| Dan Patrick | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Texas Senate from the 7th district |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2007 |
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| Preceded by | Jon Lindsay |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 4, 1950 |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Janetlea |
| Children | Ryan, Shane |
| Residence | Houston |
| Alma mater | University of Maryland, Baltimore County |
| Profession | Broadcasting, Businessman |
Dan Patrick (born Daniel Scott Goeb, 4 April 1950 in Baltimore, Maryland) is a Texas State Senator, broadcaster, author, film producer and conservative radio talk show host on KSEV 700 AM in Houston and on KVCE 1160 AM in Dallas.
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Patrick’s father Charles Goeb was a former-Marine who was circulation manager for the Baltimore Sun newspaper, while his mother Jean Goeb was a bookkeeper.[1] Patrick was an only child and grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood in East Baltimore, where he sold newspapers on the streets.[2] Patrick attended the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he graduated with a BA degree in English.[2] In college, Dan sold radio advertising and worked as a country music disk jockey.[2] His dream was to host a game show or The Tonight Show.[2]
Patrick’s first marriage to a high school sweetheart ended in divorce.[2] In his second marriage, Patrick married Janet Lea (“Jan”) Rankin in 1975, and they have a son Ryan and daughter Shane.[3] In his spare time Patrick enjoys playing the piano and guitar.[3]
Patrick never liked the sound of his surname (Goeb) and had used the pseudonym "Dan Patrick" for many years in his media career; before running for office he legally changed his name to Dan Patrick.[2]
Patrick hosts a daily afternoon show on KSEV radio in Houston, which his company now owns outright after operating it for many years. Patrick's program also appears on KVCE in the Dallas area, which he also owns.
He regularly organizes political events in the Houston area. Patrick's show was once voted the top talk radio show in Texas by the Houston Press Club.[4] Patrick has made many appearances as a conservative commentator on MSNBC, The O'Reilly Factor, Glenn Beck on HNN, and Hannity and Colmes as well as serving as guest host for the Laura Ingraham and Michael Reagan nationally syndicated radio shows.
Prior to hosting his show on KSEV, Patrick was a television broadcaster in Baltimore, Scranton, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC and Houston, where he served as Sports Director on KHOU-TV, and the host of a political talk show on KTBU-TV. He was also managing editor at KPRC 950 AM, now a competitor to KSEV.
Patrick was known for exhibiting attention-grabbing behavior on-air, including the following: painting himself and the room blue in support of the Houston Oilers football team; doing sportscasts wearing an oversized cowboy hat, rising out of a casket, wearing a tuxedo, and singing; and having his vasectomy performed on-air.[2] On Thursday afternoon, October 28, 1993, Patrick drew fire when he referred to the television program of CBS’s Connie Chung – a Chinese American – as “Slanted Eye to Eye” during the Three A.M. Egos talk show.[5] The next morning on Patrick’s Talk’n Sports show, persons called in complaining about his remarks, but Patrick defended himself by referring to his comments as an “innocent ad-lib” and a “play on words.”[6]
On June 1, 2006, Patrick announced the signing of a deal to purchase Highland Park, Texas radio station KMGS AM 1160.[7] The station is now known as KVCE, and broadcasts from studios in the Dallas museum district. KVCE recently upgraded its signal strength to 35,000 Watts to reach all of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The station can also be heard as far north as the Oklahoma border, south to Corsicana, west to Weatherford and east to Tyler. The station was purchased from First Broadcasting Capital Partners, LLC.
Patrick is the Republican senator for the Texas Senate in District 7, joining the political ranks of his frequent on-air targets. Patrick won the March 2006 Republican Primary without a runoff, garnering almost 69% of the vote against three well-financed opponents who were all elected officials. After the Republican Primary, Patrick's Democratic opponent—Felix "Michael" Kubosh—signed an FCC waiver freeing Patrick from having to give Kubosh equal airtime on Patrick's radio station, thus allowing Patrick back on the air for the general election seven months before he otherwise would have been.[8] In May 2006 in the midst of the campaign and two months after signing the FCC waiver, Kubosh became a $580,000 investor in his opponent Patrick’s newly purchased Dallas radio station, KVCE 1160 AM.[8] Patrick won the 2006 fall election by getting 69% of the vote against his opponent/business partner Kubosh.[9]
Patrick was sworn in as a Texas state senator in January 2007.[10] In his first month as a legislator, Patrick filed a bill that would make abortion in Texas illegal should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade.[11] He filed legislation again in February 2007 to make it illegal to be an illegal immigrant in Texas. Upon passage, the penal code would be amended to define being illegal in Texas as criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor.
During his maiden legislative session, Patrick passed three Senate bills, the fewest number of Senate bills passed among the five freshmen senators.[12] The other four freshmen Senators—Glenn Hegar (32 Senate bills passed), Kirk Watson (15 Senate bills passed), Robert Nichols (14 Senate bills passed), and Carlos Uresti (12 bills passed) – had previous government experience in other capacities.[13]
W. Gardner Selby, editor of the Austin American-Statesman’s PolitiFact Texas, listed Senator Patrick as third among the top 10 Republican political influencers in Texas (Texas Influencers, August 2010). Senator Patrick is also listed in TEXAS MONTHLY (Power Company, February 2011) as one of the state’s most powerful players.
Patrick joined with restaurateur Edd Hendee and former local tax official Paul Bettencourt, both on-air hosts on Patrick's station, to form Citizens Lowering Our Unfair Taxes (CLOUT), a political organization that was originally formed to push for lower property taxes in Texas. Other political causes initiated by Patrick include a boycott of Bill Maher's television show Politically Incorrect over controversial statements made by the comedian following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.[14] Patrick is also frequently at odds with the Houston Chronicle and announced a boycott of that newspaper in April 2004.[15]
Patrick was interviewed extensively on ABC's 20/20 segment "The Age of Consent: When Young Love Is a Sex Crime," defending his position favoring very tough Texas statutory rape laws. "While it seems unfair, he was 19, she was 15," says Patrick, "That's the price you pay. Even if you end up getting married."[16]
Patrick has endorsed Rick Perry, incumbent Republican governor of Texas, for the 2010 election.[17]
On January 27, 2011 on his radio show, Patrick defended his proposed 20% cuts to Texas education funding by saying that anything but engineering and medical research is "research nobody cares about" which he "will get rid of." [18]
In November 2008, Patrick completed work as Executive Producer on a one hour documentary entitled "The Heart of Texas Movie" link title. The movie was released in Houston theaters and on DVD.
| Texas general election, 2006: Senate District 7[19] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Republican | Dan Patrick | 118,067 | 69.19 | ||
| Democratic | F. Michael Kubosh | 52,586 | 30.81 | ||
| Majority | 65,481 | 38.37 | |||
| Turnout | 170,653 | ||||
| Republican hold | |||||
| Republican primary, 2006: Senate District 7[20] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Mark Ellis | 2,545 | 6.07 | ||
| Peggy Hamric | 6,900 | 16.45 | ||
| Joe Nixon | 3,629 | 8.65 | ||
| ✓ | Dan Patrick | 28,860 | 68.82 | |
| Turnout | 41,934 | |||
| Texas Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jon Lindsay |
Texas State Senator from District 7 (Houston) 2007 – present |
Incumbent |
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