Texas Governor George W. Bush:

An Inventory of the General Counsel's Execution Files at the Texas State Archives 1886, 1892, 1903, 1912-1921, 1925, 1932, 1939-2000 (bulk 1986-2000)

Agency History

The governor of Texas is the chief executive officer of the state, elected by the citizens every four years. The duties and responsibilities of the governor include serving as commander-in-chief of the state's military forces; convening special sessions of the legislature for specific purposes; delivering to the legislature at the beginning of each regular session a report on the condition of the state, an accounting of all public money under the governor's control, a recommended biennial budget, an estimate of the amounts of money required to be raised by taxation, and any recommendations he deems necessary; signing or vetoing bills passed by the legislature; and executing the laws of the state. The governor can grant reprieves and commutations of punishment and pardons, upon the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and revoke conditional pardons. He appoints numerous state officials (with the consent of the Senate), fills vacancies in state and district offices (except vacancies in the legislature), calls special elections to fill vacancies in the legislature, fills vacancies in the United States Senate until an election can be held, and serves as ex officio member of several state boards.

The office of governor was first established by the Constitution of 1845 and superseded the office of president of the Republic of Texas. The position now exists under authority of Article IV, Section 1 of the Constitution of 1876 and Texas Government Code, Chapter 401. To be elected governor, a person must be at least thirty years old, a United States citizen, and a resident of Texas for at least five years preceding the election. In 1972, the term of office was extended from two to four years, effective in 1975. Since 1856 the governor has had the use of the Governor's Mansion.

In 1999 there were 198 full time equivalent employees in the Office of the Governor. Thirteen divisions outside of the Executive Office assist the governor in carrying out his functions: Administration, Appointments, Budget & Planning, Communications, General Counsel, Legislative, Policy, Scheduling, Criminal Justice Division, Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities, Office of Film, Music, Television and Multimedia Industries, Women's Commission, and Texas Council on Workforce and Economic Competitiveness.

The General Counsel position within the Texas Office of the Governor was created in October 1973 when the Executive Director of the Governor's Criminal Justice Division appointed an individual as General Counsel, to assist him in providing statute interpretations and in other matters relating to policies and procedures. Today the Office of the General Counsel is a separate division in the Governor's Office. During the Bush Administration, Alberto Gonzales served as General Counsel, succeeded in 1998 by Margaret Wilson.

Duties of the General Counsel include providing statute interpretations; tracking inmates on death row as their cases move through the judicial process including all appeals to the governor for commutations or stays of execution; handling pardon requests sent to the governor; reviewing proposed settlements, land patents, grant requests, contracts, easements, and deeds for the governor; analyzing proposed legislation and regulations for validity and legal effect; assisting appointments staff in determining eligibility and other legal issues related to proposed appointments; handling extradition and requisition matters; coordinating ethics guidelines and training for the governor's office; advising the governor on federal programs administered by the state; coordinating the governor's criminal justice policy with the governor's Policy Director; and providing legal advice and handling litigation filed against the governor or the Governor's Office, in conjunction with actions of the Attorney General on the governor's behalf.

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George W. Bush Biographical Sketch

George W. Bush served as governor of Texas from January 17, 1995 to December 21, 2000, resigning as governor in the middle of his second term to become president of the United States.

He challenged the incumbent governor, Democrat Ann Richards, running on promises to improve public education and to reform the juvenile justice system, welfare, and the state's tort laws -- the system under which an injured person may sue for damages. During the 74th Legislature in 1995, he worked with the Democrats who controlled both houses of the Texas legislature and managed to get bills passed that dealt with the four issues he had emphasized in his campaign. Bush was seen as pro-business and a consensus-builder.

Bush advocated and signed the two largest tax cuts to date in Texas history, totaling over $3 billion. To pay for the cuts, he sought (unsuccessfully) federal approval of a plan to privatize Texas' social services. Education reform was a priority throughout his terms, with legislation emphasizing local control of schools, higher standards, and a revised curriculum. Controversy has followed, with charter schools mired in financial scandals and protests against one test determining a child's promotion. After winning reelection in 1998, Bush began his bid for the presidency and was not as involved in the 76th Legislature in 1999.

George W. Bush was born July 6, 1946 in New Haven, Connecticut and grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas. He graduated from Andover Academy, and received a bachelor's degree from Yale University and a master's from Harvard Business School. He served as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. In 1978, Bush was defeated in a run for the U.S. Congress in West Texas. He was involved in energy exploration from the 1970s into the 1980s. From 1989 until his election as governor, Bush worked with the Texas Rangers baseball organization, leading a group of partners in purchasing the team, and then serving as managing general partner. He married Laura Welch in 1977; they have two daughters.

