Tim was born on July 21, 1969. A native of Farmers Branch, he attended Valwood (now Montgomery) Elementary, Vivian Field Junior High and graduated from R.L. Turner High School in 1987. At Turner, Tim was an All-District Wide Receiver in football and co-MVP of the baseball team. He attended college at The University of Texas at Austin where he received a BBA in Finance and lettered on the Longhorn football team. He attended law school at SMU and practiced law for five years prior to founding The Law Offices of Timothy O’Hare & Associates in 2001.

Tim started his law firm with one employee and the firm has seen substantial growth in revenue and size over the past seven years. O'Hare & Associates is known throughout the legal community as a law firm with integrity.

Tim served on the Farmers Branch Zoning Board of Adjustment and Building Code Board of Appeals from 1999 - 2002. He then served on the Farmers Branch Planning and Zoning Commission from 2002-2005. He has served as a Farmers Branch City Councilman since May 2005. He is also a member of the Farmers Branch Chamber of Commerce. Tim is a long-time member of the Farmers Branch Church of Christ. In addition, Tim is President-Elect of the Farmers Branch Rotary Club, an organization that serves people in need in and around Farmers Branch. He recently completed a three-year term serving on the Board of Directors for Volunteers of America - Texas, a faith-based non-profit organization that serves people in need throughout the state.

Tim is single and in his spare time loves to travel, play golf, scuba dive and deep-sea fish. He loves animals and is a big fan of all the Dallas area sports teams.

Tim O'Hare has never let anything hold him back.

His slender frame didn't keep him from excelling on the high school football field.

Tim O'Hare is the man of the hour, with his proposals for dealing with illegal immigrants due for a vote Monday night in Farmers Branch.
 

Lack of money didn't keep him from going to law school.

And fear of offending someone doesn't keep him from speaking his mind.

It's the Farmers Branch City Council member's sometimes brutal honesty and courage of his convictions that have endeared him to family and friends.

That same tendency to say what he thinks has put him into the national spotlight recently – saying illegal immigrants are bringing down neighborhoods and schools, causing crime and putting a strain on city, state and federal budgets.

His proposal that Farmers Branch enact local ordinances to make it harder for illegal immigrants to live and work there has earned him the support of hundreds of people across the country who have written city officials or signed online petitions.

But that same outspokenness and intent to do what he thinks is right have earned him the label of racist and bigot from others, including some Hispanic and civil-rights organizations.

As the issue appears headed to a climax today, when the City Council is expected to vote on his suggestions, those closest to Mr. O'Hare say there are many misperceptions about the man and what he's trying to do.

They say Mr. O'Hare, 37, is a man of many passions – his faith in God and his desire to do the right thing, sports (particularly University of Texas football, the Dallas Cowboys and the Dallas Stars), and his hometown.

"I think his No. 1 passion is he wants to be true to God and wants to be the type of person and live the life God has planned for him," said Hunt Bonneau, who met Mr. O'Hare on the basketball court when they were in fifth grade. "But he's going to do it aggressively. ... He's a doer. I've seen that passion when we were in sports."

Mr. Bonneau was quarterback at R.L. Turner High School, and Mr. O'Hare was wide receiver. Together as seniors, they combined for more pass completions than any other tandem in the state, Mr. Bonneau said.

"If I was able to get the ball to him, if he touched it, he caught it. He didn't drop one single pass," he said.

Mr. O'Hare graduated from R.L. Turner in 1987, and then went to the University of Texas, where he earned a bachelor's degree in finance in three years and was a walk-on on the Longhorn football team.

"He took that same passion after college and ... paid his way through law school," Mr. Bonneau said.

Even as a fifth-grader, Mr. O'Hare had a flair for saying what he was thinking.

"He didn't mind telling people what was right, even if it rubbed people the wrong way. You don't even have to go to him. Sometimes he'll go to you with it," Mr. Bonneau added with a laugh.

"He doesn't mind telling people what he believes to be the truth, and we need leaders who will tell us the truth, even when it hurts."

Mr. O'Hare, who was elected to the council in 2005, has certainly rubbed some of his council colleagues the wrong way.

When asked what kind of an impact Mr. O'Hare has had on the council, Mayor Bob Phelps said: "I'm not gong to touch that with a 10-foot pole. I'm not going to knock anyone. ... I will say he's had an impact on the city. I'm not going to say whether it's good or bad. I don't want to go there."


