Michael L. Williams
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Michael L. Williams (born May 31, 1953) is one of the three members of the elected Texas Railroad Commission, a regulatory body over, not railroads, but the oil and natural gas industries. Williams, the highest-ranking African American in statewide Texas politics, won renomination in the March 2008 Republican primary. He joined the commission under appointment of Governor George W. Bush in 1998.
In 2000, Williams won the two-year unexpired term without Democratic opposition. He defeated the Libertarian Anthony Garcia and the Green Party candidate, Charles L. Mauch. Williams received 3,600,967 votes (77 percent) to Garcia's 740,340 ballots (15.8 percent) and Mauch's 334,706 votes (7.2 percent).
In 2002, Williams won a full six-year term on the commission. He polled 2,407,036 votes (54.8 percent) to 1,821,751 (41.5 percent) for Democrat Sherry Boyles. Two other candidates, including Mauch once again, received a total of 162,482 votes (4.7 percent).[1]
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[edit] Reelection campaign underway
Williams is running for reelection to the Texas Railroad Commission in November of 2008. He won the Republican nomination in March 2008 in an unopposed contest. Williams has obtained the endorsement of several hundred Republican grassroots leaders across Texas. He is also backed by most members of the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC), more than one hundred county chairmen and both members of the Republican National Committee from Texas.
Ernie Angelo of Midland and Merrie Spaeth of Dallas serve as Co-Chairs of the campaign. Angelo is a former mayor of Midland, Williams' hometown. Angelo was also the former Republican National Committeeman from Texas and Ronald W. Reagan state chairman in Texas in the 1976 presidential primary.
"Michael Williams embodies who we truly are as Republicans. He is a strong, consistent, conservative voice for our party and I am proud to support his bid for reelection to the Railroad Commission," said Dianne Caron, an SREC member from Tyler, the seat of Smith County in east Texas.
Kathy Ward, the Collin County GOP chairman, said that Williams has a "distinguished record of conservative leadership . . . [and is] a man of values who stands up for what he believes."
Hollis Rutledge of Hidalgo County in south Texas, the chairman of the state Republican County Chairman's Association, described Williams as "the shining star of our party. His record of fiscal discipline and common-sense regulation is what Texans expect from their elected officials."
Williams declared that he is "humbled and energized" in receiving such broad party support. He vowed to work to "develop new energy sources, create a pro-growth energy policy, control government spending, and produce the next generation of mathematicians, scientists and engineers."[2]
[edit] Commission duties
Williams, the first black in Texas history to hold an executive statewide elected office, chaired the Railroad Commission from September 1999 to September 2003 and again from June 2007 until present.
He chairs the Governor’s Clean Coal Technology Council and FutureGen Texas represents the governor and the Railroad Commission of Texas on the Southern States Energy Board. On September 14, 2005, Governor Rick Perry designated Williams to lead the state's long-term Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Williams also is the Railroad Commission "point person" for agency regulatory reform and technology modernization efforts.
Williams is the immediate past Honorary State Chairman of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Texas which helps to enrich, encourage, and empower children through safe, positive, one-to-one mentoring relationships.
Before he joined the Railroad Commission, Williams served as general counsel to a Texas-based high-tech corporation. He also has served in a volunteer capacity as the general counsel of the Republican Party of Texas, the chairman of the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission and on the board of directors of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and Our Mother of Mercy Catholic School.
[edit] Washington experience
In 1990, U.S. President George H. W. Bush appointed Williams to be Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, a post previously held by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Previously, Chairman Williams served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In that capacity, he had oversight responsibility for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (August 1989 - June 1990).
He also served as Special Assistant to Attorney General Richard Thornburgh at the U.S. Department of Justice (January 1988 - June 1989). In 1988, former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese awarded Williams the Attorney General’s "Special Achievement Award" for the conviction of six Ku Klux Klan members on federal weapons charges. Williams was a federal prosecutor from 1984-1988 and a former assistant district attorney in his hometown of Midland, Texas.
Michael Williams was one of the speakers at the 2004 Republican National Convention, where he endorsed President George W. Bush.
[edit] Personal life
Williams is the son of public school teachers. He earned a bachelor’s, a master’s and a law degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He married Donna Williams, who had been a close friend for over 20 years.
