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Talking Tamales (Thu Nov 12 at 11:12 AM)

Alan says: I am in favor of limiting the governor to two consecutive terms. But blacklisting someone after eight years altogether, regardless of how good or bad they did their job, can needlessly force an effective public official out of public service. Many state governors throughout history have served well over eight years without their constituents regretting it. I would point out that such a system is wholly unworkable in twenty-first century America: we live in the era of the permanent campaign and the 24-hour news cycle. A governor facing re-election every other year would essentially do nothing but fundraise (which is close to what most do anyway even with four-year terms). (November 19th, 2009 at 11:09pm)

S. C. Gwynne

Sam Gwynne joined TEXAS MONTHLY as an executive editor in June of 2000. Prior to that, he was Austin bureau chief for Time magazine, responsible for its coverage of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and the Mexico border. He moved to Austin in 1994 from Time’s headquarters in New York where he was a senior editor in charge of the business section. He first joined Time in 1988 as a correspondent in the Los Angeles bureau covering California and the western states. He was later Detroit bureau chief and national economics correspondent in Time’s Washington, D.C., bureau. Gwynne was co-author of Time’s first cover story on George W. Bush. Subjects of his TEXAS MONTHLY stories include Tom Craddick, Karl Rove, terrorism in Houston, and Big Bend.

Gwynne is a 1974 graduate of Princeton University and received a Masters degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1977. After teaching high school French for two years, he was awarded a teaching fellowship in the writing seminars program under novelist John Barth at Johns Hopkins. For the next five years, he worked for two multinational banks managing international loan portfolios in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia and traveling frequently overseas. He later worked in the Hong Kong office of First Interstate Bank of California.

In the 1980s, Gwynne left banking to become a freelance writer, contributing to a number of publications including Harper’s, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Monthly and California Magazine, where he was a contributing editor. He went on to work as a staff reporter for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and later became editor-in-chief of California Business, at the time the country’s largest regional business magazine, where he won the Western Magazine Association “Maggie” awards for Best Investigative Story, Best Feature Profile, and Most Improved Magazine. He wrote his first book, “Selling Money: A Young Banker’s Account of the Rise and Extraordinary Fall of the Great International Lending Boom” in 1985. The book was runner-up to David Halberstam’s “The Reckoning” in Washington Monthly magazine’s annual book awards.

In 1991, Gwynne and fellow Time correspondent Jonathan Beaty wrote more than 20 stories for Time on the BCCI scandal, for which they won the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Financial Reporting, the John Hancock Award for Excellence in Business and Financial Journalism, and the Jack Anderson Award as top investigative reporters of the year. Their subsequent Random House Book, “The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into The Secret Heart of BCCI,” was named by Business Week magazine as one of the top ten books of the year. He won a number other awards for Time, including first prize in the category of “covering a major news event,” from the National Headliners Club for his work on the Columbine High School shootings.

Features

Come Early. Be Loud. Cash In.

How did the University of Texas build the most successful college sports program in history? One visionary coach at a time. One world-class athlete at a time. One state-of-the-art stadium at a time. And with an ambitious, aggressive business model that’s the envy of its rivals everywhere. (November 2008)

This Land Is His Land

Jerry Patterson’s enemies make him out to be the Grinch who sold Christmas (Mountains, that is). Of course, he couldn’t give a &$%#. (May 2008)

The Last Drop

Texas has the country’s most precise state water plan. So how is it that every one of our major cities is still on track to run dry in the next fifty years? (February 2008)

The Old Man and the River

Fifty years after the mythical trip on the Brazos that was the basis for John Graves’s classic book, I followed in his wake. Literally. (November 2007)

The Next Frontier

How has the state’s most storied ranch managed to survive and thrive in the twenty- first century? By operating in a way that its founder, Captain Richard King, would scarcely recognize. (August 2007)

Lust in Space

The lovesick antics of diapered astronaut Lisa Nowak are some combination of funny and sad but seemingly not revealing of anything larger, until you realize that her tragic, tabloidy breakdown says everything you need to know about NASA’s many troubles. (May 2007)

Bob Perry Needs a Hug

Roundly criticized for helping to popularize “Swift boat” as a verb, the Houston homebuilder who is the nation’s largest individual political donor wants you to know he’s a sweet guy with a soft side. But don’t expect him to put away his checkbook anytime soon. (April 2007)

