John Sharp (Texas politician)

For other people named John Sharp, see John Sharp (disambiguation).

John Spencer Sharp
Sharp on December 19, 2008.
14th Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System
Incumbent
Assumed office August 15, 2011
Preceded by	Michael D. McKinney
35th Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
In office January 20, 1991 – January 20, 1999
Governor	Ann Richards (1991–1995) George W. Bush (1995–1999)
Preceded by	Bob Bullock
Succeeded by	Carole Keeton Strayhorn
Member of the Texas Railroad Commission
In office 1987–1991
Governor	William Perry "Bill" Clements, Jr.
Preceded by	Clark Jobe
Succeeded by	Lena Guerrero
Member of the Texas State Senate
In office 1983–1987
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 40th district
In office 1979–1983
Personal details
Born	July 28, 1950 Placedo, Texas
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Charlotte Sharp (married in 1978)
Children	Spencer Sharp Victoria Sharp
Residence	Austin, Texas
Religion	Roman Catholic
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1972–1976
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Battles/wars	Vietnam War

John Sharp is the former Democratic Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, having held the office from 1991 to 1999. He is currently a principal in the Austin office of the Dallas-based Ryan & Company, a tax consulting firm. In 2005, he was appointed to serve as Chair of the Texas Tax Reform Commission. Sharp had announced in December 2008 that he would run as a Democrat for the United States Senate seat currently held by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Background

The son of an oil field worker and a school teacher, Sharp grew up in the small farming community of Placedo, along the Texas Gulf Coast. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972 from Texas A&M University where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets and was elected Student Body President. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserves and belongs to American Legion Post 76 in Austin.

In 1976, Sharp received a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Texas State University (formerly named Southwest Texas State University) in San Marcos while working full-time in Austin with the Legislative Budget Board. John returned to Victoria in 1978, where he opened a one-man real estate firm and became a successful small business owner.

Sharp has been married to Charlotte Sharp of Austin since 1978. They have a son, Spencer, and a daughter, Victoria. The Sharps are active members of their church and are involved in many community and humanitarian efforts, including airlifts of Jewish families to Israel from Ukraine and other areas of Russia.

In 1978, Sharp was elected to the Texas House of Representatives from the 40th District in Victoria and was later named "Outstanding Freshman" by Texas Monthly. Just a few weeks after his re-election for a third full 2-year term in the general election of 1982, he ran and won a special election run-off and served a full 4-year term in the Texas Senate, serving on the powerful Senate Finance Committee. In 1986 he was elected to the Texas Railroad Commission where he helped reform the state's trucking regulations, improve railroad safety, and develop new markets for Texas' abundant supply of clean-burning and efficient natural gas.

Sharp has received numerous awards, including the only "Texas Quality Award" ever presented to a governmental agency. Texas State University presented Sharp with the "Distinguished Alumnus Award" in 1996, where he also taught a course on Texas state government for several semesters in the early 2000s.

Texas Politics

In 1990, Mr. Sharp was elected as the 35th State Comptroller of Public Accounts for the State of Texas. He was re-elected in 1994 for a 1995–98 term. He left elected office by not seeking reelection to a third term as Comoptroller after an unsuccessful run in 1998 for Lieutenant Governor, being defeated in a hotly contested election by then-Texas Agriculture Commissioner and current Governor Rick Perry by a margin of 50 percent to 48 percent.

Sharp ran for Lieutenant Governor again in 2002, but was defeated by then-Texas Commissioner of the General Land Office and current Republican Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst by margin of 52 percent to 46 percent.

Upon taking office as Comptroller, he began working to fulfill his pledge to "make government work more like our most successful businesses." During his eight years as Comptroller, Sharp established the Texas Performance Review (TPR), an ongoing audit on state government. During Sharp's two 4-year terms as Comptroller, the TPR identified more than $8.5 billion in taxpayer savings and changed the way government does business through such innovations as the Council on Competitive Government. Other innovative programs created and implemented by Sharp during these eight years include:

• Texas School Performance Review: An outgrowth of TPR, this program has shown public school districts how to save more than $350 million, while keeping scarce education funds in the classroom where they belong and easing the burden on local taxpayers.

• Texas Window on State Government: The official website for the Texas State Comptroller's Agency was a Sharp innovation during his time as Comptroller. This website – whose stated purpose was to maximize the ability of citizens to engage with the Comptroller's Agency and to access public information more easily – was the first of its kind in the United States, and has served as a model for other state agencies across the country.

• The Texas Tomorrow Fund: A pre-paid college tuition plan that allows over 80,000 Texas families to lock in the future costs of their children's college at about what they would pay today.

• Family Pathfinders: Sharp's 1995 welfare reform plan formed the heart of some of the most sweeping changes to public assistance in Texas history. It also led to another of Sharp's innovations—Family Pathfinders, which links welfare families with local civic clubs, congregations and businesses to help get jobs and leave the public assistance rolls behind. The Family Pathfinders website for Tarrant County, Texas (as an example) is here:

• The Lone Star Card: First recommended by Sharp in 1991. This program spearheaded the nationwide switch from paper food stamp coupons to computerized bank-type cards and dramatically reduced fraud and abuse in the federal program.

