Jim Murphy (Texas)

Jim Murphy
Texas State House, District 133
Incumbent
In office
2011 - Present
Term ends
January 13, 2015
Years in position	2
Party	Republican
Compensation
Base salary	$7,200/year
Per diem	$150/day
Elections and appointments
Last election	November 6, 2012
First elected	2010
Next election	November 4, 2014
Term limits	N/A
Personal
Birthday	December 08, 1957
Place of birth	Houston, TX
Religion	Catholic
Websites
Office website
Campaign website

Jim Murphy is a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing the 133rd District. He has served since 2011. Murphy announced in September 2011 that he would be running for re-election in 2012.

"Murphy was recently appointed by Speaker Joe Straus to represent Texas on The US Energy Council, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Task Force on State and Local Taxation of Communications and E-commerce, and the NCSL Committee on Budget and Revenue."

Committee assignments

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Murphy served on the following committees:

Texas Committee Assignments, 2013
• Economic & Small Business Development
• Higher Education

2011-2012

Murphy served on the following Texas House of Representatives committees:

Texas Committee Assignments, 2011
• Economic & Small Business Development
• Ways & Means

Biography

Professional Experience

• Consultant, Westchase District

Political Experience

• Texas House Representative for District 133, 2006-2008

Education

• UT Austin

Issues

Brecheen on state priorities

Murphy outlines five issues central to his candidacy on his campaign site:

Economy and Job Creation

Excerpt:"I will put my 25 years of success in economic development to work to ensure the greatest possible opportunities for Texas workers, companies, and their customers. Texas continues to reap the rewards of our relatively low taxes, sensible regulation, and an environment that rewards innovation and hard work. Competition will be an important factor as we face these tough economic times."

Limited Government and Spending

Excerpt:"Our government has a propensity for growth regardless of the party in power. That is why I strongly support spending caps, appraisal caps, and revenue limits to ensure taxpayers have a voice in the process - and tax increases are the very last resort."

Better schools

Excerpt:"To compete and win in our global economy, Texas needs a growing and better educated work force. Yet we have too many dropouts and students who graduate from high school unable to perform college-level work. As a result, they have limited opportunities in today's high tech work force. As a board member at the Houston Community College, and as a teacher, I've seen firsthand what works - and what doesn't - in our classrooms. We need to focus on performance, not paperwork, to achieve the success we all want."

Fighting Crime

Excerpt:"Public safety is government's first responsibility. If we are not safe in our homes, little else matters. I worked in Austin to create tough new laws to combat our growing crime problem. I was a co author of HB 1887 that increased the criminal penalty for repeat offenders for motor vehicle burglary. I also authored and passed HB 3225 to reduce auto theft in Texas. I have continued to work with Operation Westside success and the West Houston Security Coalition to ensure I am ready to represent our needs in Austin.

Immigration

Brecheen on state priorities

Excerpt:"Border protection may be a federal obligation, but border enforcement can be addressed at the state level. While I served you in Austin, we provided $100 million in new funds for stronger border security. I will continue fighting this battle for our state until we have results we want as Texans."

Elections

2012

See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2012

Murphy won re-election in the 2012 election for Texas House of Representatives, District 133. Murphy defeated Ann Witt in the May 29 primary election and defeated Gerald W. LaFleur (L) in the general election which took place on November 6, 2012.

Texas House of Representatives, District 133, General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jim Murphy Incumbent	85%	52,050
	Libertarian	Gerald LaFleur	15%	9,210
Total Votes				61,260

Texas House of Representatives District 133 Republican Primary, 2012
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jim Murphy Incumbent	61.1%	11,443
Ann Witt	38.9%	7,279
Total Votes		18,722

2010

See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2010

Murphy won election to Texas House of Representatives District 133. He was unopposed in the March 2 Republican primary and defeated incumbent Democratic candidate Kristi Thibaut and Alfred Montestruc (L) in the November 2 general election.

Texas House of Representatives, District 133 2010 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Jim Murphy (R)		15,120	56.26%
Kristin Thibaut (D)		11,403	42.43%
Alfred Montestruc (L)		349	1.29%

Campaign donors

2012

Campaign donor information is not yet available for this year.

2010

Murphy raised a total of $702,573 in 2010. Below are Murphy's top 5 campaign contributors in the 2010 election:

Contributor	2010 total
Associated Republicans of Texas	$70,000
Perry, Bob J.	$57,500
Texans for Lawsuit Reform	$42,404
Republican Party of Texas	$25,000
Rees-Jones Trevor	$20,000

2008

In his failed 2008 election bid, Murphy raised a total of $425,800.

His four largest contributors in 2008 were:

Donor	Amount
Perry, Bob J	$45,000
Texas Association of Realtors	$30,000
Texans for Lawsuit Reform	$16,270
3 Donors, Each Donating $5,000	$5,000

Scorecards

Empower Texans Fiscal Responsibility Index

Empower Texans produces the Fiscal Responsibility Index as "a measurement of how lawmakers perform on size and role of government issues." The index uses "exemplar votes on core budget and free enterprise issues that demonstrate legislators' governing philosophy." Legislators are graded along a standard grading scale, receiving grades A through F based on their performance during the legislative session.

2011

Jim Murphy received a grade of B+ on the 2011 Fiscal Responsibility Index.

• 2011 Taxpayer Advocate. Murphy was named a "2011 Taxpayer Advocate," which is "An award presented to by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility to legislators based on their strong rating on the most recent Fiscal Responsibility Index."

Personal

Murphy and his wife, Kathleen, have two children.

Awards

• 2011 Champion of Free Enterprise Award, Texas Association of Business:

The Champion of Free Enterprise is given to Texas legislators by the Texas of Association Business based on voting records of each legislative session. The award goes to lawmakers that promote a strong business climate for the state.

External links

Suggest a link

• Official Campaign website
• Official Facebook Page
• Candidate Twitter Page
• Jim Murphey YouTube Channel
• Texas House GOP YouTube Channel
• Texas House of Representatives Page
• Official Campaign Contributions-Personal
• Official Campaign Contributions-Campaign
• Contributions, Follow the Money
• Biography from Project Vote Smart
• Texas Tribune Profile
• Imagine Election Profile

References

Political offices
Preceded by Kristi Thibaut (D)	Texas House of Representatives District 133 2011-Present	Succeeded by -