The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was Keep per WP:SNOW, WP:HEY, and WP:POLOUTCOMES. There has been long-established consensus that all sub-national legislators are notable. Issues with the article can be addressed through the normal editing processes. Bearian (talk) 21:04, 15 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Talmadge L. Heflin[edit]

Talmadge L. Heflin (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log · Stats)

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(Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL)

Fails WP:GNG. Fails WP:POLITICIAN, specifically #3, despite assertion to the contrary [1], not every Texas legislator is inherently notable, nor inherently a subject for a Wikipedia biography of a living person. Perhaps this is list fodder but, in the absence of any response to the 2009 tag requesting citations to reliable sources, enough is enough. None of the "refs" added to the page since the PROD notice came down solve the problem of "No significant coverage in reliable sources independent of the article's subject. David in DC (talk) 14:02, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep. All state legislators are notable. Billy Hathorn (talk) 15:28, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

• Snow keep. It's clear that the subject passes WP:POLITICIAN. There is a long precedent (see WP:POLOUTCOMES) that state legislators are notable; WP:POLITICIAN #3 refers to local officials (mayors, city councilmen, etc.) not elected state legislators. And this particular legislator is unquestionably notable: 22 years in the Texas legislature, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and described by The New York Times and others as one of the most powerful members of the Legislature [2][3][4]. The Google search <"Talmadge Heflin"> yields 79 news stories at site:news.google.com, and 158 matches at HighBeam Research [5]. And there are additional hits at Google Books as well. This isn't even a close call. --Arxiloxos (talk) 15:30, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep per Arxiloxos. Heflin was in the Texas Legislature for 22 years. All state legislators are notable-thank you-RFD (talk) 15:35, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep- Per the above and namesake of an elementary school [6] .Dru of Id (talk) 15:37, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

• Comment WP:POLITICIAN is being misrepresented. Here it is, in its entirety:

1. "Politicians and judges who have held international, national or sub-national (statewide/provincewide) office, and members or former members of a national, state or provincial legislature. This also applies to persons who have been elected to such offices but have not yet assumed,
2. Major local political figures who have received significant press coverage.
3. Just being an elected local official, or an unelected candidate for political office, does not guarantee notability, although such people can still be notable if they meet the primary notability criterion of "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject of the article". [Emphasis added]
4. For the purposes of this guideline, ambassadorships are not considered international offices.

In the case of candidates for political office who do not meet this guideline, the general rule is to redirect to an appropriate page covering the election or political office sought in lieu of deletion. Relevant material from the biographical article can be merged into the election or political office page if appropriate."

Also, so far, and since 2009, all of the "refs" inserted are to primary sources or sources with which the subject is affiliated. This WP:BLP may be rescueable, but the efforts so for serve to underscore the subject's lack of notability as we mean that word on Wikipedia: "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject of the article". David in DC (talk) 18:28, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

• Speedy keep, yes all Texas state legislators are notable per default, as are all other U.S. state-level legislators. WP:POLITICIAN gives some room for interpretation in regards to municipal representatives (city councils, etc.), but state-level legislators are well within the limits. --Soman (talk) 19:31, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  • Albeit this wouldn't be part of the key argument as such (which is WP:POLITICIAN) and we shouldn't rely on google hit counts for notability, it's worth noting that "Talmadge L. Heflin" get over 62,000 hits and "Talmadge Heflin" gets another 9,000+. But then again, "Talmadge L. Heflin" is an extremly common name. --Soman (talk) 21:19, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]
• Keep per above, →Davey2010→→Talk to me!→ 22:07, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]
• Request that AfD nomination be closed by an Admin I'm not persuaded by much of what's been written above, but in a matter of a couple days, the glaring flaws in this article, tagged in 2009(!), have been fixed with the addition of refs evidencing significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources. The timing is probably a coincidence, but it's a fortuitous one - for the article, for Wikipedia and for our readers. David in DC (talk) 14:02, 15 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.