Jim Landtroop
| Jim Landtroop | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 85 district | |
| In office January 2011 – January 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph P. Heflin |
| Succeeded by | Ken King in reconfigured District 88 Phil Stephenson in reconfigured District 85 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 16, 1968 Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Catherine D. Landtroop |
| Children | Braden, Kenneth, and Lauren Grace Landtroop |
| Residence | Plainview, Hale County Texas, United States |
| Alma mater | Texas Wesleyan University |
| Occupation | Insurance agency owner |
| Religion | Nondenominational Christian: Plainview Bible Church |
James Franklin Landtroop, Jr., known as Jim Landtroop (born January 18, 1968), is a businessman from Plainview, Texas, who is a Republican departing one-term member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 85 in the South Plains.
In the general election held on November 2, 2010, Landtroop unseated two-term Democratic incumbent Joseph P. Heflin of Crosbyton, 17,426 votes (61.6 percent) to 10,853 (38.4 percent). Landtroop won fifteen of the sixteen counties in the district, losing only in Heflin's own Crosby County. He secured comfortable margins in two of the larger counties in the district, his own Hale County and Howard County, which includes Big Spring.[1]
In the Republican runoff election held on July 31, 2012 in District 88, Landtroop was defeated for a second term by Ken King, the president of the Canadian Independent School District in Canadian, the county seat of Hemphill County in the northeastern Panhandle. King received 7,541 votes (54 percent) to Landtroop's 6,426 ballots (46 percent).[2]
Background
Landtroop is a fifth-generation Texan. His parents are James, Sr., and Bobbie Landtroop (both born c. 1940) of Ranger[3] in Eastland County east of Abilene. Landtroop was born in Fort Worth, where he subsequently enrolled at Texas Wesleyan University, at which from 1986-1988 he played basketball and was a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in 1991 from Texas A&M University in College Station, where he majored in business management. He was a member of Sigma Iota Epsilon, the national management honor society. Having formerly been employed in Dallas, Texas, by State Farm, Landtroop now owns an insurance company in Plainview, the seat of Hale County, located north of Lubbock. His agency handles the accounts of some 1,400 clients, with $2.5 million in annual sales. Landtroop is a member of the Lions Club, Chamber of Commerce, United Way, and the American Cancer Society. He is a founding member of the Plainview Bible Church (established 1999) and serves as the boys' varsity basketball coach at Plainview Christian Academy, where his team went to the state semi-finals in 2009.[4]
Legislative races
In 2006, Heflin defeated Landtroop by 217 votes to claim the seat vacated by James "Pete" Laney, a former Texas House Speaker. Heflin received 14,323 votes (49 percent) to Landtroop's 14,106 votes (48.3 percent) and David K. Schumacher (born 1946) of Anson, nominee of the Libertarian Party, who polled 793 ballots, or 2.7 percent.[5]
Landtroop said that he re-entered the state legislative race in 2010 after his 2006 defeat because he is "tired of our big-spending, over-reaching government." [4]Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott came to Plainview to campaign for Landtroop, citing their mutual opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law in March 2010 by U.S. President Barack H. Obama.
Landtroop declares himself a "conservative voice for West Texas". In victory, Landtroop said that "God has just blessed us with this victory, and we look forward to representing the people of this district in this next session"...
In addition to Hale and Hemphill, the home counties of Landtroop and King, the 88th District will include these other counties (listed alphabetically): Armstrong, Bailey, Briscoe, Castro, Cochran, Donley, Gray, Hansford, Hockley, Lamb, Lipscomb, Ochiltree, Roberts, Swisher, and Yoakum. Few of the counties in District 88 had been in Landtroop's District 85.
Landtroop is a recipient of the 2004 "Ronald Reagan Republican Gold Medal Award." He has worked in the campaigns of his friend, U.S. Representative Randy Neugebauer, a Lubbock Republican who first won Texas' 19th congressional district seat in a special election in 2003. He was the congressman's Hale County co-chairman in 2004 and has since served on the Neugebauer campaign finance board. Neugebauer endorsed Landtroop's legislative candidacy. In 2009, Governor Rick Perry appointed Landtroop to the Brazos River Authority Board.[4]
In 2011, Landtroop joined three other newly elected state legislators from West Texas and the Panhandle, Four Price of Amarillo and John Frullo and Charles Perry, both of Lubbock.
Election of 2012
In the Republican primary held on May 29, 2012, Landtroop led a four-candidate field with 6,358 votes (34.4 percent). Ken King trailed with 5,569 votess (30.2 percent). Two other candidates held a critical 35 percent of the ballots cast, Mac Smith, who received 3,368 votes (18.2 percent), and Gary Walker, who finished with 3,162 votes (17.1 percent).[6]
Canadian futures trader Salem Abraham donated $100,000 to Ken King, Abraham's then colleague on the Canadian School Board.[7] In the heated race, Abraham attended a meeting in Levelland in Hockley County west of Lubbock, at which Governor Rick Perry endorsed Landtroop. As the gathering closed, Abraham rose to challenge Landtroop's campaign tactics against King. He was asked to hold his questions for a later time and then to leave the premises. Michael Quinn Sullivan, a conservative activist and founder of the group Empower Texans, which supported Landtroop, questioned the Canadian School Board's high rate of educational spending (nearly $38,000 per pupil in 2010-2011, with only $7,000 directly in the classroom) and property tax increases (five cents per $100 in assessed value in 2011).[8]
Abraham subsequently sued Daniel Greer and the group, Fix The Facts Foundation, also known as AgendaWise, for libel regarding the King-Landtroop campaign. The Texas 31st District Court in Canadian threw out the suit on grounds that Abraham had not proved malice on the part of the defendants. But the dismissal was overturned in July 2014 and remanded to the trial court by the Texas Seventh District Court of Appeals in Amarillo. The circuit court said that Abraham's complaint is unrelated to his being a public figure. Greer had not mentioned Abraham's school board tenure in the report of the Levelland meeting.[7]
Family
Landtroop and his wife, Catherine D. "Cathy" Landtroop (born May 24, 1969), reside in Plainview. They have four children, Braden (born ca. 1995), Kenneth (born ca. 1996), and Lauren Grace (born ca. 2000).[4]
References
- ↑ "Texas general election returns, November 2, 2010". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State official election results, July 31, 2012.
- ↑ People Search and Background Check, Internet
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "About Jim Landtroop". kcbd.com. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
- ↑ "Texas general election returns, November 7, 2006". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
- ↑ "Republican primary election returns, May 29, 2012". enr.sos.state.tx.us. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Salem Abraham v. Daniel Greer and Fix The Facts Foundation d/b/a AgendaWise: Appeal from 31st District Court of Hemphill County". law.justia.com. July 25, 2014. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
- ↑ Michael Quinn Sullivan (July 25, 2012). "Ken the Tax Man". Retrieved September 23, 2014.
| Texas House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Joseph P. Heflin |
Texas State Representative from District 85 (South Plains)
James Franklin "Jim" Landtroop, Jr. |
Succeeded by Ken King (in reconfigured District 88) Phil Stephenson (reconfigured District 85) |
