Texas lawmakers have trapped local school districts between the costs of rising state education standards and a constitutional cap on property tax rates, removing local discretion over those taxes, according to the Texas Supreme Court.

That's unconstitutional, and the court gave lawmakers until June 1 to replace that rig with a legal one. Most bettors think that means a special session of the Legislature after the March primaries and after a group of business leaders makes some recommendations about tax reform, but throw in the usual caveat: Gov. Rick Perry is free to call lawmakers in whenever he wishes. 

The court saved lawmakers some heartburn, however, overturning sections of a lower court ruling that would have required the state to spend billions to raise the quality of education to an "adequate" level. The justices ruled that while there are serious problems with the performance of the state's public school system, those problems haven't reached the point of being unconstitutional. A lower court had said the state wasn't providing an adequate level of education to students and that the gap between rich and poor district had grown too great. And two economic studies presented in trial court put the costs of adequacy at up to $6 billion.

The justices ruled with the state and against the school districts on that question of adequacy, but they didn't do so out of any apparent admiration for the school finance system in Texas. In constitutional terms, part of the state's school finance system is rotten and part of it isn't rotten yet. It's like watching a hungry college student foraging through the refrigerator: Some foods are clearly past tense, and some are not yet foul. The local school property tax is, in the eyes of the court, effectively set by the state. That's unconstitutional, or clearly foul. The adequacy of the system is not unconstitutional, though it's got problems. The way Justice Nathan Hecht wrote it in the majority opinion:

"There is substantial evidence, which again the district court credited, that the public education system has reached the point where continued improvement will not be possible absent significant change, whether that change take the form of increased funding, improved efficiencies, or better methods of education," he wrote. "Former Lieutenant Governor Ratliff, the author and principal sponsor of Senate Bill 7 in 1993, echoed the considered judgments of other witnesses at trial when he testified: 'I am convinced that, just by my knowledge of the overall situation in Texas, school districts are virtually at the end of their resources, and to continue to raise the standards... is reaching a situation where we're asking people to make bricks without straw.' But an impending constitutional violation is not an existing one, and it remains to be seen whether the system's predicted drift toward constitutional inadequacy will be avoided by legislative reaction to widespread calls for changes."

Justice Scott Brister dissented, and Justice Don Willett recused himself, since before joining the case he had worked on the state's defense as a lawyer in the attorney general's office. In his dissent, Brister said the school districts didn't prove they had no leeway in setting their tax rates and said they should have had to prove they were operating efficiently. He made a plea for competition — though the issue hadn't been raised by lawyers on either side — suggesting that might be a way to make sure the schools were giving every penny a full workout.

"Today, we know that one thing above all else makes service providers efficient: competition," he wrote. "Even formerly communist countries recognize how efficiency is produced — not by protectionism, not by higher taxes, and not by state control, but by freedom for competition. Yet the school districts that brought this case never once suggested in six-weeks' evidence that competition might make the Texas school system more efficient. No one considered fundamental reforms that efficiency might demand."

The court said 48 percent of the state's school districts were at th4 $1.50 rate and that 67 percent of the districts were either there or within a nickel of it. Those districts educate 81 percent of the state's public school kids. They contrasted those numbers with 1994, the base year used the last time the court ruled on a major school finance case. Then, only 6 percent of the districts were within a nickel of the cap, and 89 percent had rates below $1.40.

The decision leaves lawmakers with three lines of attack on school finance. They could raise the cap on local property taxes, giving school districts some headroom and risking the ire of voters/taxpayers. Option number two would be to ease back on state educational requirements that the school districts say are pushing up their costs and forcing them to tax at the top rate. That would likely be seen as a vote to weaken public education. Option number three is to shift the costs from the local property tax to the state. Even if the overall amount being spent on the schools remained the same, the local districts would be able to lower their share of the costs and reinstate their "discretion" over tax rates.

That would solve the legal problem, and that's where the state government appears to be going. Gov. Rick Perry has a 24-member committee of business people looking at the tax system and how to wring more money out of state taxpayers while lowering the burden on local taxpayers. And Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick are set to announce a panel of legislators that will figure out how to change school finance to the courts' liking. 

Copies of the opinion and of the dissent are available in the files section of our website.

