Ben Barnes (on right) with House Speaker Gus F. Mutscher, Governor Preston Smith and former president Lyndon B. Johnson in Brenham, August 17, 1970. Gus Franklin Mutscher is a former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, having served from 1969-1972 Preston Smith may refer to Preston Smith (Texas (1912–2003 Texas governor 1969–1973 Preston Smith (general, Civil War Confederate Brenham is a city in central Texas in Washington County, Texas, United States, with a population of 13507 according to the 2000 census Events 986 - A Byzantine army was destroyed in the pass of Trajan's Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Ben Barnes (born April 17, 1938) is an American politician and lobbyist, who was once the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and the Lieutenant Governor of Texas. Events 69 - After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor. Year 1938 ( MCMXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A politician (from Greek " Polis " is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of Politics or a person Lobbying includes all attempts to influence Legislators and officials whether by other legislators constituents or organized groups The Texas House of Representatives is the Lower house of the Texas Legislature. The Lieutenant Governor of Texas is the second-highest executive office in the government of Texas, a state in the United States of America. He was a vice-chair [1] and top fund-raiser of the John Kerry campaign, being one of only eight persons who raised over $500,000 for Kerry [2]. } John Forbes Kerry (born December 11 1943 is an American Politician who is currently serving his fourth term as the junior United States Senator

Personal life

Barnes was born in Gorman, Texas, on April 17, 1938 and named "Benny Frank Barnes". Gorman is a city in Eastland County, Texas, United States. The population was 1236 at the 2000 census Events 69 - After the First Battle of Bedriacum, Vitellius becomes Roman Emperor. Year 1938 ( MCMXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. His parents, B. F. Barnes and Ina B. Carrigan, had another son 21 months later, Rick Barnes. He graduated from DeLeon High School in 1956. After high school he enrolled for one semester at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, followed by a semester at Tarleton College. Texas Christian University is a private, Coeducational University located in Fort Worth, Texas. Tarleton State University is a Public, Coeducational, State university located in Stephenville Texas. That spring he married his high school sweetheart, Martha Morgan, and at age 20 began studying at The University of Texas at Austin. ^[1]

Barnes and his third wife Melanie live in Austin with their two daughters Elena and Blaire, who were adopted from Romania and Russia respectively. Romania ( dated: Rumania, Roumania Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Barnes has two children from his first marriage, son Greg and daughter Amy. He has four grandchildren: Ashley Mathis, Ben Barnes II, Kelly Barnes, and Katherine Mathis.

Political career

While a student at The University of Texas, Barnes worked at the Texas State Health Department. After discovering some financial irregularities that led to the indictment of the state health commissioner, Barnes became interested in politics. He went back to his home area of the state and ran for state representative, when he was barely 21 years old and pulled off an upset victory. Advancing quickly through the Texas legislature, by 1963, Barnes was chairman of the powerful Rules Committee. The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. The U. S. Junior Chamber of Commerce recognized Barnes as one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Men in America” in 1965. Barnes served as state Speaker of the House in Texas from 1965-1969, U. S. representative to the NATO Conference in 1967, and United Nations Representative to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1968. The North Atlantic Treaty The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security Geneva (Genève is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of Romandy (the French -speaking Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Barnes served as lieutenant governor from 1969 until 1973, often called the most powerful position in the Texas state government.

Sharpstown scandal

In 1971, Barnes was caught up along with the Democratic Party in Texas in the political fallout of the Sharpstown scandal, though he stated he had no knowledge of the involvement of several state senators and no charges were filed against him. The Sharpstown Scandal was a stock fraud scandal in the state of Texas in 1971 and 1972 involving the highest levels of the state government The scandal contributed to an unsuccessful run for governor and Barnes's exit from public office.

Real estate empire

During the seventies and eighties Barnes developed a multi-million dollar real estate empire which included the development of such projects as Southwest Parkway and Barton Creek Country Club in Austin. Real estate is a legal term (in some jurisdictions notably in the USA, United Kingdom He entered bankruptcy following the collapse of the real estate bubble in the mid-1980s. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their Creditors Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against

Lobbying career

By the late 1990s, Barnes had become a millionaire lobbyist working for GTECH Corporation, a company that operated lotteries in 37 states including Texas. GTECH Corporation, a company based in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Lottomatica S A lottery is a form of Gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize The Texas lottery was losing money, in part because of a lucrative deal in which Barnes received 3. 5 cents for every ticket sold – more than $3 million per year.

Since leaving elective office, Barnes has become a successful business executive and civic leader. He is the founder of the Ben Barnes Group, a business consulting and lobbying firm. He has served as a consultant, director or chairman of more than two dozen companies, including SBC Communications, American Airlines, Dallas Bank and Trust, Grumman Systems Support Corporation, Laredo National Bank and the Barnes/Connally Partnership. Before proposing a merge request please see Talk and see if the merger you propose has recently been made and American Airlines Inc (AA is a US -based airline and the world's Largest airline in total passenger miles transported and passenger fleet size

The Ben Barnes Group has made millions of dollars by acting as the go-between, bringing special interest groups and companies together with highly-placed Democratic officeholders. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. The Center for Responsive Politics has listed Barnes as the third largest all-around Democratic donor in America from 1999 to 2004. The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP is a nonpartisan research group based in Washington D

In 1999, Barnes claimed that while Lt Governor of Texas he had "personally interceded" with Texas Air National Guard officials to get George W. Bush into the Guard. George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. It was later discovered he was Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives at the time of this alleged intervention. At that point he stated he didn't use his political influence but rather his friendship with a General to get it accomplished.

Barnes repeated the claim in the U.S. presidential election, 2004. The United States presidential election of 2004 was held on Tuesday November 2, 2004, to elect the President of the United States. His daughter Amy claims that he told her in 2000 that he didn't intercede on Bush's behalf and that he was only saying these things to promote his book and help get Kerry elected since he was so heavily involved in the Kerry campaign.

Awards and volunteering

In 1995, The University of Texas named him a Distinguished Alumnus. In addition to his corporate work, he also serves on the board of several non-profit organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club, the national group Patient Privacy Rights, and is vice-president of the LBJ Foundation.

Writing

Barnes is the author of the book Barn Burning Barn Building: Tales of a Political Life, From LBJ to George W. Bush and Beyond (ISBN 1-931721-71-8), which was first published in 2006.

External links

• Biography from Texas Monthly Talks hosted at the KLRU website. Texas Monthly Talks is a thirty-minute interview show on public television networks across the state of Texas hosted by Texas Monthly editor in chief KLRU is the local PBS Public television member station in Austin Texas, in the United States of America.

References