Henry Bonilla
Encyclopedia
Henry Bonilla is a former congressman who represented Texas's 23rd congressional district
in the United States House of Representatives
. He was defeated in his bid for re-election by Ciro Davis Rodriguez, a former Democratic
member of Congress, in a special election runoff held on December 12, 2006. His term expired January 3, 2007 when the 110th Congress officially began.
to Anita Arellano and Enrique A. Bonilla. He graduated from South San Antonio High School in 1972 and received his Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin
in 1976. Before entering politics, he was a television news executive at San Antonio's CBS
affiliate, KENS-TV
. His former wife, Deborah Knapp (born December 1, 1954), continues as an anchor at the station. He has since married the former Sheryl White Shelby (born 1959).
nomination for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (map). The 23rd had been a Democratic
district since its creation in 1967, but Bonilla charged four-term incumbent Albert G. Bustamante with neglecting his constituents' needs, being involved in the House banking scandal
by writing 30 "cheques calientes" in the House Bank, and taking excessive junket
s abroad. Bonilla got an inadvertent assist from the state legislature, which left a heavily Republican area of western San Antonio in the 23rd while carving the new 28th District out of much of the 23rd's territory. Despite being outspent by $758,453 to $594,032 and being in a district that Bill Clinton
carried the same year, Bonilla won by a huge 21-point margin, 59 to 38 percent, the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent that year. Bonilla did not win in heavily Democratic Webb County
in 1992 or in any election thereafter though the small contingent of Republicans there, led by former Laredo City Council member Joe A. Guerra
, worked hard for his candidacy.
In March 1999, Governor George W. Bush
named Bonilla as the only Texan on his presidential exploratory committee
. Bonilla often represented Bush on national news programs and as a surrogate speaker.
Even though the 23rd had a slight Democratic lean, Bonilla developed a very conservative voting record. Largely because of his popularity in San Antonio, he did not face a credible challenge until 2002, when Democrat Henry Cuellar
, a former Texas secretary of state, came within two points of unseating him.
Bonilla announced that he would probably run in 2006 for the United States Senate
seat held by fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison
if she ran for governor
in 2006 against the incumbent
Republican Rick Perry
. However, Hutchison decided to run for another term in the Senate.
Bonilla defends his PAC's record of assisting minority candidates, saying, "We did the best we could." In all, 27 minority office-seekers, predominantly Hispanic-American, received money, mostly small donations. But Bonilla said it was sometimes difficult to find "good, solid minority candidates to expend the funds on".
In July 2003, the treasurer of the PAC pleaded guilty to embezzling $119,021 between 1999 and 2003 and was sentenced to 15 months in prison. The thefts were not discovered until almost four years after they began. "It was a black mark on my judgment", Bonilla said in a 2004 interview.
by the Texas legislature, the results of efforts by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
, moved most of Laredo, which had been one of the cores of the 23rd since its formation, to the 28th district. In its place, Bonilla received several heavily Republican San Antonio suburbs that had previously been in the nearby 21st District, all but assuring him of a seventh term. Meanwhile, Cuellar entered and won the 2004 primary against the 28th's incumbent Democrat Ciro Rodriguez and then went on to win the general election.
Bonilla contributed money from his American Dream PAC to the redistricting effort.
Soon after the 2004 election, Bonilla was criticized when he proposed a procedural rule change that would permit House leaders to retain their leadership positions despite having been indicted by a state grand jury. The proposal would have allowed Tom DeLay to remain as Majority Leader despite having been indicted by the Travis County district attorney's office for possible campaign finance violations. Many constituents believed that Bonilla was blatantly repaying a political favor to DeLay for having favorably redrawn the 23rd District.
On June 29, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court, with Justice Anthony Kennedy
taking the lead, ruled in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry
that Bonilla's district violated the Civil Rights Act, though the justices upheld most of the 2003 redistricting. The Court declared that the Texas legislature violated the rights of Latino voters when it cut most of Laredo out of the 23rd. Even though the reconfigured 23rd was still 55 percent Latino, only 46 percent of the district's voting-age population was Latino. The justices held that as a result, the new district didn't have enough Latinos to pass muster under the Voting Rights Act
. Since the legislature hadn't created an acceptable majority-Latino district (its intended replacement, the Austin
-to-McAllen
25th
, was not considered compact enough), the reconfigured 23rd had to be struck down as well. Because of the size of the 23rd, the ruling effectively forced the redrawing of nearly every district from El Paso to San Antonio. Precedent dictated that a new map had to be issued before the November elections.
