A Guide to the Cyndi Taylor Krier Papers, 1956-2001 (bulk 1993-2001)

Series 1. Personal

Biographical Note

The Honorable Cyndi Taylor Krier was born on July 12, 1950 in Beeville, Texas to Robert Stevens Taylor and Mary McGuffin Taylor. Her parents divorced when she was eight years old, and she and her mother moved to DeNero, Texas, where they remained until her grandmother’s death. Krier was an honor student in high school and played basketball, learning teamwork skills that served her in her political career.

In college at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, Krier worked on the Richard Nixon campaign. She transferred to The University of Texas at Austin to major in journalism, and continued her campaign work for Republican candidates. While in Austin, she met her future husband Joseph Krier. After graduating in 1971, Cyndi Krier went to work for the Republican Party of Texas and edited a statewide newsletter, before returning to law school.

During the height of the Watergate scandal in the summer of 1974, Krier served as an intern in the Whitehouse. She returned to Texas and graduated in 1975. After graduation she worked for Senator John Tower, and on Gerald Ford’s 1976 election campaign. In April of 1979 she began working for the law firm of Lang, Lado, Green, Coghlan & Fischer, specializing in civil cases. Her commitment to Republican politics remained strong, and she actively recruited women into the political process. She continued her involvement in Republican Party politics, serving as vice-chair of the Bexar County party from 1979 to 1981. She also served on a bipartisan commission to propose legislative reforms for the Texas Election Code and on a Governor’s task force for Women and Minorities.

In 1984 Cyndi Krier filed to run for the Texas 26th Senatorial District. To women in San Antonio, she was the woman candidate who would beat incumbent Senator Bob Vale and bring a woman’s voice to the Texas Senate. Her campaign appealed to women from both the Republican and Democratic parties, and her theme was “A Senator We Can Be Proud Of.” She won the election on November 6, 1984. This was noteworthy because she was the first woman and the first Republican to represent San Antonio in the Texas Senate, and she was the sole woman senator during her initial session. During this session, Krier worked hard for revision of state laws dealing with child abuse and family violence.

In 1988 Krier was elected again and continued her concentration on family violence. In 1992 Republicans encouraged her to run for a district judgeship in Bexar County, and as a firm believer in term limits and seeing her diminishing effectiveness in the senate due to elections of a more conservative group of senators, Krier ran and won the position of county judge. She again made history by becoming both the first woman judge in Bexar County history and the first Republican judge in their modern history. The building of a new county jail, child abuse, family violence, and child support remained priority issues for her during her service as judge.

In the summer of 2001 Cyndi Taylor Krier retired as county judge, and on August 28, 2001, she became the vice president for Texas governmental relations for the insurance company USAA. As Vice-President, she is responsible for leading USAA's involvement in legislative and public policy issues in Texas at the State and local levels. Also in 2001, Cyndi Taylor Krier was appointed to a six-year term on The University of Texas System Board of Regents by Governor Rick Perry. Krier served as Vice-Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Academic Affairs Committee; a member of the Audit, Compliance, and Management Review Committee; the Finance and Planning Committee; and the Health Affairs Committee and as a Regental representative to the Board for Lease of University Lands which oversees the terms of lease of University lands for oil and gas exploration and development. She served as Co-Chairman of the Task Force on Planning and also led the Accountability, Collaboration, and Deregulation Task Force.

_{Excerpted from: Cyndi Taylor Krier From Statehouse to Courthouse, Ann Fears Crawford and Crystal Sasse Ragsdale. State House Press, Austin, Texas, 1998, pp. 295-307.}

Chronology of events in Cyndi Taylor Krier's life

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Scope and Content Note

The Cyndi Taylor Krier Papers, 1956-2001, document the early life and career of a Texan woman in politics. The collection consists of correspondence, awards, subject files, working files, campaign materials, fundraising materials, photographs, newspaper clippings, telephone and mail logs, speeches, daily schedules and scrapbooks reflecting her professional life as a lawyer, Texas State Senator and Bexar County Judge. The materials are arranged in three series: Personal, State Senator and County Judge.

Materials in the Personal series include a brief glimpse into Cyndi Taylor Krier’s family life, her career in politics and the law, and her personal and political interests. The State Senator series (1984-1992) includes materials about Krier’s campaign and fundraising activities and documents that reflect her work as a Senator. The County Judge series (1993-2001) includes materials that reflect Krier’s day-to-day work and those related to her campaign efforts in the race for Bexar County Judge.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research except when otherwise noted.

Usage Restrictions

Please contact Archives and Special Collections, Library, University of Texas at San Antonio for information about permission to publish material from the collection.

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

[Identification of item], Cyndi Taylor Krier Papers, 1956-2001, MS 93, Archives and Special Collections, Library, University of Texas at San Antonio.

Acquisition Information

Collections materials were donated by Cyndi Taylor Krier in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2005 (Accessions: 1999-37, 2000-03, 2001-12, 2001-15, 2001-20, 2001-23, 2003-78, 2003-79, 2005-81).

Processing Information

Processed by: Gerrianne Schaad, Megan Robida and Staff, September 2005.

Encoded by: Mat Martin, Collections Assistant, April 2007 and Nikki Lynn Thomas, Manuscripts Archivist, October 2007

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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