In 1993 then-Governor Ann Richards thought she had struck a deal to bring Apple Computers to Round Rock. If the Williamson County Commissioners just granted a tax abatement, Apple would build an $80 million customer support center, providing a $300 million boost to the local community support for up to 4,500 permanent new jobs.To Richards’ chagrin, though, the county commissioners voted down the deal because Apple, at the time, was one of the few American corporations providing health benefits to same-sex partners. In a county where the Christian Coalition had made major inroads into local government, such a corporate policy was an anathema. The deciding vote against Apple was Commissioner David S. Hays. “If I had voted yes,” Hays said, “I would have had to walk into my church…
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