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Eckels' father, Robert Young "Bob" Eckels, Jr., was a trustee of the Houston Independent School District who in 1972 was elected the Precinct 3 county commissioner, a position that he filled until shortly before his death on Christmas eve in 1989.<ref>Each Texas county regardless of population has four county commissioners from single-member districts. The county judge, who is elected countywide, can break a 2-2 deadlock on the commission.</ref> As commissioner, the senior Eckels was accused of having tapped his office [[telephone]]s and engaged in mail fraud and theft of timber used on county bridge construction. In 1987, he pleaded [[Nolo contendere|no contest]] to charges that he had accepted from a county contractor the construction of a road on his farm in Austin County (not to be confused with the capital of [[Austin]]) within the Houston metropolitan district. Eckels told ''The Houston Chronicle'' that his father "played the [political] game by their rules. The world has [since] moved."<ref name=thesonalsorises>{{cite web|url=http://www.houstonpress.com/2005-05-05/news/eckels-the-son-also-rises/|author=Craig Malisow|title=Eckels: The Son Also Rises: The county judge comes into his own on Commissioners Court|date=May 5, 2005|publisher=''The Houston Press''|accessdate=January 16, 2021}}</ref>

Eckels' father, Robert Young "Bob" Eckels, Jr., was a trustee of the Houston Independent School District who in 1972 was elected the Precinct 3 county commissioner, a position that he filled until shortly before his death on Christmas eve in 1989.<ref>Each Texas county regardless of population has four county commissioners from single-member districts. The county judge, who is elected countywide, can break a 2-2 deadlock on the commission.</ref> As commissioner, the senior Eckels was accused of having tapped his office [[telephone]]s and engaged in mail fraud and theft of timber used on county bridge construction. In 1987, he pleaded [[Nolo contendere|no contest]] to charges that he had accepted from a county contractor the construction of a road on his farm in Austin County (not to be confused with the capital of [[Austin]]) within the Houston metropolitan district. Eckels told ''The Houston Chronicle'' that his father "played the [political] game by their rules. The world has [since] moved."<ref name=thesonalsorises>{{cite web|url=http://www.houstonpress.com/2005-05-05/news/eckels-the-son-also-rises/|author=Craig Malisow|title=Eckels: The Son Also Rises: The county judge comes into his own on Commissioners Court|date=May 5, 2005|publisher=''The Houston Press''|accessdate=January 16, 2021}}</ref>

The senior Eckels had close political ties with [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[George Herbert Walker Bush]]. In 1984, while his son was a first-term legislator, Commissioner Eckels is said to have turned the Harris County government into a virtual arm of the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]]-Bush re-election campaign. He used county telephones, computers, and employees to establish an organization called the National Conference of Republican County Officials. An official in Roanoke County, [[Virginia]], said that the conference was "a working arm for the [[White House]] and the national [Republican] Party." Eckels later said that he had used at least $20,000 of his own funds for Reagan-Bush mailings and did not report the expenditure to the [[Federal Election Commission]]. Eckels died less than a year after Bush became the [[U.S. President]].<ref>Webster Griffin Tarpley et al, ''George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography,'' Chapter 22 – "Bush Takes The Presidency."</ref> The seventeen-year commissioner was convicted of theft and forced to resign. For a number of years his name was synonymous withpolitical corruption in the Houston area.<ref name=eckelsandryan/>

The senior Eckels had close political ties with [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[George Herbert Walker Bush]]. In 1984, while his son was a first-term legislator, Commissioner Eckels is said to have turned the Harris County government into a virtual arm of the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]]-Bush re-election campaign. He used county telephones, computers, and employees to establish an organization called the National Conference of Republican County Officials. An official in Roanoke County, [[Virginia]], said that the conference was "a working arm for the [[White House]] and the national [Republican] Party." Eckels later said that he had used at least $20,000 of his own funds for Reagan-Bush mailings and did not report the expenditure to the [[Federal Election Commission]]. Eckels died less than a year after Bush became the [[U.S. President]].<ref>Webster Griffin Tarpley et al, ''George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography,'' Chapter 22 – "Bush Takes The Presidency."</ref> The seventeen-year commissioner was convicted of theft and forced to resign. For a number of years his name was synonymous withpolitical corruption in the Houston area.<ref name=eckelsandryan/>

Eckels' uncle, Paul Glenn "Buck" Eckels, Sr. (1931-2011), for many years owned the Lawyers Title Insurance Company of Houston.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?pid=150919222|title=Paul Glenn Eckels obituary|publisher=''The Houston Chronicle''|accessdate=January 16, 2021}}</ref>  

Eckels' uncle, Paul Glenn "Buck" Eckels, Sr. (1931-2011), for many years owned the Lawyers Title Insurance Company of Houston.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?pid=150919222|title=Paul Glenn Eckels obituary|publisher=''The Houston Chronicle''|accessdate=January 16, 2021}}</ref>