As Comptroller, Sharp also commanded the most successful state lottery start-up in U.S. history. With only 189 employees (compared to California's 1,000 and Florida's 750), Sharp's team put their first tickets on sale seven weeks early and set first-day, first-week, and first-year world sales records. By the time he turned the games over to the new Texas Lottery Commission, the state was $1 billion richer – and Sharp had returned $81 million in unspent administrative funds. Sharp's blueprint for the Texas Lottery was later used by several American states as well as Mexico.

In 2005, Sharp was asked to head an education task force – called the Texas Tax Reform Commission – charged with preparing a bi-partisan education plan for the state. The special session convened on April 17, 2006. Sharp accepted the offer and removed himself as a potential candidate for governor in 2006. The task force issued its final plan several months later, and the legislature adopted it. For his successful efforts, Sharp was later nominated by the Dallas Morning News for "Texan of the Year".

Texas Proposition 15

In 2007, Sharp helped spearhead Texas Proposition 15, a bill that sought to establish grants for cancer research, grants for cancer prevention and control programs in Texas to mitigate the incidence of cancer, and the purchase of laboratory facilities. Sharp acted as Treasurer for the supporting political action committee, Texans to Cure Cancer. Proposition 15 passed by a wide margin in November 2007.

U.S. Senate Campaign

On December 4, 2008, Republican U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison announced her creation of an exploratory committee for the Texas Governor's race in 2010. If she were to win the governorship, Hutchison would be required to vacate her Senate seat by November 2010. If she were to stay in the Senate and not run for Governor, she would be up for re-election for the Senate in 2012. On December 8, 2008, Sharp became the first Democrat to formally announce his intention to run for this Senate seat, regardless of when Hutchison chose to vacate. Unlike several other current candidates for the office, Sharp forwent the option of creating an exploratory committee so that he could immediately begin raising funds and campaigning in 2009.

Hutchison ultimately lost the Republican nomination on March 2, 2010 to Governor Rick Perry and announced her retirement from the Senate on January 7, 2011.

Texas A&M University

On August 15, 2011 John Sharp was chosen as chancellor of the Texas A&M University System.

External links

• John Sharp for U.S. Senator campaign website
• John Sharp's curriculum vitae on the Ryan & Co website
• John Sharp for U.S. Senate – Official Facebook page
• "John Sharp Makes Campaign Visit" (Daily Tribune – Mount Pleasant, TX, 09/04/09)
• "McReynolds Endorses Sharp for U.S. Senate" (KTRE Lufkin/Nacogdoches (includes video feed), August 20, 2009)
• "Sharp Argues for 'Bubbas' in Bid for Senate" (Cherokeean Herald, August 19, 2009)
• "Senate Hopeful to Visit Longview" (East Texas Review, 07/08/09)
• John Sharp interviewed by Evan Smith on "Texas Monthly Talks" (01/09)
• "Working on a Dream: Let's Mark Dr. King's Birthday by Rekindling His Spirit of Public Service" (Written by John Sharp, Burnt Orange Report, 01-19-09
• "Sharp: Stop bailing out Wall Street, start giving Main Street mortgage relief" (Written by John Sharp, Rio Grande Guardian, December 30, 2008)
• "Sharp: Don't play the educational blame game" (Written by John Sharp, Austin American-Statesman, December 20, 2008)
• "East & South Texas State Legislators Back Sharp in Senate Race" (Capitol Annex, December 12, 2008)
• "John Sharp: Let marketplace govern energy industry" (Written by John Sharp, San Antonio Express-News, June 28, 2008)
• John Sharp is interviewed about the Texas Tax Reform Commission by Austin's KLRU-TV
• "More Welfare Waste – And A Lesson for Manufacturers" (John Sharp and creation of the Lone Star Card) (Evolving Excellence, November 13, 2006)
• Text of Governor's Appointment of John Sharp To Lead Tax Reform Panel (November 22, 2005)
• "State Comptroller elaborates on `Lone Star Scholars' idea" (Amarillo Global News, January 23, 1998)
• "The U.S. Reform Experience: The National Performance Review" (as inspired by John Sharp) (University of North Texas Libraries, 04/06/1997)
• "Sharp Drops Smart Bomb" (Austin Chronicle, 02/09/1996)
• "Texas Official Is Model for Gore's Public Parsimony" (New York Times, 09/12/1993)
• "The Big Audit" (detailed story of John Sharp's creation of the Texas Performance Review) (State Legislatures, 06/03/1993)

References

Political offices
Preceded by Bob Bullock	Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts 1991–1999	Succeeded by Carole Keeton Strayhorn
Party political offices
Preceded by Bob Bullock	Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Texas 1998, 2002	Succeeded by Maria Luisa Alvarado