Helen Giddings
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Helen Giddings (born April 21, 1945) is an American businesswoman and former politician who served as a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1993 until January 2019. She sat on the House committees of Appropriations, Calendars, and State Affairs.[1]
Giddings attended the University of Texas at Arlington. She previously served as an executive with Sears, Roebuck & Company, and was responsible for human resources in 11 states. In 1989, she founded Multiplex, Inc., a specialty concessions company, of which she is president.[1] A former board chairman of the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce, in the 1980s, as Vice-Chair of the Dallas Transit Board, her mediation skills were employed to end a bus driver strike. Dallas' D Magazine named her one of Dallas' top power brokers of the 1980s.[2]
2003 Texas legislative walkouts by Democrats: Giddings' role
In 2003, Texas Democrats from the state House and Senate made national headlines when they traveled across the state border to Oklahoma and New Mexico, respectively, en masse to deny a quorum for voting on a redistricting plan.
The walkout by House Democrats came in the closing weeks of the 78th Texas Legislature. Fifty-three, later 56, House Democrats ended up at a Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Giddings, however, stayed behind, although written statements claimed she was in support of the Democrats who walked out. She was arrested by Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers outside her Austin apartment,[3] and taken to the Texas capitol.
