Ernest Angelo
Encyclopedia
Ernest Angelo, Jr., known as Ernie Angelo (born March 7, 1934), is a Texas
oil
man and Republican
politician
who served from 1972–1980 as mayor
of the West Texas
city of Midland
and was in 1976 the co-manager of the Ronald W. Reagan Texas presidential primary campaign.
With a 2–1 margin among voters in the state’s first binding presidential primary, Reagan won all ninety-six delegate spots at stake. Coupled with a victory five weeks earlier in North Carolina
, the historic Texas upset revived Reagan’s floundering campaign and set him firmly on the road to contest with President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., the party’s nomination at the convention held in Kansas City
, Missouri
. Without the Texas triumph, which occurred on May 1, 1976, and follow-up victories on May 4 in Indiana
and Georgia
, Reagan could have been forced out of contention for the nomination. And without Angelo and his two co-chairmen, Ray Barnhart
of Houston
, later the director of the Federal Highway Administration
, and Barbara Staff
of Dallas County
, chairman of the Council of Republican Women's Clubs of Dallas County, at the helm that year, Reagan might have become viewed as a non-starter with little credibility four years later—when he went on to win the presidency by a wide margin of electoral votes.
From 1976 to 1996, Angelo served as the Republican national committeeman from Texas, a position which made him an automatic member of the Republican National Committee
.
, to Ernest Angelo, Sr. (1894–1971), and the former Helen Marie Moran (1895–2003). The senior Angelo was a college professor at West Virginia University
in Morgantown
, West Virginia
and the University of Minnesota
in Minneapolis
-St. Paul before he accepted a position with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture in Bogalusa
, the largest city in Washington Parish
, one of the "Florida Parishes
" of the far southeastern section of Louisiana
. Angelo, Jr., grew up in Bogalusa and in Covington
, the seat of St. Tammany Parish in the New Orleans
suburb
s. He graduated in 1952 from the Roman Catholic St. Paul's School
in Covington and entered the petroleum engineering
program at Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge
, from which he graduated in 1956. Thereafter, he served briefly in the United States Air Force
and was in the Reserves for eight years.
After LSU, Angelo took a position from 1956–1962 with Gulf Oil
in Crane
, south of Odessa
, Texas. He and his wife, the former Betty Lou "Penny" Pendergraft, who grew up in Galveston
and Houston, made their home in Midland, halfway between Fort Worth
and El Paso
. The couple has four children, Ernest Eugene Angelo of Carmel
, Indiana, Helen Marie Kisner, a major general
in the United States Army
in Stuttgart, Germany
, Patricia Louise Angelo of Lewisville
, Texas, and Clifford Angelo (born Father's Day
weekend 1973), a Republican political operative. From 1962–1964, he was affiliated with Sohio Petroleum. In August 1964, Angelo began his own company, Discovery Exploration in Midland with partners Don L. Sparks and Charles Webb Farish.
. He switched party allegiance in 1960, after having attended the state Democratic convention in El Paso and finding himself unenthusiastic for the John F. Kennedy
-Lyndon B. Johnson
ticket, which won the electoral votes of Texas by a relatively narrow margin. In 1968, Angelo made the first of two unsuccessful runs as a Republican candidate for the Texas State Senate, having lost to Democrat Pete Snelson of Midland. In that same election, Tom Craddick
of Midland, was elected at the age of 25 to the Texas House of Representatives
. In 2003, Craddick began a six-year stint as House Speaker, the first Republican speaker since Reconstruction. Craddick still serves as the senior member of the Texas House, having been replaced in 2009 by Joe Straus
of San Antonio
. Craddick and Angelo have been neighbors since the early 1970s. The two oilmen are godparents to the other's children.
The 96-0 Reagan landslide made impressive headlines and followed thereafter with four more at-large Reagan delegates chosen at the state convention. Angelo said the victory was possible because the party was allowed to write its own rules. Some 420,000 voted in the Republican primary in which Reagan polled 278,300 votes to Ford’s 139,994. In the Democratic primary, two candidates easily outpolled Reagan, and a third nearly matched him. Jimmy Carter
received 736,032 votes; U.S. Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen, a favorite son
for President and a candidate for reelection, polled 343,033, and George C. Wallace of Alabama drew 270,798 votes. Carter, Bentsen, and Wallace hence polled some three times as many votes as Reagan and Ford combined. The 1976 primary was also the first election in Texas in which counties with at least 5 percent Mexican American
ethnicity were required to use bilingual ballots.
