Robert Talton

Robert Edwin Talton, Sr. (born June 27, 1945), is a Republican former member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 144 in Pasadena in Harris County, near Houston, Texas. His service extended from 1993 to 2009.^[1]

Background

Talton graduated in 1963 from Pasadena High School and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Houston.^[2] Talton is a former police officer, prosecutor, city attorney of Pearland, municipal court judge in Pasadena. He is currently an attorney in private practice.^[3]

Talton holds a law degree from the South Texas College of Law in Houston. He is a former general counsel for the Harris County Republican Party. He and his wife, Sue, have two children and five grandchildren. He is a former United States Air Force reservist.^[4]

Political life

In his first election to the House, Talton narrowly defeated the Democrat Donald Peter Fogo, 13,400 (50.1 percent) to 13,323 (49.9 percent).^[5] His victory was contested but resolved by the House in his favor on February 15, 1993. In Talton's first term, he represented Deer Park, rather than Pasadena.^[1] Talton was succeeded by another Republican, Ken Legler, again by a narrow margin. Legler polled 19,980 votes (51.2 percent) to 19,078 (48.8 percent) for the Democrat Joel C. Redmond.^[6] Rather than seeking reelection to the State House, Talton ran unsuccessfully in 2008 for the United States House of Representatives from Texas' 22nd congressional district, but the position went to Pete Olson, a former chief of staff to U.S. Senator John Cornyn.

In his last legislative session, Talton sponsored unsuccessful legislation to allow a peace officer to inquire into the immigration status of a suspect. He served in his later tenure on the Civil Practices and Criminal Jurisprudence committees.^[7] Talton voted exceptionally conservative while serving in the House. He was given high ratings by the National Rifle Association, the Young Conservatives of Texas, Texas Right to Life, and Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, which in 2007 dubbed him the "most conservative member of the House". In 2005, Capitol Inside designated Talton the "top conservative legislator" in Texas. When Talton ran for Congress, he was endorsed by Houston Christian Magazine. The interest group, Americans for Prosperity, awarded him the title of "Defender of the American Dream" for his support for reduced taxation and cuts in state spending.^[2]

Talton lost a race in 2012 for county attorney in Harris County to the Democrat incumbent Vince Ryan. The position handles civil ligitgation in the county, while the district attorney deals with criminal matters.^[8]

Talton also lost the Republican primary election held on March 4, 2014, in a challenge to incumbent Nathan L. Hecht of Dallas for Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court.^[3] Governor Rick Perry appointed Hecht to the position upon the resignation in 2013 of Wallace B. Jefferson. After filing for the position, Talton reported that all of the $30,000 he raised for the race came from one source, Houston trial attorney Mark Lanier, who also backed unsuccessful challengers to two other Republican Supreme Court justices, Jeff Brown and Phil Johnson.^[9] Hecht won re-nomination with 707,692 (60.5 percent) to Talton's 462,273 (39.5 percent).^[10]

References