Party Rebuilding — Former Texas Lt. Gov. Barnes Offers Advice To Democrats

Interview With Ben Barnes, Political Consultant

AUSTIN Ben Barnes has seen the Texas and national Democratic Parties during the height of political power only to slip away from public favor over the last 33 years.

At one time, the farm boy from Comanche County, Texas was being groomed to be a Democratic contender for President of the United States, but those aspirations were laid to waste in the aftermath of the Sharpstown stock fraud scandal in the early 1970s.

After working his way up through the political ranks to become Lt. Governor arguably the most powerful position in Texas government next to Speaker of the House Barnes and every one of the incumbent Democrats holding statewide office felt the political heat of the scandal.

The scandal itself involved state officials who turned a quick buck as a result of a bank-financed stock purchase given in return for legislation passed in favor of Houston businessman Frank W. Sharp.

Though he himself was not indicted nor convicted in the scandal, Barnes’s career in electoral politics ended when he lost his bid for Texas governor in 1972.

Barnes blames Republican President Richard Nixon for hastening the demise of his political life since the rising star in the Democratic Party, as Barnes was, made him a prime target.

During his time in public office, Barnes advanced quickly under the political tutelage of Lyndon B. Johnson and John Connally. At 21, with grassroots campaigning, he won his first election to become a state representative. By 1963, he had become chairman of the Rules Committee. In 1965, he was recognized as one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Men in America” by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Also, in 1965, Barnes became the youngest Speaker of the House in Texas, serving in that capacity for four years until he successfully ran for lieutenant governor in 1969.

Since Sharpstown, Barnes has re-emerged in the media spotlight from time to time, and has kept his ties to the Democratic Party establishment. He made and lost money in real estate in the 1970s and ’80s. In the 1990s, he became a successful lobbyist, business executive, and civil leader.

His most notable clients, partners, and/or bosses have included SBC Communications, American Airlines, Dallas Bank and Trust, Grumman Systems Support Corporation, Laredo National Bank, the Barnes/Connally Partnership, and GTECH Corporation.

Barnes has also generously donated to Democratic Party causes and, through the Ben Barnes Group, helped companies and special interest groups work with Democratic officeholders.

Prior to then-Gov. George W. Bush’s first campaign for U.S. president in 1999, Barnes told reporters that he had helped the rich, 19-year-old congressman’s son into the Texas Air National Guard to avoid service in the Vietnam conflict. Barnes confessed the same story while campaigning for fellow Democrat John F. Kerry in the Massachusetts senator’s bid for president in 2004.

Earlier this year, Bright Sky Press published Barnes’ book Barn Burning Barn Building: Tales of a Political Life, From LBJ to George W. Bush and Beyond. The book not only tells of Barnes’ trip through Texas politics but also gives advice and perspective to the next generation of politically-minde