Carole Keeton Strayhorn
Encyclopedia
Carole Keeton Strayhorn is the former Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
.
Elected to the comptroller's post in 1998 as a Republican
, Strayhorn ran as an independent candidate for Texas governor
against Republican
incumbent James Richard "Rick" Perry
in 2006. She lost the November general election
to Perry and placed third in a six-way race, with 18 percent.
Strayhorn is notable for several "firsts" in Austin and Texas
politics. She is the first woman elected as mayor
of Austin
and the first Austin mayor elected to three consecutive terms. She was the first woman elected to the Texas Railroad Commission
and the first woman elected as comptroller. She also was the first woman to serve as president of the Austin school board
and as president of the Austin Community College
board.
In May 2009, Strayhorn lost her campaign for Mayor of Austin.
and the former Madge Anna Stewart. Her father was the longtime dean of the University of Texas Law School
and a renowned expert on tort
law. A section of 26th Street near the UT campus was renamed "Dean Keeton Street" in his honor.
Strayhorn's first marriage was to attorney Barr McClellan
, whom she divorced in 1978 during her first term as mayor. In 1983, she married Curtis H. (Hill) Rylander; that marriage ended in divorce in 1995. She married high school sweetheart Ed Strayhorn in 2003. Strayhorn told reporters that Ed Strayhorn proposed to her while both were attending the University of Texas, but her parents thought she was too young to get married.
She is the mother of:
(which doubled as the Board of Trustees of Austin Community College
) from 1972 to 1977. She served as president of both boards from 1976 to 1977. She was elected mayor of Austin in 1977 and held that post until 1983. In 1983, Governor Mark White
appointed Rylander to the State Board of Insurance, where she served until resigning in 1986 to unsuccessfully challenge veteran Democratic
Congressman J. J. Pickle of Austin, a longtime friend and political ally of Lyndon B. Johnson
.
As Carole Keeton Rylander, she won election to the Texas Railroad Commission in 1994 by beating Democratic incumbent
Mary Scott Nabers, an Ann Richards
appointee, by almost 300,000 votes. The panel primarily regulates the production of oil and natural gas (but no longer has authority over railroads). She served as commission chairman from November 1995 to January 1997, and from June 1998 to January 1999.
of Victoria
, who was seeking the lieutenant governorship. Facing off against Democratic political scion Paul Hobby, the son of a former lieutenant governor and grandson of a former governor and lieutenant governor and a cabinet secretary, Strayhorn won by some 20,000 votes out of roughly 3.6 million votes cast.
Reelected in 2002, she led the statewide Republican
ticket in terms of raw votes. As Carole Keeton Rylander, she drew more than one million votes more in 2002 than she had four years earlier and outpolled fellow Republican Rick Perry by some 246,000 votes even while Perry was easily dispatching Democrat Tony Sanchez of Laredo
in the governor's race.
In 2004, Strayhorn revoked the tax exempt status of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Denison
, Texas
by claiming that the church is not a religion. This move was done because of the policies of the church's parent body, the Unitarian Universalist Association
, which has no single set of religious teachings. The comptroller's office reversed its decision after the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported the incident. This was the only occasion when any state attempted to deny the church's tax exemption.
On May 9, 2006, Strayhorn turned in 223,000 voter signatures to the office of Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams. Only 45,540 were required to place her on the November general election ballot. "I told you, Texas," Strayhorn said while standing in front of 101 boxes stuffed with signatures. "We have blown the barn doors off this petition drive." Media reports later confirmed that the boxes were substantially less than half full (for comparison, her opponent, Kinky Friedman
put 169,000 signatures in 11 similar boxes). On June 22, 2006, Texas Secretary of State Roger B. Williams
declared that only 108,512 signatures on her petition were valid, about 35,000 less than Friedman's count.