While he co-managed the Reagan campaign, Mayor Angelo was chosen national committeeman, a position that he retained for 20 years. After Reagan became president, Angelo tried again for the Midland-based state Senate seat, but he lost in 1982 to the Democrat William “Bill” Sims of San Angelo
in Tom Green County, 52,868 (47.9 percent) to 57,522 (52.1 percent). This race occurred about a decade before the region between Midland and San Angelo moved strongly into the Republican camp. In that same year, Bill Clements
of Dallas
, the first Texas Republican governor
since 1873, and George Strake, Jr.
, a Houston oilman, the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, and later state party chairman, were crushed in an avalanche of Democratic votes. It was the last year through at least 2010 that the Democrats in Texas would win all of the statewide races in Texas, including judgeships. Angelo noted that the poor Republican prospects in Texas in 1982 were blamed on a downturn in the national economy, as Democrats rebounded nationwide in President Reagan's first mid-term election. Angelo said that his defeat by Sims was a “blessing” because he needed to work full time after 1983 on his business, and being a state senator would have been too time-consuming him to protect his company during a slump. Angelo recalls Clements' defeat by Mark Wells White
in 1982 as his most personally disappointing election loss. Only two years earlier, his most exhilarating victory had been that of Reagan over President Carter, four years after Angelo, Barnhart, and Staff had worked to resurrect Reagan in the Texas primary.
The website Americans for Prosperity credits Angelo with "the courage to buck the Republican establishment and support Ronald Reagan. The rest is history. [Angelo should] write a book so we can know more of the details. Ernest Angelo had courage… Had it not been for Ernest Angelo and Texas in 1976, Reagan may not have become President."
, who had been the only Republican in the Texas House of Representatives in the 1965 legislative session. Mayor Edwin H. Magruder, Jr., who had an impressive World War II
record, did not seek a third two-year term in 1972.
Craddick believed that the leading candidate for mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Pat M. Baskin (1926–2005), a former chairman of the Midland County Democratic Executive Committee, would use the office to try to unseat Craddick’s bid for a third term in the House in the 1972 general election. Angelo agreed to run for mayor if Cahoon would seek one of the at-large city council seats. The deal was struck, and both ran and won. Angelo recalls his having defeated Baskin by 150 votes out of some 10,000 cast. In that election, Baskin made party affiliation an issue in the technically nonpartisan race. Angelo considered his opponent to be on the left side of the Democratic Party, but later Baskin switched parties, as West Texas moved increasingly away from the Democrats, and served as a Republican state court judge. Angelo recalls that Baskin was "a gentleman," popular by virtue of his friendly personality and his involvement in community theater.
election coupled with a lowering in city property taxes even though such a measure had been rejected a year earlier in 1971. No funds were spent to advertise the tax measure. Angelo and the council took on the responsibility of informing voters of the fiscal problems facing the city. The measure passed easily, and Midland prevailed strongly economically throughout the 1970s.
Under Angelo, the city modernized Midland International Airport
. Though it is used by neighboring Odessa, the airport is entirely the possession of the City of Midland. When the University of Texas of the Permian Basin became a four-year institution, plans had been to merge Midland and Odessa junior colleges on the Midland campus under a common community college district. Odessa voters, however, voted down the proposal, reflecting longstanding divisions between the two municipalities of common size and different focus in neighboring Midland and Ector counties. Angelo presided over the building of a new central fire station and Midland Center, a civic meeting facility which opened downtown with a large clientele. The first shopping mall, developed by the Simon Company of Indianapolis
opened during Angelo’s tenure. Federal block grants were employed to upgrade Midland streets and to pave the remaining dirt and gravel roads within the city. Angelo said that the city manager, the late James W. Brown, and his assistant, Fred Poe, carried most of the burden of administrative details and provided continuity during his years as mayor. There were some problems with planning and zoning, but the water and sewer infrastructure proved more than adequate.
Angelo worked with four at-large council members, and he could vote to break ties. Now, the Midland City Council has six single-member districts with the mayor able to vote on all matters though his vote might not usually be needed except to break a tie. Angelo said the decision by the U.S. courts to require single-member districts in legislative elections has not been productive, at least in Midland. In the single-member concept, council members tend to be focused only on the parochial nature of their districts, rather than the well-being of a city as a whole. Mayor Angelo won again in 1974, 1976, and 1976 with token or no opposition. He did not run in 1980 and was succeeded by Gaylian Thane Akins (1933–2005), also a petroleum engineer in Midland. Angelo jokes that he took office during a downturn in the West Texas oil industry and “my leadership and the Arab oil embargo got Midland booming”, as greater demand developed for drilling West Texas petroleum. Under the Angelo administration, Midland property tax
es became the lowest among the 25 largest population centers in Texas. In later years, Texans found that tax rates themselves were less critical in calculating their payments than the rising assessed values of their property.
of North Carolina and Paul Laxalt
of Nevada
were committed to Ford. Tower blamed Ford’s defeat in Texas on "Dixiecrat
s ... the Reagan organization, aided by former Wallace leaders, made a concerted and obviously successful effort to get the Wallace vote in the Republican primary. In addition some section of Ford’s defense and foreign policy alienated some voters who may otherwise have cast their ballot for the president.”