The court issued the new lines on August 7. It moved all of Laredo out of the 23rd and into the 28th, but nevertheless made the district much friendlier to Democrats by boosting its Latino population to 65 percent. In particular, Bonilla received several portions of heavily Democratic south San Antonio (where he'd grown up) while losing many of the strongly Republican areas he had inherited in the 2003 redistricting. The court also ordered an all-party primary on Election Day, with a December runoff if no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote. The new map included Rodriguez' home and much of his former base, and he announced that he would run against Bonilla in November.
Federal Elections Commission records show Bonilla paid the Los Angeles
-based law firm of Latham & Watkins
$100,000 in 2006, from his campaign funds, to argue that the district boundaries were constitutional. In February, the firm filed an amicus brief before the Supreme Court in support of the redistricting plan.
veteran Rick Bolanos in the all-candidate special election required by the court decision on redistricting (see above). The ballot also included one independent. Bolanos had won the Democratic primary earlier in the year.
In the first special election, Bonilla won 48.1 percent of the vote to Rodriguez' 20.3 percent. Since no one gained a majority, there was a runoff between the two former colleagues. According to unofficial results of the Texas Secretary of State http://204.65.107.84/06decspcrun.htm?x=0&y=0&id=824, Rodriguez won the runoff with 54.32% of the vote to Bonilla's 45.68%. Bonilla was the first Republican incumbent in Texas to be unseated by a Democrat in 10 years, since Nick Lampson
's defeat of Steve Stockman
in a 1996 runoff election. Interestingly, Lampson was also returned to Congress in 2006 after being defeated for reelection in 2004, like Rodriguez in another district.
Bonilla said in interviews the night of his defeat that his loss was in part a result of the changed districting. He ran controversial commercials that claimed that Rodriguez took funds from terrorists, which media outlets called "bold claims". He later apologized to the press for any of those who took offense, but stood by his statement.
However, a large number of Hispanics and Latinos, who predominantly reside in District 23, had expressed disdain for Bonilla by stating that he had fallen out of touch with the needs and concerns of minorities. His reputation even earned him the nickname "Henry Vanilla," as some Hispanics claimed that Bonilla no longer could relate to his culture. In a year of war, illegal immigration issues, and a proposed border fence, Latinos left the Republicans side in droves.
Bonilla's seat was the 31st gained by Democrats, the 30th taken from the Republicans, in 2006.
America to the Organization of American States
, with the rank of Ambassador
. After two months with no action by the Senate, Bonilla asked the President
to withdraw his nomination. Instead, Bonilla has joined the Washington based firm The Normandy Group.
Texas's 23rd congressional district
Texas's 23rd congressional district is the 8th largest congressional district in the country not counting at-large districts, stretching across the southwestern portion of Texas. It is a Latino-majority district and its current Representative is Republican Quico Canseco...
in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. He was defeated in his bid for re-election by Ciro Davis Rodriguez, a former Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
member of Congress, in a special election runoff held on December 12, 2006. His term expired January 3, 2007 when the 110th Congress officially began.
Roots in San Antonio
Bonilla was born in San AntonioSan Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
to Anita Arellano and Enrique A. Bonilla. He graduated from South San Antonio High School in 1972 and received his Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
in 1976. Before entering politics, he was a television news executive at San Antonio's CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate, KENS-TV
KENS-TV
KENS is the CBS affiliate television station in San Antonio, Texas owned and operated by The Belo Corporation. Prior to late April 2010, KENS also managed UPN, later The CW, affiliate station KCWX through a local marketing agreement...
. His former wife, Deborah Knapp (born December 1, 1954), continues as an anchor at the station. He has since married the former Sheryl White Shelby (born 1959).
Congressional career
In March 1992, Bonilla won the 23rd district's RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
nomination for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (map). The 23rd had been a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
district since its creation in 1967, but Bonilla charged four-term incumbent Albert G. Bustamante with neglecting his constituents' needs, being involved in the House banking scandal
House banking scandal
The House banking scandal broke in early 1992, when it was revealed that the United States House of Representatives allowed members to overdraw their House checking accounts without risk of being penalized by the House bank ....
by writing 30 "cheques calientes" in the House Bank, and taking excessive junket
Junket
Junket can refer to:*an excursion for the purpose of pleasure at public or company expense *Junket , a dessert made of flavoured, sweetened curds*Junket , a brand name of rennet tablets and dessert mixes...
s abroad. Bonilla got an inadvertent assist from the state legislature, which left a heavily Republican area of western San Antonio in the 23rd while carving the new 28th District out of much of the 23rd's territory. Despite being outspent by $758,453 to $594,032 and being in a district that Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
carried the same year, Bonilla won by a huge 21-point margin, 59 to 38 percent, the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent that year. Bonilla did not win in heavily Democratic Webb County
Webb County, Texas
Webb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The official 2010 population for the county is 250,304. In 2000, its population was 193,117, and in 2006 its population had been estimated to have reached to 231,470. Its county seat is Laredo...
in 1992 or in any election thereafter though the small contingent of Republicans there, led by former Laredo City Council member Joe A. Guerra
Joe A. Guerra
Jose Antonio Guerra, Sr., known as Joe A. Guerra , was a businessman and a Republican political activist in the heavily Democratic city of Laredo, Texas...