Farmers Branch native

Mr. O'Hare grew up in Farmers Branch.

He and his mother and brother lived in a tiny house on Dennis Lane until his mother got remarried when he was a teenager and they moved to a larger home off Rawhide Parkway.

"My dad was not around. I can count the number of times I saw him before I was 35 on one hand," Mr. O'Hare said.

His stepfather was a good man who he says is "a great example of how to treat a woman."

But it's his uncle, Nyles Bynum, whom Mr. O'Hare described as the closest thing he had to a father figure.

Mr. Bynum said his nephew is a family-oriented man who likes to cook the turkey for Thanksgiving and will pick up his young cousin to take her to church. He has been active in the youth programs at Farmers Branch Church of Christ, even taking on a recurring role as a surfer dude in the children's program there.

"It's kind of ironic he's not married," Mr. Bynum said. "I'm sure he'd like to get married. It's just not that easy finding the right person."

Mr. O'Hare said that until about three years ago, he wasn't ready to marry and have children. But now he is.

"Tim is single and eligible," said Mr. O'Hare, who shares his home with a dachshund named Chester and a boxer named Buster.

Indeed, his interests read like a personals ad.

The personal-injury lawyer loves to travel – he's been to all 50 states and said Costa Rica is his favorite place to visit. He enjoys football and hockey, and also plays golf and has done some deep-sea fishing. He is a big fan of Elvis and the rock group Kiss (a few years ago he dressed up as Ace Frehley for a costume contest at work). He runs his own law firm and, though he won't confirm or deny it, reportedly made $1 million before he was 35.

Mr. O'Hare has been questioned by some of his opponents for advertising "se habla español" on his law firm's Web site even as he seeks to make English the official language of Farmers Branch. The phrase is no longer on the firm's Web site.

"I see absolutely no contradiction with speaking Spanish or offering services in Spanish at your workplace," Mr. O'Hare said. "There are people in this country who speak Spanish only. There is nothing wrong with communicating with people in the language they speak."

He's described by close friends as charitable with his time and money, a person who usually stops and offers help when he sees someone on a street corner with a sign seeking work or food.

Close friend Tim Scott said Mr. O'Hare is trustworthy and trusting in the good nature of people, to the point that he makes his home and swimming pool available to his friends' families.

That home is up for sale. He says he hopes to move into a bigger place with a view, preferably of water.


His motivation

He has said the immigration issue is just part of an effort by the city – one that he has advocated – to clean up neighborhoods, attract builders to buy older, smaller properties and build sprawling, larger homes in their place, and lure new businesses to the city.

That, he said, is driven by a desire to protect the investment of homeowners by driving up home values.

That's led some to speculate that his efforts are largely with the intent of driving up the value of his home so he can turn a profit on it and move out of Farmers Branch, or that he must be benefiting financially from the new development.

Still others have said it's race-related.

He is adamant that he has no plans to move away from Farmers Branch, or that he is getting any financial gain out of the redevelopment efforts.

Elizabeth Villafranca, who along with her husband owns Cuquitas Restaurant in Farmers Branch, said Mr. O'Hare's claims about the impact of illegal immigrants and suggestions for doing things like making English the city's official language have hurt the city, not helped it.

"The damage he's done is going to take a lot of years to fix," she said.

His attitudes and suggestions also are non-Christian, she said.

"Everything he's doing and saying is showing the opposite," Ms. Villafranca said.

Mr. O'Hare vehemently denies he's trying to "cleanse" the city of Hispanics or that his suggestions regarding illegal immigrants are race-related.

"What drives me is I want to improve Farmers Branch because it's my hometown, it's where I live. ... Everyone is looking for some sinister motive or hidden agenda. I've got one agenda, and it's not hidden. I want to make Farmers Branch one of the nicest, if not the nicest, communities to live in the metroplex. Is that naive? Maybe. Is that altruistic? Maybe. But that's my sole agenda."



Who Is Tim O'Hare?


Age: 37

Born: July 21, 1969

Academic: Graduated, R.L. Turner High School; bachelor's degree in finance, University of Texas; law degree, Southern Methodist University

Career: Personal injury lawyer, founded Law Offices of Timothy O'Hare and Associates in 2001; elected to Farmers Branch City Council in 2005 without opposition; unsuccessfully ran for Farmers Branch City Council, 1999