A. R. Schwartz

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A. R. "Babe" Schwartz (born July 17, 1926) is a former member of the Texas Legislature. He served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1955–1959 and the Texas Senate, District 17 from 1960–1981, representing Galveston, Texas.

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[edit] Personal

A. R. Schwartz, a Jewish Texan politician, was born in Galveston, Texas. Schwartz attended Texas A&M University and the University of Texas School of Law. He is married to the former Marilyn Cohn of Harlingen, Texas, and they have four sons: Bob and Dick Schwartz, both of whom live in Houston, John Schwartz, who lives in New Jersey, and Tom Schwartz, who lives in Florida.[1][2][3]

[edit] Texas Legislature

As a legislator, he specialized in legislation to protect the environment and manage the resources of coastal areas, and earned a reputation as a fiery liberal speaker and a wit. In Molly Ivins's book "Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?," Ivins referred to Schwartz as a "white-maned pixie" and called him one of the legislature's "excellent orators." In "[Confessions of a Maddog: A Romp Through the High-Flying Texas Music and Literary Era of the Fifties to the Seventies][1]," Jay Dunston Milner referred to Schwartz, along with Bob Eckhardt, John Henry Faulk, Maury Maverick, Jr. and others, as being among those in the 1960s who "fought the good fight against the Philistines. They lost most of the time, of course--the Philistines were in the majority. But they won a skirmish here and a point there, anyway, which was better than nothing." Texas Monthly took note, stating that during the sixties and seventies, the best entertainment the Capitol had to offer was the oratory of Galveston senator A. R. "Babe" Schwartz. [2] Schwartz was also named one of the "Ten Best Legislators" by Texas Monthly four times. The first time, in 1973, the magazine called him "the most complex, remarkable man in the Senate" and "one of the most consistently influential members."

In the 1979 legislative session he helped lead the "Killer Bees," a group of state senators who brought the legislature to a standstill by going into hiding and breaking the Senate quorum. During his tenure as a lawmaker, he served on every major committee of the legislature, and served as the chairman of the Rules, Jurisprudence and Natural Resources Committees.[4]

Schwartz was defeated in the 1980 election by J.E. "Buster" Brown, a candidate who was recruited by then 29-year-old Karl Rove, who was working at the time for Texas governor Bill Clements. Decades after his defeat, however, he remains a newsworthy figure: the Galveston County Daily News, in November 2007, published a story on one of its blogs stating that the "legendary Texas lawmaker" had not, in fact, died.[5]

[edit] Media appearances

Schwartz became a lobbyist and legislative consultant on local, state and national issues. He has has appeared in the PBS documentary "Vote For Me: Politics in America" (1996) and "Bush's Brain" (2006). In 1996, he began teaching Legislation and Coastal Zone Management Law at the University of Houston Law Center as an adjunct professor.

[edit] Political critic

He remains a keen observer of Texas politics, and his comments have appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, "60 Minutes" and many Texas newspapers and magazines. When Republican congressman Tom Delay was first indicted in October 2005, many commentators predicted that he would bounce back politically; Schwartz, however, told the New York Times that "He's been gut-shot politically," [6] and was proved right.

[edit] References

  1. ^ JEWS Texas Online Handbook
  2. ^ Senator A. R. "Babe" Schwartz Texas Monthly
  3. ^ Jewish-Texans Texas Almanac
  4. ^ Senator A. R. "Babe" Schwartz Texas Monthly
  5. ^ Never the twain for rumor, fact The Galveston County Daily News
  6. ^ DeLay Scandal Will Affect Only DeLay, Texans Say - New York Times

[edit] External links

Preceded by
unknown		 Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from District 23 (Galveston)
1955 – 1959		 Succeeded by
unknown
Preceded by
Jimmy Phillips		 Texas State Senator
from District 17 (Galveston)
1960 – 1981		 Succeeded by
J.E. ("Buster") Brown