George P. Bush: a legacy and future Republican politician
By Matthew Waller
AUSTIN, Texas — George Prescott Bush stood among the ladies at the Concho Valley Republican Women’s meeting in San Angelo as they spoke about how attractive the contender for the Texas General Land Office commissioner was. A Hispanic woman joked in Spanish to him that the boyish man of 37 with a broad smile looked better in person than on TV.
George P. Bush is the nephew of former President George W. Bush and the son of Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida. At the meeting in late September he had already been campaigning for 11 months, having delivered 120 speeches to grass-roots clubs and collected 350 endorsements.
“You’ve just got to work harder than the next person,” Bush said. “That’s the key. That’s always been the Bush family secret to success.”
Bush is ascending as he may both continue the Bush political dynasty and as he becomes the face of a Hispanic Republican future. His bid for the statewide land commissioner spot can come across as a steppingstone to higher office. And his ethnicity and conservative principles could help the Republican Party keep a solid stance in the state, even as demographics traditionally favoring Democrats take hold.
Yet his opponent in the primaries, East Texas businessman David Watts, criticized him as merely carrying on his family name.
“Pretty impressive family, you have to agree with that,” said Suzanne Conaway, the wife of U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway of Midland. “But he is much more than the legacy in a strong political family. He is a very impressive young man in his own right.”
After graduating from Rice University, Bush taught at-risk students at a Florida high school. He then returned to Texas to help George W. Bush’s campaign before entering the University of Texas School of Law and getting his juris doctorate. He proposed to his future wife just before she took the bar exam. He has also helped with the campaign of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, he said.
“It’s a lot different when you have your name on the ballot,” Bush said. “Because really the buck stops with you when you’re the candidate. What I’ve learned in working for presidential campaigns and statewide campaigns is Texas is a big state. It really is like its own country, and that’s really been kind of the biggest learning process.”
Bush clerked for federal Judge Sidney Allen Fitzwater. Then he worked as a corporate attorney at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.
In 2007, he founded Pennybacker Capital LLC, a real estate private equity firm, and he also founded St. Augustine Partners LLC, an energy and business consulting investment firm based in Fort Worth. Bush joined the U.S. Naval Reserves in 2006, and he served an eight-month tour in Afghanistan in 2010. His service decorations include the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Bush has also helped with Big Brothers Big Sisters in North Texas, and he is the Tarrant County chairman for Uplift Education, a Dallas-based public charter network aimed at helping the inner city, according to his campaign bio.
Bush has been the deputy finance chairman for the Republican Party of Texas and the co-founder and chairman of the Hispanic Republicans of Texas.
He lives in Fort Worth with his wife, Amanda, an attorney and partner at Jackson Walker LLP, and in June 2013 he and Amanda had a son, Prescott Walker Bush, or “P” for short.
West Texas values
Amanda Bush was raised in San Angelo, where Bush gave his September speech.
Suzanne Conaway told the Concho Valley Republican Women that she had spoken with Amanda.
“She told me they’re both dedicated to staying fit and that they stay in shape by daily workouts,” she said. “She told me he loves to play golf, and he’s very competitive when he plays golf. In fact, they met on a golf course, where she actually spotted him nine strokes but beat him by 10. He is a gracious loser and a very wise man because he did ask her out.
“I told her the first time I ever saw him speak was in a convention somewhere, and he was speaking on behalf of his uncle George W. Bush, and I said, ‘We need to watch that young man. He is going to go far.’ I was so impressed by his eloquent speaking ability, the way he had the grasp of facts and his connection with people.”
Bush said he holds to West Texas values. “My dad was born here, my uncle in West Texas. Those values, they kind of made their way to my generation,” Bush said. “The values are so important even the rest of the state. When I travel, they recognize the West Texas culture and approach to living and it’s definitely respected.”
Bush said the family values he got from his parents and aunts and uncles, despite growing up in South Florida, include “family, friends and faith.”
He said that he relies on advice and wisdom from friends and family, and that faith is his bedrock.
The Hispanic vote
Bush’s candidacy and dominance in the race for land commissioner could have an impact on the Republican Party’s future as Texas turns more Hispanic.
According to Pew Research, the Hispanic population in Texas is about 9.8 million, about 38 percent of the state, ranking second-most in the nation behind California. There was a 42 percent increase in the Hispanic population from 2000 to 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Bush said he hopes to do more for Hispanic voters and to appeal to the conservative side of Hispanic voters.
