and family issues that were important to poor and middle class Americans.

"Poor George, he can't help it — he was born with a silver foot in his mouth," Richards said.

. . .

Her most notable achievement was opening the doors of government to people other than Anglos and men. About 44 percent of her appointees were female; 20 percent Hispanic; and 14 percent black. Her two predecessors in office had given more than 77 percent of their appointments to Anglo men.

RIP Ann Richards 1933-2006.

See also the Austin American-Statesman article and this one from the Port Arthur News recounting some of Ann's best lines at the roasts which funded the Museum of the Gulf Coast.