Strayhorn tried to have herself listed on the gubernatorial ballot as "Carole Keeton 'Grandma' Strayhorn", claiming that "Grandma" was a common nickname for her, and that independent opponent Kinky Friedman was able to use "Kinky" on the ballot (although he was listed as "Richard 'Kinky' Friedman"). Secretary of State Williams ruled that Strayhorn's "nickname" was a slogan she used during her campaign for state comptroller (One Tough Grandma). Friedman, on the other hand, had used "Kinky" as a professional name on his albums and novels, and had been known by that name for at least 40 years.
During the Texas Governor's debate, Strayhorn suffered image points when she could not name the president-elect of Mexico, Felipe Calderón
, during a rapid-answer segment of the debate. In a format similar to a TV game show
, the candidates had 15 seconds to answer questions. She stated that the election had been hotly contested.
's campaign chair in Travis County
during the 1984 presidential election
. Strayhorn switched parties and became a Republican in 1986, when she was the GOP nominee for the U.S. House seat held by J. J. Pickle.
According to the Associated Press, "Strayhorn has insisted that she is [still] a Republican but is going independent to set partisan politics aside and do what's right for Texas." She has attempted to equate her independence to that of the legendary Sam Houston
, who resigned as governor in 1861 to protest Texas
' decision to join the Confederate States of America
(and who was the only independent candidate to win election as governor of Texas
).
Strayhorn sometimes draws comparisons to the late Governor Ann Richards
, a Democrat, although the two often found themselves on opposite ends of the political spectrum.
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is an executive branch position created by the Texas Constitution. As with nearly every other executive branch head, the Comptroller is popularly elected every four years concurrently with the Governor and the other elected executive branch positions...
.
Elected to the comptroller's post in 1998 as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, Strayhorn ran as an independent candidate for Texas governor
Texas gubernatorial election, 2006
The 2006 Texas gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 2006 to select the next governor of the state of Texas, who is serving a four year term that began on January 16, 2007. The Republican and Democratic Parties chose their candidates by primaries and convention. Primaries were held on...
against Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
incumbent James Richard "Rick" Perry
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full...
in 2006. She lost the November general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
to Perry and placed third in a six-way race, with 18 percent.
Strayhorn is notable for several "firsts" in Austin and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
politics. She is the first woman elected as mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
and the first Austin mayor elected to three consecutive terms. She was the first woman elected to the Texas Railroad Commission
Railroad Commission of Texas
The Railroad Commission of Texas is the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and surface coal and uranium mining .Established by the Texas Legislature in 1891, it is the state's oldest regulatory...
and the first woman elected as comptroller. She also was the first woman to serve as president of the Austin school board
Austin Independent School District
Austin Independent School District is a school district that is based in the city of Austin, Texas, United States. It was established in 1881. Its current superintendent is...
and as president of the Austin Community College
Austin Community College
The Austin Community College District is a regional community college district with eight campuses and 12 centers located in and around the city of Austin, Texas, United States....
board.
In May 2009, Strayhorn lost her campaign for Mayor of Austin.
Family
Carole Stewart Keeton was born in Austin, the second child and only daughter of W. Page KeetonW. Page Keeton
Werdner Page Keeton was an attorney and dean of the University of Texas School of Law for a quarter century.-Education:...
and the former Madge Anna Stewart. Her father was the longtime dean of the University of Texas Law School
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
and a renowned expert on tort
Tort
A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a wrong that involves a breach of a civil duty owed to someone else. It is differentiated from a crime, which involves a breach of a duty owed to society in general...
law. A section of 26th Street near the UT campus was renamed "Dean Keeton Street" in his honor.
Strayhorn's first marriage was to attorney Barr McClellan
Barr McClellan
Oliver Barr McClellan, entrepreneur, counsel and author, born in 1939 in Cuero , Texas, became widely known by his 2003 book Blood, Money & Power on the Kennedy assassination. He has also written on globalization.-Life & Career:...
, whom she divorced in 1978 during her first term as mayor. In 1983, she married Curtis H. (Hill) Rylander; that marriage ended in divorce in 1995. She married high school sweetheart Ed Strayhorn in 2003. Strayhorn told reporters that Ed Strayhorn proposed to her while both were attending the University of Texas, but her parents thought she was too young to get married.
