Hugh Parmer

Hugh Q. Parmer (born August 3, 1939)^[2] is an attorney and Democratic politician in Fort Worth, Texas. He served in both houses of the Texas State Legislature, on the Fort Worth City Council, and as mayor of Fort Worth. In 1990, he was his party's unsuccessful nominee for the U.S. Senate against Republican Phil Gramm, who retired from the seat late in 2002.

Early years

In 1957, Parmer graduated from Polytechnic High School in Fort Worth. In 2009, he was inducted into "Wall of Fame" by the Fort Worth Independent School District, the governing board of Polytechnic High School.^[3] Parmer holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He headed the Parmer Marketing Company, Inc., from 1969 to 1988.^[4]

Political career

Still in his middle twenties, Parmer served in the Texas House of Representatives for a single term from 1963 to 1965. Thereafter, he was elected to the city council and in 1977 as mayor, a post he held for two years until his defeat in 1979 in a heated contest with Woodie Woods.^[5]

Parmer was elected as a state senator in 1982, a heavily Democratic year in Texas. He defeated Andy Andujar, the husband of outgoing State Senator Betty Andujar, the first Republican woman to serve in the state Senate.^[6] Parmer served on the Senate committees of (1) Administration, (2) Health and Human Resources, (3) Intergovernmental Relations, and (4) the Subcommittee on Public Health.^[7] In 1989, Parmer was one of five senators to serve as the President Pro Tempore, having preceded in that position his regional colleague, Bob McFarland of Arlington.^[8]

In the U.S. Senate race in 1990, Parmer polled 1,429,986 votes (37.4 percent), but Gramm prevailed, 2,302,357 (60.2 percent).

In 1988, at the age of forty-nine, Parmer was admitted to the practice of law in Texas.^[9][10] From 1991 to 1998, Parmer was the managing shareholder of the law firm of Parmer, Archer, Young and Steen.^[4]

Parmer twice ran unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives. In 1984, as a freshman state senator, he lost the Democratic nomination in District 6 to former State Representative Dan Kubiak of Rockdale. Kubiak was then defeated by Republican Joe Barton, who has held the seat since that time. Barton succeeded the Democrat-turned-Republican Phil Gramm, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate that year over fellow Republicans Ron Paul and Henry C. Grover and the Democratic State Senator Lloyd Doggett of Austin.^[2] In 1996, as the Democratic nominee in District 12, Parmer polled 41 percent of the vote against the victorious Republican Kay Granger, also a former mayor of Fort Worth.^[2]

Recent activities

Parmer is a former president of the American Refugee Committee and a past assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development.^[3] He served in the United States Office of Emergency Management under U.S. President Bill Clinton. In 2008, Parmer was named a research fellow at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, formerly the Humphrey Institute, named for former Vice President of the United States Hubert H. Humphrey, and located at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he explored issues relating to disaster relief.^[11]

In 2010, Parmer's political involvement included donations to defeated U.S. Representatives Chet Edwards of Texas, another former political rival of Phil Gramm's, and Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota. In 2008, he contributed to the U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.^[12]

Parmer is currently an adjuct professor at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. He teaches Introduction to International Studies and the Introductory Seminar for International Studies, as well as Humanitarian Aid.

References