Centerfield

She Was a Woman

Former Texas Governor Ann Richards is dead:

Richards rose to the governorship with a come-from-behind victory over millionaire cowboy Clayton Williams in 1990. She cracked a half-century male grip on the governor's mansion and celebrated by holding up a T-shirt that showed the state Capitol and read: "A woman's place is in the dome."

In four years as governor, Richards championed what she called the "New Texas," appointing more women and more minorities to state posts than any of her predecessors.

She appointed the first black University of Texas regent; the first crime victim to join the state Criminal Justice Board; the first disabled person to serve on the human services board; and the first teacher to lead the State Board of Education. Under Richards, the fabled Texas Rangers pinned stars on their first black and female officers.

She polished Texas' image, courted movie producers, championed the North American Free Trade Agreement, oversaw an expansion of the state prison system, and presided over rising student achievement scores and plunging dropout rates.

I loved Ann Richards from her quick humor, to her sharp tongue, to her willingness to call it as she sees it. I was just getting interested in politics, frequently seen in a Jerry Brown for President t-shirt (hey, I was sixteen), when the "year of the woman" 1992 Democratic Convention took place. What impressed me most about Richards is that she just seemed so different from anyone else on the stage. She was a true trailblazer and as a pro-growth, pro-trade, pro-choice Democrat, she was a true centrist. God will be getting an earful, no doubt.