She is the mother of:
- Scott McClellanScott McClellanScott McClellan is a former White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush, and author of a controversial No. 1 New York Times bestseller about the Bush Administration titled What Happened. He replaced Ari Fleischer as press secretary in July 2003 and served until May 10, 2006...
, former George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
White House Press SecretaryWhite House Press SecretaryThe White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....
and who was Strayhorn's campaign manager three times; - Mark McClellanMark McClellanMark Barr McClellan is currently the Director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform, Senior Fellow in Economic Studies and Leonard D. Schaeffer Director's Chair in Health Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. McClellan served as Commissioner of the United States...
, former MedicareMedicare (United States)Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
director and former Food and Drug AdministratorFood and Drug AdministrationThe Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
; - Brad McClellan, Strayhorn's gubernatorial campaign manager and former Texas Assistant Attorney GeneralAttorney GeneralIn most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
- Dudley McClellan, current Assistant Chief Disciplinary Counsel, State Bar of Texas, and Brad's identical twin.
Early political career
As Carole McClellan, she served on the board of trustees of the Austin Independent School DistrictAustin Independent School District
Austin Independent School District is a school district that is based in the city of Austin, Texas, United States. It was established in 1881. Its current superintendent is...
(which doubled as the Board of Trustees of Austin Community College
Austin Community College
The Austin Community College District is a regional community college district with eight campuses and 12 centers located in and around the city of Austin, Texas, United States....
) from 1972 to 1977. She served as president of both boards from 1976 to 1977. She was elected mayor of Austin in 1977 and held that post until 1983. In 1983, Governor Mark White
Mark White
Mark Wells White is an American lawyer, who served as the 43rd Governor of Texas from January 18,1983-January 20,1987.-Biography:...
appointed Rylander to the State Board of Insurance, where she served until resigning in 1986 to unsuccessfully challenge veteran Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Congressman J. J. Pickle of Austin, a longtime friend and political ally of Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
.
As Carole Keeton Rylander, she won election to the Texas Railroad Commission in 1994 by beating Democratic incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Mary Scott Nabers, an Ann Richards
Ann Richards
Dorothy Ann Willis Richards was an American politician from Texas. She first came to national attention as the state treasurer of Texas, when she delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards served as the 45th Governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995 and was...
appointee, by almost 300,000 votes. The panel primarily regulates the production of oil and natural gas (but no longer has authority over railroads). She served as commission chairman from November 1995 to January 1997, and from June 1998 to January 1999.
Comptroller
In 1998, Strayhorn entered the open race to succeed outgoing Democratic Comptroller John SharpJohn Sharp (Texas politician)
John Sharp is the former Democratic Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, having held the office from 1991 to 1999. He is currently a principal in the Austin office of the Dallas-based Ryan & Company, a tax consulting firm. In 2005, he was appointed to serve as Chair of the Texas Tax Reform...
of Victoria
Victoria, Texas
Victoria is a city in and the seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 60,603 at the 2000 census. The three counties of the Victoria Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 111,163 at the 2000 census,...
, who was seeking the lieutenant governorship. Facing off against Democratic political scion Paul Hobby, the son of a former lieutenant governor and grandson of a former governor and lieutenant governor and a cabinet secretary, Strayhorn won by some 20,000 votes out of roughly 3.6 million votes cast.
Reelected in 2002, she led the statewide Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
ticket in terms of raw votes. As Carole Keeton Rylander, she drew more than one million votes more in 2002 than she had four years earlier and outpolled fellow Republican Rick Perry by some 246,000 votes even while Perry was easily dispatching Democrat Tony Sanchez of Laredo
Laredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
in the governor's race.
In 2004, Strayhorn revoked the tax exempt status of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Denison
Denison
- Given name :*Denison Bollay , software engineer*Denison Cabral , midfielder for the Baltimore Blast*Denison Miller , first governor of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
by claiming that the church is not a religion. This move was done because of the policies of the church's parent body, the Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Association , in full the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America, is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations formed by the consolidation in 1961 of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of...
