When Texas Governor George W. Bush became
President of the United States, and then-Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry
assumed the governorship, a UT-trained civil engineer became the
second-in-command in Texas government.
State Senator Bill Ratliff (B.S.C.E. 1960; College of Engineering
Distinguished Graduate 1990) found himself thrust into statewide leadership by
his peers.
The Texas Senate's secret ballot elevated Ratliff, a Mount Pleasant
Republican, to arguably the most powerful post in our nation's second-most
populous state. Few could quibble with the choice. The soft-spoken, mannerly
Ratliff possessed formidable credentials as past chair of the Texas Senate
education and finance committees. He also offered a bipartisan reputation for
rock-solid integrity and fair-mindedness. In the end, these latter two
valuable traits led to his decision last June not to seek election to a full
term as Lieutenant Governor in November 2002. His concern that the statewide
fundraising demands might compromise his independence was met with
understanding across the political spectrum. President Bush-a good
friend-called personally from Washington to acknowledge the difficulty of the
decision, and to urge him to run for a fifth term in the Texas Senate.
Ratliff has five times made Texas Monthly magazine's prestigious "Best
Legislators" roundup since coming to the Legislature in 1989. While
education chair, he passed a controversial law (Senate Bill 1, dubbed
"Robin Hood" by its opponents). This bill redistributed a percentage
of property taxes from wealthy school districts to poorer ones. During his
third legislative session, he completely rewrote Texas' outdated public
education code on his laptop computer. Later as chair of the powerful finance
committee he twice oversaw the state's $100 billion-plus budget. During his
2001 legislative session, many attributed the spirit of civility directly to
the new Lieutenant Governor's calm and inclusive leadership style. Among the
most recent session's achievements were much-needed schoolteachers' health
insurance plan and easier access to Medicaid.
His distinguished dual career in engineering and politics has unfolded in
sometimes surprising ways. Born in 1936 in Shreveport, Louisiana, he grew up
in the small west Texas ranching town of Sonora. Ratliff's family was
politically oriented. His father held a master's degree in history from
Columbia University; both his brothers-prominent lawyers today-were
gregarious, avid debaters, and "hams" early on, he recalls. But his
own life took a different direction.
Q: What made you decide to become an engineer?
In high school I loved plane geometry: to me it was a game, the most fun
course I ever took. The principal was also my geometry teacher, and about the
time that course was over, my principal told me: "Bill, you just need to
be an engineer because that's the kind of mind you have."
Q: How did you choose UT?
Well, interestingly, I had chosen Rice. I was accepted, had my room deposit
down, and was headed down to Rice for freshman orientation. My brother Jack,
two years older, was here at UT, so I came through Austin and stayed with
him...and I guess that weekend, I decided that I wanted to go to UT. I'll
admit it was the greater social opportunities that attracted me!
Ratliff did meet and marry his wife, the former Sara Sandlin, during his
student years. He also served part of an eight-year stint in the Army Reserves
(from which he was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant in 1962) while at
The University. And he struggled, at first, to adapt to UT's scale.
Q: Can you recall a favorite professor or class?
My freshman chemistry professor, Dr. Shaw. I came out of a high school
graduating class of 13. My freshman chemistry lecture class was about 300
students- bigger than my entire high school- and I was scared to death. Dr.
Shaw helped me overcome the fear of that size that you get lost in.
Q: What about in Engineering?
I guess the time I enjoyed the most was summer surveying camp at Balcones (now
Pickle Research Center), which was out in the country back then. At the time,
it looked like an old worn-out military operation. Most of the buildings were
empty; we had classes out there, and we ran a survey around the property. It
was just a good time. The professor, whom I later graded for, later became
dean. UT's College of Engineering has always meant a lot to me. I wasn't the
greatest student in the world, but I think I learned a lot by just being in
the institution.
Upon graduation, Ratliff went to work for the Fort Worth consulting firm of
Reaves and Gregory. With one brief, early diversion-a two-year spell as city
manager of Copperas Cove in the early 1960s-he has practiced engineering ever
since. In 1967 he and a colleague struck off on their own to found Knowlton,
Ratliff and English. In 1974 Turner, Collie and Braden acquired their small
practice, and he moved to Houston to become a senior vice president and major
owner of the international giant. While in Houston, he augmented his
engineering education with a knowledge of legal issues, taking many basic and
business law courses at South Texas College of Law. In 1981 he sold his
interest in TCB, relocated to the northeastern Texas town of Mount Pleasant,
and established a solo engineering practice. Two years after that, he was
invited to become a managing partner with Kansas-based Bucher and Willis-a
nationwide consulting engineering, planning and architecture firm with
operations extending into every sphere of infrastructure development.