None of the Ford supporters from Texas were delegates to the national convention in Kansas City. Angelo recalls Tower as having "begged" him to allocate a delegate slot for the senator. Angelo said that Tower could be a delegate if he were committed to supporting Reagan, an impossible condition for Tower because of his longstanding commitment to President Ford. Tower hence was not a delegate to the 1976 convention because Angelo was mindful that a close convention contest could have been decided by a handful of delegate votes. Angelo said that he always personally liked and admired Tower though they disagreed on some issues: "John was the best extemporaneous speaker and solid as a rock on most issues." As time passed though, Tower alienated the conservative wing of his party with his support for abortion
and opposition to Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative
. Tower did not seek a fifth term in 1984 and was succeeded by Angelo's friend, Phil Gramm
, a former economics professor at Texas A&M University
in College Station
.
Angelo recalls having attempted to mediate a political dispute between Tower and his 1972 intraparty rival, state Senator Henry C. Grover
of Houston, the party's gubernatorial nominee against Democrat Dolph Briscoe
of Uvalde
. Grover wanted to install Angelo as state party chairman to replace the Tower partisan, George Williford of Austin. Angelo arranged a meeting in a Houston hotel between Tower and Grover, and the two got into a shouting match and nearly came to blows. "Hank was his own worst enemy. He couldn't get along, let personal things interfere in the political realm," recalls Angelo. In retrospect, Angelo theorizes that the 1972 division within the Texas GOP delayed the election of the first Republican governor, Bill Clements in 1978, beyond what would have otherwise been possible.
Angelo's tenure as mayor corresponded partly with that of Jim Reese in Odessa. When veteran Democratic U.S. Representative George Mahon of Lubbock
retired, an open election developed for the seat in 1978. Reese entered the Republican primary; so did 31-year-old George W. Bush
, son George Herbert Walker Bush, the man would become vice president two years later. Bush won the primary and then lost the general election to then Democrat (later Republican) Kent Hance
, subsequently a Texas Railroad Commissioner
, the chancellor of Texas Tech University
, and a particularly successful lobbyist but never a governor or U.S. senator. Angelo stayed out of the Reese-Bush primary, for he had developed good relations with both men.
In the 1980 Republican presidential campaign, Angelo again worked for Reagan, having been the deputy Reagan-Bush chairman under Governor Clements as well as campaign manager of the 1980 general election campaign in Texas. At the 1984 Republican National Convention
in Dallas, Angelo was chairman of the National Advisory Board for Reagan-Bush. He was chairman of the Texas delegation in 1980 and 1984.
In 1996, Angelo stepped down as national committeeman and was succeeded by a strong social conservative, Timothy Lambert of Lubbock, who is active in the home-schooling movement. Angelo remains committed to Republican affairs as an insider with comparatively little public attention focused upon him. He has been a fund-raiser for Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Lawrence Williams
, a conservative African American
originally from Midland, who in 2012 is expected to seek the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Kay Bailey Hutchison
.
president and the state director. In 1973, he was named "Permian Basin Engineer of the Year." In 1981, he was appointed to the National Petroleum Council
by then United States Secretary of Energy
James B. Edwards
. He served on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
under Governor Clements, on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission under Governor George W. Bush, and as chairman of the Texas Public Safety Commission under Governor Rick Perry
. In 2008, Angelo garnered the John Ben Shepperd
Award for Outstanding Texas Leadership, an honor named for the former Texas Attorney General
who called both Gladewater
and Odessa home. Angelo that same year became a member and director of the Trigon Uranium and the Intercontinental Potash corporations.
Angelo has been a steadfast supporter of Texas Governor Rick Perry, who turned back a determined intraparty challenge on March 2, 2010 from U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
before he defeated the Democratic nominee, former Houston Mayor William Henry "Billl" White. Angelo said that many in the oil industry in Midland support Perry to "to ensure the pro-business climate continues. Midland has a reputation of being a conservative pro-business community."
Angelo is still active as an oilman in Midland. he and his wife reside in the same house on Stanolind Avenue that they bought about 1970. The Minnesota native who was reared in Louisiana is an adopted West Texan who exerts great pride in the city of which he served as mayor. He describes Midland as "a very open community ... where people can excel in any endeavor." He attributes the political climate in Midland and West Texas to the oil and gas
industry: "These are people with a can-do entrepreneurial independence who support a conservative philosophy of government."
