Texas Governor George W. Bush:

An Inventory of Governor George W. Bush Correspondence/Constituent Services Office Staff Files Located at the George W. Bush Presidential Library, 1948-2001, undated, 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The office of governor was first established by the Constitution of 1845 and superseded the office of president of the Republic of Texas.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.

Correspondence/Constituent Services is listed as a division within the Communications Office (also known as the Press Office). Shirley Green served as director of Correspondence/Constituent Services from 1996 to 2000. The division was responsible for the mail log, the central correspondence file, honorary certificates, greetings, and proclamations. Also housed in this division was the Ombudsman Office/Citizens Assistance program, which received citizen's comments and complaints through its toll-free hotline and reported them to the Governor. During Governor Bush's second term, the Correspondence/Constituent Services division also handled some of the scheduling functions.

(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 Correspondence/Constituent Services Office was responsible for preparing replies to many of the letters written to Texas Governor George W. Bush's Office. Types of records in this group include correspondence, memoranda, manuals, notes, organization charts, reports, publications, press releases, robo forms, and related materials. Dates range from 1948 to 2001 and undated with the bulk of records dating from 1995 to 2000. The records of the Texas Governor George W. Bush Correspondence/Constituent Services Office are divided into seven series: general office files, Director Shirley Green's files, photo requests, Citizens Assistance telephone activity reports, weekly production reports, Texas Navy files, and Ombudsman's Office files.

General office files consist of manuals and procedures, staff emails and memoranda of correspondence policies and procedures, correspondence, organization charts, reports, robo forms, press releases, and related materials, 1986 to 2000 and undated, bulk 1995 to 2000, of the Correspondence/Constituent Services Office. Manuals and procedures include two editions of the official correspondence manual of the Governor's office, dated 1995 (with additions in 1996) and 1998. There are memoranda on writing style procedures, robo forms for responses to common correspondence topics, a style sheet for the Notes and Quotes reports, organization charts of the division, and a list of correspondence topics and legislative bills, detailing the issues each staff member addressed. Also present is a White House correspondence manual (dated 1986), two folders of form letters (dated 2000), a folder of English-language summaries taken from Spanish-language correspondence, a small number of press releases, tally sheets for some state opinion ballots, and a register of checks received in the Governor's Office for Bush's election campaigns, 1997-2000. Finally, this subseries contains several memoranda regarding Public Information Act requests [PIR] received by the Governor's Office.

Director Shirley Green's files are policy and procedure manuals, staff emails and memoranda of correspondence policies and procedures, and reports listing post-presidential election mail and phone counts of the Correspondence/Constituent Services Office, 1995 to 2000 and undated, bulk 1999 to 2000. Shirley Green served as director of Correspondence/Constituent Services from 1996 to 2000, reporting to Karen Hughes, director of Communications in the Texas Office of the Governor. Policy and procedure materials consist of directives and memoranda regarding policies and procedures, such as handling email, greetings, proclamations, nominations, political mail and legislative mail; data entry of correspondence; handling requests for items such as gifts, auction items, and autographs; and handling requests for Bush's attendance at political events. There are also memoranda to Shirley Green giving daily post-presidential election (November-December 2000) counts for email, faxes, regular mail, and phone calls.

Photo requests are correspondence, photographs, staff email, and one autographed baseball, dated 2000-2001. Letters request that Governor Bush or First Lady Laura Bush autograph an enclosed photograph or artifact. Extra copies of photographs were occasionally included for the governor. This series is closely related to the Executive Office series, Autograph and photo request correspondence and logs.

Citizens Assistance telephone activity reports, 1999-2000, are daily telephone activity reports, January 1999-December 2000, of the Citizens Assistance program of the Texas Governor's Office. Categories include numbers of answered calls, abandoned calls, deflected calls, transferred calls, average length of call, and number and length of queued calls for each extension/person. At the end of the 1999 reports are pie charts by month detailing the percentage of calls answered, abandoned and deflected with total numbers for each. January through April of the year 2000 also contain pie charts.

