Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 48th Texas Governor since January 2015. During his predecessor, Rick Perry, Abbott is the 50th General Attorney of Texas.
A member of the Republican Party, Abbott is the second Republican to serve as the Texas Attorney General since the Reconstruction. Before taking over the position of the attorney general, he was a judge of the Texas Supreme Court, a position originally appointed in 1995 by then Governor George W. Bush. He was recorded outside Texas for successfully advocating the right of the state of Texas to present the Ten Commandments in front of the Texas Congress Building in Austin, in the 2005 United States Supreme Court case known as Van Orden v. Perry . He is also the first governor to use a wheelchair permanently since George C. Wallace.
Video Greg Abbott
Kehidupan awal, pendidikan, dan karir hukum awal
Abbott was born on November 13, 1957, in Wichita Falls, of English descent. His mother, Doris Lechristia Jacks Abbott, is a housewife, and her father, Calvin Roger Abbott, is a stockbroker and insurance agent. When he was six, they moved to Longview and his family lived in East Texas for six years.
At the start of junior high school, the Abbott family moved to Duncanville. In his second year of high school, his father died of a heart attack, and his mother went to work in the real estate office. She graduated from Duncanville High School. He was in the team of athletes in high school and won every meeting he entered his senior year. She is at the National Honor Society and was voted "Most Likely for Success".
In 1981, he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a member of the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity and Youth Youth Club. He met his wife, Cecilia Phelan, while attending UT Austin. In 1984, he earned a Doctorate from Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville, Tennessee.
On July 14, 1984, at the age of 26, Abbott was paralyzed below the waist when an oak fell on him as he ran after the storm. He has two steel bars planted in his spine, underwent extensive rehabilitation at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston, and has been using a wheelchair ever since. He sued the homeowner and negotiated an insurance settlement worth more than US $ 10 million, resulting in a payment of US $ 14,000 per month.
Abbott plunged into private practice, working for Butler and Binion, LLC between 1984 and 1992.
Maps Greg Abbott
Judicial career
Abbott's judicial career began in Houston, where he served as state court judge in the 129 District Court for three years. Then-Governor George W. Bush appointed Abbott to the Texas Supreme Court, and he was subsequently twice elected to the country's highest civilian court - in 1996 (two-year term) and 1998 (six-year term). In 1996, Abbott did not have a Democratic opponent but was challenged by Libertarian John B. Hawley of Dallas. Abbott beat Hawley 84-16%. In 1998, Abbott defeated Democrat David Van Os 60-40%.
In 2001, after resigning from the Supreme Court, Abbott returned to private practice and worked for Bracewell & amp; Giuliani LLC. He is also a professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
Texas Attorney General
election 2002
Abbott resigned from the Texas Supreme Court in 2001 to seek the position of Texas Lieutenant Governor. His campaign for Lieutenant Governor has been running for several months when former attorney general John Cornyn vacated his position to run for the US Senate. He then shifted his campaign to an open prosecutor position in 2002. Abbott defeated Democrats, former Austin Mayor and current State Senator, Kirk Watson, 57-41%. Abbott was sworn on December 2, 2002, following Cornony's Republican election to the Senate.
Tenure
Abbott expanded the Attorney General's office enforcement division from about thirty people to over one hundred people. He also created a new division called the Runaway Unit to track sexual offenders who violated their offenses or probation.
Abbott has spoken out against fears such as voter fraud, right to arms, and health care reform President Barack Obama. When asked what his job, Abbott said: "I went to the office in the morning, I demanded Barack Obama, and then I went home." Abbott has filed suit against various US agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services (including challenges for Obamacare), and the Department of Education, among many others.
Abbott filed 31 lawsuits against the Obama administration. According to The Wall Street Journal, from Abbott's tenure as Attorney General through his first term as Governor, Texas sued the Obama administration at least 44 times, more than any other country during the same period; court challenges including carbon emissions standards, health care reform, transgender rights and others. The Dallas Morning News compares Abbott to Scott Pruitt, noting that the two Attorney General have repeatedly challenged federal government environmental regulations. The Houston Chronicle notes that Abbott "leads accusations against Obama's era climate regulation."
Abbott said the country should not issue a Level II Chemical Inventory Report for security reasons, but that Texans "can ask any facility whether they have chemicals or not." Koch Industries has denied that their contribution to Abbott's campaign has anything to do with his decision to release safety information.
In 2014, Abbott opposed a lawsuit filed by the National Rifle Association to allow more people access hidden firearms, because Abbott feels this will disrupt public security.
