Term
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Definition
- last quarter of century saw suprising political twist- success and growing dominance of repub. party
- by end of century repub party emerged dominant
- in wake of sharpstown scandal texas needed fresh start
- texas was voting increasingly repub for pres but not state officials
- new election law required candidates to make full financial disclosures
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Term
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Definition
- early 1970's
- involved houston banker Frank Sharp
- sharp wanted legislature to approve new laws that were amendable to his business. such as sharpstown bank and national bankers life insurance
- sharp offered state officials hundreds of thousands of dollars in loan to buy stock from his company
- seceruities and exchange commission filed lawsuit alleging gov. preston smith and speaker of the house gus mutscher were involved
- 30 democrats and repubs pressured gov to investigate.
- labeled "dirty thirty"
- speaker mutscher found guilt in 1972 and given 5 years probation
- mutshcer, an aide, and state legislator tommy shannon all convicted
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Term
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Definition
- lived rags to riches story
- was a roughneck
- made fortune in sedco, an oil drilling company
- his hero was sam houston
- major contributor to rebup party
- he tried to persuade several prominent politicians to run for gov. all declined to clements decided to run.
- toured the state being more brash than opponent
- eventually won gov.
- the race was so close that there were a few local recounts
- clements won by less than 1%
- more republicans entered offices during clements term
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Term
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Definition
- in the1990's tx became legit 2 party state
- 1994 incumbent ann richards ran against george w bush for gov.
- george w worked on his fathers pres campaign but never held a political office before
- many voted for bush b/c of disdain for clinton, richards, and demo policy
- many rallied behind bush b/c of his fathers successes
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Term
| republican take over of tx legislature |
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Definition
- kay bailey hutchinson elected to senate
- last time so many repub elected to tx legislature was during reconstruction
- nearly 70% of state offices held were by repubs
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Term
| redistricting and tom delay |
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Definition
- in 2000 the legislature redrew congressional election districts
- in 2002 after major wins by repubs, tom delay campaigned for another redistricting
- there were charges that repubs redistricted to dilute minority votes
- more than 50 demos staged a walk out during the session.
- stayed in oklahoma to avoid any action from legislature
- demos returned eventually
- a few months later redistricting was tried again. and again demos left but this time for new mexico
- finally a new map was approved
- after 2004 elections more repubs won seats
- demos filed chaqrges but us supreme court denied to review
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