Tom Hayden (Texas politician)

Thomas Edward Hayden, known as Tom Hayden (born 1967), is the mayor of Flower Mound, Texas, a community of some 65,000 located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Background

Hayden graduated from the college preparatory Sayre School in Lexington, Kentucky. He then studied at Marshall University in Huntington in western West Virginia, where he was the student body president and a member of the West Virginia Board of Trustees. He is employed in the financial services industry. His father is Thomas Lee Hayden (born 1932), formerly a mathematics professor at the University of Kentucky at Lexington, Kentucky, and now of Lewisville, Texas.^[1] Hayden's great-grandfather drove cattle on the old trails in Texas and purchased a ranch in 1890 near Moran, Texas, which is still in the Hayden family. Hayden's grandfather was an attorney, district attorney, and the mayor of Abilene, Texas, during the 1930s and 1940s.^[2] Hayden is Vice President of Investment Strategy for Liberty Bankers Life.^[3]

Political life

On December 16, 2013, at a regular city council meeting, Mayor Hayden declared 2014 the "Year of the Bible" in his city. The proclamation is not an order on behalf of the municipal government but action taken specifically by the mayor to encourage constituents to read the Bible.^[4] Hayden also promoted a website of the Calvary Chapel Church in Flower Mound.^[5] Hayden said the issue should not focus upon him but on Scripture: "Everyone's personal relationship with God is a personal decision [and] may differ with mine. If I can, I would like to encourage people to read the Bible."^[4] Hayden traced the biblical roots of the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Emancipation Proclamation. He also stressed the moral fiber of the Founding Fathers.^[6]

The proclamation drew both support and opposition from constituents. Jewish Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis of the Congregation Kol Ami said that more than a year earlier he had advised Hayden not to issue the proclamation: "He thinks this is about him and his opportunity to promote his faith in his role as mayor. But I think he needs to realize that I and the other people who voted him to office voted him in as mayor, not as Bishop of Flower Mound."^[4]

On May 11, 2013, Hayden declared "Falun Dafa Day", also known as Falun Gong, a self-improvement practice rooted in ancient Chinese culture that emphasizes truth, compassion, forbearance, and meditation.^[7]

In 2012, Hayden unseated Mayor Melissa Northern, his former political ally.^[8] On May 10, 2014, he was reelected to a second two-year term. The position is nonpartisan and part-time. On the first Saturday of every month from 8 to 10 a.m., Mayor Hayden hosts a town meeting in different neighborhoods of his city.^[9] Prior to becoming mayor, Hayden had been a member of the town council.

References