Harry Whittington died at his home in Austin over the weekend, 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.
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 “accidents do and will happen,” and apologized to Cheney, saying he was “deeply sorry for everything” Cheney and his family had to deal with after the incident.
In an interview with Fox News days after the accident, Cheney said it was “one of the worst days of my life at that moment.” 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 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.
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