The Chicken Ranch governor
Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe — George W. Bush's ranching example — dies
Dolph Briscoe wasn't known for spending a lot of time at the governor's office.
In many ways, Briscoe cleared the way for George W. Bush to ... well, clear theway.
Houston's Marvin Zindler was a Chicken Ranch thorn on Briscoe's side.
George W. Bush received plenty of grief for spending an awful lot of time at his Crawford ranch during his presidency. But it turns out that Bush was only following the lead of one of Texas' most prominent Democrats from the past — whether W. knew it or not.
Former Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe died Sunday at age 87 after a lengthy illness and one of the most striking things that comes out of all the obituaries is how Briscoe perfected disappearing to the ranch long before W. ever thought of making clearing bush from his property part of his national platform. The Houston Chronicle's piece in particular does a good job of illustrating just how much Briscoe was thought of as an absentee governor during his six-year, two-term reign (1973-1979).
State Rep. John Hoestenbach, a Democrat like Briscoe, is quoted as complaining at the time that "dealing with Briscoe's office was like trying to deal with Howard Hughes. You were never sure there was a Dolph Briscoe, he was so inaccessible."
All because Briscoe preferred spending his time at his working ranch near Uvalde, a town west of San Antonio. Now, you could argue that Briscoe was a real rancher and W. was a fake one, considering that Dolph didn't hightail it out of Unvalde like Bush did out of Crawford when leaving office.
But Briscoe was so distracted by his ranch that he once infamously re-appointed a dead man to a state board. As far as anyone knows, even W. never did that.
Briscoe liked to argue that getting out of the capital and away from all the political maneuvering allowed him to reconnect with the real people of the country. Sound familiar?
Like W., Briscoe also came from a prominent, wealthy family. His father was a mega-rich oilman and rancher, and at one time the Briscoe family owned 600,000 acres in Texas, making them the largest private land owner in the state.
Briscoe also set the stage for W. in a way that he surely wasn't proud of — especially considering this staunch Democrat ripped into Rick Perry late in his life. Yet, it's Briscoe's defeat in the 1978 Democrat Primary (a stunning blow for a sitting governor) that's widely credited with paving the way for Bill Clements to become the first Republican governor of Texas in modern times (since Reconstruction). Without Briscoe's ranch, there might have never been a W. or a Perry for that matter.
People in Houston might most remember Briscoe for being in office when Houston TV crusader Marvin Zindler broke the Chicken Ranch brothel story, forcing Briscoe to allow the investigation and closure of another famous Texas ranch. Briscoe refused to meet with Zindler, however.
RIP Dolph Briscoe. Here's hoping that W. at least gets outside his Dallas-area home and does some serious yard work today in tribute. Briscoe earned that.