, worked hard for his candidacy.
In March 1999, Governor George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
named Bonilla as the only Texan on his presidential exploratory committee
Exploratory Committee
In the election politics of the United States, an exploratory committee is an organization established to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for an elected office. They are most often cited in reference to United States Presidential hopefuls, prior to the primaries.Exploratory...
. Bonilla often represented Bush on national news programs and as a surrogate speaker.
Even though the 23rd had a slight Democratic lean, Bonilla developed a very conservative voting record. Largely because of his popularity in San Antonio, he did not face a credible challenge until 2002, when Democrat Henry Cuellar
Henry Cuellar
Henry Roberto Cuellar is the U.S Representative for , serving since 2005. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district extends from the Rio Grande to the suburbs of San Antonio, including Guadalupe County and nearby Wilson County.Outside of politics, he has served as a professor at the...
, a former Texas secretary of state, came within two points of unseating him.
Bonilla announced that he would probably run in 2006 for the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
seat held by fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison, known as Kay Bailey Hutchison , is the senior United States Senator from Texas.She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001, she was named one of the thirty most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. The first woman to represent Texas in the U.S....
if she ran for governor
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
in 2006 against the incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Republican Rick Perry
Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry is the 47th and current Governor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full...
. However, Hutchison decided to run for another term in the Senate.
American Dream PAC
When Bonilla took charge in 1999 of an independent political fund called American Dream PAC, he made clear that its mission was to "give significant, direct financial assistance to first-rate minority GOP candidates". However, between 1999 and the end of 2003, only $48,750 (or 8.9 percent) of the $547,000 the PAC has received, has gone to minority office-seekers, while more than $100,000 has been routed to Republican Party organizations or causes.Bonilla defends his PAC's record of assisting minority candidates, saying, "We did the best we could." In all, 27 minority office-seekers, predominantly Hispanic-American, received money, mostly small donations. But Bonilla said it was sometimes difficult to find "good, solid minority candidates to expend the funds on".
In July 2003, the treasurer of the PAC pleaded guilty to embezzling $119,021 between 1999 and 2003 and was sentenced to 15 months in prison. The thefts were not discovered until almost four years after they began. "It was a black mark on my judgment", Bonilla said in a 2004 interview.
2003 redistricting
Bonilla was priming for a rematch against Cuellar in 2004, but in 2003, a controversial mid-decade redistricting2003 Texas redistricting
The 2003 Texas redistricting refers to a controversial mid-decade congressional redistricting plan appealed to the United States Supreme Court in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry...
by the Texas legislature, the results of efforts by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
, moved most of Laredo, which had been one of the cores of the 23rd since its formation, to the 28th district. In its place, Bonilla received several heavily Republican San Antonio suburbs that had previously been in the nearby 21st District, all but assuring him of a seventh term. Meanwhile, Cuellar entered and won the 2004 primary against the 28th's incumbent Democrat Ciro Rodriguez and then went on to win the general election.
Bonilla contributed money from his American Dream PAC to the redistricting effort.
Soon after the 2004 election, Bonilla was criticized when he proposed a procedural rule change that would permit House leaders to retain their leadership positions despite having been indicted by a state grand jury. The proposal would have allowed Tom DeLay to remain as Majority Leader despite having been indicted by the Travis County district attorney's office for possible campaign finance violations. Many constituents believed that Bonilla was blatantly repaying a political favor to DeLay for having favorably redrawn the 23rd District.
On June 29, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court, with Justice Anthony Kennedy
Anthony Kennedy
Anthony McLeod Kennedy is an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, having been appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. Since the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor, Kennedy has often been the swing vote on many of the Court's politically charged 5–4 decisions...
taking the lead, ruled in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry
League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry
League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry, 548 U. S. 399 , is a Supreme Court of the United States case in which the Court ruled that only District 23 of the 2003 Texas redistricting violated the Voting Rights Act. The Court refused to throw out the entire plan, ruling that the plaintiffs...
that Bonilla's district violated the Civil Rights Act, though the justices upheld most of the 2003 redistricting. The Court declared that the Texas legislature violated the rights of Latino voters when it cut most of Laredo out of the 23rd. Even though the reconfigured 23rd was still 55 percent Latino, only 46 percent of the district's voting-age population was Latino. The justices held that as a result, the new district didn't have enough Latinos to pass muster under the Voting Rights Act
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S....
