Tryon Lewis

From Conservapedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Tryon Dexter Lewis​​


Texas State Representative
for District 81 (Andrews, Ector,
and Winkler counties)​
In office
2009​ – January 13, 2015 ​
Preceded by George E. "Buddy" West
Succeeded by Brooks Landgraf

Judge of the Texas
161st Judicial District Court ​
In office
1985​ – 2006​
Succeeded by John W. Smith​

Born September 29, 1947​
Kermit, Winkler County, Texas​
Nationality American
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Trudy Lynn Lewis​
Children Eleanor R. Lewis​

Annie Lewis​​

Residence Odessa, Ector County
Texas​
Alma mater Odessa College​

University of Texas at Austin
Baylor University
Law School (Waco)

Occupation Attorney

Tryon Dexter Lewis (born September 29, 1947) is an attorney in Odessa, Texas, who is a Republican former member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 81 (Andrews, Ector, and Winkler counties). He is also a former state court judge.​

Background

Lewis was born to Tryon Eugene "Bud" Lewis (1911–2003)[1] and the former Erma Lea Beauchamp in Kermit in Winkler County. The senior Lewis was descended from a pioneer ranching family from Fort Stockton in Pecos County. His work in the petroleum exploration industry required several early moves for the Lewis family, who relocated in 1952 to Odessa in the oil-rich Permian Basin of West Texas. Lewis has two sisters, Barbara Southern and Ann Elizabeth Smith. Bud and Erma Lewis retired in 1980 to Fort Stockton, where he is interred at East Hill Cemeter.[2][1]

Lewis attended Odessa College, a community college, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He obtained the Juris Doctorate from Southern Baptist-affiliated Baylor University Law School in Waco, Texas. Since 1973, he has been a partner in the law firm Atkins, Hollman, Jones, Peacock, Lewis, and Lyon. From 1985 to 2006, he was judge of the Texas 161st District Court.[3]

Lewis and his wife, Trudy Lynn Lewis (born 1949), an educator who graduated from Rice University in Houston, have two daughters, Eleanor R. Lewis and Annie Lewis. He previously served as chairman of the Ector County Republican Party and as president of the Republican Men's Club. He has been a board member of the Permian Playhouse, the Odessa Cultural Council, and the popular Meals on Wheels program.[3]The Lewises are promoters of the western art of Thomas C. Lea, III (1907-2001), of El Paso.

Judicial views

As the 161st district judge, Lewis wrote a letter in 1989 to Texas Monthly challenging the accuracy of an article in the magazine that claims prison overcrowding in Texas stems from judges and juries sending convicted persons to the penitentiary for trivial reasons. Lewis wrote:​ ​

No state is more lenient toward criminals than Texas. Every criminal with no prior felony conviction is eligible for probation. There are eight different kinds of probation. ... Forty-five percent of all prisoners are repeat offenders. Thus there are very few nonviolent first offenders in prison, and nearly all of those have already failed the court's attempt at alternative punishment. The convicts in prison are there because they deserve to be. [While prison cells are expensive], not providing those cells is far more expensive. . . . A typical multi-offender inmate will commit 187 crimes per year, for a total crime cost to society of $430,000. With this comparison, the $25,800 cost of imprisoning criminals seems reasonable."[4]

Legislative service

One of three candidates who challenged the ailing incumbent George E. "Buddy" West of Odessa in the 2008 Republican primary, Lewis led the field with 5,273 votes (44 percent) to West's 4,602 (38.4) percent.[5] In the lower-turnout runoff election, Lewis prevailed by a large margin, 5,181 (76 percent) to West's 1,637 (24 percent).[6]

Lewis was supported by then Speaker Tom Craddick of nearby Midland, who at the time was at odds with West, his Republican colleague for the past fifteen years. Four anti-Craddick Republican legislators came to Odessa to campaign in the runoff for West.[7][8] West died some two months after the runoff election. In 2009, as Lewis succeeded West, Craddick himself was deposed as Speaker by Moderate Republican Joe Straus of San Antonio.[9] For a time, Lewis and Craddick remain neighboring House colleagues for Districts 81 and 82, respectively; neither had an opponent in the 2010 or 2012 general elections.

With his judicial background, Lewis served on the House (1) Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence and (2) Public Safety committees.[3] In the 2009 legislative session, Lewis supported the positions of Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum 71 percent of the time. He supported the positions of interest groups Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and the Texas Association of Business 85 percent and 90 percent of the time, respectively.[3]​ ​ Lewis did not seek a fourth House term in 2014. He was succeeded by Brooks Landgraf, a conservative Odessa attorney.​

Lewis' religious affiliation is unknown, but his father was a Presbyterian.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Tryon Eugene "Bud" Lewis. Findagrave. Retrieved on April 7, 2020.
  2. Obituary of Tryon E. "Bud" Lewis, The Odessa American, June 5, 2003.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Tryon Lewis' Biography. Project Vote Smart. Retrieved on April 7, 2020.
  4. Tryon D. Lewis, Judge of the 161st State District Court (April 1989). Letter to the Editor. Google Books: Texas Monthly magazine. Retrieved on April 7, 2020.
  5. Texas Secretary of State, Election Returns, March 4, 2008.
  6. Texas Secretary of State, Election Returns, April 8, 2008.
  7. Very Busy Signals. Texas Weekly. Retrieved on July 13, 2010; material no longer on-line.
  8. "About 200 attend state funeral of Rep. Buddy West," Houston Chronicle, June 28, 2008.
  9. Lisa Sandberg, "The Most Popular Guy at the Capitol," San Antonio Magazine, June 2009, p. 54.

​​​