Fritz Lanham Lyne Jr. (born June 20, 1955), is a

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

man from

Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita Counties. According to ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, who was from 2011 to 2013 a Republican member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

from District 69 in Wichita and Archer counties in

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

. From 2005 to 2010, he was the mayor of Wichita Falls; all Texas mayors are elected on a

nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...

ballot.

Background

Lyne was born and reared in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas. He graduated in 1972 from Skyline High School in the Pleasant Grove section of Dallas. In 1985, he obtained a

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

degree from

Midwestern State University Midwestern State University (MSU Texas) is a public liberal arts university in Wichita Falls, Texas. As of Fall 2024, MSU Texas enrolled 5,324 students. It is the state's only public institution focused on the liberal arts. History Founded in ...

in Wichita Falls. He was the vice-president of Lyne Energy Partners, a company in the oil industry, from 1984 to 1988, when he was elevated to company president. Lyne has been affiliated with

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit organization, nonprofit fundraising affiliates. Prior to 2015, United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public. Individual Un ...

and the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

. From 1995 to 1999, he volunteered as the head basketball coach and a part-time history teacher at the

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

Notre Dame Catholic School in Wichita Falls. Formerly a board member of the First

Christian Church In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus Christ. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a syn ...

, he is now active in Colonial

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Church in Wichita Falls. He has taught Sunday school in the churches of which he has been a member since he was in high school.

Political life

In 2005, Lyne won a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

for mayor of Wichita Falls with an outright majority against eight opponents. He was reelected in 2006 with more than 90 percent of the votes cast and ran unopposed in 2008. In 2010, he ran not for mayor but in the Republican

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

for state representative. To win his party nomination, Lyne defeated, 60 to 40 percent, Joseph Anthony "Joe" Clement (born 1956), also of Wichita Falls. In the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

on November 2, he defeated the Democrat Michael L. Smith, 74-26 percent. In the one legislative session in which Lanham served, he was assigned to the Ways and Means and Environmental Regulation committees. In 2011,

Phyllis Schlafly Phyllis Stewart Schlafly (; born Phyllis McAlpin Stewart; August 15, 1924 – September 5, 2016) was an American attorney, conservative activist, and anti-feminist, who was nationally prominent in conservatism. She held paleoconservative soc ...

's Eagle Forum rated Lyne 36 percent

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

. On the other hand, the Young Conservatives of Texas rated him 63 percent conservative. The Texas Association of Business gave him an 85 percent rating. The

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

rated him 42 percent. Lyne voted to tax sales via the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

if the company has a physical presence in Texas. Though the measure passed the House, 125-20, it was

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president (government title), president or monarch vetoes a bill (law), bill to stop it from becoming statutory law, law. In many countries, veto powe ...

ed by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...

. He voted to reduce funding for state agencies. He voted against a bill to ban

texting Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile phones, tablet computers, smartwatches, desktops/laptops, or ...

while driving, another measure which Perry vetoed. He voted against the law signed by Perry which permits corporal punishment in public schools but only with parental consent. Lyne voted against the House majority to ban

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is combusted, and the resulting smoke is typically inhaled to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream of a person. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, whi ...

in most public places; Texas cities may also limit smoking by local measures. He voted for a House-approved amendment offered in 2011 by conservative Representative Wayne Christian to require public colleges and universities to fund student centers that promote family and traditional values. Lyne voted to restrict state funding to facilities which perform

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

s. He supported the 2011 measure which requires women in Texas who procure abortions first to undergo an

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound with frequency, frequencies greater than 20 Hertz, kilohertz. This frequency is the approximate upper audible hearing range, limit of human hearing in healthy young adults. The physical principles of acoustic waves apply ...

to be informed of the progress in the development of the child. He voted for legislation, passed 102-40 in the House and signed by Governor Perry, which authorizes a county, when determining eligibility for a "sponsored alien" under the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act, to include in the resources of the applicant any additional incomes of their spouse and sponsor. Just eight months after taking office as representative, Lyne announced that he would not seek a second term in the office. He expressed a need to devote greater time to his business, but he also voiced discontent with legislative procedures:

We don't ever get around to the discussions we need to have. It's easy for both sides to draw a line in the sand and just say, "We need more," and 'No, you don't,' without ever having a discussion about who needs what. Those are the things that frustrate me. ... I think the thing that bothered me the most was not the political debates, because I expect those and I expect some crazy rhetoric to go with that sometimes. The thing that bothers me is the little things, what I would call petty behavior, kindergarten behavior: "If you vote against my bill I'm going to kill everything you have." That's an extreme way of putting it, but that's implied on a lot of things.

Lyne and his wife, Sharla, have six children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyne, Lanham 1955 births Living people Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Politicians from Dallas People from Wichita Falls, Texas Skyline High School (Dallas) alumni Midwestern State University alumni Businesspeople from Texas American businesspeople in the oil industry Baptists from Texas Educators from Texas Mayors of places in Texas 21st-century members of the Texas Legislature

Background

Political life

See also

References