‘Velvet gloves’ do not come off in memoir
It was the late 1970s, and San Antonio City Councilman Bernardo Eureste was in a bad mood. Eureste, the councilman from District 5 once called “the prince of destruction” by Henry Cisneros, kept interrupting the City Council meeting by hopping out of his seat. Eventually, recently re-elected Mayor Lila Cockrell had enough.
“The gentleman will take his seat,” Cockrell ordered. When Eureste failed to comply, she repeated the order. And then repeated it again.
Exasperated, she asked the chief of police, who happened to be present, to escort the councilman from the chambers.
“In about 15 minutes,” Cockrell writes in her new autobiography, “Love Deeper Than a River” (Trinity University Press, $22.95), “a handwritten note from Bernardo was brought to me, asking if he could come back if he promised to stay in his seat. I sent word that he could return. He came back and quietly took his seat in a respectful way.”
The anecdote, one of many such stories peppered throughout the book, illustrates how Cockrell, warm and gracious on the outside, could be tough as nails on the inside. More than one longtime observer described Cockrell — who served as the city’s first female mayor from 1975 to 1981 and then again from 1989 to 1991 — as “an iron fist in a velvet glove.” It was an attribute that served her well as a groundbreaking politician who excelled as a consensus builder during some of the most turbulent times in the city’s political history.
“She was, hands down, the most important and influential woman politician in San Antonio during the last half of the 20th century,” said Roddy Stinson, a former Express-News columnist who covered City Hall from 1974 to 2008. “And with the obvious exception of (former mayor) Henry Cisneros, she was arguably the most significant political leader, period, during the era when the Alamo City changed from a sleepy large Texas town into a prominent American city.”
Going past tribal politics
Written with local author Catherine Nixon Cooke, “Love Deeper Than a River” was a “now or never” project, according to the 96year-old Cockrell, who said people have been urging her to write it for years. (The title refers to her affection for San Antonio and its river.)
While the book serves as a handy history of San Antonio’s emergence onto the national stage, it also suggests how modern politicians at all levels may find a way past the tribal politics that often paralyze their ability to govern. The future San Antonio mayor got her start in politics as a 6-yearold growing up in Forest Hills, N.Y. Then known as Lila Banks, she tried to organize a parade in support of Herbert Hoover, the Republican candidate for president in 1928.
“I grew up hearing my family talk about politics and, because they had Republican leanings, I, of course, supported the Republican candidate,” she said in an interview. “But all the other families in the neighborhood were Democrats, so none of my friends were allowed to help. And that ended my parade.”
Later, in 1942, as she pursued her teaching certificate at Southern Methodist University, she did a research project examining how the concept of “separate but equal,” the Supreme Court-approved policy of state-sponsored segregation, was working in the Dallas public school system.
“I found that educational spending in black school districts was about half that in white districts,” she said. “So there was definitely discrimination going on, although this wasn’t something that was talked about back then.”
It was a controversial topic at the time, especially for a 20-yearold college student. But it helped inform the ideals she later exhibited as a city councilwoman and mayor when, for example, she worked diligently to bring more women and minorities onto the boards of municipal agencies such as City Public Service, the water board and City Transit, now VIA Metropolitan Transit.
She did this, she said, because in many ways, these boards controlled the development of the city.
“She helped bring folks who might never have gotten involved in government become involved,” said Jane Macon, who served as city attorney during Cockrell’s time in office and became a friend.
‘Preparing her entire life’
Cockrell credits her experience in high school and college debate for her ability to carefully consider all sides of an argument before making a decision.
“I can remember having conversations with my good friend Gen. McDermott,” she said, referring to the late Robert McDermott, an Air Force general who became chairman and CEO of USAA. “When I was in office, McDermott would often share his opinions on different matters with me. I’d listen politely, and then I would give a pause and say, ‘I understand why you’re suggesting certain things, but I’m not agreeing with you and this is why.’ At least he understood that there could be a possibility that there’s another plan.”