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Scope and Contents of the Records

The files consist of execution summaries by the Governor's General Counsel and summaries by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) (or by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for the BPP); memos and correspondence; clemency petitions; affidavits; court documents (judgements, opinions, appeals, motions, orders, etc.); notes; records from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmate files, including medical or psychological summaries or reports, disciplinary reports, social histories, and other internal reports about specific inmates, police reports, investigative reports of detectives, crime lab reports, fingerprint records, and occasionally, crime scene and/or autopsy photos; Department of Public Safety criminal history records; clippings; case summaries from the South Western Reporter or similar court reports; citations from online legal sources; audio and video tapes; and death penalty protest letters. Dates covered are 1886, 1892, 1903, 1912-1921, 1925, 1932, 1939-2000, with the bulk dating 1986-2000. These are the files of the Office of the General Counsel of Texas Governor George Bush that were created to track the cases of death row inmates and document intervention by the courts, the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and the governor through appeals, requests for stays of execution, or clemency. The execution case files document each inmate's case, with all of the aforementioned documents.

Closely related to the inmate's execution case files are a set of death penalty notebooks, which seemed to serve as a reading file on each inmate scheduled for execution, containing copies of the execution summaries by the governor's general counsel, clippings, and copies of the clemency petitions. The notebooks also contain several sections of subject clippings files. There is no documentation showing who prepared or used the binders.

Also present is a large group of death penalty protest letters consisting largely of incoming letters and postcards written to Governor Ann Richards (Bush's predecessor), generally protesting the scheduled execution of specific inmates on death row. Very few outgoing letters are present. The letters to Richards were maintained in the General Counsel's Office after she left the governor's office because the inmates had not yet been executed. Letters written to protest executions during Bush's term are largely filed in the General correspondence series, with a small amount present in the Execution case files.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Because of the possibility that portions of these records fall under Public Information Act exceptions including, but not limited to: social security numbers; common law privacy (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.101); names of recipients of social services (V.T.C.A., Human Resources Code, Title 2, Section 12.003 and/or V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.101); email addresses (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.137); driver's license numbers (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.130); names of juvenile offenders (Texas Family Code, Section 58.005 and/or V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.101); names of victims of sexual assaults (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.101); criminal histories prepared by the Department of Public Safety, information about inmates incarcerated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice received from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and information created by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.101 (information confidential by law, Texas Government Code, Section 508.313)); grand jury records (V.T.C.A., Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 20.02); juror information (V.T.C.A., Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 35.29), crime victim impact statement (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.1325); and autopsy photographs (V.T.C.A., Code of Criminal Procedures, Article 49.25 [989a]), an archivist must review these records before they can be accessed for research. The records may be requested for research under the provisions of the Public Information Act (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Chapter 552). The researcher may request an interview with an archivist or submit a request by mail, fax, or email including enough description and detail about the information requested to enable the archivist to accurately identify and locate the information requested. If our review reveals information that may be excepted by the Public Information Act, we are obligated to seek an open records decision from the Attorney General on whether the records can be released. The Public Information Act allows the Archives ten working days after receiving a request to make this determination. The Attorney General has 45 working days to render a decision. Alternately, the Archives can inform you of the nature of the potentially excepted information and if you agree, that information can be redacted or removed and you can access the remainder of the records.

Restrictions on Use

Researchers are required to wear gloves provided by the archives when reviewing photographic materials.

Technical Requirements

Researchers wishing to view videotapes or listen to audiotapes must contact the Archives Preservation Officer to obtain the necessary equipment.

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Related Material

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item and site the series), General Counsel's execution files, Texas Governor George W. Bush. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Accession Information

Accession number: 2002/151

In December 2000, Governor George W. Bush designated the George Bush Presidential Library as the repository for the records from his tenure as Governor of Texas, under authority of Texas Government Code, Section 441.201. Shortly after he left office, the records were shipped to the Bush Library in College Station, Texas. Texas Attorney General John Cornyn ruled the records are state records subject to the Texas Public Information Act and the management of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission even after transfer to a federal facility (Opinion No. JC-0498, May 3, 2002). In July 2002 the records were transferred from the Bush Library to the Texas State Archives in Austin for preparation for research use. In June 2003, a memorandum of understanding signed by representatives of the National Archives and Records Administration, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, and George W. Bush replaced a January 2002 interim memorandum of understanding. The records will be returned to the Bush Library after the project has been completed.

Processed by

Laura K. Saegert, December 2003; January 2004

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Detailed Description of the Collection