Q: What is your engineering specialty?
If I had a specialty, it would have been water and wastewater. But truthfully,
early in my career I got into the management end and did a lot more in the
client relations, jobs and business management areas than I did in the
technical end of it.
Q: So you used those people skills you seem to come by so naturally?
You know, strangely enough, I didn't come by that naturally. In high school,
my brothers won every state contest there was in speaking and debate. But I
really did not like public appearances, or making speeches. My father
convinced me to debate one year, and I hated it. Later, when I was practicing
in the mid-cities area, it evolved that I was managing the jobs on-site. So I
had to make presentations to city councils, almost nightly. I would go
represent the firm and talk to them about their projects, which were all
fast-growing. And I got more and more comfortable with making public
presentations, until I got to the point where I guess I turned into a
"ham" too!
Q: What drew you to elective politics?
When people ask me: "Why do you do this?" my answer is,
"Ego." But I try to explain: it's not the ego of the trappings or
the title, all the attention. To me, it's the ego to think: I can do this job
as well as the next guy, maybe better. And I can make a contribution. So I
think it is ego, but I think it's the better part of ego.
Also I think it was a combination of that exposure that I got before public
bodies and the fact that my father, who I happen to think was a great man, was
really a student of history. He loved to tell political stories, and our
household kind of just grew up talking about current events around the dinner
table, and about politics. It was partly growing up with his love for civics.
He was a Yellow Dog Democrat, and my wife told me, first time I ran: "You
realize that if your father lived in the district, he wouldn't vote for
you!" And I said, "Well I just don't want to put him to that
test!"
These days, Ratliff has considerably scaled back his engineering activities.
He sold his interest in Bucher, Willis & Ratliff in 1989, the year he
entered politics. But he still keeps a hand in his small one-man practice,
Ratliff Company, whose clients include the city of Mount Pleasant.
Q: What traits do you think qualify an engineer for public life?
I've often said engineers are problem solvers. We take a disparate number of
facts and formulas and premises, put all those together, try to make sense of
all that information, and to arrive at some kind of a logical, workable
solution. I have found that you can apply that same reasoning process to human
problems, or to a budget or to almost anything that the Legislature does. Not
to say it doesn't get a little messy at times! One of the first things an
engineer has to get over when he gets into politics is that politics may in
fact dictate illogical solutions.
Q: What issues will you concentrate on for the remainder of your term?
Oh, I think the major one has to be how we finance our public schools. In 1993
I was the author of the school financial plan that's now in place. There's
been much criticism of it. I'm looking forward to seeing if anybody else can
come up with anything better. That's probably going to drift over into taking
a serious look at our entire state tax structure.
Q: What Texas issues do you think will have a wider impact?
I think Texas, along with probably California, has been more significantly
impacted by the influx of immigrants than most other states. Primarily
immigration has affected Texas in two areas: public education and health care.
Our emergency rooms, our maternity wards and similar places are truly
struggling with the impact of what is in many cases indigent care. As a
result, the taxpayer is picking up a bigger and bigger share of that load. Now
other states, places as far away as Tennessee and Chicago, are beginning to
experience the same challenge.
Q: Do you think Texas will be in the vanguard of finding solutions?
I have often said that I'm not sure we can. I think it may have to be solved
nationally. And the more the problem shifts to other states, the more pressure
there will be for the federal government to take more responsibility.
Q: What would you like your political legacy to be?
I'm proudest of passing the bill in 1995, which completely revamped the public
education code. If I'm to be remembered for anything, I hope that it's the
complete redesign of public education in Texas.
Q: You've recently announced your carefully considered decision to run for a
fifth Texas Senate term in 2002. Do you think your father, if he were here,
might vote for you today?
Oh, I feel sure he would. He was very proud of all three of his sons, and he
let us know that. My brothers and I constantly strived for his approval, and I
hope I earned it.
For highlights of Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff's political career, go to:
press releases and
speeches
texas education
code of 1995