A Little Something for Everyone

Though they lost the case, state officials were relieved to lose where they did and win where they did. Education groups were disappointed; they won on almost all their arguments in district court, only to have most of that stripped away by the Texas Supreme Court.

Attorney General Greg Abbott waited until the second-to-last paragraph of his written statement to mention that the state lost. "However, the Court did find that our current 'Robin Hood' tax system violates the tax provision of Article VIII. The Court gave the Legislature until June 1 of next year to correct the system." Abbott said the court's decision leaves education policymaking in legislative hands. Other state leaders, like Gov. Rick Perry, say the decision means the state doesn't have to "pour money into education" to satisfy its constitutional responsibilities.

The court discarded the state's contention that the courts don't have a say in the adequacy of the schools, but ruled that the schools aren't unconstitutionally short of that mark. On that issue and on equity, the state's arguments prevailed. If nothing else, that lowered the price tag on the court's opinion considerably. Economists who testified at the lower court trial estimated it would cost as much as $6.1 billion (and as little as $563 million) to bring students up to passing rates of just 55 percent. Had the high court agreed with District Judge John Dietz, the Legislature would be staring at numbers like those.

The districts that sued the state hoped for more from the court on adequacy of the schools and on the gaps between richer and poorer in the state system. They took some solace in the court's finding that the system — while not unconstitutional — is "drifting" that way. Don't be surprised to see a lawsuit within a few months on the equity of funding for school facilities. Some lawyers see enough room in the court's latest opinion for a successful suit on those grounds (the court said lawyers hadn't linked facilities funding to education measures; coming back and doing so now could open that window for school districts that need or want to build).

Lawyers for the districts say the court's ruling establishes a link between the state's standards for school districts and students and its responsibilities to them. "If we're going to have high standards for all state children, then the state needs to pay for it," said J. David Thompson, who represented some of the districts in the case. "Money has to be part of the equation." Another attorney, Randall "Buck" Wood, says the state missed a bullet: "They said 'we're letting you go this time on adequacy, but you'd better fix it."

Wait Until Next Year? 

U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay didn't get the fast ride out of Austin he was looking for. State District Judge Pat Priest told DeLay and his lawyers and the lawyers for the state that he wants them to file more legal briefs and that it might be a couple of weeks before he decides whether the charges against the Sugar Land Republican are valid. If they are, a trial on venue would still be in the wings, along with DeLay's attack on the way the prosecutors wheedled the former majority leader's indictment out of grand jurors.

That could easily push a trial into next year, possibly eroding DeLay's power and reducing his chances of moving back into the offices of the Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. Whatever the outcome of a trial, waiting is bad for the Texas congressman. He can't hold the leadership post while indicted, and ambitious people are keeping his seat warm for him. That won't last forever, and there's been some talk in Washington, D.C., about holding leadership elections early next year.

Priest let the lawyers argue over the validity of the charges for half a day and then said he wouldn't immediately rule on DeLay's request to throw out the indictments. Lawyers for the Republican's co-defendants — Jim Ellis of Washington, D.C., and John Colyandro of Austin — were on hand to make similar pleas.

DeLay's lawyers say Austin prosecutors have indicted him for breaking laws that weren't in place during the time when he allegedly broke them. They say he's accused of laundering corporate money for Texas legislative candidates but say those candidates never got any corporate money. And they say conspiracy charges against him don't apply because he didn't conspire and no crime was committed.

Travis County prosecutors got a grand jury to indict the three men, in part, on charges of raising money from corporations, sending it through the Republican National Committee, and getting the RNC to send the same amount of money to seven candidates who were running for Texas House spots in 2004. Corporate money can't be used in Texas state campaigns, and prosecutors say the dollar-for-dollar swap amounted to illegal money laundering.

Lawyers for the defendants say such swaps were commonplace under the laws that were then in effect. And they said that no corporate money landed in any campaigns; money from corporations went to the RNC, and money from individuals — legal in Texas campaigns — came back. One more thing: They said laws against money laundering at that time applied only to coin and paper money and not to checks or wire transfers. The indictments include a photocopy of a check for $190,000 to an affiliate of the RNC as part of the evidence of money laundering. Since it's a check, the defense lawyers say, it couldn't have been money laundering under the laws then in effect. 