Coal Hard Facts

Facing an energy crisis, Texas is on the verge of a solution that will belch about five billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in the next forty years. Breathe deeply—while you still can. (January 2007)

Dell Freezes Over

It’s not just the stock price. It’s not just the executive exodus. It’s not just the flaming laptops. It’s not just the lousy customer service. It’s not just the sagging employee morale. It’s all of these things—and it’s deadly serious. Inside the sudden decline of the world’s most powerful computer company. (October 2006)

Thank God It’s Friday

And Saturday. And Sunday. The arrival of fall means weekends spent watching football, up close and on-screen, and yet another opportunity to love the greatest game on earth for all the usual reasons. Forty-nine of them, in fact. (September 2006)

He’s Sisyphus, and He Approves This Message

Gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell pushes a rock up a hill. (June 2006)

Water, Water Everywhere

From kayaking on Town Lake to mountain biking around Joe Pool Lake, from bass fishing on Lake Fork to horseback riding on the shores of Lake Whitney, here are some of our favorite things to do in, on, and around Texas lakes. (June 2006)

Tree Ring Circus

Why did the feds spend seventeen years pursuing a baseless billion-dollar lawsuit against Houston financier Charles Hurwitz? To help environmentalists take away his old-growth California redwoods. Your tax dollars at work. (April 2006)

Retail Politics

Along a seventeen-mile stretch of Interstate 35 sits a theoretical dividing line between red-state and blue-state America. In Austin, the flagship Whole Foods attracts your typical wine-sipping, tree-hugging, Volvo-driving liberals. In Buda, the massive Cabela’s is a magnet for beer-guzzling, gun-toting, flag-waving conservatives. From these consumer preferences, voting habits are born—but appearances, like tofu dogs and duck decoys, can be deceiving. (January 2006)

Dr. Evil

By almost any measure of performance, including the sheer number of patients who are crippled and maimed, the medical profession has rarely seen anyone like Houston orthopedic surgeon Eric Scheffey. So why did he get to keep his license for so long? (September 2005)

Run With the Devils

There was a major don’t-try-this-at-home aspect to my two-day ride on this primitive and unpredictable river. But as scary as it was, it was every bit as beautiful. (June 2005)

Hello to a River

Fourteen of them, actually. From kayaking the Colorado and rock climbing along the Pecos to tubing the Pedernales and birding on the Rio Grande, here are the most enjoyable and exciting things to do on some of our favorite Texas waterways. (June 2005)

Safe at Home

Yes, I am one of those parents, the sort who takes his perfectly contented ten-year-old out of a relaxed neighborhood softball league and propels her into the hypercompetitive world of youth tournament sports. But you know what? It’s what Maisie wanted. (April 2005)

On the Road Again—Panhandle

South from Amarillo to Tulia, east to Turkey, west to Silverton, and north, through Palo Duro Canyon, to Amarillo. (April 2005)

1. Tom Craddick

The House Speaker didn’t get to be the most powerful man in Texas by selling mud. (February 2005)

Attack Here

The Houston Ship Channel is considered one of the top strategic targets in the U.S.—an enormous bomb waiting to be detonated by terrorists. But what happens if the bomb actually goes off? Brace yourself for a worst-case scenario of the sort the Homeland Security folks are modeling and simulating and staying up late worrying about. (November 2004)

The Daughter Also Rises

Her mom dissed his dad. He defeated her mom. Now Cecile Richards is helping lead the charge to send him—that would be the president of the United States—back to Texas. Nothing personal, mind you. (August 2004)

Peace be with you. And also with you. Unless you're gay.

The battle for the soul of the Episcopal Church, being waged aggressively in this state, is not only about the ordination of homosexuals. It's also about the future of the denomination. (July 2004)

The Voice of America

Is Clear Channel, the San Antonio-based radio behemoth, as patently evil as everyone says? Don't touch that dial. (April 2004)

Conversations With a Grasshopper

To experience the majesty and peril of the desert on my own terms, I spent a week alone in the Solitario, the most remote area of Big Bend Ranch State Park. I confronted my darkest fears—and made small talk with an insect. (March 2004)

James Baker Forever

In an ever-changing political world, one thing is constant: The Republican mandarin is a player—and always will be. (December 2003)

Weapon of Mass Communication

This was the summer of George W. Bush's discontent, when sixteen specious words in the State of the Union address threw the White House into disarray. Can his 32-year-old mediameister, Dan Bartlett, get the message and the messenger back on track? (November 2003)

Is "Al Gonzales" Spanish For "Stealth Liberal"?

