Gustavo “Gus” Garza

The Texas House of Representatives’ first Hispanic Speaker, Gus Garza is a Dallas County Republican who has successfully partnered with Independents and Democrats to retain control of the Texas House for three legislative sessions.  But the committed public servant’s power is threatened by ongoing changes in the state’s political landscape.  Furthermore, Garza’s conflicting desires to hold his family together, expand his business interests, and win higher office are forcing the otherwise staid politician to engage in increasingly risky and enigmatic behavior.

Ellie Endsley

Born into a family of political activists, bureaucrats, and local government officials, Texas native Ellie Endsley continued her family’s commitment to civil service when she took a part-time job at the Texas Capitol during the summer between her junior and senior years in high school.  She continued working in the Capitol while she pursued an undergraduate degree in Mathematics. After she was awarded a Master of Public Affairs from the LBJ School, she took a job among the senior staff of the state’s Legislative Budget Board (LBB).  Two years later, she surprised a lot of people when she was named the LBB’s Director. She began talking with family and friends about pursuing a seat in the Legislature.  But her plans were shattered when she was run over by a drunk delivery driver.  She spent more than two years struggling to recover from the accident, and she continues to suffer from a chronic pain condition that leaves her hurting and exhausted after the most mundane activities.   Representing 43,991 registered followers and more than 100 business-level members, Endsley is the Executive Director of Independents Can.

James Carlos Cates

James Carlos Cates, Uvalde County’s youngest-ever county judge, is the product of a wealthy South Texas family whose ancestors took part in the Battle of Gonzales and the Convention of 1836.  Although his family gives generously to the Democratic Party and makes strategic investments in statewide Republican candidates, Cates spent most of his life avoiding partisan debate.  His seats on the local school board and San Antonio City Council were won in non-partisan elections, and his power tended to be wielded in the back room (as opposed to the bully pulpit), or from the boardroom of his family’s privately held company.  His decision to run for Congress changed all of that: in addition to coming down on the wrong side of the immigration debate, Cates hired a campaign consultant tied to an arm of the local Democratic party who were considered by many insiders to be out-of-touch and losing power.  After losing his bid for Congress, Cates stayed out of politics until his hard-to-hide ties with the wrong local Democrats paid its final dividend – handing Cates control of their county government. Aware that the local power landscape is changing quickly, Cates knows that he is unlikely to retain his seat after the next election. Cates is considering a series of possible moves. A series of water measures passed during the previous legislative session are upsetting many of the agricultural and energy interests in the area, and Cates has been threatening to run for the Texas Legislature, “to right the wrongs done by our local representative, who should be protecting his constituents’ God-given right to clean, affordable water, instead of serving the Speaker’s political machine.”

Gonzalo “Gonzo” Garza

Gonzo Garza is Speaker Gus Garza’s brother and right hand man.   He eats big, drinks big, and gambles big.  In addition to managing his brother’s political affairs, Gonzo remains deeply involved in the Garza family’s business interests (which include liquor imports, commercial construction, mineral development, and the sale of insurance products marketed to Spanish language speakers living in the U.S.). A lawyer by trade, Gonzo does a steady business representing energy and utility interests engaged in legal negotiations with the state’s regulatory agencies.  Gonzo was involved in Republican politics years before his brother considered running for elected office, and he remains deeply committed to keeping the Republican Party out of the wrong hands.  Despite his continued success and comfort, Gonzo worries obsessively that  his sprawling network of relationships and investments can not be held together long enough to pay the many bills that Gonzo has racked up to pay for his big living and largesse.

Carol Ann King

A powerful and persuasive public relations guru, Carol King’s long, successful resume includes service to elected officials, corporations, non-profits, politicians and issue campaigns.  King is an old friend of Speaker Garza’s – and one of his most trusted advisors.  As the executive face of a global public affairs firm, King is expected to remain focused on new business development, and clients like the Speaker retain her firm’s services for use in crisis situations only (that was all that most of her old friends could afford).  But King and her firm made a bad bet on an elected official who was in way over her head –on a global scale — and the loss of face associated with that client’s ongoing struggles are shrinking King’s business. As the Speaker’s political ambitions grow and King finds herself with more time on her hands, she spends more time in Austin, where her mastery of the levers of power is very  relevant and very valuable to the Speakers. But some of her methods are outdated, which is dangerous. King once counted among her greatest strengths her ability to identify her own weaknesses and acquire a professional capable of filling in any holes in her toolbox. But King has a problem: she is beginning to be too sure that her toolbox is perfect. “A problem,” her ex-husband might say, “especially among older women who worry that no one will have use for them any longer.” Among academics and arm-chair quarterbacks, this fallacy is sometimes called “The Perfect Toolbox.”