Charted Territory 

A day before the judges started throwing lightning bolts, a gaggle of business people assembled by Gov. Rick Perry started a cram course on state tax policy. 

They'll spend the next few months trying to reengineer the state's taxes, with at least two things in mind. One, make business taxes fairer and bring the tax system in line with the modern state economy. And two, raise enough money to lower property taxes, making property owners happy while bringing in enough money pay for those cuts and to keep the public school finance system out of court for a while.

The first steps are familiar to anyone who watched George W. Bush try to revise the tax system, or Ann Richards, or Bill Clements. The state averages a blue ribbon committee on taxes every five or six years. Bush's effort went through a legislative committee; the earlier forensic teams were made up of business people and legislators. Each of those efforts helped officeholders work their way out of some budget jams; none found a long-term solution that fits the modern Texas economy.

Like their predecessors, Perry's task force started with the rundown on the current tax system and what works and doesn't, along with a quick history of the school finance train wreck that lumbered through the last several gatherings of the Texas Legislature. Lots of it is available in the files section of our website. Economist Ray Perryman, and Karey Barton and James LeBas, the tax and revenue wizards on the task force staff, zipped through Texas Taxes 101. Some tidbits:

• Conventional wisdom is that one in six businesses in Texas pays the state's corporate franchise tax, but that's actually the number that file returns. Only one in 16 actually pays the tax.

• Local and state taxes brought in $65.2 billion in the 2005 fiscal year. The breakdown: property taxes, 30.9 billion (including $16.7 billion for public schools); state sales tax, $16.3 billion; local sales tax, $4.5 billion; motor fuel, $2.9 billion; vehicle sales and rental taxes, $2.8 billion; oil & gas production taxes, $2.3 billion; corporate franchise tax, $2.2 billion. No other single tax produces more than $1.2 billion.

Perry started the meeting, telling the group he wants any new tax to have five attributes: It has to be fair, broad-based, modern to match the state's economy, understandable, and competitive against other state systems. Later on, one of the panel members got a laugh by asking the tax wizards in the room whether any such thing exists.

They pressed the policy folks on whether it's possible to bring partnerships and proprietorships into the business tax without triggering state constitutional provisions against personal income taxes (those taxes are legal in Texas, but only after a public referendum and only if the funds are dedicated to education).

John Sharp, the former comptroller who's chairing the thing, reminded everyone about Perry's stand against income taxes, and reiterated his view that nothing would happen without a ruling from the Texas Supreme Court forcing the Legislature to act (He got that the next day). This turns into a road show next month. Sharp told the group there will be public hearings before year's end in Corpus Christi, Temple, Waco, and Victoria. 

Murdock's Crystal Ball 

The committee got a look at the state's immediate demographic future from Steve Murdock, an academic at UT San Antonio who's also the state's official demographer. His stuff (which you can find online at www.txsdc.utsa.edu/presentations by clicking the links next to "Governor's Select Tax Committee"), is full of numbers and charts and could even make your head hurt, but it's interesting both in terms of economic policy and in terms of school finance. It's the kind of stuff you get from doctors who are telling you to watch your health now so you won't be a miserable 70-year-old, or the financial advisers who tell you to save a little bit here and a little there when you're young, so you won't be a miserable 70-year-old.  

Murdock's work was obviously an influence on the judge who initially declared the state's current school finance system unconstitutional, and he reprised some of that for the tax panel, sliding from population growth and makeup to educational achievement to future household incomes if things change and if they don't. To wit:

• Numerically, Texas is second only to California in growth and should continue to be.

• While that's going on, 103 of the state's 254 counties are losing population.

• Anglos, a group that already makes up less than half the population in Texas, are also making up a smaller part of the state's growth. From 1990 to 2000, Texas added 2.3 million Hispanics, 783,036 Anglos, 445,293 Blacks, and 307,000 "Other", a group that includes Asians and Native Americans. In percentage terms, that last group grew by 81 percent in that decade; the Hispanic population grew 53.7 percent, Blacks were up 22.5 percent, and the Anglo numbers grew 7.6 percent.

