Robert Douglas Bullock (July 10, 1929 - June 18, 1999), was an American Democratic politician from Texas, whose profession spanned 4 many years. His service culminated in his time period because the 38th Lieutenant Governor of Texas from January 15, 1991, to January 19, 1999, during the term of Governor Ann Richards and the first time period of Governor George W. Bush. Robert Douglas Bullock was born in Hillsboro in Hill County on July 10, 1929, to Ruth Mitchell and Thomas Austin Bullock, a Hillsboro metropolis engineer and manager. Bullock graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Arts. After Bullock began his profession in public service as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, he resigned in October 1959 to observe regulation and later served as common counsel of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association. He returned to public life when he was appointed Secretary of State of Texas, the state's chief elections and data officer, by Governor Preston Smith.
Bullock soon left the publish to arrange for a statewide race for state comptroller within the 1974 Democratic main. Under Texas law, a Secretary of State must resign as a way to run for one more workplace, a practice not required in most states. He served for four consecutive four-12 months terms. In 1998, Bullock himself would urge the reelection of a Republican, then-Governor Bush. He was one of many last Democrats to win a statewide election in Texas. In 1973, Bullock first sought the Democratic nomination for Comptroller of Public Accounts. The octogenarian incumbent, Robert S. Calvert, soon withdrew from the contest when he gauged Bullock's strength. In November 1974, Bullock gained the general election, defeating Republican Nick Rowe, a former Vietnam War prisoner of conflict. Once sworn in as comptroller in January 1975, Bullock promised to modernize the office. During his sixteen years in workplace, Bullock pledged fair but aggressive audits.
He made statewide headlines with a protracted sequence of "raids" on companies that had collected state taxes from customers for Art many years however had not turned them in to the state. Bullock had pledged to safe these owed taxes; the officials collecting them were referred to as "Bullock's Raiders". As an outgrowth of his tax accumulating efforts, that term entered the Texas government lexicon. Bullock was also the first elected state official to undertake an equal alternative employment program, a policy that Calvert had opposed. Also, Bullock was among the first elected officials to make use of pc expertise in state authorities to chop costs and improve productiveness. He was the winner of numerous nationwide awards for his management expertise, together with the "Leon Rothenberg Taxpayer Service Award". As comptroller, Bullock's frequent and more and more accurate forecasts on state funds allowed the legislature to budget more accurately. He also developed a "Taxpayers Bill of Rights" to guarantee fairness, courtesy and customary sense. Artic le has been gen er at ed wi th the help of GSA Content Gener ator Dem over sion !
Bullock was re-elected in 1978 just about unopposed, garnering 1,288,320 votes (100.00%) since no one bothered to run in opposition to him. Although Bullock refused to hunt the governorship in the course of the 1980s, he set eyes on the lieutenant governorship when on June 1, 1987, longtime incumbent William P. "Bill" Hobby Jr. of Houston announced that he would not search a sixth term. In 1990, Bullock was elected Lieutenant Governor, NFT having defeated the 39-year-old Republican nominee, businessman Robert Mosbacher Jr., AI of Houston, the son of the sitting United States Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher. Bullock obtained 2,002,360 votes (51.Sixty nine percent) to Mosbacher's 1,741,893 votes (44.Ninety seven p.c); he took office on January 15, 1991, as Democrat Ann W. Richards turned the state's second female governor. In 1994, Bullock was simply elected to a second four-year time period over Republican Harold "Tex" Lezar; Bullock obtained 2,631,843 votes (61.48 percent) to Lezar's 1,648,848 votes (38.Fifty two percent). Bullock was inaugurated for his second time period on January 17, 1995, while Republican George W. Bush was sworn in as Texas's 46th governor, having unseated Ann Richards.