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Linda Harper-Brown
Linda Harper-Brown is a former Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 105 from 2003 to 2015.
Biography
Harper-Brown is a member of the National League of Cities - Public Safety and Crime Prevention Committee, and President Ronald Reagan's White House Conference for a Drug Free America.
Prior to her election to the House, Harper-Brown served on the Irving City Council from 1997-2002.[1]
Committee assignments
2013-2014
At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Harper-Brown served on the following committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Government Efficiency & Reform, Chair |
| • Transportation |
2011-2012
During the 2011-2012 legislative session, Harper-Brown served on the following Texas House of Representatives committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Local & Consent Calendars |
| • Rules & Resolutions |
| • Government Efficiency & Reform |
| • Transportation |
2009-2010
During the 2009-2010 legislative session, Harper-Brown served on the following Texas House of Representatives committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2009 |
|---|
| • Elections |
| • Transportation |
Issues
Sponsored legislation
- HB 379 - Relating to requiring the use of an ignition interlock device on conviction of certain intoxication offenses.
- HB 3389 - Relating to the continuation and functions of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education; providing civil and administrative penalties.
- HB 3395 - Relating to the establishment of the Transportation Legislative Oversight Committee.
- HB 3396 - Relating to requiring a state agency that is undergoing review by the Sunset Advisory Commission to undergo a financial audit and submit a zero-based budget in connection with the review.[2]
2008
Harper-Brown's answers to the Texas State Legislative Election 2008 Political Courage Test are provided. The test informs voters how a candidate would vote on the issues if elected. When asked her legislative priorities she answered "Better schools, Fighting violent crime, Keeping taxes low, Securing the border, Reducing government waste, Improving transportation to reduce traffic."[3]
Elections
2014
Elections for all 150 seats in the Texas House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on March 4, 2014. Those candidates who did not receive 50 percent or more of the vote in their party primary on March 4 faced an additional May 27 primary runoff. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in these elections was December 9, 2013. Rodney Anderson defeated incumbent Linda Harper-Brown in the Republican primary. Terry Meza and Susan Motley advanced to a primary runoff, defeating Bernice Montgomery in the Democratic primary. Motley defeated Meza in the May 27 Democratic runoff. Anderson defeated Motley and W. Carl Spiller (L) in the general election.[4][5][6]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Rodney Anderson |
55.4% | 13,600 | |
| Democratic | Susan Motley | 42.7% | 10,478 | |
| Libertarian | W. Carl Spiller | 1.8% | 449 | |
| Total Votes | 24,527 | |||
2012
Harper-Brown won re-election in the 2012 election for Texas House of Representatives, District 105. Harper-Brown ran unopposed in the May 29 primary election and won re-election in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[7]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Linda Harper-Brown Incumbent |
50.1% | 21,705 | |
| Democratic | Rosemary Robbins | 48.3% | 20,923 | |
| Green | Saul Arechar | 1.7% | 725 | |
| Total Votes | 43,353 | |||
2010
Harper-Brown won re-election in District 105. She was unopposed in the March 2 Republican primary and defeated Democrat Loretta Haldlenwang and Libertarian Cecil Ince in the November 2 general election.[7]
| Texas House of Representatives, District 105 2010 General election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Linda Harper-Brown (R)
|
11,286 | 51.71% | ||
| Loretta Haldenwang (D) | 9,799 | 44.89% | ||
| Cecil Ince (L) | 740 | 3.39% | ||
2008
On November 4, 2008, Harper-Brown won re-election to the Texas House of Representatives from the 105th District, receiving 19,857 votes ahead of Democrat Bob Romano (19,838) and Libertarian James Baird (1,061).[7] She raised $727,394 for her campaign; Romano raised $65,331.[8]
| Texas House of Representatives, District 105 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Linda Harper-Brown (R)
|
19,857 | 48.72% | ||
| Bob Romano (D) | 19,838 | 48.67% | ||
| James G. Baird (L) | 1,061 | 2.60% | ||
2006
In November 2006, Harper-Brown won re-election to the Texas House of Representatives from Texas' 105th District, defeating Bob Romano (D) and John Turner (L).[7]
Harper-Brown raised $231,399 for her campaign while Romano raised $8,480 and Turner raised $0.[9]
| Texas House of Representatives, District 105 (2006) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Linda Harper-Brown (R)
|
20,747 | |||
| Bob Romano (D) | 8,865 | |||
| John Turner (L) | 822 | |||
2004
In November 2004, Harper-Brown won re-election to the Texas House of Representatives from Texas' 105th District, defeating Mike Moore (D).[7]
Harper-Brown raised $227,990 for his campaign while Moore raised $6,851.[10]
| Texas House of Representatives, District 105 (2004) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Linda Harper-Brown (R)
|
21,599 | |||
| Mike Moore (D) | 14,884 | |||
2002
In November 2002, Harper-Brown won election to the Texas House of Representatives from Texas' 105th District, defeating Robert Mohler (L), Sheril Blackmon (G) and Bob Romano (I).[7]
Harper-Brown raised $311,468 for his campaign while Romano raised $8,845 and Mohler and Blackmon raised $0.[11]
| Texas House of Representatives, District 105 (2002) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Linda Harper-Brown (R)
|
13,461 | |||
| Robert Mohler (L) | 1,249 | |||
| Sheril Blackmon (G) | 1,249 | |||
| Bob Romano (I) | 1,249 | |||
Campaign themes
2014
Harper-Brown's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[12]
Fighting against Obamacare
- Excerpt: "Obamacare is bad medicine and Texas needs strong leaders who’ll stop it from being forced down our throat. That’s why I stood up for our families and stood against liberal efforts to take over Texas’ health care system."