• Hispanics will outnumber Anglos in Texas by 2020, by one estimate, and will make up more than half the state's population ten years later.

• A freeze-frame in 2000 of Texans at least 25 years old showed almost 50 percent of Asians had at least one college degree; more than 50 percent of Hispanic adults in the state had stopped short of a high school diploma.

• The median household income for Texas Anglos in 1999 was $47,162; for Blacks, $29,305; for Hispanics, $29,873; for Asians, $50,049. At that point, Texas was below the national average in both median household income (for all groups), ranked 30th among the states, and in per capita income, where Texas ranked 33rd. Given current trends, the overall household income in the state will drop steadily through 2040, while the number of households in poverty will increase for every subgroup: family households, single parent of either sex, etc.

• Texas is slipping steadily in rankings of percentages of adults with high school diplomas, ranking 45th among the states in 2000; and in rankings of those with college degrees, where Texas came in 27th. Both standings were below the national average. 

Political People and Their Moves 

Sherry Boyles, who considered running for state Democratic Party chairman a couple of years ago, plans to run for the job in June. Current Chairman Charles Soechting won't seek reelection. Boyles is in, as are Boyd Ritchie, an attorney in Graham, and Charlie Urbina Jones, a San Antonio attorney. Boyles, also an attorney, is a former statewide candidate (she lost a Railroad Commission race to Michael Williams in 2002) and a co-founder of Annie's List, a Democratic fundraising group.

• Mel Hailey, a former public school teacher who now heads the political science department at Abilene Christian University, is joining the race to replace Rep. Bob Hunter, R-Abilene, in HD-71. Hailey is a Democrat. Hunter isn't seeking reelection, and the field is growing. Republicans looking hard at the race include Rob Beckham, Kevin Christian, Celia Davis, and Susan King. Beckham lost a close congressional race to Charlie Stenholm in 2002 and is a former member of the Abilene city council. Christian was Hunter's chief of staff and has lately been pushing to name an elementary school after his former boss. Davis works in economic development and with military bases and issues in particular. And King was the president of the Abilene school board.

• Van Wilson, a developer and a Republican, will run against Rep. Delwin Jones, R-Lubbock, in HD-83. That's getting busy: Frank Morrison, a former Lubbock city councilman, is also getting into that race.

• Gov. Rick Perry picked up a couple more endorsements, this time from the Texas Medical Association's political action committee and from the Texas Aggregate and Concrete Association.  

• Nicholas Taylor, a Midland attorney and oil and gas exec, will replace lobbyist and former Rep. Ralph Wayne on the Texas Ethics Commission. House Speaker Tom Craddick picked Taylor; he's a former member of the State Securities Board and of the Texas Judicial Council.

• Gail Dalrymple, a lawyer with Clark, Thomas & Winters in Austin, is joining the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. Eduardo Rodriguez, president of the State Bar of Texas, appointed her.

• Jeff Clark was reappointed to another two years on the U.S. Small Business Administration's National Advisory Council. Clark, the former executive director of the National Federation of Business' Texas office, runs a consulting and financial services business. 

Quotes of the Week 

Former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, telling the Washington Post his presidential campaign didn't buy an endorsement from then-Gov. George Ryan of Illinois: "It's a difference between love and prostitution. It's the same in ordinary life. You don't pay people to be your friends."

Republican gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn, telling the San Antonio Express-News why she's been so quiet of late: "The Capitol press corps... (and) people in general are going to focus on this after the holidays. And frankly, everything I'm doing is gearing up to that."

Rice University political scientist Bob Stein, in the San Antonio Express-News, on the Perry-Strayhorn match-up: "Strayhorn would look like a very decent candidate if she were running against him in an all-comers race. This isn't an all-comers race. She's not right of Genghis Khan. Nor are most Republicans. But most Republicans don't vote in the primary."

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, quoted in the Austin American-Statesman after U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, her opponent, appeared in a parade honoring Hutchison and other former University of Texas cheerleaders: "She's running the fluffiest race you can imagine."

James LeBas, director of financial analysis for the governor's task force on taxes, on the current tax structure: "We're not growing out of a problem. We're growing our way into it. The more we grow, the worse it gets."

