Robert Mosbacher, Jr.

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Robert Adam Mosbacher, Jr. (born ca. 1951) is a Houston businessman and Republican politician and is the current head of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a US government agency aimed at promoting development by working with the private sector.

From 1986 to 2005, Mosbacher was President and CEO of Mosbacher Energy Company of Houston, Texas, an independent oil and gas exploration and production company. He was also Vice Chairman of Mosbacher Power Group, an independent electric power developer, which began in 1995, and was sold in 2003. He is the son of Robert A. Mosbacher.

Mosbacher received his law degree from Southern Methodist University and his bachelor's degree from Georgetown University, where his daughter Jane currently attends.

Mosbacher ran unsuccessfully in the 1997 Houston mayoral election, losing to Lee Brown. He received 48 percent of the vote in the run-off while raising a record-breaking $4 million for his bid (Brown raised $2.1 million).

Mosbacher faced controversy in his run, living outside Houston, in West University Place, for 11 years and professing an abiding interest in federal and state issues rather than local concerns.

He also ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 1984, losing to Phil Gramm, and Texas lieutenant governor in 1990, losing to Bob Bullock.

In 1993, he wrote the book Deep In The Heart: A Remedy For An Ailing Texas. In this he made various recommendations regarding how the state of Texas could improve.

Nominated by President George W. Bush, Robert Mosbacher, Jr., was sworn in as the ninth President and Chief Executive Officer of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) in October 2005.

Mosbacher is the immediate past-Chairman of the Board of the Greater Houston Partnership, a private, nonprofit organization that serves as the city’s chamber of commerce. He also served as Chairman of the Partnership’s Health Care Advisory Committee, and member and former Chairman of its Education & Workforce Advisory Committee.

Mosbacher has served as Chairman of the Board of the Methodist Hospital, the Salvation Army, Center for Houston's Future, Trust for an Early Education, and the Greater Houston Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, all in Houston. He is founder and co-Chairman of Rebuilding Together Houston (formerly PSI HomeSavers), which organizes volunteers to deliver free exterior home repairs and has resulted in the repair of over 4600 houses for qualified low-income elderly or disabled Houstonians. He served on the boards of South Texas College of Law, Chase Bank, Devon Energy, the Society for the Performing Arts in Houston and as chairman of PreSchool for All^[1]

[edit] Karl Rove incident

In a notable event, Karl Rove was fired from the 1992 George Herbert Walker Bush campaign for criticizing Mosbacher who was the chief fundraiser for the campaign and an avowed Bush loyalist. Rove planted a negative story with the columnist Robert Novak. In 1992, "Sources close to the former president George H.W. Bush say Karl Rove was fired from the 1992 Bush presidential campaign after he planted a negative story with columnist Robert Novak about dissatisfaction with campaign fundraising chief and Bush loyalist Robert Mosbacher Jr. It was smoked out, and he was summarily ousted" (Esquire Magazine, January 2003). As Novak provided some evidence of Rove's motive in his column describing former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm's later firing of Mosbacher: "Also attending the session was political consultant Karl Rove, who had been shoved aside by Mosbacher". Mosbacher maintains that "Rove is the only one with a motive to leak this. We let him go. I still believe he did it."

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