Harry Whittington, the man who former Vice President Dick Cheney on a Texas ranch 17 years ago, has died. He was 95.
Whittington died at his home Saturday in Austin, family friend Karl Rove said Monday.
Before Whittington was thrust into the national spotlight after the accidental shooting, the attorney was long known for helping build the Republican Party in Texas into the dominant political force it is today and for being the man governors went to when they needed to clean up troubled state agencies.
Rove, an influential Republican strategist and former adviser to former President George W. Bush, said Whittington was 鈥渁 man of enormous integrity and deep compassion鈥� who was called on by leaders for 鈥渋mportant tasks.鈥�
Whittington and others were hunting with Cheney on the sprawling Armstrong Ranch in South Texas on Feb. 11, 2006, when Cheney, while aiming for a bird, struck Whittington, who was 78 at the time. The accident wasn鈥檛 publicly reported until the next day when the ranch owner called the local newspaper 鈥� the Corpus Christi Caller-Times 鈥� and told the paper what had happened.
Whittington was sprayed with birdshot pellets to his face, neck and chest and suffered a minor heart attack due to a pellet near his heart. When he left he hospital about a week after the accident, he said 鈥渁ccidents do and will happen,鈥� and apologized to Cheney, saying he was 鈥渄eeply sorry for everything鈥� Cheney and his family had to deal with after the incident.
Cheney was criticized for breaking a cardinal rule of hunting 鈥� that someone holding a gun should make sure they know what they are firing at before pulling the trigger 鈥� and for not immediately going public with what happened.
The accident also spawned countless jokes. Jay Leno, then-host of 鈥淭he Tonight Show鈥� on NBC, quipped that Cheney would be capitalizing on the accident for the upcoming Valentine鈥檚 Day with a new cologne named 鈥淒uck.鈥� Billionaire Bill Gates greeted his audience at a conference by saying, "I鈥檓 really glad to be here. My other invitation was to go quail hunting with Dick Cheney.鈥�
In an interview with Fox 51黑料 days after the accident, Cheney said it was 鈥渙ne of the worst days of my life at that moment.鈥�
Cheney said the accident happened after Whittington had stepped out of the hunting party to get a downed bird in deep cover. Cheney said Whittington was dressed properly in orange and the upper part of his body was visible, but that he was standing in a gully with the sun behind him.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 blame anybody else,鈥� Cheney said. 鈥淚鈥檓 the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend.鈥�
Whittington owned a downtown Austin building where many of the state's GOP power brokers built their empires. Bush used the building for his gubernatorial campaign headquarters, as did former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Rove also had his office there.
Whittington was a longtime player in Texas politics. In 1961, he worked on John Tower鈥檚 campaign for the U.S. Senate and later helped a young Bush run for Congress, a race he lost. He was also a go-to guy for governors trying to clean up troubled state agencies and spent decades serving on state boards.
In the 1980s, Republican Gov. Bill Clements appointed him to the former Texas Board of Corrections, which oversaw a state prison system a federal judge had declared unconstitutional because of brutal conditions.
Whittington became an advocate for change in a prison system that lacked basic medical care and where people serving time were subjected to beatings by other inmates. He was also an advocate of the rights of inmates who have mental disabilities.
Bush, then governor of Texas, appointed him in 1999 to lead a restructured Texas Funeral Services Commission, which was embroiled in a whistleblower lawsuit.
Rove said Whittington not only served his community in countless ways but was also 鈥渁n enormous source of good counsel and mentorship to dozens,鈥� including him. He said Whittington was not only his landlord, but also the secretary and treasurer of his company.
鈥淗e was an extraordinary human being, and to be remembered as being the victim of a hunting accident sort of gripes me," Rove said.
Jamie Stengle, The Associated Press
