State officials can't raise money during a legislative session, but they can solicit other kinds of support.In his continuing effort to show fellow Republicans that resistance is futile, Gov. Rick Perry announced a statewide steering committee for his 2006 reelection campaign that includes more than 450 people, including some named earlier as part of his state finance committee and another campaign effort announced earlier in the year. Perry is so far the only Republican who has announced he'll run. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn are openly considering gubernatorial campaigns. Independent Kinky Friedman announced he'll run, and Democrat Chris Bell of Houston formed a formal exploratory committee while he considers a run against Perry. Perry's list includes about half the members of the State Republican Executive Committee, the 62-member advisory board of the state GOP and seven of the nine non-judicial statewide elected officials; he didn't list himself, and Strayhorn's not on it. Elizabeth Ames Jones, the San Antonio Republican who left the Texas House to accept Perry's appointment to the Texas Railroad Commission, is on the list. She was sworn in two days after the list came out. The curious can download a copy of the list "five pages long, two columns wide -- by clicking here.

The fundraising dinner for the Sam Attlesey journalism scholarship at the University of Texas is sold out, and the organizers are trying to steer people to donating to the fund itself.The scholarships were created to memorialize Attlesey, the late political reporter for The Dallas Morning News. The fundraiser should bring the balance in that account to more than $160,000, and they're trying to push that into the $175,000 range. The scholarships are for journalism students who've shown strong interests in covering politics and public policy. There's more information online at this University of Texas at Austin website: http://communication.utexas.edu/support/scholarships/Attlesey.html.

Quirk, Jones, Pemberton, Jonas and a new lobster tankAfter four years, Ann Quirk is leaving Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn for greener-pastures-to-be-detailed-later. Strayhorn, who is considering a run against Gov. Rick Perry, will have to wrun those waters without one of the most experienced political hands in her shop. Quirk is well-known around the Pink Building and in Republican circles, having worked for several legislators and on a zillion campaigns, both in San Antonio, where she started, and statewide. Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, sworn in officially several days ago in a move that filled the RRC spot and formally ended her hold on her spot in the Texas House, has now been sworn in ceremonially. Gov. Rick Perry did the honors after former San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson did the invocation. ERCOT General Counsel Margaret Pemberton resigned but plans to stick around for a month to give the agency time to hire a replacement. She's been at the agency for eight years. James Jonas III has signed on with the San Antonio office of Holland & Knight, a dinky little law firm with 1,250 lawyers in 26 offices around the country. He left former congressman Tom Loeffler's firm last year (Jonas was a name partner there), saying he wanted to be closer to a family business founded by his later father-in-law. He'll work on regulatory and legislative issues in San Antonio, Austin and Washington, D.C. Three lobbyists with ties to the state's top three officeholders are joining up for some but not all of their clients. Walter Fisher, Bill Messer, and Mike Toomey are working together for the Texas Association of Realtors and SBC. Fisher's the former Senate parliamentarian, close to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. Messer is close to former House colleague turned Speaker Tom Craddick, and Toomey was Gov. Rick Perry's chief of staff until last year.