Pete Laney

James Earl Laney, known as Pete Laney (born March 20, 1943), is a U. S. Democratic Party politician from West Texas. He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1973 to 2007. A resident of Hale Center, near Plainview in Hale County, Laney served as House Speaker from 1993 to 2003, a record matching that set by his predecessor, fellow Democrat Gib Lewis of Fort Worth, whose tenure as Speaker extended from 1983 to 1993.

Political life

During his tenure, Laney was widely praised^[1] for demonstrating principle, integrity, and character in his leadership of the House. He was cited by Republican Governor George W. Bush, during the 2000 presidential campaign, as a model of legislative bipartisan co-operation. As speaker, Laney "foster[ed] a bipartisan atmosphere for legislators to work together with mutual respect and place public needs ahead of personal interests and partisan politics."^[2]

Lewis triggered a speaker's race in 1991 when he announced, amid allegations of accepting an illegal gift from a law firm, that he would not seek re-election as speaker in 1993. Laney announced in November 1992 that he had secured the pledges of more than eighty of his colleagues to elect him speaker.^[3] In his first term as speaker, Laney "ran the fairest, cleanest, most open, most democratic House in memory".^[4] He was named by Texas Monthly magazine as one of the "Top Ten" legislators of the Seventy-third Texas Legislature.^[5]

Laney's tenure as speaker ended after the 2002 elections, when the GOP gained a majority in the Texas House for the first time since Reconstruction, and Tom Craddick of Midland was elected the first Republican speaker since 1871. Craddick served in the presiding post from 2003 to 2009. When Craddick undertook an unprecedented mid-decade congressional redistricting, Laney joined fellow Democrats who traveled to Ardmore, Oklahoma, to block consideration of the Republicans' bill by denying the House a quorum.

In December 2005, Laney announced he would not seek re-election in 2006 to the House in which he had served continuously since 1973. No longer speaker, Laney was still re-elected in 2004 by defeating his Republican opponent with almost 59 percent of the vote in a district otherwise carried by the second President Bush with 76 percent of the vote.^[6] In 2006, Democrats retained Laney's seat in a hard-fought general election won by former Crosby County Judge Joseph P. Heflin, who defeated Jim Landtroop of Plainview. Landtroop had also opposed Laney in 2004. From 2007 to 2011, the district was the only Panhandle-area legislative seat held by a Democrat. Then Landtroop staged a comeback in 2010 and unseated Heflin but held the seat only for one term.

Personal life

Laney was born in Plainview to Wilber G. Laney (1918–2005) and the former Frances L. Wilson (1921–2000). He married the former Nelda Kay McQuien (1943-2016). Their children are KaLyn Laney, James Kay (Jamey) Laney Phillips, and J Pete Laney.^[7] Laney has 6 grandchildren: Austin, Grant, Gavin, and Holden Phillips; and Clayton and Kendall Laney.^[8]

References