Todd Smith, Texas Representative

Todd Smith
Texas State House, District 92
Former Officeholder
In office
1997 - 2013
Party	Republican
Elections and appointments
Last election	November 2, 2010
First elected	1996
Term limits	N/A

Todd Smith is a former Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 92 from 1997 to 2013. Prior to his election he served on the Euless City Council from 1991-1996.

Smith is an attorney with his own law firm.

He is a member of the Northeast Tarrant County Right-to-Life Association Honorary Board of Directors, Hurst-Euless-Bedford Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, The Mid-Cities Optimist Club, Northeast Leadership Forum, Hurst-Euless-Bedford Chamber of Commerce, Hurst-Euless-Bedford Rotary Club, and Northeast Tarrant County Republican Club.

Committee assignments

2011-2012

Todd Smith served on the following Texas House of Representatives committees:

• Culture, Recreation, & Tourism Committee
• House Administration Committee
• Public Education Committee

2009-2010

• Elections Committee, Texas House (Chair)
• Redistricting Committee, Texas House
• Transportation Committee, Texas House

Sponsored legislation

• HB 169 - Relating to the authority of the Texas Department of Public Safety and certain local law enforcement agencies to establish a checkpoint on a highway or street to determine whether persons are driving while intoxicated.
• HB 1635 - Relating to the abolition of the Texas Residential Construction Commission.
• HB 2511 - Relating to political contributions and expenditures; providing criminal penalties.
• HB 2525 - Relating to political expenditures made by a corporation or labor organization to finance the establishment and administration of a political committee.

Controversies

Smith filed a Voter ID bill in the 2009 legislative session that never made it through the statehouse. Along the way, as he sought to gather the votes to move his bill ahead, he found some resistance in his own party. The Tarrant County Republican Party in his own district, for example, organized citizen calls to ask Smith to stick with stronger voter ID measure to require photo ID at the polls. Smith had said he supported a less stringent bill.

In a cell phone message Smith left to the chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party during the 2009 voter ID debate, he referenced "stupid" Republican woman. The call was later obtained by Texas Watchdog and made public. Smith said he was not talking about all Republican women. The party chair he left the message for said she believed he was making a general statement about all GOP women.

Voter ID has been a persistent issue dogging Smith. The prominent taxpayer watchdog Texans for Fiscal Responsibility published a time line showing how Smith killed voter ID legislation.

According to Texans for Fiscal Responsibility: "While State Rep. Todd Smith (R-Euless) has said it was Republicans who killed the recent legislative effort to require photo identification when voting, he is getting it partially right. He's a Republican (sort of), and he made sure it died."

Also, fellow lawmaker, Rep. Betty Brown, R-Athens, issued a statement that in 2009 -- during the voter ID debate -- Smith said that he wanted voter ID to die.

According to Brown: Todd Smith said on the House floor that he thought the best thing for Republicans would be if this bill just died” in reference to the Voter ID bill.

Brown served on the House Elections committee, which Smith chaired.

Issue positions

On his website Smith lists four major issues and his positions:

• Transportation - "Our state transportation fund is underfunded by $50-$75 billion. During fragile economic times like the present, we cannot afford to try to solve this problem with additional taxes." "Accordingly, we will have to increase transportation funding over the short term by scrubbing the budget...then devoting as much of our current surplus as possible to issue bonds."
• School Funding and Accountability - "The goal is to have a strong, objective accountability system that rewards districts for getting the most educational bang for the buck while minimizing redundant testing requirements."
• Property Appraisal System - "I believe a property tax system must be based upon a fair and accurate property appraisal system. If there are any aspects of our current process – such as the comptroller’s office’s state study – which puts pressure on local appraisal districts to over-appraise any property, then we will want to remove those pressures so that we have accurate appraisals."
• Windstorm Insurance - "We must ask property owners along the coast to bear the full burden of their decision to build in these areas. The current subsidy encourages overbuilding at a time when we may face these monster storms on a more frequent basis because of rising global temperatures."

Elections

2012

See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2012

Smith ran in the 2012 election for Texas State Senate, District 9. Smith was defeated by Kelly Hancock in the May 29 primary election.

Texas State Senate District 9 Republican Primary, 2012
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Kelly Hancock	65%	22,411
Todd Smith	35%	12,088
Total Votes		34,499

2010

See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2010

Smith won re-election in District 92. He defeated Jeff Cason in the March 2 Republican primary and then defeated Democrat John Schleeter in the November 2 general election.

