by Brandi Grissom, The Texas Tribune
Longtime El Paso state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh announced today he will not run for re-election in 2010.“While other public service may lie ahead, I will not run for the Texas Senate in 2010,” Shapleigh said in a press release. “During each day of the last decade, we have endeavored to do our very best for the people of our great community and state.”
Shapleigh, a Democrat, did not immediately return phone calls Friday morning, and a spokeswoman indicated the announcement came as a surprise to his staff.
Shapleigh was elected to the Senate in 1996 and helped lead efforts to establish a four-year medical school in El Paso, the first on the U.S.-Mexico border. [Correction: The University of California San Diego School of Medicine opened in 1968. The school in El Paso is the first medical school on the Texas-Mexico border.]
He has been among the most liberal Democrats in the Texas Senate, a vocal critic of Republican leadership and a lonely proponent of establishing a state income tax.
Now comes the haggling to see who will run for the open seat and the wondering about what “other public service may lie ahead” for Shapleigh. Stay tuned.
bgrissom@texastribune.org
Former U.S. Ambassador and Texas Sen. Teel Bivins, a Republican from one of the old Panhandle ranching families, died today of pneumonia after a long illness. He was 61.Bivins became a senator in 1989 and served until 2004. He chaired the Senate Finance Committee, the Nominations Committee, and the Education Committee. He was one of three Republicans — Bill Ratliff and David Sibley were the others — who led that party in the Senate as it moved from a Democratic to a Republican majority. President George W. Bush chose Bivins to be Ambassador to Sweden in 2004 and he held that post until 2006, when he returned to Texas. He had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy and died from complications of that disease, at home, surrounded by family and friends. Bivins received a B.A. from Tulane University in 1970 and a J.D. from Southern Methodist University in 1974. Instead of running out to join a law firm after he passed the bar exam, he bought some cattle. He spent the next 24 years making money in the cattle and oil and gas exploration business. Based in Amarillo, he was elected to represent Texas Senate District 31 in 1988 and served until 2004. In 1989, after a successful first session as a state senator, Texas Monthly named Bivins a “Rookie of the Year” in its regular list of the best and worst legislators. The magazine honored him two more times – in 1997 and 2003 – both times in the “Best” category. His 200 write-up said, “He spent his days and nights fighting the bad guys, and it almost did him in.” In 2000, he was a Bush “Pioneer,” an individual who raised over $100,000 for the presidential campaign. In 2004, he was promoted to “Ranger” for raising over $200,000. Bivins was rewarded with the position of U.S. Ambassador to Sweden. Health problems forced him to step down in early 2006 and he returned to Texas. In 2006, not long after his health forced his return from Sweden, Bivins was visited by members of his former staff. Robyn Hadley, his former administrative assistant, posted online, “Teel is noticeably slower in everything he does - walking and talking, especially, but he is still very sharp and funny. He made us laugh many times with a well-placed quip.” Hadley remembered that, when in office, “Teel was one of the fastest-moving senators around. Ask any lobbyist who had to "walk with him" while explaining a bill. The man had a long stride.” He was the second of four boys, and leaves four children. Funeral arrangements are pending.