‘She opened government to everyone’ − 14 September, 2006
Whether that epitaph is ultimately true or not, there is no denying that former Texas Governor Ann Richards — who died Wednesday after a bout with esophageal cancer — made the effort to make is so. She was a firebrand grandmother figure, the kind everyone would want to have and never want to cross, who lost her lone re-election bid to George W. Bush. That campaign was hurt by her vetoes of concealed handgun and environmental exploitation legislation.
It will be interesting to see if Richards’ greatest legacy will be her partisan wit … or the success of the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, a prep school for girls in Austin, Texas she helped create. The school will be open next year.