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
man and Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
who served from 1972–1980 as mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of the West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
city of Midland
Midland, Texas
Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States, on the Southern Plains of the state's western area. A small portion of the city extends into Martin County. As of 2010, the population of Midland was 111,147. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas...
and was in 1976 the co-manager of the Ronald W. Reagan Texas presidential primary campaign.
With a 2–1 margin among voters in the state’s first binding presidential primary, Reagan won all ninety-six delegate spots at stake. Coupled with a victory five weeks earlier in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, the historic Texas upset revived Reagan’s floundering campaign and set him firmly on the road to contest with President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., the party’s nomination at the convention held in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. Without the Texas triumph, which occurred on May 1, 1976, and follow-up victories on May 4 in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
and Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Reagan could have been forced out of contention for the nomination. And without Angelo and his two co-chairmen, Ray Barnhart
Ray Barnhart
Ray Anderson Barnhart is a retired businessman and Republican politician, formerly from Pasadena in Harris County, Texas.From 1981–1987, Barnhart was director of the Federal Highway Administration under U.S. President Ronald W. Reagan...
of Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, later the director of the Federal Highway Administration
Federal Highway Administration
The Federal Highway Administration is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two "programs," the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program...
, and Barbara Staff
Barbara Staff
Barbara Ruth Wright Staff is a retired Republican political activist from Plano, Texas. She was co-chairman of her state's 1976 Ronald Reagan presidential primary campaign.-Background:...
of Dallas County
Dallas County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,218,899 people, 807,621 households, and 533,837 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,523 people per square mile . There were 854,119 housing units at an average density of 971/sq mi...
, chairman of the Council of Republican Women's Clubs of Dallas County, at the helm that year, Reagan might have become viewed as a non-starter with little credibility four years later—when he went on to win the presidency by a wide margin of electoral votes.
From 1976 to 1996, Angelo served as the Republican national committeeman from Texas, a position which made him an automatic member of the Republican National Committee
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...
.
Background
Angelo was born in the state capital of St. Paul, MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, to Ernest Angelo, Sr. (1894–1971), and the former Helen Marie Moran (1895–2003). The senior Angelo was a college professor at West Virginia University
West Virginia University
West Virginia University is a public research university in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser;...
in Morgantown
Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is the county seat of Monongalia County. Placed along the banks of the Monongahela River, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia, and the base of the Morgantown metropolitan area...
, West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
and the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
-St. Paul before he accepted a position with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture in Bogalusa
Bogalusa, Louisiana
Bogalusa is a city in Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 13,365 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the Bogalusa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Washington Parish and is also part of the larger New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa...
, the largest city in Washington Parish
Washington Parish, Louisiana
Washington Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its parish seat is Franklinton. In 2000, its population was 43,926....
, one of the "Florida Parishes
Florida Parishes
The Florida Parishes , also known as the North Shore region, are eight parishes in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Louisiana, which were part of West Florida in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Unlike much of Louisiana, this region was not part of the Louisiana Purchase, as it had been...
" of the far southeastern section of Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. Angelo, Jr., grew up in Bogalusa and in Covington
Covington, Louisiana
Covington is a city in and the parish seat of St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,483 at the 2000 census. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River....
, the seat of St. Tammany Parish in the New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
s. He graduated in 1952 from the Roman Catholic St. Paul's School
St. Paul's School (Covington, Louisiana)
Saint Paul's School is a private all-boys Lasallian high school, located in Covington, Louisiana just to the north of New Orleans, United States. Located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, the school is run by the Christian Brothers and is one of the 1,000 Lasallian schools in more...
in Covington and entered the petroleum engineering
Petroleum engineering
Petroleum engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. Subsurface activities are deemed to fall within the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry, which are the activities of...
program at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, from which he graduated in 1956. Thereafter, he served briefly in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
and was in the Reserves for eight years.
After LSU, Angelo took a position from 1956–1962 with Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies...
in Crane
Crane, Texas
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 3,191 people, 1,096 households, and 865 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,129.7 people per square mile . There were 1,278 housing units at an average density of 1,253.5 per square mile...
, south of Odessa
Odessa, Texas
Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small portion of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 99,940 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Odessa, Texas Metropolitan...
, Texas. He and his wife, the former Betty Lou "Penny" Pendergraft, who grew up in Galveston
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
and Houston, made their home in Midland, halfway between Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
and El Paso
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
. The couple has four children, Ernest Eugene Angelo of Carmel
Carmel, Indiana
Carmel is a city in Hamilton County, Indiana, United States located immediately north of Indianapolis, Indiana. The population was 79,191 at the 2010 census, and is one of the most affluent communities in the Midwest....