The lawsuit against Sony BMG
On November 21, 2005, Abbott sued Sony BMG. Texas is the first state in the country to bring legal action against Sony BMG for illegal spyware. The suit was also first filed under state spyware legislation in 2005. It accused the company of secretly installing spyware on millions of compact discs (CDs) that consumers insert into their computers when they play CDs, which can harm the system. On December 21, 2005, Abbott added new allegations against his lawsuit against Sony-BMG. Abbott says MediaMax's copy protection technology violates spyware laws and fraudulent state trade practices. He says Sony-BMG offers consumers a license agreement when they buy CDs and play them on their computers. However, Abbott alleged in the lawsuit that even though consumers refused the deal, spyware was secretly installed on their computers, pose a security risk to music buyers. Abbott said, "We continue to find additional methods Sony uses to deceive Texas consumers who think they only buy music," and "Thousands of Texans are now potentially victims of this deceptive game Sony is playing with consumers for its own purposes." In addition to the violation of Consumer Protection against the Computer Spyware Act of 2005, which allowed a 100,000 civil punishment for any violation of the law, alleged violations were added in the updated lawsuit, on 21 December 2005, carrying a maximum penalty of 20,000 per violation.
Van Orden v. Perry
On March 2, 2005, Abbott appeared before the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., where he defended the Ten Command monuments at the Texas State Capitol. Dozens of similar monuments were donated to towns throughout the country during the 1960s by the Fraternal Eagles Order, inspired by the 1956 epic of the Ten Commandments; in doing so, they have the support of film director Cecil B. DeMille. The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Texas view does not violate the First Amendment and Constitutional Amendment Clause.
After Abbott's oral argument in Van Orden v. Perry, Judge John Paul Stevens commented on Abbott's performance while in a wheelchair, "I want to thank... for showing that there is no need to stand on the podium to do a good job". Election 2006
In the Nov. 7 election, Abbott was challenged by civil rights lawyer David Van Os, who had been his Democratic opponent in the 1998 general election for the state Supreme Court. He won re-election for a second term of 60-37%.
2010 elections
Abbott ran for a third term, and campaigned for other Republican candidates in 2010 including Jim Landtroop, Plainview insurance agent. While at his dismissal at Plainview, Abbott cited his refusal with Landtroop against a health care plan signed into law in March 2010 by President Barack Obama. He defeated Democratic lawyer Barbara Ann Radnofsky from Houston and Libertarian Jon Roland once more. Radnofsky is also a failed Democratic candidate against US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the 2006 general election. Abbott beat Radnofsky 64-34%. He is Texas's longest public prosecutor in Texas history.
In July 2013, the Houston Chronicle accused the improper relationship and supervision between Abbott's greatest donors and Cancer Prevention and the Texas Research Institute, where he was a director.
Texas Governor
2014 elections
On July 8, 2013, Governor Rick Perry announced that he would not seek fourth full term.
On July 14, 2013, speaking near Alamo on the 29th anniversary of his paralyzing accident, Abbott officially announced his intention to run for Texas governor in the 2014 Texas gubernatorial election. In the first six months of 2011, he raised more funds for his campaign than any other Texas politician, reached $ 1.6 million. The next highest fundraising among state officials is Texas Comptroller Susan Combs with $ 611,700.
In February 2014, speaking of the dangers of corruption in law enforcement, Abbott compared southern Texas to a Third World country that "erodes the social fabric of our society and destroys the trust and confidence of the people of Texas against the government." Abbott further said that he did not consider corruption "limited to one region in Texas [...] My plan is to add more resources to eliminate corruption so that people can have confidence in their government."
Abbott criticized Ted Nugent's "subhuman mongrel" comments addressed to President Barack Obama by saying "This is not the kind of language I will use or support in any way. It's time to move beyond this, and I will continue to focus on the issues that are important to Texans. "
Abbott won the Republican party on March 4, 2014, with 1,219,903, or 91.5% of the ballots. The remaining 103,000 votes were divided among three small candidates. He faces state Senator Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who polled 432,065 votes (79.1%) in his main Democratic contest against a single opponent.
Abbott promised to "tie the results for funding" to the pre-K program if elected governor, but he said he would not require a standard government test for a 4-year-old, because Davis accused him of progressing. When defending his educational plan, Abbott quotes Charles Murray: "The family background has the most decisive effect on student achievement, contributing to the huge performance gap between children from economically disadvantaged families and those from middle-class homes." A spokeswoman for the Abbott campaign indicates that the biggest difference in spending is that Davis has proposed a universal pre-K education while Abbott wants to limit state funding only to programs that meet certain standards. Davis's plan could reach 750 million in cost and Abbott has said that Davis's plan is "budget-crushing" while Abbott's education plan will cost no more than 118 million. Overall, Abbott said the reforms he imagined would "equate the field of play to all students [and] target schools that do not have access to the best resources." He has called for increased access to classroom technology and mathematical instruction for kindergarten students.
