Ann Richards, RIP

Truth be told, I was never high on Ann Richards early on. I remember being at the 1988 State Convention (my first), and talking to a lot of different people about who they liked for the upcoming Governor's race. To a person, Ann's name was at the top of their list. I just couldn't see what they saw in her, to be honest. As it turns out, the two guys in the race made the contest a farce. I lucked out in scoring tickets to watch the big Houston debate at George R. Brown (the scene of Ann's infamous "white women" slipup) and felt repulsed at watching the two guys go at it over who fried the most crooks while Attorney General or Governor. To this day, Mark White's (whom I was predisposed to backing due to his education reforms in the 80s) TV ads where he walks through oversized posters of fried crooks is as laughable today as it was when Saturday Night Live took a swipe at it back in the day. It's to the point where I can no longer remember who it was I actually ended up voting for in either the primary or run-off ... and I can't blame it on occassional Alzheimer's.

What led to my appreciation of Ann Richards was the way in which she stood up for John Sharp's reform package. It was at a time when money was tight at the Capitol ... moreso than normal. And the predictable chorus of irate government secondaries was in a tizzy because they saw their budgets being slashed. Without fail, Ann would stare them down, undress them verbally before the cameras, or find even more creative ways that demonstrated what I had not seen before. That it came in support of one of the Texas pols that I most identified with (Sharp) sealed the deal with me.

Two excellent reads that helped round out the story for Ann were her first bio, "Straight from the Heart," as well as her ex-husband's book, "Once Upon a Time in Texas." Between the two of them, you get a well-rounded picture of what it was that drove Ann Richards. It wasn't ego. It was that same determination that was on display in the early 90s. A determination to make Texas a better place to live.