Austen Furse
| Austen Furse | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Location: | Houston, Texas | ||
| Expertise: | Business and policy | ||
| Affiliation: | Republican | ||
| Education: | Yale University (B.A.) | ||
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Austen Furse is a Republican businessman and policy advisor from Texas. He was Ted Cruz's 2016 campaign policy director and served as a policy advisor under former-President George H.W. Bush in the 1980s. Furse ran for the Texas State Senate in 2008.
Career
Early career
Austen Furse, a Texas native, began his career in politics when he was a college student. He worked on George H.W. Bush's (R) 1988 presidential campaign, where he helped with debate preparation, speechwriting, and drafting the campaign's energy plan.[1] After Bush's election, Furse served as the White House director of policy planning.[2]
Texas political advocacy
After leaving the Bush White House, Furse founded the PAC Texans for Tax Limits. The PAC aimed to garner pledges from Texas legislators that they would not raise new taxes. The PAC also petitioned not to use taxpayer money to fund a $255.7 million sports stadium in the Houston metro area.[3] Texans for Tax Limits advocated lowering taxes across the board in the state, and in 1999, the group called for the state to return at least half of a budget surplus to the state's taxpayers.[4] The organization also started a Tax Payers Bill of Rights Revenue Cap, which allowed taxpayers to receive budget surpluses back.[1]
Furse co-founded Let the People Vote, a grassroots citizen advocacy group aimed at local issues in the Houston metro area. The organization opposed the way in which the city of Houston funded and undertook a light rail construction project. Furse argued that voters should have had a larger say in the project.[5]
Private sector
Furse began working as a partner with the Hawkins Ranch, LP in 2007. The Hawkins Ranch signed an oil lease with Orbit Petroleum. The agreement not only renewed the existing leases on 1,072 acres, but included a 1,000 acre option for future drilling.[6] According to Furse's LinkedIn account, he has also spent time as a managing partner for the land development company Matagorda Land Partners in Richmond, Texas.[7]
Texas State Senate election, 2008
In 2008, Furse ran for Texas State Senator in Senate District 17. Three Republican candidates ran for the seat, including Furse and former State District Judge Joan Huffman.[8][9] Furse received an endorsement from Bush but lost the election with only 10.12 percent of the votes.[10][11]
Part of Furse's campaign appeal was to decrease the amount of government regulation. In a voter pamphlet for the League of Women Voters in Harris County, Texas, Furse responded, "We must remove barriers to innovation, small business creation and entrepreneurship, starting with the stifling new business tax. Funding research at Texas universities will also prime the innovation pump. The solution lies in encouraging innovation instead of costly mandates."[1]
Furse lost the Republican primary race to Joan Huffman.
Ted Cruz presidential campaign, 2016
- See also: Ted Cruz presidential campaign, 2016
Austen Furse was appointed to Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign as policy director after Cruz announced his candidacy on March 23, 2015.[12] Furse had been a Cruz supporter since 2012, when Cruz initially ran for the Senate.[13]
Cruz suspended his presidential campaign on May 3, 2016, after losing the Indiana Republican primary to Donald Trump.[14]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Austen Furse for Texas State Senate, "About," archived November 20, 2008
- ↑ League of Women Voters of the Houston Area, "Voters Guide," accessed May 28, 2015
- ↑ Donatelli, Joe. (2000). Sports fans vote about stadiums. Daily News.
- ↑ Texas Public Policy Foundation, "Organizations Press For At Least Half Of Surplus To Be Returned To Taxpayers," May 6, 1999
- ↑ Houston Chronicle, "Metro chairman, activist spar over rail propositions," October 26, 200
- ↑ Houston Chronicle, "The Orbit Petroleum Hawkins Ranch Project is Back in Focus," January 12, 2007
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Austen Furse," accessed May 3, 2017
- ↑ Texas Monthly, "Senate District 17: The Hot Seat," August 22, 2008
- ↑ News West University, "Austen Furse Announces Run For Janek’s Former Senatorial Seat," June 3, 2008
- ↑ Sugarland Sun, "Former presidents active in local candidates campaigns," October 8, 2008
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "Texas Senate District 17," accessed May 28, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "The power players behind Ted Cruz's campaign," April 20, 2015
- ↑ National Review, "Cruz: ‘Reports of the Tea Party’s Demise’ Were Wrong," May 30, 2012
- ↑ Politico, "Ted Cruz drops out of presidential race," May 3, 2016