Conservatives fear that the White House counsel is another David Souter, but he's close enough to George W. that he'll probably get a Supreme Court seat anyway—and make history. (June 2003)

Genius

By now we've heard plenty about how smart senior presidential adviser Karl Rove is, and how he's the most powerful political consultant of all time, and how he delights Republicans and bedevils Democrats. But how did the man who made George W. Bush famous get to be famous—and infamous—himself? (March 2003)

How Good Is Your Kid's High School?

Find out in our updated, expanded, and still exclusive ranking of nearly every public high school in Texas. (November 2002)

Did Dick Cheney Sink Halliburton (And Will It Sink Him?)

Well, the vice president of the United States was a mediocre CEO, but the company will be just fine. And, despite what you've read in the papers, so will he. (October 2002)

Lonesome Cowboy

A businessman with the Western virtues of courage and self-reliance. An aloof aristocrat who bought his way into Republican politics. Who is the real David Dewhurst, and why are so many people so unenthusiastic about his campaign for lieutenant governor? (June 2002)

How Good Is Your Kid's School?

Find out in our rankings of nearly every public elementary, middle, and high school in Texas–the most comprehensive and accurate ever done in the state. (November 2001)

Dr. No

Republican congressman Ron Paul, of Surfside, believes that much of our federal government should be abolished. He has voted against honoring the likes of Rosa Parks and repeatedly goes against his constituents' interests. He is a contrarian, an outsider, and an ineffectual lawmaker. And he just may be unbeatable. (October 2001)

Judge Not

When Senators Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison blocked the nomination of El Paso's Enrique Moreno to the powerful Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals they triggered a firestorm of protest fueled by wounded ethnic pride. (November 2000)

Columns | Miscellany

Boom With A View

There’s no stopping the skyrocketing growth of San Antonio—until recently the Land That Time Forgot—and there’s no going back. (December 2007)

Glove Story

Why an iconic sporting-goods company survived a devastating fire. (March 2007)

Walled Off

As a record number of demonstrators hit the streets this spring, one Texas border town was rolling the dice on a draconian method of dealing with illegal immigrants. And it’s working. (May 2006)

Media Culpa

Why you should distrust the press. (June 2004)

Pilot Error

Wondering what American Airlines CEO Don Carty was thinking when his plan to save the company blew up in his face? I certainly was. So I went to see him. (September 2003)

Mother Nurture

The secret to running Southwest Airlines? Be sentimental. Share. And love. (February 2003)

Swamped!

If you're looking for endless stretches of pristine coastline, more birds than you can count, and the state's largest concentration of alligators, then Port Arthur is your gateway to an unexpected adventure. (March 2002)

Bunker Hunt

Remembering the Hunt brother’s silver anniversary. (September 2001)

Boss Perot, Jr.

He made his name in real estate, but now Ross Perot, Jr., is running the computer services company that bears his family's name—and taking care of business with his father. (July 2001)

Gaining Currency

How did Laredo-based IBC become one of the most powerful banks in Texas? Here's a full account. (May 2001)

Reporter

Starting a Business

Sweet Leaf Tea’s founder on starting a business. (May 2008)

Bryan Christian

Advertising Executive (March 2008)

Producing a TV Talk Show

Bill Geddie, co-executive producer of The View. (November 2007)

Beverly Kearney

An amazing recovery on track. (December 2006)

How to Win An Election

Matthew Dowd on how to win an election. (November 2006)

The Dallas Morning Blues

Why isn’t this man smiling? If you were the chairman of Belo, the suddenly stumbling media conglomerate, you wouldn’t be smiling either. Then again, Robert Decherd is sure there’s only good news ahead. (January 2005)

Rain of Error

For as long as there has been a Texas, there have been dry spells when people wished it would rain. One huckster actually tried to make it happen—with the financial backing of Congress. (August 2003)

Grand Illusion

Deep pockets and an uphill climb: S. C. Gwynne says the last days of Tony Sanchez's campaign for governor looked an awful lot like the first. (December 2002)