>> Well I'm kind of
a different breed because I grew up in Oklahoma. And my Dad was in
Republican politics. My dad was a Republican party
county chairman in Oklahoma. And my mother was a Democrat. That was an interesting
family situation. And I got involved in politics,
followed more on my dad's side. Got involved in the
Republican politics in Oklahoma. I went to high school
in Oklahoma. And then I went to
University of Kansas. And got into student
government politics. I was the vice-president
o
f the student body at University of Kansas. Then I went to SMU, and
while I was at SMU I worked for former state Republican
senator named Ike Harris. And I worked for
him for a while. And then in 1978 I moved
to Corpus Christi, Texas. And I chose Corpus Christi
because I was in law school, and I got to Corpus
Christi and enjoyed it. I wanted to live by the water. I'm a big fan of the coast. And I had never run really
for any sort of public office. In 1987 I was approached to
run for State Repres
entative. And long story short I ran
and I ran as a Democrat. And in the late 80s, Texas was
primarily a Democrat state. And I served eight years. And then I took a
break from politics. I left eleven years, and
then I came back and ran in 2008 as a Republican. And then I was elected,
and I serve today in my 12 years of service. So that's kind of
the long distance. My children were 1
and 2 when I ran. And I will tell you,
when you run for office, especially on a state, it's
tough when you have li
ttle kids. My daughter is in your audience,
was born while I was in session. And so I have three
kids who I could hold in my political pictures. Today they can hold me in
the political pictures. But that's kind of
the role in politics. And it's always been
in the state house. I've, as I said, run twice. And that's kind of an
interesting perspective because I've been
in both parties and have seen pretty
much history where there's not a
whole bunch of it left. >> Your hiatus kind of
straddled a pr
etty big ship. You came back to something
very different you left, than what you left. Talk a little bit about that. I mean how, I mean was it
just unbelievably different when you came back? I mean you came back after the
sea change of the early 2000s. Did you have to retool much? Was it? >> Not really. I mean, what a lot of
people don't realize is that a state representative,
you, and I tell everybody that's
here, make sure that if you run for office you know
how much they pay. They pay you $60
0 a
month minus taxes. And that's all you get. And you shouldn't
pay us a penny more. And they tell you that
it is a part-time job because we basically
serve in the legislature. I live in Corpus Christi. So I move basically to Austin
every two years for 140 days. And you basically
leave your family. And you live in Austin. And then you go back
on the weekends. And I will tell you that
from a political standpoint, it's an interesting perspective
because you have to work it. Not only do you have t
o work for
a living, you have to take care of your constituents and
you have to be in Austin. So the comparison
with the 11 years, I had more hair the first time. I was better looking
the first time. I will tell you that the
rules, the procedures, really hadn't changed that much. I probably got a little bit
of an advantage coming back. And another thing for all
of you that are listening, as a representative,
seniority travels with you. So even though I'm
not going to tell you that seniority some
times
matters in everything. It does in certain things. So my eight years
traveled with me. And so I get to accumulate
that for four years. All that means is
I got a good office and a parking spot is
basically what you get. But, and it helps you in
certain committee picks. But pretty much, you know,
the people are great. You had kind of a little
bit different shift. When I was in there the first
time, I don't know if some of the audience is
from West Texas. The West Texas population,
South Texas
population where I am have had
different population shifts since the late 80s
and the early 90s. And so, people wise
it was great. Procedure wise I
didn't see much change. I think that probably the
one thing that helped me, and I'll tell you all
this, the best thing that probably helped me in
comparison between the two, is being out 11 years. And why is that good, because
I'm just like every one of you. You get to live under
the laws that are passed. And you get a different
perspective. And peo
ple talk to
you, give you ideas. Like we have students here. And during that 11 years I
talked to a lot of students because my kids were in school. And so it gave me
a good education. So when I came back in, I'd
say I had a more broadened view of how we should
operate government. >> A little less in
the bubble maybe. >> Probably, probably.
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