Paul Harpole

Paul Harpole (born 1950) is an American politician and businessman who served as the mayor of Amarillo, Texas, the largest city in the Texas Panhandle, from May 2011 to May 2017.

Throughout his political career, Harpole has focused on improving downtown Amarillo. He is the vice-chairman of the downtown Center City Amarillo Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone board, which diverts property tax revenues in the zone to projects with the goal of improving the area. As mayor, he has explored plans to build a baseball stadium and a parking garage in Amarillo. However, the development partners that the city worked with for three years suddenly went out of business in January 2015, causing a setback.

Harpole has also received media attention for his comments on refugees in Amarillo, which receives more refugees per capita than any other Texas city. He has expressed concern for the city's ability to accommodate the relatively large number, but has asserted that Amarillo is supportive and accepting of refugees.

Personal life Harpole was born in Deer Lodge, Montana in 1950, and raised in Denver, Colorado. After finishing high school, he joined the U.S. Army in 1968. After finishing his service, he enrolled in the University of New Mexico in 1971, where he was involved with Kappa Alpha Order. He graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Anderson School of Management in 1976.

Shortly after graduating, Harpole began selling cars at Frontier Ford in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1982, he moved to Amarillo, where he secured a position as vice president and general manager of John Chandler Ford. They have six grandchildren. in May 2005. He served a single two-year term.

Mayor of Amarillo First term On January 11, 2011, Harpole announced that he intended to run for Mayor of Amarillo. He campaigned on a plan to revitalize the downtown area to increase sales tax revenues, to establish Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones in other parts of the city, and to tackle graffiti. Out of a field of 11 candidates, he won the election held on May 14, 2011, with 77 percent of the vote.

To keep his campaign promise to fight graffiti, Harpole created a graffiti task force a few months after taking office. The city appropriated $150,000 for the group's first year, and Amarillo National Bank donated an additional $50,000. Commenting on the issue, Mayor Harpole said, "It's not a joke. You're a criminal".

Focusing on a downtown revitalization, Harpole explored plans to build a baseball stadium in Amarillo. A November Convention Sports & Leisure study estimated the cost to be between $20 million and $30 million, but predicted a potential $88 billion increase in economic activity as a result.

Harpole also toured Sugar Land, a city in the Houston metro area, along with other Amarillo city officials. Sugar Land city officials cited low crime, a major hotel, and low property tax rates as key to their city's redevelopment. 51 investors sued the group for losses of $3.1 million in an alleged ponzi scheme. In February 2012, the group agreed to settle the suit for about $1.2 million. The city continued doing business with the group.

In September 2012, a city ordinance that banned texting and driving passed 15 months after Governor Rick Perry vetoed a similar state law. Harpole supported it, saying, "Today, none of us would think of getting into a car without airbags or seatbelts. To me, it's that kind of issue". He faced just one challenger, Terry Baughman, a lifelong Amarillo resident who worked as an assistant manager at Walgreens. Harpole campaigned on plans to build a major hotel, a parking garage, and a baseball stadium. Harpole claimed, "We'll see an increase. Not just in the property values, but an increase in use. More families, there's other things planned, parks". According to 2007-2012 State Department data from U.S. Representative Mac Thornberry, Amarillo received the highest number of refugees per capita than any other Texas city. the city approved a $14.3 million parking garage, to be built by Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, the group that Harpole met in Sugar Land. Amarillo declared the company in default of its contracts, and sued to recover $177,500 that had been set aside but not paid yet. In February 2016, the city decided to abandon the lawsuit and received $20,000 in attorney's fees, about 70% of the actual cost. Harpole defended the city's decision at the time, saying, "They looked at everything they could to say are these people reasonable, can they perform and [...] have they been honest in their past dealings. Every one of these (documents) says to move ahead". In his announcement, priorities that he cited included highway beautification, creating an additional Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, and adding to the city's water rights. He also mentioned red light cameras, hand-held cell phones, animal control, and the drainage tax as additional issues he wished to put to a vote.

In January 2016, Harpole was interviewed by conservative news site Watchdog.org about refugees in Amarillo. In the article, Harpole is quoted talking about "small ghettos" being created and "rival tribes" being settled together. multiple conservative sites, including Breitbart News, picked up the story. complaining that Amarillo has not "been involved in the consultation meetings [on refugee placement] at all". On June 6, 2016, Harpole expressed concern about controversial Facebook posts, which contained ethnic and sexual slurs, by Sandra McCartt. She was a candidate to fill Harpole's former seat on the city council after his successor, Brian Eades, announced his resignation. He also alleged that councilmembers chastised him for changing the process for selecting Eades' replacement when he suggested bypassing the scheduled questioning of McCartt by the council, and ending her candidacy. These remarks followed his resignation after being caught denigrating a citizen speaker on a hot mic that month, That program employed the homeless in various beautification projects, like picking up trash and pulling weeds. In October 2016, the city approved $50,000 to fund a pilot program.

The next mayoral election was held on May 6, 2017. Harpole did not seek a fourth term, and was succeeded by Ginger Nelson.