Lena Guerrero
| Lena Guerrero | |
|---|---|
| Texas State Representative for Travis County (District 51) | |
|
In office 1985–1991 |
|
| Preceded by | Gonzalo Barrientos |
| Succeeded by | Glen Maxey |
| Member of the Texas Railroad Commission | |
|
In office 1991–1992 |
|
| Governor | Ann Richards |
| Preceded by | John Sharp |
| Succeeded by | Jim Wallace (temporary); Barry Williamson (full term) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
November 27, 1957 Mission, Hidalgo County, Texas, USA |
| Died | April 24, 2008 (aged 50) Austin, Texas |
| Resting place | Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Lionel "Leo" Aguirre of Austin (married 1983 – her death) |
| Children | Leo G. Aguirre (born 1987) |
| Residence | Austin, Travis County, Texas |
| Occupation | Lobbyist |
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(1) Though Guerrero was the first ethnic minority and the first female to serve on the Texas Railroad Commission, from 2009–2011, there were no white males serving on the three-member body. An African American man, an Hispanic man, and a white woman—all Republicans—were its three members. (2) The Railroad Commission regulates not railroads but the oil and natural gas industries. (3) Guerrero's once bright political prospects ended in a dispute over falsification of her résumé in regard to a then nonexistent degree from the University of Texas. (4) Though a staunch Democrat, Guerrero crossed party lines in 2006 to endorse an old friend for reelection, Governor Rick Perry. |
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(1) Though Guerrero was the first ethnic minority and the first female to serve on the Texas Railroad Commission, from 2009–2011, there were no white males serving on the three-member body. An African American man, an Hispanic man, and a white woman—all Republicans—were its three members.
(2) The Railroad Commission regulates not railroads but the oil and natural gas industries.
(3) Guerrero's once bright political prospects ended in a dispute over falsification of her résumé in regard to a then nonexistent degree from the University of Texas.
Lena Guerrero Aguirre (November 27, 1957 – April 24, 2008), known as Lena Guerrero, was the first woman and the first person of ethnic minority background to have served on the Texas Railroad Commission, an elected body that currently regulates the oil and natural gas industry. In 1992, her once promising political career ended over a falsified résumé. Sixteen years later she died of brain cancer at the age of fifty.
Guerrero was the fifth of nine children born to Alvaro Guerrero (1918–1969) and the former Adela Salazar (born ca. 1921) in Mission near McAllen in the Rio Grande Valley. As a child in the 1960s, Lena worked during summers as a migrant laborer alongside her eight siblings.
As a student at the University of Texas at Austin in the late 1970s, Guerrero became interested in politics. At the age of twenty-one in 1979, she was elected president of the Young Democrats of Texas. In 1984, at the age of twenty-five, she became the second female Hispanic to be elected to the Texas House of Representatives. She defeated five male opponents in a then Anglo-but-Democratic-majority district. No Republican contested the seat despite the landslide victory that year of Ronald W. Reagan as U.S. President. Guerrero's district included parts of Central and East Austin.
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