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Over the past three decades, Gus F. Mutscher (1935-) has served the citizens of this state as legislator, chairman of major legislative committees, two-term speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, and county judge of Washington County. Mutscher was born in the William Penn community of Washington County, Texas, the second of four children. As a young man, Mutscher was graduated from Brenham High School and attended Blinn Junior College on a baseball scholarship. A member of the school's championship debate team, he subsequently enrolled at The University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his undergraduate degree in 1956. While a student at the university, Mutscher served as the international president of Gamma Delta, a Lutheran student organization. A commissioned reserve officer in the United States Army, Mutscher returned to Texas following military service to accept a position in sales and advertising with the Borden Company This position took him to Houston, where he was honored by the chamber of commerce in 1959 as the outstanding young businessman of Harris County. While in Houston, Mutscher was offered a position on the staff of United States Representative Homer Thornberry. Encouraged instead to run for political office himself, Mutscher campaigned for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives and was elected in 1960 to the first of six terms as a state representative. Before becoming speaker in 1969, Mutscher distinguished himself as a member of the Legislative Budget Board and the Texas Legislative Council, as chairman of the Legislative Redistricting Committee and the Committee on Claims and Accounts, and as vice-chairman of the Appropriations Committee. After being defeated in a bid for a seventh term in the Texas house, Mutscher returned to Washington County, where he became involved in the real estate, motel, and cattle businesses. Mutscher's political career rebounded in 1976, when he was appointed to fill a vacancy as the county judge of Washington County. Highly regarded by his colleagues in local government, he was elected president of the state County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas and the National Association of Regional Councils in 1990. He also has shared his valuable insight and expertise as president of the South Texas County Judges and Commissioners Association, as a member of the board of directors of the Texas Association of Counties, and as chairman of the Brazos Valley Development Council. A longtime supporter of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, he presently serves as chairman of the Advisory Council for the Brenham State School and has served for several years as an elected officer of the State of Texas Volunteer Services Council. Mutscher, who resides in Brenham, is founder and CEO of a political and policy research business. He has two children, Lisa and Gus. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Presiding Officers of the Texas Legislature, 1846-2002. [Austin, Tex.]: Texas Legislative Council, 2002. link: Gus Mutscher.
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