Paul Burka, Texas political journalism titan and “soul” of Texas Monthly newsroom, dies at 80

Former Texas Monthly editor Paul Burka discusses his selections for Best and Worst Legislators at a Texas Tribune event in 2013. He died Sunday. (Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune)

Paul Burka, a longtime Texas Monthly editor and leader of the magazine’s biennial list of the 10 best and 10 worst Texas legislators, could be as generous with his praise as he was unflinching with his criticism.

In a 1979 article, five years after he started what would turn into a four-decade career with Texas Monthly, he described former state Rep. Ronald Coleman’s virtues as “straight from a civics textbook: intelligence, industry, independence, fairness, vision, courage, and — a bonus that must have come as a surprise even to Coleman — influence.” In the same issue he wrote of former state Sen. Bob Price: “If the Senate were a horse race, nobody would bet on him. Slow out of the gate, weak down the stretch, a nice guy who, true to form, finished last.”