Jim Hightower
Public Citizen Inc.
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the book, “Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow” who has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be — consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
Each month, he publishes a populist political newsletter, “The Hightower Lowdown,” which has received both the Alternative Press Award and the Independent Press Association Award for best national newsletter.
He is a New York Times best-selling author, and has written seven books including, “Thieves In High Places: They’ve Stolen Our Country And It’s Time To Take It Back;” “If the Gods Had Meant Us To Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates;” and “There’s Nothing In the Middle Of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos.” His newspaper column is distributed nationally by Creators Syndicate.
Mr. Hightower has spent his life battling for the rights of consumers, working families, environmentalists and small businesses. A graduate of the University of North Texas, he worked in Washington, D.C., as legislative aide to Sen. Ralph Yarborough of Texas; he then co-founded the Agribusiness Accountability Project, a public interest project that focused on corporate power in the food economy; and he was national coordinator of the 1976 “Fred Harris for President” campaign. Mr. Hightower then returned to his home state, where he became editor of the feisty biweekly, The Texas Observer. He served as director of the Texas Consumer Association before running for statewide office and being elected to two terms as Texas Agriculture Commissioner (1983-1991).