American politician (born 1954)
William Howard White (born June 16, 1954) is an American attorney, businessman and politician who was the 60th mayor of Houston from 2004 to 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Texas in the 2010 election, in which he lost to Republican Rick Perry. Before serving as Mayor, White was an attorney and businessman and served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1995. White is on the membership roster of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Family and personal life.
White was born and grew up in San Antonio. He is the son of Bill and Gloria Avalon White, both public schoolteachers. He and his wife have helped lead various charitable and civic organizations. White is an avid cyclist and every year he leads Houston's annual "Bike to Work Day." He also created the annual biking event "Tour de Houston" through historic Houston neighborhoods.
Bill White's wife Andrea is the daughter of Arthur John Ferguson (1917–2008), a Louisiana State University graduate in mechanical engineering originally from New Orleans, and the former Patsi Wells, a native of Baton Rouge. Andrea White has written several novels, one of which received the Golden Spur Award as well as being named to the Texas Bluebonnet List.
White and his wife Andrea are the parents of three children, Will, Elena and Stephen. 
The Whites are members of St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Houston.
Education and career.
White graduated from Churchill High School before attending Harvard University on American Legion scholarships and graduating magna cum laude with a degree in economics. At Harvard his roommate was Mir Murtaza Bhutto— son of former Pakistan's Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He then attended The University of Texas School of Law, where he was elected editor-in-chief of its law review and graduated with highest honors.
White also served as an administrator on the Board of Directors for the Baylor College of Medicine.
White began his career as a lawyer at Susman Godfrey, LLP, a leading law firm in Houston, from 1979 to 1993, where he practiced business litigation and anti-trust law, and eventually became partner.
He served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1995. He organized Frontera Resources, a developer of oil and gas in the Caspian Sea region, and was also the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, from 1995 to 1998. He was the president and CEO of WEDGE Group, an energy, construction and real estate company, from 1997 to 2004.
Community and business activities.
White has served on the board of directors for the North American Electric Reliability Council. He was chairman for both the World Trade Division and the Environmental Advisory Committee, and served on the executive committee, for the Greater Houston Partnership. He has also served on the board of directors for the Houston Quality of Life Coalition.
He is an official sponsor and supporter of the Amazing Faiths Project of Houston.
Mayor of Houston.
In 2003, White, a Democrat, ran in Houston's officially nonpartisan mayoral election to succeed term-limited Mayor Lee Brown, who was the first African-American mayor of the city. Running as a moderate with business experience, he appealed to Democrats and Republicans despite having little name recognition.
One of White's opponents in the race was Republican Orlando Sanchez, a Cuban-American and a former Houston City Councilman, who had unsuccessfully challenged Brown in a heated 2001 bid to become Houston's first Hispanic mayor. Also running was Democratic Texas State Representative Sylvester Turner, who had run for mayor in 1991 (against then-incumbent Kathy Whitmire and real estate developer Bob Lanier). In that race, Turner was embroiled in an insurance scandal exposed in an investigation by Houston's ABC affiliate, KTRK-TV that eventually led to a 1996 lawsuit; Lanier went on to defeat Whitmire.
In the November election, White, along with Sanchez, defeated Turner. In the runoff, White defeated Sanchez with 63 percent of the vote.
White was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. White resigned from the group in July 2009. White's staff said that the group's focus had grown from its original effort to prevent the sale of stolen guns. Regarding a recent proposal to allow those with concealed gun permits to carry them into other states, White's staff added that he resigned the day that the group took out a newspaper advertisement denouncing that proposal.
First term.
White's first term as mayor of Houston began on January 2, 2004. He gained popularity during this term, which led to significant support for his reelection.
During this term, Houston hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII, the 2004 MLB All-Star Game, the 2006 NBA All-Star Game and the 2005 World Series. These events have been great boosts to Houston's economy. He also led the building of Houston's Metro light rail system.
In 2004, White, his wife Andrea, and then Houston ISD Superintendent Kaye Stripling assembled an education summit with about 400 local community and civic leaders to discuss Houston's then high drop-out rate. That year, White and his wife established Expectation Graduation, a program designed to reduce high school drop-out rates.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, thousands of residents of New Orleans were displaced. White offered refuge for the victims in the Astrodome, the George R. Brown Convention Center, and a large building formerly housing an Auchan location. He also helped set up programs to help them find long-term housing, job placement, and education within Houston. He was later awarded the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his service in the light of this catastrophe.
Just weeks after Hurricane Katrina, it looked as though Houston would become the target of Hurricane Rita. White mobilized the citizens of Houston to evacuate. During a series of press conferences, White and Harris County County Judge Robert Eckels instructed Houstonians on when to evacuate. Officials employed a strategy that called for the evacuation of flood prone areas first. This evacuation, however, led to many problems as it caused multi-hour backups on all freeways in Houston. This prompted White to later lead an evacuation plan reform for Houston.