Improving Texas schools
- Excerpt: "I worked hard this past legislative session to stop the unnecessary standardized testing in our schools that was wasting the time of teachers, students and parents. The best way to improve education is not with excessive testing mandated from Austin, but rather by returning control of our schools to local community leaders, increasing transparency in our school districts and making sure more education dollars are spent directly in the classrooms."
Help for Texas teachers
- Excerpt: "I am leading efforts in Austin to increase salaries for our best educators and improve our state’s teacher retirement fund. Educating our next generation of Texas workers is important to the long term success of our state, and increasing our teacher salaries would prove the high value we place on their efforts."
Protecting taxpayers
- Excerpt: "As your Representative, I have forced our state government to took a hard look at the books, cut wasteful spending and balanced the budget … without a tax increase. Now, with some politicians proposing new and higher sales taxes on working families, I will again stand my ground on behalf of taxpayers and say 'No!' to taking more money out of your pocket."
Cutting wasteful spending
- Excerpt: "As the only candidate in this race to propose a top-to-bottom overhaul of all state agencies to stop wasteful spending, I know the best government is lean and efficient with fiscal policies that boost our economy and promote job growth. Every state program should have to prove its worth to Texans by guaranteeing taxpayers are getting their money’s worth."
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Texas scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2014
In 2014, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session.
2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2013, the Texas State Legislature was in its 83rd legislative session from January 8 through May 27. Thirty minutes after the regular session ended, Governor Rick Perry called legislators back for a special session starting that evening.[13] Two additional called sessions were held from July 1 through July 30 and July 30 through August 5.[14]
|
2012
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2012, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2011
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2011, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2011, the Texas State Legislature was in its 82nd legislative session from January 11 through May 30. A special session was called for May 31 through June 29.[14]
|
Noteworthy events
Automobile use gift
The Dallas Morning News reported in 2010 that Harper-Brown was using a Mercedes owned by a company, Durable Enterprises Equipment Ltd., which had multimillion-dollar state contracts. Durable reportedly had provided use of the Mercedes and a Chevrolet Tahoe to Harper-Brown's husband as compensation for his work as an accountant.[15] After the issue was raised, Harper-Brown said she would give up use of the car because of a "perception of impropriety." A Democratic support group, the Texas Values in Action Coalition, filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission, saying she should have disclosed the vehicles on her personal financial statement, a form that details lawmakers' finances, including income, real estate and stock holdings. She said she would propose legislation to close a loophole in Texas ethics law and require disclosure of lawmakers' spouses' income, gifts and compensation.[16]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Linda + Harper-Brown + Texas + House"
See also
- Texas State Legislature
- Texas House of Representatives
- Texas House of Representatives Committees
- Texas Joint Committees
- Texas state legislative districts
External links
- Official campaign website
- Profile from Open States
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart
- Official Campaign Contributions
- Follow The Money, Campaign Contributions: 2012, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2004, 2002
- Profile from Texas State Directory
- Profile from Freedom Speaks (Archive)
- Texas Political Almanac HD 105
- Biography from Texas Tribune
- Profile from Vote-TX.org
- Profile from State Surge
- Profile from the Texas Conservative Coalition
- Linda Harper-Brown on Facebook
- Linda Harper-Brown on Twitter
- Report Card from Texans for Fiscal Responsibility
Footnotes
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, "Biography," accessed May 24, 2014
- ↑ Texas Legislature, "Bills Authored/Joint Authored by Rep. Harper-Brown," accessed May 27, 2014
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, "Rep. Harper-Brown Issue Positions," accessed May 27, 2014
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current ELECTION HISTORY," accessed December 2, 2014
- ↑ The Libertarian Party of Texas, "2014 Texas Representative Candidate List," accessed July 30, 2014
- ↑ Green Party of Texas, "Greens Release Candidate List," accessed July 30, 2014
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current Election History," accessed February 17, 2014
- ↑ Follow the Money, "2008 Candidate funds," accessed May 24, 2014
- ↑ Follow the Money, "2006 Candidate funds," accessed May 24, 2014
- ↑ Follow the Money, "2004 Candidate funds," accessed May 24, 2014
- ↑ Follow the Money, "2002 Candidate funds," accessed May 24, 2014
- ↑ Linda Harper-Brown, "Issues," accessed February 12, 2014
- ↑ kten.com, "Texas Lawmakers To Tackle Redistricting In Special Session," May 29, 2013
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Legislative reference Library of Texas, "Texas Legislative Sessions and Years," accessed June 13, 2014
- ↑ Dallas Morning News, "Questions raised about Rep. Linda Harper-Brown's use of a Mercedes," June 18, 2010
- ↑ Dallas Morning News, "Rep. Linda Harper-Brown said she's given up company's Mercedes," June 30, 2010
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by ' |
Texas House District 105 2003–2015 |
Succeeded by Rodney Anderson (R) |
