User:Hr6175/Ann Richards

Political career

Early political career

In 1990, Texas' Republican governor, Bill Clements, decided not to run for re-election to a third nonconsecutive term. Richards is a sensible progressive and won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination against Attorney General (and former U.S. representative) Jim Mattox of Dallas and former Governor Mark White of Houston. Mattox ran a particularly abrasive campaign against Richards, accusing her of having had drug problems beyond alcoholism. The alcholism that she suffered in her past, was greatly thrown against her in this election against Williams, as well as the fact that she was a woman. She also faced criticism from Texas voters for her witty comments because they were looked upon as "unladylike." The Republicans nominated colorful and eccentric multi-millionaire rancher Clayton Williams, of Fort Stockton and Midland. Republican political activist Susan Weddington of San Antonio, a Williams supporter, placed a black wreath that read "Death to the Family" at the door of Richards's campaign headquarters in Austin. After a series of legendary gaffes by Williams (most notably a joke about the crime of rape), Richards narrowly won on November 6, 1990, with 49% of the vote to Williams' 47%.    Making her the second woman governor of Texas. Libertarian Party candidate Jeff Daiell drew 3.3 percent in an effort that included television spots and considerable personal campaigning. However, she faced much backlash from texas voters because of her gender, and would agree that if it was not for Williams inappropriate behavior during the election, Richards might not have won. She broke many gender stereotypes during the 1990 election.  Richards was inaugurated governor the following January.

Throughout her time in politics, especially during her early political years, she broke many gender roles. It is interesting to note that her chief of staff was also a woman, Mary Beth Rodgers. She believed that it was important to bring women and minorities into the political field. She found this to be important because she felt that politics did not reflect who the state of Texas was made up of.

Tenure as Governor[edit]

As governor, Richards reformed the Texas prison system, establishing a substance abuse program for inmates, reducing the number of violent offenders released, and increasing prison space to deal with a growing prison population (from less than 60,000 in 1992 to more than 80,000 in 1994). She backed proposals to reduce the sale of semi-automatic firearms and "cop-killer" bullets in the state.

Richards speaking at a 1992 University of Houston commencement

The Texas Lottery was also instituted during her governorship—advocated as a means of supplementing school finances; Richards purchased the first lottery ticket on May 29, 1992, in Oak Hill, near Austin.

School finance remained one of the key issues of Richards' governorship and of those succeeding hers; the famous Robin Hood plan was launched in the 1992–1993 biennium and attempted to make school funding more equitable across school districts. Richards also sought to decentralize control over education policy to districts and individual campuses; she instituted "site-based management" to this end.

One of her first goals was to focus on education. To do so, she held a "school assembly" on January 19th, 1991, where she met with students as well as teachers from all over Texas to hear directly from the source what needed to change in the school systems. She found this to be important because these are the people who were directly effected by the education system at the time. She found education to be extremely important and this was clear during her time in office.

In 1993, Richards signed into law the re-codified Texas Penal Code which included anti-homosexual Section 21.06, the state's "Homosexual Conduct" law which states: "(a) A person commits an offense if he engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex. (b) An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.". In 1990, Richards had campaigned in Houston to repeal the law. But, as governor, her signature criminalized same-sex sexual relations in Texas.^{[citation needed]}

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