Ratliff Announces Intention to Return to Senate Seat

Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff announced today, Friday August 10, 2001, that he intends to ask the constituents of the First Senate District to return him to his old seat in next year's elections.

Earlier this summer, Ratliff considered running for Lieutenant Governor, but then decided to pull out of the race. The 64 year-old Ratliff announced his decision to run for his old seat at a press conference in the Lieutenant Governor's Reception Room in the Capitol at Austin. He made the same announcement earlier in the day in Kilgore.

Ratliff was first elected to the Texas Senate in 1989. He was then elected Lieutenant Governor by the 31-member Senate earlier this year after Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry became governor, replacing President George W. Bush.

"I don't know whether you can go home again," Ratliff responded to reporters questions about how it would feel to once again be a Senator on the floor after being on the dias for a term. He denied that his decisions over the past few months had anything to do with reports that some Senators may want to reduce the power of the Lieutenant Governor's office.

Responding to other questions, Ratliff said school finance would be a major topic during the 78th Legislature, which convenes in January of 2003. He said he and Speaker of the Texas House Pete Laney are working on a special interim committee to study the matter and they hope to have that committee named within two or three weeks.

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