She rarely held grudges. The day after the Bernardo Eureste outburst, for example, he came to her office and said he’d been thinking about whether she had the authority to have him escorted from the council chambers. Her response?
“I’m not positive I did either,” she said. “But you didn’t think of that yesterday.”
They both had a good laugh, she said, and as Eureste learned to control his temper, “We really got along better than it might have appeared on the surface.”
As are many trailblazers, Cockrell often was overlooked and discounted. Once, at a national meeting, the man sitting next to her asked, “And what do you do, little lady?”
“I work in city government,” she answered.
“And what do they call you?” “In San Antonio, they call me Mayor Cockrell.”
In the foreword to the book, Cisneros writes that when Cockrell ran for mayor in 1975, “it was as if (she) had been preparing her entire life to lead a city that needed her steady hand and calming leadership.”
But, he continues, she was more than just a political pioneer. In 1977, for example, she deftly guided the city through the transition from at-large governance, in which council members are chosen by the full electorate, to a new era of single-member districts — a change made under pressure from the U.S. Justice Department following the 1975 expansion of the Voting Rights Act.
Previously, a group of mostly conservative businessmen calling themselves the Good Government League had hand-selected a slate of council members, including Cockrell, all of whom almost invariably had been elected.
That changed with the move to single-member districts, and the ideological gulf between City Council members was wider than ever when Cockrell took office, according to Joe Aldrete, who represented District 7.
“We had far-right conservatives and far-left liberals on that council,” Aldrete said. “And we were also a majority-minority council, which was unusual because previous councils had always been made up mostly of Anglo men. But Lila was able to work with everyone.”
Cockrell doesn’t use her autobiography to settle scores. She’s too polite — and too interested in protecting her legacy. She pulls her punches when it comes to criticizing anyone by name.
For example, while discussing the various city managers she worked with, she writes, “Jerry Henckel was a competent city manager. But I was aware of some personal issues that he had that were beginning to be talked about.” She never explains what those issues were.
She seems hesitant to crow about perhaps her biggest coup, persuading what is today Valero Energy Corp. to move its headquarters from Corpus Christi to San Antonio. Today, the company is No. 31 on the Fortune 500 list and a generous donor to charities and civic causes.
“I am happy that my firmness in the negotiations brought this business growth to our city,” she writes.
Even at 96, Cockrell is hesitant to speak out on current political issues, although she did appear in a TV commercial last fall with the current and several former mayors, urging people to vote against the recent city charter amendments backed by the firefighters union.
“The amendments were presented in a way that was very difficult for the citizens to fully understand the complexity of it,” she said, not long after two of the three proposals were approved. “Now, one of the national credit rating institutions has already downgraded our rating. I’m thankful that the other two agencies have not changed, but they’re probably observing us at least.”
Republican — with a caveat
She spoke well of one of her successors as mayor, Julian Castro, who recently announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, calling him “a nice person” and expressing enormous respect for his and his brother Joaquin’s mother and grandmother.
“I would just say,” she added, “he’s still pretty young. So we’ll just have to see how it goes and where things go on the Republican side.”
Speaking of the Republican side, is she willing to say what she thinks of the current occupant of the White House?
“You may ask.”
Does she support Donald Trump, and is she happy with what he’s done?
“I would say some things he has done have worked out well, but I think other things have not. It troubles me when someone in that leadership role has the kind of interpersonal, rancorous disputes with so many people.”
What does she like that he’s done?
“Apparently there are a few things that he has done to cause the economy to still be very good. And to keep the economy stable is very helpful.”
Anything else?
“No.”
Still, almost nine decades after abandoning her Herbert Hoover parade, Cockrell remains a Republican — with a caveat.
“I have reserved the right to vote for those Democrats that I like,” she said. “For example, although he was a strong Democrat, I got along great with Henry B. Gonzalez,” a political legend who served on the city council and the Texas senate and represented San Antonio in Congress for nearly 40 years. “I thought he was an honest man and a dedicated public servant whose heart was in the right place.”
With her, it seems, personal relationships always trump partisan politics.