29 Facts About Paul Harpole

Paul Harpole 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.

Paul Harpole has received media attention for his comments on refugees in Amarillo, which receives more refugees per capita than any other Texas city.

Paul Harpole 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.

Paul Harpole was born in Deer Lodge, Montana in 1950, and raised in Denver, Colorado.

Paul Harpole graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Anderson School of Management in 1976.

Shortly after graduating, Paul Harpole began selling cars at Frontier Ford in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Paul Harpole was first elected to the Amarillo City Council as the Councilmember for Place 2, one of four City Council positions elected at-large by a majority of voters, in May 2005.

When it was created, Paul Harpole became the TIRZ board's vice-chairman, a role he maintains today.

On January 11,2011, Paul Harpole announced that he intended to run for Mayor of Amarillo.

Paul Harpole 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.

Paul Harpole toured Sugar Land, a city in the Houston metro area, along with other Amarillo city officials.

Mayor Paul Harpole ran for a second term in the mayoral election held on May 10,2013.

Paul Harpole faced just one challenger, Terry Baughman, a lifelong Amarillo resident who worked as an assistant manager at Walgreens.

Paul Harpole campaigned on plans to build a major hotel, a parking garage, and a baseball stadium.

On February 21,2014, Mayor Paul Harpole spoke about the refugee population in Amarillo.

Paul Harpole told the Texas Tribune, "We've raised some red flags and said this isn't good for some entities in the city or for the refugees themselves".

Many refugees worked in meatpacking plants in the area, but Paul Harpole expressed concern that jobs were declining and believed "it's going to be more difficult for the refugees to do well" in Amarillo.

In November 2014, the city approved a $14.3 million parking garage, to be built by Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, the group that Paul Harpole met in Sugar Land.

Paul Harpole said, in August 2014, "This is one of the best public-private partnerships that could be imagined".

In February 2015, Paul Harpole sat down with NewsChannel 10 to show hundreds of pages of documents that the city reviewed to vet Wallace Bajjali prior to doing business with the group in 2011.

On January 21,2015, Paul Harpole announced that he would run for a third term in the upcoming mayoral election.

Paul Harpole was opposed by Roy McDowell, who criticized Harpole's plan to build a ballpark, saying "We didn't get to vote on it, but I am going to make sure from here on out that people get to vote on all major issues".

Paul Harpole 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, Paul Harpole was interviewed by conservative news site Watchdog.

Later, on April 21,2016, Paul Harpole testified in front of the Texas Senate on the issue, complaining that Amarillo has not "been involved in the consultation meetings [on refugee placement] at all".

Paul Harpole was a candidate to fill Harpole's former seat on the city council after his successor, Brian Eades, announced his resignation.

The next day, Paul Harpole walked out of a City Council executive session, accusing a councilmember of leaking the rankings of candidates to fill the position.

Paul Harpole 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.

Paul Harpole did not seek a fourth term, and was succeeded by Ginger Nelson.