Clayton Williams

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Clayton Wheat Williams, Jr. (b. 1931), a businessman from Midland, Texas, is best known for running for the governorship of the state of Texas against Democratic State Treasurer Ann Richards in 1990 on the Republican ticket.

[edit] Biographical information

Independent oil and gas man Clayton W. Williams, Jr., is the son of Clayton Wheat Williams[1]. Clayton, Jr., also known as "Claytie", was born in Alpine, Texas, in 1931. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1954 with a degree in animal husbandry and served in the U.S. Army prior to returning to Texas.

In 1957, Williams followed in the business of his father, beginning in the oil fields of West Texas as a lease broker. Many of his companies were petroleum-related with interests in the exploration and production of natural gas and transportation and extraction of natural gas and natural gas liquids. In 1993, he took Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. public. For a time he operated a long distance company, ClayDesta, named for both him and his wife, Modesta.

Williams also diversified into the more traditional businesses of farming, ranching, real estate and banking and even tried his hand at long distance telecommunications. Williams also taught for six years in the Texas A&M College of Business Administration.

As an administrator, Clayton served as the vice president and director of the Association of Former Students at Texas A&M in 1977. As a philanthropist, he was a founding member of the Presidents Endowed Scholarship for Gifted Students at Texas A&M. He was also the founder and director of the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, an institution dedicated to the study of animals and plants of the Chihuahua Desert of southwest Texas and Mexico. He also made several significant monetary donations to Texas A&M, including underwriting half of the cost for an alumni center, which bears his name.

[edit] 1990 Texas gubernatorial race

While Texas had proven to be a stronghold to the Democratic party throughout the 20th century, the state had trended to the right. Sensing opportunity, Williams began his run for governor of Texas as a Republican. To win the Republican nomination, he turned aside a field of candidates that included former Congressman and Railroad Commissioner Kent Hance of Lubbock, Clements' former secretary of state Jack Rains of Houston, and Dallas lawyer Tom Luce, who supported abortion rights in the primary. The other candidates took pro-life positions, with exceptions in event of life of the mother, rape, or incest.

Williams spent freely from his personal fortune, running a "Good Old Boy" campaign [2] initially appealing to conservatives. Prior to a series of legendary gaffes, he was leading Richards by as much as 20 points in the polls, and was in striking distance of becoming only the second Republican governor of Texas since Reconstruction.

In one of his widely-publicized missteps, Williams failed to shake Ann Richards' hand in a public debate, an act seen as uncouth. Senator John Tower had similarly refused to shake the hand of Democratic opponent Robert Krueger in a 1978 appearance but went on to win a fourth term by the narrowest of margins. Williams was not as fortunate.

Earlier, Williams made an infamous joke to reporters, likening bad weather to rape, quipping, "as long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it." ¹ In addition, it has been claimed that as an undergrad at Texas A&M, he had participated in visits to the Chicken Ranch, a well-known Texas brothel in La Grange. His sense of humor was again demonstrated when he urged Hispanics to support his candidacy because he met Modesta in a Mexican restaurant. As a result of his reported comments, Williams was occasionally parodied, such as in the mock political ad, "Satan Williams," which appeared on Dallas/Fort Worth public television during the 1990 campaign season. ²

Despite these political snafus, Williams only narrowly lost the election to Ann Richards, who actually polled under 50 percent of the raw vote. At his defeat on election night, Texas television stations showed the glib Williams telling his supporters in Austin: "I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that we lost; the good news is that it is not the end of the world."

[edit] References

¹ As quoted by Schlangenstein, Mary. "Texas Governor's Remark Spurs T-Shirt Sales, May Haunt Campaign," Bloomberg Washington Report, June 30, 2005.

• Texas House of Representatives Resolution 845, congratulating Williams on his induction into the Petroleum Hall of Fame, adopted March 31, 2005.