(Joe Holley, Houston Chronicle)
State Sen. Mario Gallegos, 62, a Democratic lawmaker whose 22-year career in the Texas Legislature was marked by courage, controversy and dogged commitment to issues of importance to the Hispanic community, died Tuesday afternoon at Methodist Hospital in Houston from complications of liver disease.
Gallegos, the first Hispanic elected to the state Senate from Harris County, took a special interest in public education, redistricting and other issues he believed would have an effect on the lives of the predominantly working-class residents in Senate District 6.
In 2007, only weeks after undergoing a liver transplant, a sick and weakened Gallegos ignored a doctor’s call to return to Houston and installed a hospital bed in the office of the Senate sergeant-at-arms so he could cast his vote against a bill requiring voters to show photo identification. Gallegos argued the bill would discriminate against minority voters.
In 2011, Gallegos opposed a measure sponsored by state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, requiring women seeking an abortion to undergo a sonogram. Gallegos told his fellow senators that although he opposed abortion, he didn’t believe he should impose legislative restrictions on a woman about “how to govern her body.”
“There were few issues that Mario and I agreed upon,” Patrick said, “but throughout my six years in the state Senate he always treated me with kindness and courtesy and professionalism. And he was a friend.” […]
Mario Valentin Gallegos Jr. was born in Houston on Sept. 8, 1950, and grew up in Magnolia Park, an East End neighborhood near the Ship Channel. He graduated from Milby High School and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Houston-Downtown in 2001. Gallegos joined the Houston Fire Department at 18 and served for 22 years, rising to the rank of senior captain. His involvement in union affairs as a firefighter whetted his interest in politics.
(Read more at the Houston Chronicle)
Additional Coverage:
- Texas State Senator Mario Gallegos Passes Away at Age 62 (KTRK 13 News)
- TX Senator Mario Gallegos Dies at 62 (KRIV 26 News)
- Houston State Senator Mario Gallegos Has Passed (KUHF Public Radio)
- Texas State Senator Mario Gallegos Jr. Dies (Texas Tribune)
LOCAL HEADLINES
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- HBU Sues Feds Over Health Care Legislation (Houston Chronicle)
- Local Doctor Responds to 550-Pound Man’s Plea for Help (KHOU 11 News)
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- Medicare: Where Presidential Politics And Policy Collide (NPR)
- Armstrong Stepping Down as Livestrong Chairman (AP/Austin Statesman)
- Investigators Visit Company Tied to Meningitis Cases (New York Times)
- Former Bosnian Leader Begins His Defense at Genocide Trial (New York Times)