“We’ve got to do a better job,” Bush said. “This is an area that I’ve been working hard for the better part of 12 years since leaving law school in Austin, and really to me it’s not about pandering, it’s not about selling out conservative principles. I fundamentally believe that the Hispanic community is conservative on national defense if you look at participation in the military, on social questions, extremely Catholic on questions of life, on questions that we deal with here in the state, and finally on fiscal questions and extremely entrepreneurial, small-business-minded community. So we’ve got to change the tactics. I’ve never said as Republicans let’s change our positions. Let’s do a better job of engaging the community, and instead of showing up the day before election day in the Hispanic community, let’s show up the day after election day and stay there and have a permanent message. There is a lot more we can do, and I hope to be a small part of that.”
State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, is chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. He said although he is a Democrat and Bush is a Republican, he appreciates politicians reaching out to Hispanic voters.
“He and I are on different teams of course, but I’ve always said that when both parties are reaching out, Hispanics win,” Martinez Fischer said.
Even then, he wonders whether the Texas Republican Party will change Bush.
“I think the biggest challenge he is going to have is to get his party to understand the benefits of comprehensive immigration reform, what kind of solution you bring on health care, and what do you do about a party platform that says you speak English in the state,” Martinez Fischer said.
The state party platform says Republicans “encourage non-English speaking students to transition to English within three years.”
“Either George P. Bush is going or the party is going to change George P. Bush,” Martinez Fischer said.
Running the General Land Office and beyond
If Bush takes the title of land commissioner, he may be able to establish a new political foothold for Hispanic Republicans in Texas.
The Texas General Land Office commissioner is an older office than that of governor, having been established in 1836 before Texas became a state in 1845.
The present land commissioner, Jerry Patterson, is not running for re-election, making a bid instead for lieutenant governor.
The commissioner handles billions of dollars in state assets and mineral rights. The commissioner works as a steward of state lands that are in the Permanent School Fund, which collect mineral royalties for public schools in Texas. Bush’s campaign material said this gives him a chance to weigh in on education, and he said he wants to raise standards and promote science and math.
Bush also has made veterans a top priority, first by raising awareness of programs that can help those struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, and second by using programs such as home loan and health care assistance programs in the General Land Office.
The commissioner serves as chairman of the Veterans Land Board.
With close ties to oil and gas and managing mineral rights, Bush emphasizes the importance of the petroleum industry.
“I talk about the importance of Texas leading the way for energy independence, not only in the United States, but also globally,” Bush said. “And that really it could be foreseeable in our generation that, lead by cities like San Angelo, we could be a net exporter of petroleum products, which is nothing short of remarkable.”
Bush also trumpets conservative causes such as ending “Obamacare,” President Barack Obama’s signature health care overhaul, although the office of land commissioner has little to no impact on nationwide health care.
Bush has about $3 million on hand for his race according to the latest campaign finance reports.
“It’s gone to the point of being pretty low-key,” Austin government affairs lobbyist Bill Miller said. “He is treating it like he doesn’t have (an opponent). He is pretty much as close to a sure thing as you’ve got out there.”
Bush’s March 4 primary opponent is David Watts, a consultant with a technology company who has also been a preacher, pilot, historical fiction novelist and semiprofessional photographer. He lives between Gilmer and Longview in East Texas with his family.
“I start with the foundational belief that most of these government agencies try to expand their power and their size,” Watts said. “We have to restrain government to its authorized duties.”
His campaign website focuses on curbing the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency, helping veterans and preserving history. Watts said he wants to combine the Veterans Land Board and the Texas Veterans Commission under the General Land Office to streamline veterans’ aid, give control of the Alamo historical site back to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and to find ways to manage land better.
“I think George P. is a nice fellow, but my concern is when you represent the fourth generation of a political dynasty, that’s not the kind of leadership Texans want,” Watts said. “It’s based on ideas, it’s based on vision, it’s based on ability to execute.”
Watts had $2,700 on hand, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
Democratic Party staffers said John Cook, the former mayor of El Paso, is the sole Democratic candidate. He will face the Republican primary winner in November.
Cook said he plans to make sure education funding interests are put ahead of oil and gas interests in General Land Office policies, and on his website he states that he wants to “review all land lease contracts to maximize the value of the State’s assets to benefit the Fund.”
The land commissioner post itself has been seen as a way to higher office.
Current Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst held the office from 1999 to 2003. And Dewhurst had aimed at a U.S. Senate seat before his defeat by Cruz. Patterson is aiming for the lieutenant governor seat now.
“People who have held that office have run for higher office,” Miller said. “It’s not one of the top jobs, but it’s a statewide job. You have to think it probably will be (a steppingstone), but he has to make that decision.”
Bush said he hasn’t made any decision about further political office at this point, saying, “It’s really too far down the road.”
Reprinted with permission from the San Angelo Standard-Times.