Lena Guerrero

Lena Guerrero
Texas Railroad Commissioner
In office
January 23, 1991 – October 1, 1992[1]
GovernorAnn Richards
Preceded byJohn Sharp
Succeeded byJim Wallace
Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from the 51st district
In office
January 8, 1985 – January 4, 1991
Preceded byGonzalo Barrientos
Succeeded byGlen Maxey
Personal details
Born(1957-11-27)November 27, 1957
Mission, Texas, U.S.
DiedApril 24, 2008(2008-04-24) (aged 50)
Austin, Texas, U.S.
Resting placeTexas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Lionel "Leo" Aguirre
(m. 1983)
Children1
OccupationLobbyist

Lena Guerrero Aguirre (November 27, 1957 – April 24, 2008) was a Texas political figure who served in the Texas House of Representatives, and was later the first woman and first non-white member of the Texas Railroad Commission,[2] which regulates the oil and natural gas industry. Her political career ended in 1992 over a falsified résumé scandal.

In the 1960s, Guerrero and her siblings were migrant workers.[3] She attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she was president of the Young Democrats of Texas.[4][3] She was elected to the Texas House, and appointed to a vacant seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, but when she ran for reelection to the seat it was discovered that she had falsely claimed to have graduated from UT.[4][5]

She died of brain cancer at the age of fifty.[4]

  1. ^ "Railroad Commissioners Past through Present". www.rrc.texas.gov. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  2. ^ http://www.hermana.org/organization/lasprim.htm MANA History
  3. ^ a b Lena Guerrero: Texas Monthly September 2001
  4. ^ a b c Lena Guerrero, once a rising star in Texas politics, dies after battling cancer Archived 2008-04-30 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Suro, Roberto (12 October 1992). "Lie by Texas Politician Puts Twist in Campaign (Published 1992)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2023-07-22.