, Indiana, Helen Marie Kisner, a major general
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in Stuttgart, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Patricia Louise Angelo of Lewisville
Lewisville, Texas
Lewisville is a city in Denton County in the U.S. state of Texas. The 2010 United States Census placed the population at 95,290 within . The city also includes of Lewisville Lake....
, Texas, and Clifford Angelo (born Father's Day
Father's Day
Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June but it is also celebrated widely on other days...
weekend 1973), a Republican political operative. From 1962–1964, he was affiliated with Sohio Petroleum. In August 1964, Angelo began his own company, Discovery Exploration in Midland with partners Don L. Sparks and Charles Webb Farish.
Midland's "Mr. Republican"
Angelo was originally a DemocratDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. He switched party allegiance in 1960, after having attended the state Democratic convention in El Paso and finding himself unenthusiastic for the John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
-Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
ticket, which won the electoral votes of Texas by a relatively narrow margin. In 1968, Angelo made the first of two unsuccessful runs as a Republican candidate for the Texas State Senate, having lost to Democrat Pete Snelson of Midland. In that same election, Tom Craddick
Tom Craddick
Thomas Russell Craddick, known as Tom Craddick , was the first Republican to have served as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives since Reconstruction. Craddick wielded the Speaker's gavel from 2003-2009...
of Midland, was elected at the age of 25 to the Texas House of Representatives
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...
. In 2003, Craddick began a six-year stint as House Speaker, the first Republican speaker since Reconstruction. Craddick still serves as the senior member of the Texas House, having been replaced in 2009 by Joe Straus
Joe Straus
Joseph R. Straus, III, known as Joe Straus , is the current Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. He represents District 121, which comprises northeastern Bexar County, including part of San Antonio, Texas, and several surrounding communities...
of San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. Craddick and Angelo have been neighbors since the early 1970s. The two oilmen are godparents to the other's children.
The 96-0 Reagan landslide made impressive headlines and followed thereafter with four more at-large Reagan delegates chosen at the state convention. Angelo said the victory was possible because the party was allowed to write its own rules. Some 420,000 voted in the Republican primary in which Reagan polled 278,300 votes to Ford’s 139,994. In the Democratic primary, two candidates easily outpolled Reagan, and a third nearly matched him. Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
received 736,032 votes; U.S. Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen, a favorite son
Favorite son
A favorite son is a political term.*At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate...
for President and a candidate for reelection, polled 343,033, and George C. Wallace of Alabama drew 270,798 votes. Carter, Bentsen, and Wallace hence polled some three times as many votes as Reagan and Ford combined. The 1976 primary was also the first election in Texas in which counties with at least 5 percent Mexican American
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
ethnicity were required to use bilingual ballots.
While he co-managed the Reagan campaign, Mayor Angelo was chosen national committeeman, a position that he retained for 20 years. After Reagan became president, Angelo tried again for the Midland-based state Senate seat, but he lost in 1982 to the Democrat William “Bill” Sims of San Angelo
San Angelo, Texas
San Angelo is a city in the state of Texas. Located in West Central Texas it is the county seat of Tom Green County. As of 2010 according to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total population of 93,200...
in Tom Green County, 52,868 (47.9 percent) to 57,522 (52.1 percent). This race occurred about a decade before the region between Midland and San Angelo moved strongly into the Republican camp. In that same year, Bill Clements
Bill Clements
William Perry "Bill" Clements, Jr. was the 42nd and 44th Governor of Texas, serving from 1979 to 1983 and 1987 to 1991. Clements was the first Republican to have served as governor of the U.S. state of Texas since Reconstruction...
of Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, the first Texas Republican governor
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
since 1873, and George Strake, Jr.
George Strake, Jr.
George William Strake, Jr. , is a Houston, Texas, businessman and philanthropist who served as Texas secretary of state from January 16, 1979–October 6, 1981, during the administration of Republican Governor William Perry Clements, Jr...
, a Houston oilman, the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, and later state party chairman, were crushed in an avalanche of Democratic votes. It was the last year through at least 2010 that the Democrats in Texas would win all of the statewide races in Texas, including judgeships. Angelo noted that the poor Republican prospects in Texas in 1982 were blamed on a downturn in the national economy, as Democrats rebounded nationwide in President Reagan's first mid-term election. Angelo said that his defeat by Sims was a “blessing” because he needed to work full time after 1983 on his business, and being a state senator would have been too time-consuming him to protect his company during a slump. Angelo recalls Clements' defeat by Mark Wells White
Mark White
Mark Wells White is an American lawyer, who served as the 43rd Governor of Texas from January 18,1983-January 20,1987.-Biography:...
in 1982 as his most personally disappointing election loss. Only two years earlier, his most exhilarating victory had been that of Reagan over President Carter, four years after Angelo, Barnhart, and Staff had worked to resurrect Reagan in the Texas primary.