, which has no single set of religious teachings. The comptroller's office reversed its decision after the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported the incident. This was the only occasion when any state attempted to deny the church's tax exemption.
Gubernatorial campaign
Soon after the 2002 election, Strayhorn began publicly feuding with Governor Perry over what she sees as his inability to provide leadership on issues such as school finance and government spending. She has been extremely vocal about Perry's support for privately-financed large-scale road projects. She calls Perry "a weak leadin', ethics ignorin', pointin' the finger at everyone blamin', special session callin', public school slashin', slush fund spendin', toll road buildin', special interest panderin', rainy day fund raidin', fee increasin', no property tax cuttin', promise breakin', do nothin' phony conservative."On May 9, 2006, Strayhorn turned in 223,000 voter signatures to the office of Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams. Only 45,540 were required to place her on the November general election ballot. "I told you, Texas," Strayhorn said while standing in front of 101 boxes stuffed with signatures. "We have blown the barn doors off this petition drive." Media reports later confirmed that the boxes were substantially less than half full (for comparison, her opponent, Kinky Friedman
Kinky Friedman
Richard S. "Kinky" Friedman is an American Texas Country singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician and former columnist for Texas Monthly who styles himself in the mold of popular American satirists Will Rogers and Mark Twain. He was one of two independent candidates in the 2006 election...
put 169,000 signatures in 11 similar boxes). On June 22, 2006, Texas Secretary of State Roger B. Williams
Roger Williams (US politician)
John Roger Williams is the former Secretary of State of Texas, having served from November 2004 until his resignation effective July 1, 2007.-Early life and career:...
declared that only 108,512 signatures on her petition were valid, about 35,000 less than Friedman's count.
Strayhorn tried to have herself listed on the gubernatorial ballot as "Carole Keeton 'Grandma' Strayhorn", claiming that "Grandma" was a common nickname for her, and that independent opponent Kinky Friedman was able to use "Kinky" on the ballot (although he was listed as "Richard 'Kinky' Friedman"). Secretary of State Williams ruled that Strayhorn's "nickname" was a slogan she used during her campaign for state comptroller (One Tough Grandma). Friedman, on the other hand, had used "Kinky" as a professional name on his albums and novels, and had been known by that name for at least 40 years.
During the Texas Governor's debate, Strayhorn suffered image points when she could not name the president-elect of Mexico, Felipe Calderón
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for a single six-year term through 2012...
, during a rapid-answer segment of the debate. In a format similar to a TV game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
, the candidates had 15 seconds to answer questions. She stated that the election had been hotly contested.
Partisan affiliations
In her campaigns for school board, college board, and mayor, Strayhorn was not identified by partisan affiliation since those posts are elected on a nonpartisan basis. Strayhorn was a Democrat until the mid-1980s; she served as Democratic nominee Walter MondaleWalter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
's campaign chair in Travis County
Travis County, Texas
As of 2009, the U.S. census estimates there were 1,026,158 people, 320,766 households, and 183,798 families residing in the county. The population density was 821 people per square mile . There were 335,881 housing units at an average density of 340 per square mile...
during the 1984 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1984
The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...
. Strayhorn switched parties and became a Republican in 1986, when she was the GOP nominee for the U.S. House seat held by J. J. Pickle.
According to the Associated Press, "Strayhorn has insisted that she is [still] a Republican but is going independent to set partisan politics aside and do what's right for Texas." She has attempted to equate her independence to that of the legendary Sam Houston
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
, who resigned as governor in 1861 to protest Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
' decision to join the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
(and who was the only independent candidate to win election as governor of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
).
Strayhorn sometimes draws comparisons to the late Governor Ann Richards
Ann Richards
Dorothy Ann Willis Richards was an American politician from Texas. She first came to national attention as the state treasurer of Texas, when she delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards served as the 45th Governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995 and was...
, a Democrat, although the two often found themselves on opposite ends of the political spectrum.