Remembering Bill Clements
Clements will always hold an honored place in the Republican Pantheon as the first GOP governor of Texas since Reconstruction. He was elected in 1978 thanks to a split in the Democratic party. Attorney General John Hill had defeated incumbent governor Dolph Briscoe in the Democratic primary and was favored to beat Clements. But conservative Democrats–most of whom had supported Briscoe in the primary–sided with Clements against Hill.
Clements was a self-made megamillionaire, the founder of an offshore oilfield services firm called SEDCO. He benefited greatly from Jimmy Carter’s unpopularity in Texas and vowed to hang Carter around Hill’s neck “like a rubber chicken”–and made good his vow. When his firm was responsible for the biggest oil spill in history to that time, Clements harrumphed that it was “much ado about nothing.” Such comments were typical of Clements; he was gruff and outspoken, and, as he put it, “Texan to his toenails.” Most of his comments complemented his irascible personality–such as when he referred to a Mexican scholar who disagreed with U.S. immigration policy as “just another Mexican with an opinion”–but one offhand comment turned into a self-inflicted fatal wound, when he said, during his 1982 race for reelection, that “no housewife was qualified to sit on the Public Utility Commission.” That cost him the race.
Clements had to deal with legislatures that were overwhelmingly Democratic, and consequently he did not have a lot of policy initiatives. His strength was his appointments to state boards and commissions, which rivaled George W. Bush’s as the best of any governor during my years of covering the Legislature. His appointees reformed the Texas Department of Corrections and the Parks & Wildlife department, which, during Clements’ tenure in office, became as concerned about parks as it had was about hunting.
Clements never got over his 1982 defeat by attorney general Mark White. He decided to challenge White in 1986, which turned out to be a good year for Republicans. White had to deal with the worst slump in oil prices in memory, which touched off a statewide recession. Reagan was still in the White House, and Texas was moving inexorably toward the Republican column. What hurt White the most was the popular Perot education reforms of 1984–popular with the public, that is, but not among educators. The reforms included teacher competency tests and the no-pass, no-play rule, which were anathema to teachers and coaches.
Clements had a tumultuous second term that cost him dearly in his personal reputation and political influence. He had hardly gotten back into the governor’s office when a major scandal broke in which he was implicated. As chairman of the board of governors of Southern Methodist University, Clements had agreed to pay football players a stipend, which was illegal under the rules of the National Collegiate Athletics Association, the governing body of college sports. The NCAA assessed SMU with the “death penalty” — the school could not field a football team for two years. SMU had been a national power (thanks to the illegal payments), but its program was ruined, along with the school’s reputation–and Clements’s. Had the revelations about the payments come out before the election instead of just after, it is doubtful that Clements could have won reelection.
The last two years of his term were marked by two major policy battles. One was over the 1987 budget. Clements and his top aides refused to accept the Legislative Budget Board’s numbers, and were just as adamant about not raising taxes. The fight between Clements and Lieutenant Governor Bill Hobby lasted through most of the session. Finally, a leading Republican and Clements ally named Peter O’Donnell came to see Clements and told him he needed to agree to raise taxes. Clements signed a $5.7 billion tax increase, the largest in Texas history. In later years, he embraced it as the right thing to have done. The other fight was over workers’ compensation, the first time a Republican governor had taken on the trial lawyers. Clements called one special session after another, keeping lawmakers in Austin until several Democratic senators finally gave in.
Aside from the embarrassment over the revelations at SMU, Clements was a very successful governor–with one other exception. He is the last governor to have a veto overridden. As I recall the issue, it was innocuous. A lawmaker from New Braunfels passed a local bill to define the season for hunting turkey in Comal County. Clements vetoed it because he believed that hunting and fishing should be regulated by Parks & Wildlife, not by the whims of individual legislators. He thought he was right–he always did–and I think he was right. The Legislature overrode him, but I don’t think there has been a local bill since then that attempted to regulate hunting or fishing. Whether you liked him or not (and I was ambivalent), Bill Clements was what he said he was: “Texan to his toenails.”
