North Texas
(2008-11-25)
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The stories flowed as friends of Democratic politician Jim Mattox mingled at a state capitol visitation last night. The East Dallas native died Wednesday of a heart attack at his Dripping Springs home. A funeral and burial at the Texas State Cemetery are scheduled for today. KERA's Shelley Kofler has more on how Texans are remembering the "people's lawyer."
In the stately Texas House Chamber where Jim Mattox served in the '70s, swells of laughter pierced reverence as friends like Kelly Fero paid their respects and reminisced.
Fero: He was guileless, he was fearless he truly never forgot where he came from.
Where 65-year-old Jim Mattox came from was a hard working East Dallas family, his father a sheet metal worker, his mother a waitress. His sister and brother remember how Big Brother Jim helped raise them and pay for their college. Political allies like Ferro, remember how Mattox's childhood forged a David and Goliath philosophy that followed him throughout his career.
In his first elected office at the state legislature, Mattox boldly tackled issues others considered career killers, like ethics reform. Mattox helped write the law.
Fero: Open records, open meetings, lobby registration, campaign finance reform, the heart and sole of the ethics laws reporters continue to use today.
Mattox's early career moved fast. After four years in the legislature, voters elected him to Congress, where Fero says the scrappy Texan's independence gained prominent committee appointments and attention.
Fero: On his first day in Congress he was admonished from the podium for not having a jacket on, and he said we're here to work we're rolling up our sleeves.
But it was what happened after his stretch in Washington that came to most define Mattox's public service. In 1982, Texans elected him Attorney General.
Fellow Democrat Garry Mauro, state land commissioner at the time, says Mattox used the position to aggressively challenge corporate wrongdoing. He became known as the people's lawyer.
Mauro: He didn't care how powerful the person on the other side was. He was going to be where he perceived the people to be. Jim Mattox believed the powerful had money and resources to hire their own lawyers. He believed the people- average Americans, average Texans- didn't. And that's who he as an elected Attorney General was supposed to represent. So you talk about consumer credit fraud, you talk about the oil companies not paying royalties, there are a hundred examples of where he was willing to file the lawsuits, be part of the lawsuits against the powerful on behalf of the less powerful.
What stands out for Mattox's campaign strategist and press secretary Elna Christopher was her boss' decision to take on child support. It had languished in another state agency. Collections were abysmally low.
Christopher: He said those kids need help. They need support. They need their deadbeat parents to look after them. I think I can do a much better job. And he did. He made such a difference in child support collections winning national awards laying the ground work for the attorney generals who came after him
Mattox filed cases charging nursing home neglect, and false advertising. He sued Mobile Oil and mounted the largest anti-trust case ever against an insurance company.
Mattox also found himself on the other side of a lawsuit, indicted on commercial bribery, where he was accused of concealing campaign funds and threatening a law firm. A jury acquitted him.
He faced new controversy in 1990, when he decided to run against Ann Richards for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. He created a political storm when he accused Richards of drug use, but didn't back up the claim.
But in the Texas House where he lay in state, the long line of admirers circling the chamber didn't whisper about the unpleasant events or Mattox's two unsuccessful political comebacks.
They mostly shared their stories about the big hearted East Dallas boy who like David aimed his slingshot at some big monsters while always seeing himself as the people's attorney.
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