Economist Ray Perryman, talking about the politics around personal income taxes: "It's often said that it's a religious issue and not an economic issue in Texas."

Judge Pat Priest, giving reporters his home office phone number and asking them not to abuse it: "I do not have a staff. My wife does not have a staff. Nobody else lives there." And later, speaking to the spectators in his courtroom during a break in procedural arguments in Tom DeLay's campaign finance case: ""It's going to be like this all day. If you came here expecting to be entertained, it's just not going to happen." 

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Texas Weekly: Volume 22, Issue 24, 28 November 2005. Ross Ramsey, Editor. George Phenix, Publisher. Copyright 2005 by Printing Production Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. One-year online subscription: $250. For information about your subscription, call (800) 611-4980 or email info@texasweekly.com. For news, email ramsey@texasweekly.com, or call (512) 288-6598.

House Speaker Tom Craddick won't appoint any House members to a joint committee to work on school finance and education issues, though he and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst had previously agreed on the number and even the names of legislators who would be on it. Aides to both men were ready to announce the joint panel -- with seven members from each side -- as soon as the Texas Supreme Court announced a decision in the school finance case. That decision landed on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, but the committee never was unveiled. And in a written statement, Craddick says he's now against the idea: "I have spoken to Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, and I do not think it is necessary to appoint a Joint Select Committee on Public Education. Governor Perry appointed his Texas Tax Reform Commission, to which each of us contributed nominations for appointees. That committee is made up of a diverse group of individuals, and we need to support that group in coming up with different funding mechanisms for public school finance. I look forward to then working with the Lt. Governor and the Senate on developing a consensus plan that responds to the Supreme Court's ruling." When they were talking about a legislative committee, legislative leaders were working with the idea that the Sharp panel would make recommendations but wouldn't be able to vote on anything. Dewhurst, stung by Perry's appointment of the Democrat Dewhurst beat in 2002, wanted to put his imprint on the issue, and lawmakers might want to add their own stuff -- particularly in the realm of education reforms. From the East end of the Capitol, Craddick's decision looks like a second slap. They might also be better off working out their plans before the start of a special session. The task force formed by Perry doesn't have any lawmakers on it. As it stands, lawmakers will get to work on the issues at the start of a special session sometime between now and the Supreme Court's June 1 deadline. 

Senior Judge Pat Priest, the Man in Black in U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's trial on campaign finance charges, plans to rule by December 6 on DeLay's request to drop the charges against him. Lawyers have to have briefs in the judge's hands this week. If the case goes ahead, DeLay is still pressing a change of venue to get the trial moved out of Austin and also has filed papers contending prosecutors abused the grand jury process to get the former House Majority Leader indicted. Priest has already said he doubts DeLay could get to trial before the end of the year. The congressman wants to put the matter to rest before Congress reconvenes and possibly elects new leaders. He's not eligible for a top post while under indictment. 

In which we patch bogus information on property taxes and our muddy explanation of Texans' lagging educational attainment levels. In some editions last week, we said changing the property tax cap would require a constitutional amendment. It would not require an amendment or a public vote; the Legislature can change that $1.50 cap as it wishes and without voter approval. Sorry, sorry, sorry. We offered up a muddy explanation of some education stats last week, so we'll attempt a clarification. In his testimony to the governor's task force on taxes, Steve Murdock, the state's demographer, offered some numbers showing Texas behind other states and the national average in both high school diplomas and college degrees. The details: In the year 2000, 75.7 percent of Texas adults (age 25 and up) had high school degrees. That was a lower percentage than 44 other states, and lower than the national percentage of 80.4 percent. Likewise, 23.2 percent of those same Texas adults had college degrees, lower than the national rate -- 24.4 percent -- and the rates of 26 other states. Murdock was clear, and we weren't. Sorry for any confusion we ignited. 

