Alan Schoolcraft

Alan Lee Schoolcraft​
Texas State Representative for Districts 57-C and 121 (Bexar County)​
In office 1981​ – 1993​
Preceded by	Albert D. Brown, Jr.​
Succeeded by	Bill Siebert
Born	June 15, 1952​ ​Place of birth missing
Nationality	American​
Political party	Republican​
Spouse(s)	(1) Judith Ann Sisk Schoolcraft (married 1974, divorced 1981)​ (2) Tandy Renee Talburt Schoolcraft (married 1983, divorced 2005)​ (3) Joette Schoolcraft
Children	From second marriage: Jordan Talburt Schoolcraft​ Shelby Rebecca Schoolcraft Parents: Thomas Edward, Sr., and Barbara E. Schoolcraft
Residence	McQueeney, Guadalupe County, Texas Formerly lived in Universal City and Converse, both in the San Antonio metro area Quenn San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas​
Alma mater	University of Texas at Austin​ St. Mary's University School of Law​ (San Antonio)
Occupation	Attorney and real estate agent

Alan Lee Schoolcraft (born June 15, 1952) is an attorney and real estate agent from McQueeney in Guadalupe County, Texas,^[1] who is a Republican former state representative for District 121 in suburban Bexar County (San Antonio). He served in the state House from 1981 to 1993. He left the House to wage an unsuccessful campaign for the state Senate in the 1992 Republican primary election.​

Background[edit]

Schoolcraft is a grandson of William Garfield Schoolcraft and the former Chloe Elsie Hawkins. He is one of two sons and a daughter born to Thomas Edward Schoolcraft, Sr. (1921-2016), an Indiana native, and Barbara E. Schoolcraft (1928-1993). His brother, Thomas Schoolcraft, Jr., died in 2016, four months before the passing of their father.^[2]

In 1973, Schoolcroft graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. In 1978, he obtained the Juris Doctorate degree from St. Mary's University Law School in San Antonio.^[3] From 1974 to 1981, Schoolcraft was married to the former Judith Ann Sisk (born 1951). After their divorce, he married in 1983 the former Tandy Renee Talburt (born 1956), the mother of his two children, Jordan Talburt Schoolcraft (born 1986), and Shelby Rebecca Schoolcraft (born 1989). Alan and Tandy Schoolcraft divorced in 2005.^[4]​

Schoolcraft operates his family's long-term real estate agency in Universal City.^[5] After his legislative service, Schoolcraft formed the company Prodoc, meaning "Professional Documents." He placed plain-paper facsimile machines, which then cost more than $7,000 each, in six title company offices in the San Antonio area, with the requirement that those companies send their document requests to his firm. Overwhelmed by demand for the service, Schoolcraft developed a new software system, which he has since marketed.^[3]​

House career[edit]

Running on the Reagan-Bush ticket in 1980, Schoolcraft led the Democratic incumbent, Representative Albert D. Brown, Jr., and was seated in then District 57-C in the state House on January 13, 1981. Also elected to the Texas House that year in another district was the Republican Kae T. Patrick.^[6][7]

On January 15, 1981, the House unseated Schoolcraft, and Albert Brown temporarily reclaimed the seat. In a rare occurrence, the Texas House ordered a special election re-run of the Schoolcraft-Brown race. Schoolcraft handily won the rematch on February 10^[8] and was sworn into office once more on February 16, 1981. After redistricting in 1981, Schoolcraft was elected in 1982 to District 121, the seat that he held for the remainder of his House career.^[9]​

In pursuit of the Texas Senate[edit]

In 1992, Schoolcraft, after six terms in the House, entered the Senate primary in District 26, since District 25. With 14,490 votes (34.7 percent), Schoolcraft led in the primary but was forced into a runoff election with the more Moderate Republican Jeff Wentworth, also of San Antonio, who received 14,076 (33.7 percent). In third place was John Fisher with 7,222 (17.3 percent). Republican state Representative George Pierce finished fourth with 4,407 votes (10.6 percent). The fifth-placed candidate, Jim Canady, received 1,547 votes (3.7 percent).^[10] Wentworth won the second round of balloting on April 14, 11,574 votes (52.7 percent) to 10,388 (47.3 percent)​^[11] and then overwhelmed Democrat Carlos Higgins in the November 3 general election, 146,159 (66.6 percent) to 73,303 (33.4 percent).^[12] Wentworth held the position until 2013, in District 25, though he was seriously challenged in the 2002 Republican primary by conservative then state Representative John Shields of San Antonio.​^[13] Wentworth was unseated the 2012 Republican runoff by the conservative physician Donna Campbell.

In 2010, it appeared that Wentworth would resign from the Senate to accept the position of chancellor of his alma mater, Texas A&M University of College Station. If so, Schoolcraft had mapped serious plan to run again for the District 25 Senate seat. However, Wentworth turned down the TAMU offer,^[5] and John Sharp, a former Texas comptroller and the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 1998 and 2002, became the chancellor.

Schoolcraft had organized a staff, hired consultants, and even made campaign commercials. He hired Tom Quirk, his strategist from the 1980 race against Albert Brown, and retained the Austin-based consultants, Baselice & Associates. He had also retained June Deason as his campaign manager and Janelle McArthur as fundraiser.^[5] With Wentworth remaining senator, Schoolcraft hence found no special election at hand, much as Michael Williams, a Republican former member of the Texas Railroad Commission, had planned to run in a special election in 2010 to replace U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. However, like Wentworth, Hutchison did not resign from the Senate while she ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Rick Perry for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

On August 22, 2011, Wentworth announced that he would run again for the Senate in 2012. After redistricting, District 25 included the Oak Hill and San Leanna community in Travis County plus all or parts of Comal, Guadalupe, Hays, Kendall, and Bexar counties.^[14] After his defeat in 2012 by Donna Campbell, Wentworth subsequently elected as a justice of the peace. ​

References[edit]

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