Tagged: bill clements
Texian Politico says:
Nice tribute.
I don’t think ’86 was a good Republican year. In fact, in the US Senate a lot of Republicans were defeated and the Dems took back that chamber for the first time in six years. I believe the Dems made modest gains in the US House as well. Clements victory over White was against the trend that year. The Republicans weren’t close in any other statewide race that year, were they?
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hooah! says:
Actually better than nice….it is an ACCURATE tribute.
Thanks Paul.
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texun says:
A superb job in a few words, Paul!
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Reggie Bashur says:
Governor Clements was a great Texan and a great American. He always did what he believed was in the best interest of Texas. He pulled no punches and did not parse words. He said it exactly the way he believed it. He was unique in personality, and big and bold in action; just like the Texas he loved.
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Appointments says:
The two different Clements’ terms yielded completed different appointments, especially his judicial appointments. His first term, he was remarkably non-partisan in judicial appointments. The second term, he became increasingly partisan and really started to weigh party affiliation into judicial appointments.
I liked the first term Governor Clements more.
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WURSPH says:
Thanks Paul. It would be easy to condemn Clements or to praise him, depending on your political viewpoint…But you avoided partisanship for for a fair and balanced evaluation of this more than colorful man.
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Rog says:
He was a breath of fresh air because there were thousands of very able appointees who deserved to have a say in the running of state agencies, but were shut out just because they were Republicans.
Harry Whittington would be at the top of the list.
Plus, it was always a treat to hear him introduce his wife, Rita. He usually had a big grin on his face and introduced her as his “bed partner.” He was good for Texas and he will be missed.
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4thestatelover says:
I’ll always remember Bill Clements as the one politician that acted like he wanted to fight me when I was a reporter. Interviewing him before he spoke at the Tyler Petroleum Club in 1986, I repeatedly pressed him for more details on his plans to “scrub the budget” to balance it if the was elected. He didn’t want to get into specifics and finally bowed up and let me know that the interview was over as his press aide led me away. The people of Texas never got an answer, either but he was re-elected anyway. The budget impasse of 1987 followed.
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Texian Politico says:
Off topic – how long will this special session go? If it is called for 30 days does that mean it has to go 30 days or could it end sooner?
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Texian Politico Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 10:10 am
Anyone? Bueller, Bueller? What is the answer?
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Mark says:
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Though I agree with earlier blogger that 86 was bad for R’s in TX – Clements the exception. One issue you did not touch upon was a congressional redistricting fight in 81. Clements thought to open up opportunities for Republicans and I guess he failed. Wasn’t Jim Mattox originally threatened and that plan catapulted him to run for A.G. As it turned out, either the D.C. Circuit or Reagan DOJ rejected Texas’ plan and the Mattox seat was safe.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
Bill Clements was a breath of fresh air after the “Sharpstown Scandal” under Guv Preston Smith and Guv Dolph Briscoe’s attempt to reform the corrupt political system controlled by democrats.
Thank you Guv Clements for leading the charge to take Texas back from corrupt politicians.
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Jed Reply:
May 31st, 2011 at 2:09 pm
!!!
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JackBernieBrooks says:
Thank you Governor Bill – for restoring the mansion and beginning the process to restore and renovate the Capitol. You are missed by many in Austin!
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JohnBernardBooks says:
One of Guv Clements smartest moves was hiring Karl Rove in ’79.
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jerryshults says:
what he did to SMU was inexcusable , and really should have been a crime under texas law….it typified his arrogant and slanted view point on power, carl rove and dirty politics.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
Guv Clements and Karl Rove opened up a new day in Texas politics.
Texans are similar to the new lovers of democracy in the middle east, once you tasted freedom from an oppresive government you won’t ever vote democrat again.
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Briscoe Democrat says:
Texian Politico, I believe Hobby, Bullock, Hightower, Mauro, and others won landslide victories in their respective statewide offices in 1986.
Jim Mattox was narrowly re-elected as State AG that year as well.
Burka, did Clements really say that racist remark in regarding to Latinos ?
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