2008

On November 4, 2008, Smith won re-election to the Texas House of Representatives from Texas's 92nd District, defeating Kalandra Wheeler (D). Smith received 36,955 votes in the election while Wheeler received 21,038 votes.

Texas House of Representatives, District 92
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Todd Smith (R)		36,955	63.72%
Kalandra Wheeler (D)		21,038	36.27%

2006

On November 4, 2006 Smith won re-election to the Texas House of Representatives from Texas's 92th District, unopposed.

Smith raised $79,118 for his campaign.

Texas House of Representatives, District 92 (2006)
Candidates		Votes
Todd Smith (R)		22,491

2004

On November 4, 2004 Smith won re-election to the Texas House of Representatives from Texas's 92th District, unopposed.

Smith raised $45,091 for his campaign.

Texas House of Representatives, District 92 (2004)
Candidates		Votes
Todd Smith (R)		40,707

2002

On November 4, 2002 Smith won re-election to the Texas House of Representatives from Texas's 92th District, defeating Mark Peters (L).

Smith raised $66,869 for his campaign while Peters raised $0.

Texas House of Representatives, District 92 (2002)
Candidates		Votes
Todd Smith (R)		25,248
Dale Ingle (R)		3,278

2000

On November 4, 2000 Smith won re-election to the Texas House of Representatives from Texas's 92th District, unopposed.

Smith raised $64,961 for his campaign.

Texas House of Representatives, District 92 (2000)
Candidates		Votes
Todd Smith (R)		35,192

1998

On November 4, 1998 Smith won re-election to the Texas House of Representatives from Texas's 92th District, unopposed.

Smith raised $82,079 for his campaign.

Texas House of Representatives, District 92 (1998)
Candidates		Votes
Todd Smith (R)		19,515

1996

On November 4, 1996 Smith won election to the Texas House of Representatives from Texas's 92th District, unopposed.

Texas House of Representatives, District 92 (1996)
Candidates		Votes
Todd Smith (R)		30,953

Campaign donors

2010

Smith raised a total of $292,002 in 2010. Below are Smith's top 5 campaign contributors in the 2010 election:

Contributor	2010 total
Perry, Bob J.	$20,000
Hillco Partners	$13,500
Texas House Republican Leadership Fund	$12,500
AT&T	$9,000
Texas Association of Realtors	$7,500
Pardo, Brian	$7,500

2008

In the 2008 election, Smith raised a total of $134,271.

His four largest contributors in 2008 were:

Donor	Amount
Butt, Charles C	$5,000
Independent Insurance Agents of Texas	$3,000
4 Donors, Each Donating $2,500	$2,500
7 Donors, Each Donating $2,000	$2,000

2006

In the 2006 election, Smith raised a total of $79,118.

His five largest contributors in 2006 were:

Donor	Amount
Farmers Insurance Group	$3,000
Texas Association Of Mortgage Attorneys PAC	$2,500
Texas Association of Realtors	$2,500
AT&T	$2,200
2 Donors, Each Donating $1,500	$1,500

2004

In the 2004 election, Smith raised a total of $45,091.

His six largest contributors in 2004 were:

Donor	Amount
Farmers Insurance Group	$3,000
Texas Association of Mortgage Attorneys PAC	$2,500
Texas Association OF Realtors	$2,500
AT&T	$2,200
BG Distribution Partners	$1,500
Chickasaw Nation	$1,500

2002

In the 2002 election, Smith raised a total of $66,869.

His five largest contributors in 2002 were:

Donor	Amount
Huddleston, Albert D & Mary	$2,500
Texas Medical Association	$2,300
Coalition for Better Transportation	$2,000
Carrabbas Italian Grill	$2,000
3 Donors, Each Donating $1,500	$1,500

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

Todd Smith received a grade of C+ on the 2011 Fiscal Responsibility Index.

External links

Suggest a link

• Todd Smith's campaign website
• Texas House of Representatives - Rep. Smith
• Biography from Project Vote Smart
• Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart
• Official Campaign Contributions
• Follow The Money, Campaign Contributions: 20102008, 2006, 2004, 2002, 2000, 1998
• Freedom Speaks profile
• Texas State Directory profile
• Texas Political Almanac HD 92 page
• Texas Tribune profile & bio
• Vote-TX.org profile
• State Surge profile
• Todd Smith on Facebook
• Defeat Todd Smith opposition website

References

Political offices
Preceded by '	Texas House District 92 1997–2013	Succeeded by Jonathan Stickland (R)