. Since the legislature hadn't created an acceptable majority-Latino district (its intended replacement, the Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
-to-McAllen
McAllen, Texas
McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. It is located at the southern tip of Texas in an area known as the Rio Grande Valley and is part of the . Its southern boundary is located about five miles from the U.S.–Mexico border and the Mexican city of Reynosa, the Rio...
25th
Texas's 25th congressional district
-2006 election:On June 28, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the Texas legislature's 2003 redistricting plan violated the Voting Rights Act in the case of District 23...
, was not considered compact enough), the reconfigured 23rd had to be struck down as well. Because of the size of the 23rd, the ruling effectively forced the redrawing of nearly every district from El Paso to San Antonio. Precedent dictated that a new map had to be issued before the November elections.
The court issued the new lines on August 7. It moved all of Laredo out of the 23rd and into the 28th, but nevertheless made the district much friendlier to Democrats by boosting its Latino population to 65 percent. In particular, Bonilla received several portions of heavily Democratic south San Antonio (where he'd grown up) while losing many of the strongly Republican areas he had inherited in the 2003 redistricting. The court also ordered an all-party primary on Election Day, with a December runoff if no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote. The new map included Rodriguez' home and much of his former base, and he announced that he would run against Bonilla in November.
Federal Elections Commission records show Bonilla paid the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
-based law firm of Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins LLP is a global law firm, one of the largest in the world. Latham currently employs approximately 2,000 attorneys in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm was started in Los Angeles in 1934 and has extensive Californian roots, but its largest office is now...
$100,000 in 2006, from his campaign funds, to argue that the district boundaries were constitutional. In February, the firm filed an amicus brief before the Supreme Court in support of the redistricting plan.
Defeat in 2006
On November 7, Bonilla faced six Democrats, including Ciro Rodriguez and Vietnam WarVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
veteran Rick Bolanos in the all-candidate special election required by the court decision on redistricting (see above). The ballot also included one independent. Bolanos had won the Democratic primary earlier in the year.
In the first special election, Bonilla won 48.1 percent of the vote to Rodriguez' 20.3 percent. Since no one gained a majority, there was a runoff between the two former colleagues. According to unofficial results of the Texas Secretary of State http://204.65.107.84/06decspcrun.htm?x=0&y=0&id=824, Rodriguez won the runoff with 54.32% of the vote to Bonilla's 45.68%. Bonilla was the first Republican incumbent in Texas to be unseated by a Democrat in 10 years, since Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson
Nicholas Valentino 'Nick' Lampson is an American politician from the state of Texas and was a Congressman representing the 22nd Congressional District of Texas. He was defeated by Pete Olson on November 4, 2008 in his re-election bid....
's defeat of Steve Stockman
Steve Stockman
Steve Stockman is a Republican politician who represented Texas's 9th Congressional District between 1995 and 1997.- Biography :Stockman was born in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, near Detroit. He graduated from Dondero High School....
in a 1996 runoff election. Interestingly, Lampson was also returned to Congress in 2006 after being defeated for reelection in 2004, like Rodriguez in another district.
Bonilla said in interviews the night of his defeat that his loss was in part a result of the changed districting. He ran controversial commercials that claimed that Rodriguez took funds from terrorists, which media outlets called "bold claims". He later apologized to the press for any of those who took offense, but stood by his statement.
However, a large number of Hispanics and Latinos, who predominantly reside in District 23, had expressed disdain for Bonilla by stating that he had fallen out of touch with the needs and concerns of minorities. His reputation even earned him the nickname "Henry Vanilla," as some Hispanics claimed that Bonilla no longer could relate to his culture. In a year of war, illegal immigration issues, and a proposed border fence, Latinos left the Republicans side in droves.
Bonilla's seat was the 31st gained by Democrats, the 30th taken from the Republicans, in 2006.
Nomination as Ambassador
After his term in Congress expired, Bonilla was nominated to be Permanent Representative of the United States ofAmerica to the Organization of American States
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
, with the rank of Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
. After two months with no action by the Senate, Bonilla asked the President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
to withdraw his nomination. Instead, Bonilla has joined the Washington based firm The Normandy Group.