The website Americans for Prosperity credits Angelo with "the courage to buck the Republican establishment and support Ronald Reagan. The rest is history. [Angelo should] write a book so we can know more of the details. Ernest Angelo had courage… Had it not been for Ernest Angelo and Texas in 1976, Reagan may not have become President."
Election as mayor
Angelo’s entry into municipal politics was not the result of personal motivation, but a plea from two friends and fellow businessmen, his neighbor Tom Craddick and Craddick’s predecessor in the legislature, former Representative Frank Kell CahoonFrank Kell Cahoon
Frank Kell Cahoon is an oilman and natural gas entrepreneur from Midland, Texas, who was the only Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives in the regular 1965 legislative session. Cahoon served two terms in the legislature from 1965 to 1969...
, who had been the only Republican in the Texas House of Representatives in the 1965 legislative session. Mayor Edwin H. Magruder, Jr., who had an impressive World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
record, did not seek a third two-year term in 1972.
Craddick believed that the leading candidate for mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Pat M. Baskin (1926–2005), a former chairman of the Midland County Democratic Executive Committee, would use the office to try to unseat Craddick’s bid for a third term in the House in the 1972 general election. Angelo agreed to run for mayor if Cahoon would seek one of the at-large city council seats. The deal was struck, and both ran and won. Angelo recalls his having defeated Baskin by 150 votes out of some 10,000 cast. In that election, Baskin made party affiliation an issue in the technically nonpartisan race. Angelo considered his opponent to be on the left side of the Democratic Party, but later Baskin switched parties, as West Texas moved increasingly away from the Democrats, and served as a Republican state court judge. Angelo recalls that Baskin was "a gentleman," popular by virtue of his friendly personality and his involvement in community theater.
Municipal matters
Mayor Angelo soon found himself involved in the details of municipal matters that had been of little interest to him as a private citizen. He recalls that Midland was nearly broke, having less than $300,000 in its unappropriated surplus general fund. He and the council hence called for a sales taxSales tax
A sales tax is a tax, usually paid by the consumer at the point of purchase, itemized separately from the base price, for certain goods and services. The tax amount is usually calculated by applying a percentage rate to the taxable price of a sale....
election coupled with a lowering in city property taxes even though such a measure had been rejected a year earlier in 1971. No funds were spent to advertise the tax measure. Angelo and the council took on the responsibility of informing voters of the fiscal problems facing the city. The measure passed easily, and Midland prevailed strongly economically throughout the 1970s.
Under Angelo, the city modernized Midland International Airport
Midland International Airport
-Top Destinations:-See also:* Texas World War II Army Airfields-References:* Shaw, Frederick J. , Locating Air Force Base Sites History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004....
. Though it is used by neighboring Odessa, the airport is entirely the possession of the City of Midland. When the University of Texas of the Permian Basin became a four-year institution, plans had been to merge Midland and Odessa junior colleges on the Midland campus under a common community college district. Odessa voters, however, voted down the proposal, reflecting longstanding divisions between the two municipalities of common size and different focus in neighboring Midland and Ector counties. Angelo presided over the building of a new central fire station and Midland Center, a civic meeting facility which opened downtown with a large clientele. The first shopping mall, developed by the Simon Company of Indianapolis
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
opened during Angelo’s tenure. Federal block grants were employed to upgrade Midland streets and to pave the remaining dirt and gravel roads within the city. Angelo said that the city manager, the late James W. Brown, and his assistant, Fred Poe, carried most of the burden of administrative details and provided continuity during his years as mayor. There were some problems with planning and zoning, but the water and sewer infrastructure proved more than adequate.
Angelo worked with four at-large council members, and he could vote to break ties. Now, the Midland City Council has six single-member districts with the mayor able to vote on all matters though his vote might not usually be needed except to break a tie. Angelo said the decision by the U.S. courts to require single-member districts in legislative elections has not been productive, at least in Midland. In the single-member concept, council members tend to be focused only on the parochial nature of their districts, rather than the well-being of a city as a whole. Mayor Angelo won again in 1974, 1976, and 1976 with token or no opposition. He did not run in 1980 and was succeeded by Gaylian Thane Akins (1933–2005), also a petroleum engineer in Midland. Angelo jokes that he took office during a downturn in the West Texas oil industry and “my leadership and the Arab oil embargo got Midland booming”, as greater demand developed for drilling West Texas petroleum. Under the Angelo administration, Midland property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
es became the lowest among the 25 largest population centers in Texas. In later years, Texans found that tax rates themselves were less critical in calculating their payments than the rising assessed values of their property.