Austin will have a special election to replace Rep. Todd Baxter in HD-48 before a special session on school finance. Gov. Rick Perry called that election for January 17.A runoff, if one takes place, would take place in February. Baxter, a Republican, quit at the beginning of November and took a job as a cable TV lobbyist. Ben Bentzin is the only Republican who's said out loud that he wants the job. Four Democrats are looking at it: Andy Brown, Donna Howard, Kathy Rider, and Kelly White. Bentzin lost a Senate race against Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, four years ago. White lost to Baxter by a few dozen votes two years ago. The Democrats have had conversations -- without resolution, apparently -- about going into a special election with just one candidate instead of four. And no matter who wins in January, the candidates who want a full term in the job will be on the ballot for party primaries in March and the general election in November. The special election winner could have an edge, and will get to vote in a special session on school finance. In his announcement of the special election, Perry cited the pending special session and the June 1 deadline set by the Supreme Court for a remedy to what they called a unconstitutional statewide property tax. Since Baxter announced, Democrats have been grousing about Perry's slow hand replacing the late Rep. Joe Moreno, D-Houston, who was killed last spring in a truck accident. The special election to replace him was set for Election Day in November (a runoff will be held in a couple of weeks), well after two special sessions on school finance. With several close votes on various school finance provisions, that empty seat arguably threw a real advantage to Republican House leaders. With the shoe on the other foot, they complain, Perry is moving quickly to try to replace Baxter's lost Republican vote. One other difference between the two situations is the court's firm June 1 deadline, but school finance has been sufficiently troubled to prompt Perry to call three special sessions without any word from the Supremes. Early voting is now underway (as of November 30) in that Houston runoff to replace Moreno in the Legislature. Election Day is Saturday, December 10. Ana Hernandez and Laura Salinas finished first and second, respectively, in a six-candidate field. The four losers in the first round endorsed Salinas, who has the backing of some former legislators in Houston; Hernandez is backed by Moreno's family and several current legislators. Both Democrats are running with significant contributions from normally conservative financiers, like Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and Texans for Lawsuit Reform. And the winner will have to defend the seat in normal elections next year.

To steal a line from former House Speaker Gib Lewis, it's time to chirp or get off the perch: Candidates for state office in 2006 can start filing on Saturday, December 3, and must file by the end of the day on Monday, January 2, to be on the March ballot. Unless something pops, 2006 will be a relatively calm election year in Texas. Of the 215 people elected to legislative jobs in Texas (we're including the 34 feds), only 17 definitely won't be back, and a bunch have their fingers crossed, hoping they'll run unopposed next year.None of the 32 members of the state's congressional delegation have indicated anything other than reelection bids. And only three challenges -- at this point -- have the makings of potentially serious contests (U.S. Reps. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land; Chet Edwards, D-Waco; and Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo). Cuellar's in a primary fight, but the other two have 11 months left before voters put an end to the suspense. The Texas Senate has three open seats out of 31 and possibly one more -- depending on the unannounced reelection plans of Sen. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria. Sens. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin; Jon Lindsay, R-Houston; and Todd Staples, R-Palestine, won't seek reelection. Lindsay, Staples, and Armbrister are all committee chairs. Armbrister's HD-18 could flip to the GOP; lightning could strike, but each of the other three will probably remain with the party that's got it now.
The House should have 20 to 30 interesting races, but only has 14 empty seats out of 150 (put an asterisk there -- you'll see more dropouts as candidates actually file for reelection). At this writing, the list of departed and departing House members includes Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie; Todd Baxter, R-Austin; Mary Denny, R-Aubrey; Bob Griggs, R-North Richland Hills; Peggy Hamric, R-Houston; Ruben Hope Jr., R-Conroe; Bob Hunter, R-Abilene; Suzanna Gratia Hupp, R-Lampasas; Terry Keel, R-Austin; Joe Moreno, D-Houston (deceased); Joe Nixon, R-Houston; Richard Raymond, D-Laredo; Jim Solis, D-Harlingen; Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio. Half of those -- Allen, Denny, Hamric, Hupp, Keel, Nixon, and Uresti -- are committee chairmen.

