Ben Torres Reyes (born February 16, 1947),
" ''

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

''. Retrieved on March 31, 2010. an American, is a former 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. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

and a former

Houston City Council The Houston City Council is a city council for the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas. Currently, there are sixteen members, 11 elected from council districts and five at-large. The members of the Council are elected every four years, w ...

member.Ben Reyes Free Man After 10 Years
." ''

KHOU-TV KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe-licensed Quest station KTBU (channel 55). Both stations share studios on Westheimer Road near Uptown ...

''. December 29, 2006. Retrieved on August 4, 2009.

History

Reyes, a

Mexican American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

,Fuchs, Lawrence H. ''The American Kaleidoscope: Race, Ethnicity, and the Civic Culture''.

Wesleyan University Press Wesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist. History and overview Founded (in its present for ...

, 1990
259
Retrieved from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

on November 22, 2011. , . was born February 16, 1947, in Burton,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. A resident of the

Denver Harbor Denver Harbor was an American alternative rock band, based in San Diego, California. The band was formed in 2002 by former Fenix TX members Will Salazar and Chris Lewis, along with F.O.N. members Aaron Rubin and Ilan Rubin. After self-releasing ...

area of Houston, Reyes, whose father was a laborer, was a member of a family of ten people.Rodriguez, Lori.
Ben Reyes: His old friends hardly know him anymore
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

''. June 2, 1991. A1. Retrieved on August 4, 2009. He served in the

Marine Corps Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

from 1966 through 1969 for a three-year span, and he served one tour of duty in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. He later became an activist and a politician. The La Raza Unida asked Reyes to run for political office while as a member of that political party. Reyes instead ran for office as a Democrat. In 1972 Reyes was elected to the Texas House of Representatives.Moreno, Jenalia.
Long, painful chapter ends for Ben Reyes
" ''

''. December 29, 2009. Retrieved on December 29, 2009.
Archive
Representing District 89 as a member of the

Democratic Party of the United States The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero Andre ...

, he won re-election three times. In 1976 he received over 96% of the vote. While in the house he served as the vice chairman of the Liquor Regulation Committee and as the chairperson of the Rules committee. Reyes served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979. In 1977 he attended both

Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,000 ...

and the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

. In 1979 he was elected to the

. He served in District I for 16 years; he left due to term limits. As a city council member he arranged the demolitions of various houses that housed criminal activities. His final year of service was 1995. In 1999 Tim Fleck of the ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by advertising ...

'' said that he "virtually created Hispanic politics in Houston and held his own on City Council as perhaps the best wheeler-dealer for nearly two decades."Fleck, Tim.
The Good, the Bad, the Imprisoned
" ''

''. Thursday December 30, 1999. Retrieved on March 31, 2010. In a 1991 ''

'' article, Richard Murray, a political scientist from the

, said "Ben was not only a young Turk, but he was an angry Turk. But Ben has had a 20-year career and, like many people, he is a different person now than when he was first elected." In 1992 he ran for

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

in the newly created 29th District, a 63 percent Hispanic-majority district located in eastern Houston. He was initially the favorite, but only won 34 percent of the vote in the five-way Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district. He was forced into a runoff with State Senator

Gene Green Raymond Eugene Green (born October 17, 1947) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for , serving for 13 terms. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district included most of eastern Houston, including portion ...

(with whom he had served in the Texas House), which he lost by only 180 votes out of 130,000 cast. He challenged Green in the 1994 primary, losing by a somewhat wider margin. A

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

sting revealed issues with Reyes. In May 1991 a grand jury from Harris County indicted Reyes for felony charges, including illegally accepting corporate campaign contributions (taking $51,000

United States dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...

s to influence votes for a project for a convention center hotel), not using the proper authority while ordering demolition of structures accused of being "

crack house A drug house (also called a trap house or drug den) is a residence used in the illegal drug trade. Drug houses shelter drug users and provide a place for drug dealers to supply them. Drug houses can also be used as laboratories to synthesize ( ...

s," and stealing a

magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

tree. In October 1995 undercover

(FBI) agents gave Reyes a briefcase with cash in exchange for his engineering of votes so that a city contract would be awarded for a convention center hotel. In 1996 he was placed into custody, accused of committing bribery and conspiracy. He was convicted on December 14, 1998, and he went to federal prison for a nine-year term in March 1999. Ben Reyes entered the

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

(BOP) system. He was originally incarcerated within the

Federal Correctional Complex, Beaumont The Federal Correctional Complex, Beaumont (FCC Beaumont) is a United States federal prison complex for male inmates in unincorporated Jefferson County, Texas. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Depart ...

. He requested a transfer to

Federal Correctional Institution, Jesup The Federal Correctional Institution, Jesup (FCI Jesup) is a medium-security United States federal prison housing male inmates in Jesup, Georgia. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice ...

and was granted his transfer. Reyes said that FCI Jesup was "a more relaxed, more bucolic facility" than the Beaumont facility was. While in the minimum security Georgia prison, Reyes worked as a janitor. Reyes, along with other inmates, submitted a petition to outgoing

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

asking for a pardon. In June 2006 he was released to an

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

halfway house. In December 2006 he was released from the halfway house and put on probation. While in the BOP system Reyes had the register number 76205–079. December 29, 2006 was his ultimate release date from correctional supervision.Ben T Reyes
"

. Retrieved on March 31, 2010. A woman Reyes described as a "significant other" picked up Reyes from the halfway house. The probation terms stated that Reyes cannot campaign, run for office, or serve on any boards. He was released from probation in December 2009. Reyes lives in Spring Branch with his wife, Rosalie Brockman; she was his longtime girlfriend before they married in 2008. As of 2009 Reyes works as a construction supervisor.

Legacy

The

Houston Public Library Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States. History Houston Lyceum and the Carnegie Library The Houston Public Library system traces its founding to the creation of the second Houston Lyceum in 18 ...

maintains the Ben T. Reyes Collection at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center. The collection has material spanning from 1970 through 1988. All of the material from the beginning of box one through folder twelve of box eight has material regarding his service in the

. The rest of the collection concerns his

service. In 1999 Tim Fleck of the ''

'' ranked Reyes as the "Best and Worst Councilman at the Same Time." Fleck explained that while Reyes had been convicted of corrupt acts, he had also made political contributions to the city. Fleck added that Reyes, who falsely said that he received the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

, "had the worst midlife crisis in Houston political history." Fleck said "When Ben was good, he was very good, but when he was bad, he stank out the house."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyes, Ben 1947 births American politicians of Mexican descent Living people United States Marine Corps personnel of the Vietnam War Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Texas Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Houston City Council members People from Washington County, Texas Criminals from Texas University of Houston alumni United States Marines Janitors

History

Legacy

See also

References