Political matters
Angelo recalls a trip to Midland by U.S. Senator John G. Tower in 1975, when Angelo informed Tower that he would be working in the forthcoming campaign to draft and nominate Reagan. Angelo recalls Tower as having told him that supporting Reagan would be a "dumb thing to do." At the time, all Republican U.S. senators except Jesse HelmsJesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
of North Carolina and Paul Laxalt
Paul Laxalt
Paul Dominique Laxalt of Nevada was a former Republican District Attorney, Lieutenant Governor, Governor and U.S. Senator. In the media, the words "son of a Basque sheepherder" often accompanied his name. He was one of Ronald Reagan's closest friends in politics...
of Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
were committed to Ford. Tower blamed Ford’s defeat in Texas on "Dixiecrat
Dixiecrat
The States' Rights Democratic Party was a short-lived segregationist political party in the United States in 1948...
s ... the Reagan organization, aided by former Wallace leaders, made a concerted and obviously successful effort to get the Wallace vote in the Republican primary. In addition some section of Ford’s defense and foreign policy alienated some voters who may otherwise have cast their ballot for the president.”
None of the Ford supporters from Texas were delegates to the national convention in Kansas City. Angelo recalls Tower as having "begged" him to allocate a delegate slot for the senator. Angelo said that Tower could be a delegate if he were committed to supporting Reagan, an impossible condition for Tower because of his longstanding commitment to President Ford. Tower hence was not a delegate to the 1976 convention because Angelo was mindful that a close convention contest could have been decided by a handful of delegate votes. Angelo said that he always personally liked and admired Tower though they disagreed on some issues: "John was the best extemporaneous speaker and solid as a rock on most issues." As time passed though, Tower alienated the conservative wing of his party with his support for abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
and opposition to Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
. Tower did not seek a fifth term in 1984 and was succeeded by Angelo's friend, Phil Gramm
Phil Gramm
William Philip "Phil" Gramm is an American economist and politician, who has served as a Democratic Congressman , a Republican Congressman and a Republican Senator from Texas...
, a former economics professor at Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
in College Station
College Station, Texas
College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley. The city is located within the most populated region of Texas, near three of the 10 largest cities in the United States - Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio...
.
Angelo recalls having attempted to mediate a political dispute between Tower and his 1972 intraparty rival, state Senator Henry C. Grover
Henry Grover
Henry Cushing "Hank" Grover , was a conservative politician from the U.S. state of Texas best known for his relatively narrow defeat as the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1972. Grover was born in Corpus Christi. He died in Houston of Alzheimer's disease.Grover lived as a youth in San Antonio...
of Houston, the party's gubernatorial nominee against Democrat Dolph Briscoe
Dolph Briscoe
Dolph Briscoe, Jr. was a Uvalde, Texas rancher and businessman who was the 41st Governor of Texas between 1973 and 1979....
of Uvalde
Uvalde, Texas
Uvalde is a city in and the county seat of Uvalde County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,929 at the 2000 census.Uvalde was founded by Reading Wood Black in 1853 as the town of Encina. In 1856, when the county was organized, the town was renamed Uvalde for Spanish governor Juan de...
. Grover wanted to install Angelo as state party chairman to replace the Tower partisan, George Williford of Austin. Angelo arranged a meeting in a Houston hotel between Tower and Grover, and the two got into a shouting match and nearly came to blows. "Hank was his own worst enemy. He couldn't get along, let personal things interfere in the political realm," recalls Angelo. In retrospect, Angelo theorizes that the 1972 division within the Texas GOP delayed the election of the first Republican governor, Bill Clements in 1978, beyond what would have otherwise been possible.
Angelo's tenure as mayor corresponded partly with that of Jim Reese in Odessa. When veteran Democratic U.S. Representative George Mahon of Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
retired, an open election developed for the seat in 1978. Reese entered the Republican primary; so did 31-year-old George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, son George Herbert Walker Bush, the man would become vice president two years later. Bush won the primary and then lost the general election to then Democrat (later Republican) Kent Hance
Kent Hance
Kent "The Hancellor" Ronald Hance is a lobbyist and lawyer who was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from West Texas, having served from 1979 to 1985...
, subsequently a Texas Railroad Commissioner
Railroad Commission of Texas
The Railroad Commission of Texas is the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and surface coal and uranium mining .Established by the Texas Legislature in 1891, it is the state's oldest regulatory...