In 2005 White initiated the SafeClear Program, designed to quickly clear roads and freeways of stalled vehicles.
The program requires stalled vehicles to be towed off freeways in Houston as soon as possible. It was created to keep traffic down, as Houston has severe backups during the morning and evening rush hours. It was also meant to make the freeways safer by keeping them cleared of stalled vehicles. This program led to controversy when it was first started, however, for several reasons.
It originally required motorists to pay for the towing of their stalled vehicle, but at reduced prices set by the city. Tow truck drivers claimed that the program hurt their business and nine wrecker companies filed lawsuits against the city. White testified in court in the case. In addition the SafeClear Program has been blamed for causing the deaths of people, who seemed to be trying to get their cars off the freeway without having to pay fees to the tow truck drivers. The cause of death of these people, however, is uncertain. State Senator John Whitmire recruited 30 out of 31 Texas State Senators' votes to make the SafeClear program illegal. White responded to the controversy and criticism by changing the rules of the program and the towing laws, including free towing for limited distances funded by the city. The program was adapted to include strict licensing of SafeClear wreckers including criminal background checks, allowing the towed motorist to be towed for one mile for free, preventing the City leasing stretches of state-owned highway to private wrecker companies, and requiring revenue generated from the program to enter a mobility fund. White also worked with John Whitmire to address the objections of the senators, keeping the program alive but in a different format. He also rode with a wrecker and conducted several studies of the program. Despite the controversy, independent studies have found that the program has helped. Studies show that the program has been successful in decreasing accidents. A study, conducted by Rice University and Texas A&amp;M University found that the number of freeway crashes decreased by 10.4%, or nearly 2,000 crashes. According to these results, drivers in Houston saved approximately $35 million by the implementation of the program. However Suzanne Poole, president of the Houston Professional Towing Association, says those numbers are misleading and actual crashes are actually higher. In reference to the program's objective to decrease traffic congestion, a study by KHOU-TV found that average drive times increased at 86% of freeways into Houston six months after the program was implemented compared to before the program. However, some claim that more cars were on the roads during these six months and that construction on the freeways, particularly on US 59, caused drive times to increase. Nonetheless, SafeClear remained one of the most controversial, and one of few controversies, during his time as mayor.
White also lowered Houstonians' property tax in 2006 and again during the next four years gaining him support from some local Republicans. White also helped lead to neighborhood water sewage improvements, a reform of the city's pension fund, a crackdown on Houston's high crime rate and began a local recycling campaign known as "Stop Trashing Houston" to discourage littering.
Second term.
In 2005, White was challenged for re-election by minor and perennial candidates and won re-election with 91 percent of the vote–the highest percentage received by a mayoral candidate in Houston in 60 years.
During his second term, White focused his work on improving graduation rates in the city's high schools, enforcing air pollution standards, reducing the possibility of flooding in newer areas, adopted a more flexible system of working hours, and to create public-private initiatives with private business and community organizations to stimulate growth in the city's most neglected subdivisions. His moderate leanings were shown by his defense of businesses, such as Shawn Welling's Planet Funk, which faced closure in mid 2005.
In 2005, White formed the Mayor’s Wellness Council and launched the Get Moving Houston fitness campaign. Houston had previously been rated “Fattest City in America" by Men’s Fitness magazine.
In 2006, White proposed a series of eight city propositions aimed at improving infrastructure without a tax increase. All eight city propositions passed in a November 2006 election.
White worked to create the Discovery Green park in Houston, which held its groundbreaking in October 2006. Mayor White's 2008 inauguration was held at the park. The park officially opened to the public in April 2008 with a ribbon cutting led by White.
In 2007, the FBI released a report showing an increase in Houston's murder rate. While some speculated about the impact of Hurricane Katrina victims who settled on the Southwest side of town, Mayor White released a statement concerning the FBI's findings:
"With the regard to the 2006 figures now being reported, the FBI calculated a murder rate per 100,000 people for Houston based on census estimates of a 2,073,729 population as of July 1, 2005. That was before Houston’s population swelled by well over 100,000 people. On the basis of U.S. Post Office change of address information we estimated the 2006 population at 2,198,755. While it is normally fair to make year-to-year comparisons based on population estimates that lag crimes by a year or more, the unusual increase in Houston’s population for 2006 makes our City’s figures for the murder rate per 100,000 not quite comparable to the rate in other communities in 2005."
Energy conservation topped the Mayor's list of concerns in 2007. Via the City's Power to People Web site, Mayor White encourages energy conservation through tips and tools, education about tax incentives, and raffles.
In 2007, White was honored the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his service during Hurricane Katrina.
He was also awarded the FBI's Director's Community Leadership Award for lowering Houston's crime rate stating that "Mayor White made public safety one of his highest priorities, as evidenced by Houston's decreasing crime rate."
White proposed closing The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation. Mayor White's position was that the Center's lease of one dollar per annum to the city of Houston was not legal. Seven previous Mayors