Kinky Friedman has to have almost 50,000 signatures to get on the ballot as an independent candidate for governor next year. His campaign folks are aiming higher, hoping to get two or four times that many -- 100,000 to 200,000 signatures -- to show outsiders how serious they are.And while state law seriously restricts anybody's ability to get on the ballot without a party affiliation, organizers hope Friedman's outsider cachet and the cheap community-building power of the Internet will raise their chances. Friedman supporters aren't allowed to sign up until after the March primaries. The campaign has 60 days to collect those signatures. Each signature has to come from a registered voter, and anyone who votes in any party primary or runoff next year is disqualified as a valid petitioner. The people who collect the petitions have to swear that they witnessed the signings, that they read a brief legal statement to the signers, and that they minded all of the state's other rules for petition-driven campaigns. The last independent candidate to win the Texas governorship was Sam Houston. Nobody in recent memory has cleared the hurdles for the state ballot, though Ross Perot got on the presidential ballot by presenting box loads of petitions in 1992. Without the Internet, the campaign would have to rely on door-knocking and person-to-person contacts. With the Internet, they can snag people who visit their website, asking whether they'd like to volunteer or help or just sign up for more campaign information. Some of the people caught in that net then organize local groups, regional groups and so on. Dean Barkley, the campaign manager, and Reid Nelson, the field director, say they've signed up enough people to build organizations in 50 to 60 Texas counties. They ask them to take a pledge: "I pledge that I will save myself for Kinky and will vote in neither the Republican nor the Democratic primaries in 2006. Instead I will save myself and when the day comes to sign the petition to put Kinky Friedman on the ballot as a candidate for Texas Governor, I will do so proudly." And they ask them to download a "collection kit" that lets volunteers sign up friends and mail their names into the campaign. They're trying to recreate what a healthy political party already has in place -- a network of people who'll do the grunt work of a campaign. In this case, they're building a network that will produce all of those signatures, either with volunteers and paid coordinators who'll handle the supervising and collecting of signatures, or by assembling the lists of people who'll actually sign their names. In effect, they're assembling the names and contact information about their voters before they have to go out and actually collect signatures. Nelson says they should know even before the primaries whether they'll be able to pull it off. For the most part, the network isn't a critical part of the campaign's fundraising. The local groups can hold fundraisers, but that's done out of Austin, for the most part, and the organization is mainly set up to collect the needed signatures and generate enthusiasm. The effort is invisible if you're not looking for it, and there are some holes in the network -- Amarillo and Laredo, for instance, have been slow to join up. But they have the rest of the big counties and among those, some real hot spots like central Texas and the Hill Country. This is familiar ground to anyone who has worked with volunteers; what's different is that the volunteer group isn't already in place. As it grows, the idea is that the new organization will maintain itself, contacting volunteers and signers, sending pre-primary reminders not to vote, reminding them not to vote in the primaries. When the primary elections are over, they'll start signing the actual petitions through the regional and local and small group leaders they've already contacted. Their deadline is in May. At that point, the election people at the Texas Secretary of State figure out whether Friedman has enough legitimate signatures to get on the ballot.

Staff lawyers at the U.S. Department of Justice thought the congressional redistricting plan approved by Texas lawmakers in 2003 was unconstitutional, but were overruled by their bosses. The Washington Post got hold of the memo.Washington Post: Justice Staff Saw Texas Districting As Illegal/Voting Rights Finding On Map Pushed By DeLay Was Overruled. A copy of the memo is available in our Files section, by clicking here. The U.S. Supreme Court is still considering whether to hear the challenge to the plans which, after being approved by DOJ, were approved by a panel of three federal judges. In their memo, staff attorneys in the agency's voting rights section said the Texas plan dilutes minority voting strength. Those lawyers unanimously recommended rejection. Their superiors overruled them and that position -- that the maps were legal after all -- has so far held up in court. In the meantime, those Texas maps produced a gain of five Republican seats in the delegation and swung the partisan balance of the Texas crew in Washington to the GOP. Those five seats gained in Texas were the only five seats the GOP gained in Congress in the 2004 elections.