, the chancellor of Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
, and a particularly successful lobbyist but never a governor or U.S. senator. Angelo stayed out of the Reese-Bush primary, for he had developed good relations with both men.
In the 1980 Republican presidential campaign, Angelo again worked for Reagan, having been the deputy Reagan-Bush chairman under Governor Clements as well as campaign manager of the 1980 general election campaign in Texas. At the 1984 Republican National Convention
1984 Republican National Convention
The 1984 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States convened on August 20 to August 23, 1984, at Reunion Arena in downtown Dallas, Texas. The convention nominated the incumbent Ronald Reagan of California for President of the United States and incumbent George H. W...
in Dallas, Angelo was chairman of the National Advisory Board for Reagan-Bush. He was chairman of the Texas delegation in 1980 and 1984.
In 1996, Angelo stepped down as national committeeman and was succeeded by a strong social conservative, Timothy Lambert of Lubbock, who is active in the home-schooling movement. Angelo remains committed to Republican affairs as an insider with comparatively little public attention focused upon him. He has been a fund-raiser for Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Lawrence Williams
Michael L. Williams
Michael Lawrence Williams is a former member of the elected Texas Railroad Commission, a regulatory body over, not railroads, but the oil and natural gas industries. Williams is the first African American to hold a statewide elected executive office in Texas history. He was appointed to the...
, a conservative African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
originally from Midland, who in 2012 is expected to seek the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison, known as Kay Bailey Hutchison , is the senior United States Senator from Texas.She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001, she was named one of the thirty most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. The first woman to represent Texas in the U.S....
.
Angelo today
Angelo is affiliated with the Texas Society of Professional Engineers as both the Permian BasinPermian Basin
The Permian Basin is a sedimentary basin largely contained in the western part of the U.S. state of Texas and the southeastern part of the state of New Mexico. It reaches from just south of Lubbock, Texas, to just south of Midland and Odessa, extending westward into the southeastern part of the...
president and the state director. In 1973, he was named "Permian Basin Engineer of the Year." In 1981, he was appointed to the National Petroleum Council
National Petroleum Council
The National Petroleum Council is an American advisory committee representing oil and natural gas industry views to the Secretary of Energy.The council was established in 1946 at the request of President Harry S. Truman to represent industry views on any matters relating to oil and natural gas...
by then United States Secretary of Energy
United States Secretary of Energy
The United States Secretary of Energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the President's Cabinet, and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was formed on October 1, 1977 with the creation of the Department of Energy when President Jimmy...
James B. Edwards
James B. Edwards
James Burrows Edwards is a politician and administrator from South Carolina. He was the first Republican to be elected the Governor of South Carolina since Reconstruction.-Early life and career:...
. He served on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is an agency of the Texas state government that oversees all public post-secondary education in Texas. It is headquartered at 1200 East Anderson Lane in Austin....
under Governor Clements, on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission under Governor George W. Bush, and as chairman of the Texas Public Safety Commission under Governor Rick Perry
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full...
. In 2008, Angelo garnered the John Ben Shepperd
John Ben Shepperd
John Ben Shepperd was the segregationist Texas attorney general from 1953–1957 who led resistance to the desegregation of public schools mandated by the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka...
Award for Outstanding Texas Leadership, an honor named for the former Texas Attorney General
Texas Attorney General
The Texas Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of Texas.The department has offices at the William P. Clements State Office Building at 300 West 15th Street in Austin.-History:...
who called both Gladewater
Gladewater, Texas
Gladewater is a city in Gregg and Upshur Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 6,228 at the 2010 census. U.S. Highway 80 traverses the city....
and Odessa home. Angelo that same year became a member and director of the Trigon Uranium and the Intercontinental Potash corporations.
Angelo has been a steadfast supporter of Texas Governor Rick Perry, who turned back a determined intraparty challenge on March 2, 2010 from U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison, known as Kay Bailey Hutchison , is the senior United States Senator from Texas.She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001, she was named one of the thirty most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. The first woman to represent Texas in the U.S....
before he defeated the Democratic nominee, former Houston Mayor William Henry "Billl" White. Angelo said that many in the oil industry in Midland support Perry to "to ensure the pro-business climate continues. Midland has a reputation of being a conservative pro-business community."
Angelo is still active as an oilman in Midland. he and his wife reside in the same house on Stanolind Avenue that they bought about 1970. The Minnesota native who was reared in Louisiana is an adopted West Texan who exerts great pride in the city of which he served as mayor. He describes Midland as "a very open community ... where people can excel in any endeavor." He attributes the political climate in Midland and West Texas to the oil and gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
industry: "These are people with a can-do entrepreneurial independence who support a conservative philosophy of government."