Tom Pauken

Thomas Weir Pauken (born January 11, 1944) is an American politician and member of the Republican Party.

Pauken is a former member and chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission.

A former long-term resident of Dallas, who now resides in the resort community of Port Aransas in Nueces County on the Texas Gulf Coast, Pauken is a businessman, lawyer, and the author of two books.

Pauken was born on January 11, 1944, in Victoria, Texas.

Pauken entered Georgetown University in 1961 and became involved in politics as a "foot soldier in a small but growing conservative army" that was known for their support of the U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater.

A graduate of the Jesuit High School in Dallas, Pauken attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., from which he received his Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1965.

Pauken was elected national chairman of College Republicans and served from 1965 to 1967.

The issue of the Vietnam War dominated his time as chairman; Pauken organized the bipartisan National Student Committee for the Defense of Vietnam.

The group collected more than half a million signatures from students across the nation for a petition expressing support for American soldiers in Vietnam that was presented to Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey.

Upon completion of his term as the chairman of College Republicans, Pauken enlisted in the Army, because "I knew . . . I would be nothing but a hypocrite if I ducked my own obligation to serve."

From 1967 to 1970, he served in the United States Army, with a tour of duty in Vietnam.

Pauken served as a military intelligence officer in Vietnam and returned to America at the end of December, 1969

He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 1973.

Pauken is married to Ida Ayala, and the couple has seven children: Thomas, Michelle, Angela, Elizabeth, Daniel, Monica, and Victoria.

The Paukens are Roman Catholic.

Pauken was asked to serve on President Reagan's transition team after the 1980 election.

On February 3, 1981, Pauken was nominated by Reagan to serve as director of the ACTION agency, now known as AmeriCorps.

Under Pauken's leadership, the staff at ACTION was reduced from 1,000 to 500 and the budget was reduced 25%, from $160 million to $120 million.

Pauken also ended ACTION's funding of liberal organizations, many of whom had ties to Saul Alinsky.

During his tenure at ACTION, Pauken established the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program" an organization "created for Vietnam Veterans and led by Vietnam Veterans who were committed to helping our fellow veterans who were unemployed, underemployed, or who had lingering problems associated with their Vietnam experience."

At ACTION, Pauken oversaw the implementation of the Just Say No to Drugs program in which Nancy Reagan served as chief spokeswoman.

He was awarded the Ronald Reagan Medal of Honor by Reagan administration alumni.

In 1985, Pauken left the Reagan administration to return to Texas to enter private business.

He joined a Dallas-based venture capital company in 1986.

He served as chairman of the Texas Republican Party from 1994 to 1997 during the transition period when the party leaped quickly from minority to majority status at the statewide level.

A staunch conservative, Pauken also served on President Ronald W. Reagan's White House staff.

In 1994, Pauken was elected chairman of his state party organization with strong support from Reagan conservatives and social conservatives disenchanted with the so-called "stand-patism" and moderation of the outgoing chairman, Fred Meyer, an ally of former President George H. W. Bush.

Pauken won the chairmanship by defeating a last-minute challenge waged by still serving U.S. Representative Joe Barton of Ennis, whose district at the time stretched from the Dallas southern suburbs to Bryan-College Station.

During Pauken's tenure as chairman, the Republican Party gained majority status in Texas, and he was re-elected chairman in 1996.

He chaired the Texas delegation to the Republican National Convention in 1996.

The party continued to experience divisions between its establishment faction and its conservative wing.

In 1996, Bill Price, a social conservative who had opposed Pauken when he ran for state chairman in 1994, led an effort to deny the naming of U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in San Diego, California, on the grounds that Hutchison is not pro-life.

Pauken supported the selection of Hutchison as a delegate to the national convention, and she was elected a delegate at the state convention.

The issue became divisive at the state convention even though Senator Robert Dole already had secured enough delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.

On August 21, 2006, Governor Rick Perry named Pauken to chairman the Texas Task Force on Appraisal Reform (TFAR) to study and make recommendations on how to address Texans' continuing concerns over property appraisals.

In March 2008, Perry appointed Pauken chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), which administers state unemployment compensation benefits, provides workforce development services, and maintains and issues state labor market data.

Pauken served as chairman of Texas Workforce Commission from March 2008 through April 2012.

Upon the completion of his tenure as chairman, Pauken remained at TWC as the commissioner representing employers.

During his time as TWC chairman, which ended in May 2012, Pauken oversaw the development of the Texas Back to Work program and the Texas Veterans Leadership Program (TVLP).

He was a candidate for governor in 2014 but withdrew early in the contest and supported Greg Abbott, the state attorney general and the party nominee in the November 4 general election.