Weekly production reports are statistical compilations of the types and subjects of mail received by the Correspondence/Constituent Services Office for a given week. Dates covered are 1995-2000, bulk 1997-2000. Each report starts with a section for Gubernatorial Mail (detailing the number of letters received, followed by the number received for that year to date) with a section for top issues of the week with the number of letters received listed in each category. Other sections include form mail, correspondence processed, and number of e-mails. Each month also has a cumulative report. Most months also have an Ombudsman's Report, Notes and Quotes report, and a report with a count of letters routed to divisions. The annual reports provide a cumulative total of the correspondence received, number of letters for each major issue and sub-issue. Finally, reports of mail analysts were retained for 1995 to 1996 due to gaps in the holdings of weekly production reports.

Texas Navy files were most likely a subject file in the Correspondence Office about the Texas Navy. They contain some publications and information about the Texas Navy and the commission of Admirals into the Texas Navy and date from 1948 to 1998 and undated, bulk 1986 to 1994. From its creation in 1958 until the administration of Governor Mark White (during which time the governor's name was removed from the letterhead), the Texas Navy was partially state-supported with the governor serving as commander-in-chief. It later became a non-profit organization. These records are further subdivided into two groups, reflecting the filing structure of the creating agency. A large number of the first group of records consists of letters from (and memoranda about) Dr. John Thiel, himself an admiral in the Texas Navy and self-designated Chief of Naval Operations for the Texas Navy, Inc., and some background information on the history of the Yellow Rose of Texas. Dates of these records are 1983 to 1998 and undated.

The second group of records came from office manager Linda Smith's files and dates from 1948 to 1996, bulk 1977 to 1986, and undated. Records are correspondence, internal memoranda, photographs, publications, printed material, copies of statutes, certificates, and articles of incorporation, concerning the "third" (or modern) Texas Navy. Many of the letters and memoranda are from or about Joseph Jefferson Burris, who was commissioned as an Admiral in the Texas Navy by Governor Price Daniel in 1958. Other letters are from John W. Thiel or Stephen L. Walter, Chief of Naval Operations, circa 1979-1983. Many admirals of the Texas Navy are mentioned by name in these records; however, there is no comprehensive list present. The copies of Burris's certificate and a photocopy of the certificate of John M. Kutch are the only certificates of commission as admiral in the Texas Navy present in these records.

Ombudsman's Office files comprise correspondence, memoranda, casework summary forms, reports, notes, and related material, dating 1995 to 1997 and undated, bulk 1996 to 1997. The Governor's Ombudsman was Phil Sims and most of the materials were either sent to or worked on by him. Subjects in the files include opposition to bills, grievances with state agencies, dissatisfaction with constituent services in the Governor's office, concerns for people housed in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system, power outages, sexual abuse of children, abatement projects, requests for general information, and placement centers for the mentally ill, among others. Other employees of the Ombudsman's Office mentioned in the files include Kathy Cleere and Chris Oglesby. Some of the constituent forms appear to have been printed out from a database of cases that is no longer extant.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Materials do not circulate, but may be used in the State Archives search room. Materials will be retrieved from and returned to storage areas by staff members.

Because of the possibility that portions of these records fall under Public Information Act exceptions including, but not limited to, records relating to allegations of child abuse (V.T.C.A., Government Code Section 552.101, Family Code Section 261.201 (a)); psychiatric evaluations (V.T.C.A., Government Code Section 552.101, Health and Safety Code Section 611.002); driver's license numbers (V.T.C.A., Government Code Section 552.130); social security numbers (V.T.C.A., Government Code Section 552.147); e-mail addresses (V.T.C.A., Government Code Section 552.137); home addresses of government employees or officials (V.T.C.A., Government Code Sections 552.117 and 552.1175); information protected under common law privacy (V.T.C.A., Government Code Sections 552.101); financial information (V.T.C.A., Government Code Section 552.136); and agency memoranda (V.T.C.A., Government Code Section 552.111), 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

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

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Related Material

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item and cite the series), Texas Governor George W. Bush Correspondence/Constituent Services Office staff files. 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 that 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

Jessica Tucker, July 2009, December 2009, September 2011

Finding aid updated by Tonia J. Wood, April 2013

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Detailed Description of the Records

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