Abbott received 1.4 million campaign contributions from recipients of the Texas Company Fund, some of whose members submit the right documents for grants. Elliot Nagin of the Union of Concerned Scientists observes that Abbott is a major recipient of the fossil fuel industry, such as NuStar Energy, Koch Industries, Valero Energy, ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips. Abbott received support from Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Morning News, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and Tyler Morning Telegraph.
Abbott beat Davis with about 19 percentage points in the November election.
2018 election
In January 2017, Abbott reportedly raised funds for 2018 re-election as governor; as of December 2016, he has $ 34.4 million in hand for his campaign, where he raised $ 9 million during the second half of 2016. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has been mentioned as a potential challenger to the governor but insists he will run for a second term as lieutenant governor. During the weekend of January 21, 2017, Abbott said he intends to run again. He confirmed this on March 28, 2017.
Abbott officially announced his re-election campaign on July 14, 2017. He selected the Amtrak depot at the historic Sunset Station in San Antonio for a formal announcement of his candidacy: "I have proven that I am willing to take the liberals, I" I am willing to face Washington, DC, and I am counting on you to have my back. "Some protesters were taken out of the hall before Abbott began to speak.The official announcement came four days before the start of a special legislative session that could separate the Republicans into factions that supported Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Patrick, in one sides, and House Speaker Joe Straus, a moderate Republican who opposes largely Abbott-Patrick, the conservative social agenda.
Ownership
Abbott was appointed Texas governor on January 20, 2015.
Abbott declared February 2, 2015, as "Chris Kyle's Day" in honor of the US Navy SEAL which is the deadliest sniper in US military history depicted in the successful film American SNiper. This happened exactly two years after Kyle was shot and killed. Abbott held his first meeting as governor with a foreign prime minister when he met with Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny on March 15, 2015 to discuss trade and economic ties.
Abbott on April 28, 2015 called on the State Guard to monitor training drills Jade Helm 15, amid Internet-fueled suspicion that simulated warfare really is a hostile military takeover.
During the 2015 legislative session, initiated by officials at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Legislature placed motorists in the Texas budget to deduct $ 150 million from its budget by ending payments and coverage for developmental therapies for children in Medicaid. The lawsuit has been filed against the state on behalf of affected families and therapeutic providers, claiming it could cause irreparable damage to the development of affected children. The litigation obtained a temporary order command on September 25, 2015, prohibiting THHSC to apply therapeutic rate cuts.
Unlike his two predecessors, Bush and Perry, Abbott said he had no intention of running for president of the United States. The Trump Administration appointed several former Abbott appointed to federal court positions, something of some media attributed to Abbott's influence on administration.
Her 2016 book, Broken But Unbowed is a reflection on her personal story and her views on politics.
In October 2016, an explosive package was sent to Abbott, President Obama, and Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. The governor's package did not explode when he opened it when he opened the wrong package.
On June 6, 2017, Abbott called for a special legislative session to pass some legislative priorities to Abbott, something supported by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Abbott vetoed 50 bills in the regular session of 2017, the most vetoed in a single session since 2007.
Abortion
At the end of November 2016, the State of Texas, at Abbott's request, approved a new rule requiring abortion facilities to either bury or cremate the aborted, rather than throwing away the remains in sanitary landfills. The rule was intended to take effect on December 19, but on December 15, a federal judge blocked the rules to take effect at least one month after the Center for Reproductive Rights and other advocacy groups filed suit. On January 27, 2017, a federal judge ruled against the law, but the State of Texas vowed to appeal the verdict.
On June 6, 2017, Abbott signed the bill into the prohibition of law of withholding and partial birth abortion and required either the cremation or the burial of the undone. The law was also blocked by federal judges; the state said it would file an appeal.
Country Conventions Proposal
On January 8, 2016, Abbott called for a national constitutional convention to overcome what he saw as a violation by a supreme court justice of the United States in "abandoning the Constitution." Abbott proposed submitting nine new amendments to the Constitution, which was intended to limit the powers of the federal government and expand the rights of the state. Speaking to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Abbott said, "We people should lead to restore the rule of law in the United States."
