Texas Governor George W. Bush:

An Inventory of Governor George W. Bush General Counsel General Correspondence Located at the George W. Bush Presidential Library, 1963-1964, 1975, 1985-2000, bulk 1995-2000

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The office of governor was first established by the Constitution of 1845 and superseded the office of president of the Republic of Texas.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.

(Sources include: Guide to Texas State Agencies, 9th and 10th eds., (1996 and 1999); the contents of the records; and versions of the Governor's Office web site during Governor Bush's term available on the Internet Archive at http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.governor.state.tx.us, accessed on March 3, 2009.)

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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.

(Sources include: Versions of the Governor's Office web site during Governor Bush's term available on the Internet Archive at http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.governor.state.tx.us, accessed on March 3, 2009.)

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Scope and Contents of the Records

The General Counsel is responsible for a variety of legal issues in the Texas Office of the Governor. This is the general correspondence of Texas Governor George W. Bush's General Counsel, dating 1963-1964, 1975, 1985-2000, bulk 1995-2000. The files consist of incoming and outgoing letters, and attachments, such as court records, resumes, and legislation divided into topical files and correspondence with constituents. Topical files concern consular matters, inmate correspondence, executive clemency requests, correspondence with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), ethics, Attorney General (AG) correspondence (includes files on claims and child support), and personnel correspondence (generally letters of resignation, letters of appointment, or applications for jobs/internships).

The constituent correspondence covers a wide variety of issues, usually involving legal issues or a request handled by the General Counsel's office, like requests for pardons, emergency medical reprieves for inmates, or paroles that comprise the majority of requests for assistance. Topics covered in other types of requests include disciplinary proceedings, counties asking for a ban on fireworks, consular notification of foreign nationals in Texas prisons, treatment of prisoners, Republic of Texas (separatist group), environmental issues, Internet privacy, medical malpractice claims, interstate child custody court jurisdiction, Indian gambling casinos, gambling indictments, proposed legislation, and development of the Texas Legal Service Plan Special Committee. There are some letters between the General Counsel's Office and various government officials (mostly state, some local and federal officials as well), filed by the last name of the correspondent instead of being filed by the office.

Correspondents include state and federal officials, legislators, local officials, law firms, citizens, inmates, companies, board and commission members, and the General Counsel (GC), Deputy GC or other GC staff. Also present are cover letters for executive orders that were issued and some correspondence between the AG and the GC or Bush. The orders are not present. Most of the outgoing letters are signed by the Deputy or Assistant General Counsel - Petrus (Pete) Wassdorf or Donna Garcia Davidson, some by Stuart Bowden; a few are signed by the General Counsel, who was Alberto Gonzales during most of the period, succeeded by Margaret Wilson.

An item level index to portions of the General Counsel's records, created by the Governor's Office, is available electronically. Contact Texas State Archives staff for assistance.

This finding aid describes one series of Texas Governor George W. Bush's records. See Texas Governor George W. Bush: An Introduction to Governor George W. Bush Records for more records series. If you are reading this electronically, click on the link to go to the finding aid. If you are reading this in the Archives Reading Room, the overall finding aid is found at a separate divider within the binder.

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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 victims of sexual assaults or names of child abuse victims (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.101); medical records (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.101); audit working papers ( V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.116); constituent correspondence with legislators (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 306.003-004); attorney fee bills (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.022(a)(16)); bank account and shipping account numbers (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Article 552.136); 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)); crime victim impact statement (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.1325); law enforcement records (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.108); grand jury records (V.T.C.A., Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 20.02); home address and phone numbers of government employees and peace officers (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.117); attorney-client privilege (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.107); agency memoranda/attorney work product (V.T.C.A., Government Code, Section 552.111); 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 (Texas State Library and Archives Commission, P. O. Box 12927, Austin, TX 78711), fax (512-463-5436), email (Dir_Lib@tsl.state.tx.us), or see our web page (https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/requestgovernorbushrecords.html). Include enough description and detail about the information requested to enable the archivist to accurately identify and locate the information requested. (Note: The Governor's Office has requested that the State Archives contact the Public Information Coordinator for the Governor's Office when we receive a Public Information Act request for these records.) 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

Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).

Technical Requirements

None.

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Related Material

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item), Texas Governor George W. Bush General Counsel general correspondence. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

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 were moved to the George W. Bush Presidential Library in February 2013.

Processing Information

Laura K. Saegert, March 2004

Finding aid updated by Tonia J. Wood, April 2013

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Detailed Description of the Records

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