Kae T. Patrick

Kae Thomas Patrick (born 1934)^[1] is an attorney from San Antonio, Texas, who is a Republican former member of the Texas House of Representatives, having represented first District 57-H from 1981 to 1983, and then District 123 in Bexar County from 1983 to 1988.^[2]

Biography

A native of Gray County, Patrick was presumably born in Pampa. In 1935, at the age of one year, he was living in nearby Dumas in Moore County.^[1] Both counties are located in the Texas Panhandle.

Patrick ran unsuccessfully for the state House in 1978 before winning his seat in 1980. His primary opponent, James G. Branaum, sued Patrick under Texas campaign finance law to recover civil penalties on the grounds that Patrick had paid his filing fee in 1980 without first appointing a campaign treasurer. Patrick argued that he was using his 1978 campaign manager, Vita Mayo, until he named a relative, Edgar Harry von Scheele, as his replacement manager for 1980. The Texas Court of Appeals for the Fourth District held that Patrick's delay in switching managers did not impact the outcome of the primary and that Branaum was not entitled to damages.^[3]

Patrick was not the first Republican to represent Bexar County in the state House since Reconstruction. That designation was taken in 1973 by lawmakers James Robertson Nowlin, subsequently a long-serving federal judge, and the late Joe Sage, a one-term member of the House.

In 1985, Patrick was the lone House supporter of the unsuccessful attempt to authorize English as the official language of Texas. His House Concurrent Resolution 13 died in the State Affairs Committee. Patrick said his resolution was more important than having a "state bird." In subsequent sessions of the legislature, the move toward Official English gained supporters, including Talmadge Heflin of Houston, but never enough members to approve enactment of a law.^[4]

In 1983, Texas Monthly magazine classified Patrick, along with Senfronia Thompson of Houston and Erwin Barton of Pasadena, as "Used Furniture", meaning among the most inconsequential of legislators in that particular session.^[5] Patrick resigned from the House on February 1, 1988; a few months later, Moderate Republican Jeff Wentworth was elected to succeed him.

Patrick is divorced^[1] from the former Joyce Lynn von Scheele Patrick (born 1940). She was the daughter of Edgar Harry von Scheele, Sr., and Vivian H. von Scheele (1918-2010). The couple has at least two children, Dane Herman "Kelly" Patrick and Kae Lynn Patrick Diehl. Joyce subsequently married Rodney Carlyle "Rod" Keller, Sr.^[6]

References