In 2016 Abbott spoke with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, calling on the State Convention to amend the US Constitution. In his speech, he released a plan that included 9 proposed amendments to "decipher the decision-makers of power for decades of the federal government" to impose fiscal restrictions on the federal government and limit the powers and jurisdictions of the federal government. "Abbott outlined his proposal at a public seminar at the Hoover Institute on May 17, 2016.
The law of weapons
On June 13, 2015, Abbott signed a campus carry (SB 11) and an open carry bill (HB 910) into law. The law brings the campus into effect on 1 August 2015 and allows the holder of a hidden gun on public campuses, with private universities able to opt out. The open bill brings into effect on 1 January 2016 and allows carrying openly licensed guns at all locations that allow hidden carry. Texas is the 45th state that has an open carry.
On May 26, 2017, Abbott signed a bill into law that lowered the license fee of carrying a gun.
After the Santa Fe High School shooting on May 18, 2018, Abbott said that he would start working with state and community parliamentarians throughout Texas on a proposal to prevent gun violence at school.
On June 11, 2015, Abbott signed a "Rearguard Protection Act" that allows ministers to refuse to marry a spouse if they feel doing so violates their beliefs.
On May 21, 2017, Abbott signed Bill 24 Senate into law, preventing state or local government from calling preacher's sermons. The bill is inspired by anti-discrimination laws in Houston, where hundreds of sermons from five ministers are summoned.
On June 15, 2017, Abbott signed House Bill 3859 which enabled faith-based groups working with the Texas child welfare system to refuse service "in a situation contrary to religious beliefs held firm by the provider." Democrats and civil rights advocates say the adoption bill could allow groups to discriminate against those who practice different or lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender religions, and LGBT rights groups say they will challenge the bill in court. In response, California added Texas to the list of countries that prohibit official government travel.
City asylum
On 1 February 2017, Abbott blocked funding for Travis County, Texas due to the recent holy city policy. On May 7, 2017, Abbott signed the Texas Senate Bill 4 into law, targeting holy cities by prosecuting district or city officials who refused to work with federal officials and by allowing police officers to check the immigration status of those detained if they chose.
Environmental issues
Abbott believes that Earth's climate is changing, but he thinks that further research is needed to determine the human role in the change.
In early 2014, Abbott participated in a strategic session held at the headquarters of the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D. C. drafted a legal strategy to dismantle climate change regulations.
In 2016, Abbott endorsed Scott Pruitt's appointment to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), noting "He and I are working together in many lawsuits against the EPA."
Other issues
In a letter dated May 27, 2017, CEOs of 14 major companies, including Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, urged Abbott not to pass discriminatory laws. What is at issue is the so-called "bathroom bill", which would require transgender people to use the sex bathrooms listed on their birth certificates, not one of their choices. The bill was revived by Abbott and backed by Republican lieutenant governor Dan Patrick. In March 2018, Byron Cook, chairman of the State Affairs committee that blocked the bill, claimed that Abbott personally opposed the bill.
On June 6, 2017, Abbott signed the bill into a law that imposes statewide restrictions on sending text messages while driving.
Selection history
On 4 November 2014, Abbott defeated Wendy Davis with 21 points. According to the poll, he received 44 percent of Hispanic votes and 50 percent of Hispanic men, the majority (54 percent) of female voters, and 62 percent of married women's votes (75 percent of married women in Texas).
A week after his election, Abbott announced that Carlos Cascos, from Brownsville, a county judge since 2007 in Cameron County in South Texas, would become the Secretary of State of Texas. In the same election in which Abbott defeated Wendy Davis, Cascos, a Republican, won a third term as a county judge but resigned in January 2015 after receiving confirmation from the Texas Senate, to become the country's secretary.
Personal life
Abbott, a Roman Catholic, married Cecilia Phalen Abbott of Mexican-Americans, a Mexican immigrant grandson. His election as governor of Texas made him the first Latin man to become the First Lady of Texas since Texas joined the union. They have one adopted daughter, Audrey. They married in San Antonio in 1981. Cecilia is a former teacher and principal. He is the first US elected state governor to use a wheelchair since George Wallace of Alabama, 1983-87.
Abbott knows some Spanish but is not fluent in the language, though he is studying.
Abbott suffered second and third degree burns on his feet after touching hot water while on vacation in Wyoming in July 2016, which caused him to lose Republican National Convention.
References
Further reading
- Gonzalez, John W. "Abbott has friends and enemies in the disabled community." Houston Chronicle . July 29, 2013.
External links
- Governor Greg Abbott State official website
- Official website
- Greg Abbott on Curlie (based on DMOZ)
- Greg Abbott on Goodreads
- Appearance in C-SPAN
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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