Martha Whitehead

Martha Whitehead is a former elected official from the U.S. state of Texas. She was the last Texas State Treasurer before the position was abolished by constitutional amendment in 1996.

Biography

Whitehead is a former mayor of Longview, Texas.^[1] In 1993, Texas Governor Ann Richards appointed Whitehead as Texas State Treasurer, filling the vacancy created when the previous incumbent, Kay Bailey Hutchison was elected to the U.S. Senate.^[2]

In 1994, Whitehead ran for State Treasurer on the explicit promise to abolish the office and move its few remaining functions to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts office (which had already taken over most of the duties of collecting and accounting for state taxes),^[3] and was subsequently elected. In 1995, the Texas Legislature passed a proposed constitutional amendment to abolish the office, which was approved by the voters later that same year.^[3] The office was formally dismantled in 1996. On her last day in office, 31 August 1996, she scraped her name and title off the glass front of the Treasurer's headquarters.^[4]

References