Brownwood: Texas State Senator (R) Bill Ratliff Award

March 11, 2005, 12:29AM
Former Texas senator to get Kennedy award
Also chosen is Atlanta's first black woman mayor
Associated Press
BOSTON - A former Texas state senator who fought his own party's redistricting plan and Atlanta's first black woman mayor have been named 2005 recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
Sen. Edward Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy, the late president's daughter, will present the awards to former Texas Sen. Bill Ratliff and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin at the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston May 16.
Ratliff, also a former lieutenant governor, was the only Republican lawmaker who publicly objected to his party's controversial 2003 redistricting plan, which critics called divisive and partisan. Eleven Democrats fled the state to block a vote on the plan.
His "calm and inclusive" leadership style helped him secure passage of other controversial measures, the foundation said, including a plan to redistribute property taxes from wealthier school districts to aid poorer schools.
Franklin, who was facing an $82 million budget deficit when she took office in 2001, showed "courageous leadership" by raising taxes, cutting the city's payroll and imposing a strict code of ethics to eliminate the budget gap, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation said.
Franklin and Ratliff "are an inspiration to all who serve in government, and to all Americans, for their principled and bipartisan leadership, and their willingness to make the difficult and unpopular decisions," Caroline Kennedy said.
source: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3079476