Gus Mutscher, former Texas House speaker, dies at 90

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s every day publication that retains readers on top of things on essentially the most important Texas news.

Gus Franklin Mutscher, a former Texas House speaker who resigned after being convicted within the Sharpstown scandal, died on Sunday, according to Memorial Oaks Chapel in Brenham. He was 90.

When Mutscher’s relationship to the Sharpstown financial institution was investigated, a gaggle of 30 lawmakers generally known as the “Dirty 30” fashioned to focus on Mutscher and name for his resignation. The lawmakers had been a coalition of Democrats and Republicans led by state Rep. Frances “Sissy” Farenthold, D-Corpus Christi. The Dirty 30 additionally disapproved of Mutscher’s heavy-handed method to management.

The Brenham Democrat was first elected to the House in 1960 and stored his seat for six legislative classes. Mutscher labored in numerous roles earlier than turning into speaker, together with serving on the Legislative Budget Board and the Texas Legislative Council in addition to chairing the Legislative Redistricting Committee and vice chairing the Appropriations Committee. As a member of the Legislature, Mutscher backed payments bettering air and water high quality, offering further providers for Texans with mental disabilities and prioritizing public and better training.

Mutscher was born in William Penn, an unincorporated group in Washington County — the identical area he represented within the Legislature. He graduated from Brenham High School and attended Blinn Junior College in Brenham on a baseball scholarship. He later enrolled within the University of Texas at Austin, the place he earned an undergraduate diploma in enterprise administration.

When he wasn’t in workplace, he spent a lot of his time in Washington County, working cattle, mending fences and chasing down escaped bulls, based on an obituary from the Memorial Oaks Chapel. He was a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan, commonly driving to Irving carrying a “Tom Landry” fedora to catch the soccer video games.

Mutscher rose to the position of speaker in 1969, after being elected to his fifth time period within the House. It was in 1971, throughout his second session as speaker that he turned embroiled in what’s extensively generally known as the Sharpstown inventory fraud scandal.

A Houston banker, Frank Sharp, had granted worthwhile inventory purchases to state lawmakers; in change, legislators handed banking laws that Sharp and his enterprise and his enterprise benefited from. Mutscher helped shepherd the banking payments within the House.

After a jury convicted Mutscher of conspiring to simply accept a bribe, he agreed to resign. He was sentenced to 5 years probation however later was cleared on enchantment. He was succeeded as speaker by Rayford Price, who helped usher in adjustments to the House’s guidelines on operations as a response to the scandal. As a results of the reforms impressed by the scandal, lawmakers at this time maintain open conferences, should disclose marketing campaign funds and function below a Public Information Act.

The scandal turned a method for Republicans and reasonable and liberal Democrats to achieve extra energy within the Legislature. Conservative incumbent Democrats misplaced within the elections following the scandal and had been changed by much less conservative newcomers.

Mutscher returned to the political sphere in 1976 after he was appointed to fill a emptiness because the county decide of Washington County. He went on to work as president of the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas and the National Association of Regional Councils.