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Paul Burka

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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.

Featured Articles

Politics & Policy

Water Under the Bridge

Henry Cisneros’ power derived from his ability to bring people together. It was supposed to get him elected governor, senator, president. He’s finally the president, all right —of a Spanish-language TV network. And all thoughts of a career in public life are in the past.

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The Texas A&M bonfire tragedy.
Texas History

The Aggie Bonfire Tragedy

What’s so important about a stack of wood? Every Aggie knows that the answer is tradition—which is why, after a catastrophe that took the lives of twelve young men and women, the decision of whether to continue, change, or call a halt to the bonfire looms so large at Texas

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3666 Articles

Politics & Policy|
December 31, 2014

Wendy Davis’s Future

I was surprised to read that Wendy Davis intends to make another run at public office, as yet unspecified. Among other things, she has retracted her support for open carry. But it is hard to see what kind of future Davis has, particularly when Battleground Texas proved to be as

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Politics & Policy|
December 29, 2014

A Path to Medicaid Expansion?

It appears that Governor-elect Abbott is considering some form of Medicaid expansion. If this is indeed the case, it is incredibly good news for Texas. Rick Perry’s rejection of Medicaid expansion was petulant and extremely damaging to the state. The cost of expansion to the state is miniscule (mainly covering

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Politics & Policy|
December 22, 2014

The Rise of Joe Straus

The news that Speaker Joe Straus has become the Vice Chair of the Republican Legislative Campaign should be the final nail in the coffin of Michael Quinn Sullivan and Empower Texans. Of course I know it won’t. But it should end any speculation that Straus has any political worries whatsoever;

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Politics & Policy|
November 11, 2014

One Week Later

After every major election, it seems I find myself writing an obituary for the Texas Democratic party. It’s not a true obituary, I suppose, since the Democrats are not exactly dead, just comatose. This year brought a rare combination of considerable early optimism by Democrats, followed by the worst pasting

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Politics & Policy|
November 3, 2014

Losing the Battleground

Battleground Texas, the organization chosen by the Obama White House to “turn Texas blue,” proved to have been nothing more than a mirage. In fact, Battleground did more to sabotage the Democratic effort — unintentionally — than to support it, thanks to Jeremy Bird, Battleground’s leader. Bird produced a memo

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Politics & Policy|
October 20, 2014

And the Voting Begins

UPDATE: In my original post, I mistakenly referred to previous endorsements by some of the state’s major newspapers, and I have corrected the errors.This election has all the earmarks of being one of the strangest ever. First, as I have opined before, this is the weakest ticket the Republican party

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Politics & Policy|
October 17, 2014

Greg Abbott and the DMN

To the surprise of no one, the Morning News has endorsed Greg Abbott for governor. It is a choice that I won’t criticize. But I will raise this red flag: that Wendy Davis has uncovered serious issues about Abbott’s character and lack of empathy for Texans who have

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Politics & Policy|
October 2, 2014

The Home Stretch

I’m not surprised that the race for governor has tightened according to the recent Lyceum Poll. This is a contest between two candidates who have the support of large constituencies that stretch far beyond Texas. Abbott is among the state’s most prominent attorneys and is no stranger to

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Politics & Policy|
September 29, 2014

The Fallout From the Enterprise Fund

When one looks at the wheeling and dealing that went on with the Texas Enterprise Fund, my question is this: Why is it not an impeachable offense? These folks used the Enterprise Fund for their private playground. They awarded $222 million to entities that, according to the Dallas Morning News,

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Politics & Policy|
September 22, 2014

Weighing in on the Debate

Alas, I was out of the state for the Texas gubernatorial debate on Friday evening, but having watched the replay, I can’t say that I missed much. As debates go, I found it relatively low-wattage. Both candidates were articulate and reasonably polite to their opponents, though I thought Davis

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Burka Blog|
September 16, 2014

What State Government Does

Recent actions by state government have reinforced my belief that the state rarely does anything FOR the public; it only does things TO the public. The latest example is that Texas insurance commissioner Julia Rathgeber allowed the three largest home insurance companies to impose significant rate increases. Rathgeber could have

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Politics & Policy|
September 2, 2014

Another Round of School Finance

It is all but certain that Attorney General Greg Abbott will appeal Judge Dietz’s school finance ruling. It’s classic Abbott. He has to win, even if he realizes that he is going to lose.But the Legislature’s treatment of the schools during the 2011 session all but guarantees a loss for Abbott.

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Politics & Policy|
August 27, 2014

Perry’s Defense

The governor has a first-class legal team, but some of its arguments concerning the indictment sound more like rhetoric than law.Such as “an unconstitutional attack on Perry’s rights”And  …”defies common sense”And …”a violation of the Texas and U.S. constitutions”And … “an improper attempt to criminalize politics”And … “based on state

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Politics & Policy|
August 15, 2014

Verging on Irrelevance

I don’t think Republicans recognize what is happening to their party in Texas. The GOP is verging on irrelevance. The failure of Texas to land the Republican national convention should have been a wake-up call for the state party. There was a reason why the Republicans chose Cleveland over Dallas:

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Politics & Policy|
August 5, 2014

Troops on the Border

To close this discussion, I simply want to say one thing: This was completely predictable. There was no reason to send the National Guard to the Border. There was no mission. There was no objective. It was just political theatre to make Rick Perry look like he was doing something,

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