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Paul Burka

Paul Burka's Profile Photo

Former senior executive editor Paul Burka joined the staff of Texas Monthly in 1974, one year after the magazine’s founding. He led TM’s political coverage for nearly forty years and spearheaded its storied roundup of the Best and Worst Legislators each biennium. A lifelong Texan, he was born in Galveston, graduated from Rice University with a BA in history, and received a JD from the University of Texas School of Law.

Burka spent five years as an attorney with the Texas Legislature, where he served as counsel to the Senate Natural Resources Committee. He won the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award in 1981. He also received a National Magazine Award in 1985, for his two-part profile of Clinton Manges. After retiring from Texas Monthly in 2015, he taught at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He died in 2022.

3666 Articles

State Secrets|
March 1, 1983

State Secrets

Wright is wrong in the Houston mayor’s race; the medical establishment beats the state budget crunch; capital punishment faces death by bureaucracy; will defense put John Tower on the defensive?

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State Secrets|
February 1, 1983

State Secrets

Treasure hunters want state booty; Republicans aren’t so hot about Phil Gramm; there’s hope for Texans with money in Mexico; Texas newspapers worry about USA Today.

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State Secrets|
January 1, 1983

State Secrets

One giant step for wives; one small step for John Glenn; why oilmen will never rule the world; why the new Texas congressmen won’t either.

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Books|
January 1, 1983

A Monumental Man

In The Path to Power Robert Caro brings the Texas of the twenties and thirties to hot, scrubby life, but tries to fit the young Lyndon Johnson into a prefabricated and constricting mold.

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State Secrets|
December 1, 1982

State Secrets

Brown & Root looks for a way out; Mark White looks for a way in; who’s number one at UT; the Court of Criminal Appeals blows another one.

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State Secrets|
November 1, 1982

State Secrets

Making a mountain out of a Greenhill; Dallas versus Houston in the governor’s race; Post time at the Chronicle; the Yankees are after our oil money again.

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State Secrets|
September 30, 1982

State Secrets

West Texas' Indian motels; dueling fundraisers; a not-so-sweet deal; adventures in the legal trade.

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State Secrets|
August 31, 1982

State Secrets

Taller-than-thou in Houston; Bullock and his feelings; the fate of the Boll Weevils; yellow journalism in Dallas.

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State Secrets|
July 31, 1982

State Secrets

Heads-up journalism; expensive mileage; the balkanization of the Sunbelt; wars in the oil patch.

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State Secrets|
June 30, 1982

State Secrets

Slums for sale, hardball at the Herald; bye-bye, Nueces Bay; hello, mudslinging.

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State Secrets|
May 31, 1982

State Secrets

Detroit attacks Houston; UT defends agains the NCAA; Texas loses 59 parks to Reaganomics; voter apathy—who cares?

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State Secrets|
April 30, 1982

State Secrets

A new market for unstable oil; Colorado joins the hate-Texas club; Houston lawyers invade Dallas; a Republican litmus test.

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State Secrets|
April 1, 1982

State Secrets

The New Federalism gets the old raspberry; will Jim Baker run the country or the bank?; a political test for Texas labor; a law Houston’s new police chief would love to break.

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State Secrets|
March 1, 1982

State Secrets

Drilling for oil on hallowed ground; nannies invade Dallas; McKnight of the living dead; does the Voting Rights Act really help Mexican Americans?

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State Secrets|
February 1, 1982

State Secrets

Selling the streets of Laredo; the next big oil play; the bar breaks up over a Supreme Court race; it’s true what they say about office Christmas parties.

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Business|
January 1, 1982

Trust Me. Just Sign Here.

Whenever you buy or sell a house, hundreds of dollars of your money goes for something called title insurance. Title insurance is a great deal—for the title company.

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State Secrets|
January 1, 1982

State Secrets

Poor Bunker Hunt; hogging the airwaves; why the establishment likes Hightower; worries in the Hobby camp.

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State Secrets|
December 1, 1981

State Secrets

Dreaming Democrats; juicy news about the News; shake-ups brewing in UT; whey Reagan can’t decontrol gas.

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Business|
October 1, 1981

Losing Big

Everybody knows the story about the young Texan who goes into business, works hard, and makes millions. But what happens when his luck runs out?

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State Secrets|
September 30, 1981

State Secrets

Muse’s shaky takeoff; Mark White on the sport; Bob Bullock’s special grace; aging Texas money.

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State Secrets|
August 31, 1981

State Secrets

What the future holds for artificial hearts, utility customers, Phil Gramm, and the Republican party.

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State Secrets|
July 31, 1981

State Secrets

Bombs away on the Franklin Mountains; why pro-nukes belong in the Nutt House; the Dallas News goes public; sportfishermen change their minds about redfish.

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State Secrets|
June 30, 1981

State Secrets

A deal that failed; macho political ads, the unhappiest man in Texas; a big time legal goof.

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State Secrets|
May 31, 1981

State Secrets

Farmers and oilmen fight over water; a Houston gold rush for TV licenses; houses multiply faster than people; security for brokers.

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State Secrets|
April 30, 1981

State Secrets

Fines for political signs; big changes in the Valley; UT bursting at the seams; the failure of consultants; Arlington, an unlikely newspaper town.

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State Secrets|
April 1, 1981

State Secrets

Cutting up in the Big Thicket Association; uranium mines get the shaft; the Light at the end of the tunnel; how to make Yankees pay for our oil.

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State Secrets|
March 1, 1981

State Secrets

Sex in the classifieds; looking out for farmer’s welfare; everybody wants to be land commissioner; what ever happened to the tax revolt?

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State Secrets|
February 1, 1981

State Secrets

Roughhouse on the Red River; the inside skinny on who’s In and Out; the Census Bureau giveth and the Census Bureau taketh away; circulatory ailments for Dallas newspapers; the last warpath.

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State Secrets|
January 1, 1981

State Secrets

Discount medicine needles doctors; open season on Democrats; meanwhile, back at Southfork; Dallas blacks are fed up—with busing.

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State Secrets|
December 1, 1980

State Secrets

What’s in store for ‘88; riding Reagan’s coattails; welcome to the great El Paso gold rush; Yankee lawyers invade Dallas.

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State Secrets|
November 1, 1980

State Secrets

A ground swell of support for booting Howard Cosell; here come the judges; who will fill the UT power vacuum.

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State Secrets|
August 31, 1980

State Secrets

Texas chic hits bottom; bak error pinches UT law school; carter alienates Texas again; a test for teachers.

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State Secrets|
July 31, 1980

State Secrets

Summer in the city; publisher’s power play; biting the handout that feeds you; will Oscar Wyatt abandon America?

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