Former House Speaker Pete Laney, D-Hale Center, won't seek reelection next year.Laney, first elected to the Texas House in 1972, was elected Speaker in 1993 and served for five terms. He was knocked off in 2003, after Republicans won a majority of seats in the House in the 2002 elections and raised Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, into the top office. Laney has been a thorn in Craddick's side and a daily reminder to veteran legislators of the differences between the current administration and the old one (which administration they preferred varies by member). He's also served as the focal point for conspiracy theorists on the Republican side, who credit him for many of the trip-ups engineered by House Democrats. Other Democrats, meanwhile, have been stuck in Laney's shadow. Because he's still in office and because the Republicans presume he wants his old job back, a lot of partisan activity by Democrats has been dismissed as an effort to resurrect Laney. His departure also changes the game for moderates in the GOP, some of whom have grown accustomed to being labeled as Laney supporters. With him out of the House, their quiet conversations about Craddick successors can focus on new blood. Laney took over the House after one of its periodic forays into legal trouble, and he was the first House Speaker in years to serve more than a term or two without scandal. He was elected with the class of Texas politicos who rode the Sharpstown Scandal into office in 1972, an episode that brought down then-Speaker Gus Mutscher and others. Billy Clayton was acquitted on charges of taking a bribe in 1980; he survived another term but gave way to Gib Lewis. And Lewis survived ethics misdemeanor fines early in his tenure only to have another round of ethics troubles sink him in the early 1990s. Laney followed him into office pushing ethics reforms and open access to what had become a very secretive legislative process, and served five terms (only he and Lewis have lasted that long in the high chair) before Craddick upended him in 2003. Laney changed the legislative process by rearranging the House's session calendar to wind business down in the last six weeks rather than let everything go to midnight on the last day. That change forced the Senate to change its approach and remade the legislative process. And he was the last in a string of Democrats at the top of state government who -- because of circumstances or personalities -- had to work with Republicans to get their work done. Laney and then-Gov. George W. Bush and then-Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock had a famous working relationship, partly because they actually got along, and partly because none could get anything done without the help of the other two. Only two members -- Craddick and Paul Moreno, D-El Paso -- have been in the House longer than Laney. And only one other member of the huge reform class of '73 -- Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston -- is still in the House. Laney's House district might be the most Republican landscape in the state that's still got a Democratic incumbent. Laney, who remains popular there, got 59 percent of the vote in last year's general election while every other Democrat on the ballot was getting creamed in HD-85. Bush got 76 percent of the vote, and the average Democrat running statewide got just 41 percent of the vote there. Only one Republican has filed for the seat -- insurance agent Jim Landtroop of Plainview -- but if Laney's out, it could get busy quickly. In his retirement announcement, Laney encouraged potential candidates to run for the job, and said, "the people of this district have an expectation of bipartisanship."

Rep. Mary Denny, R-Aubrey, announced she won't run for reelection next year, but will serve out her current term.  Denny chairs the House Elections Committee and has been a member since 1993. She was chairman of Denton County's Republican Party before that. In a written statement, Denny said she is concerned about her husband's health and wants to spend more time with him.
  Two Republicans were already planning to run, even with Denny in the race. Ricky Grunden, who lives in Krum and works in Denton as a financial adviser, hasn't run for office before. Anne Lakusta of Flower Mound is a former member of the Lewisville ISD board. No Democrats have surfaced yet. 

Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, sent a letter to Bill Ceverha (and to the press and others) asking the former legislator and lobbyist to resign from his position at the Employee Retirement System of Texas. Ceverha, the former treasurer for Texans for a Republican Majority, lost a civil suit stemming from TRMPAC's activities in the 2004 election and cited the judgments against him when he declared personal bankruptcy a few weeks ago. Gallego, in his letter, says Ceverha ought to quit the pension board in light of his own financial problems, among other things. Ceverha called the letter "silly" and said he and the other members of the ERS board don't make investment decisions. He was confirmed by the Texas Senate with votes from senators of both political parties, he said, pointing out that the vote came after the civil trial on TRMPAC. Ceverha said he owed some $850,000 in legal and court fees, and that combined with pending litigation on related issues pushed him to seek bankruptcy protection. He called Gallego a "highly partisan individual" and said "he's hanging more of my laundry out in public," but he said he has no intention of resigning. And he reiterated that his personal finances have no bearing on the state gig. "We don't make investment decisions, and it's silly to think that we do," he said. Gallego's letter, in full: November 28, 2005

Mr. Bill Ceverha, Board Member
Employees Retirement System of Texas
18th and Brazos Streets
P. O. Box 13207
Austin, Texas 78711-3207 Dear Mr. Ceverha: I write to ask that you immediately resign your position as a board member for the Employees Retirement System of Texas. This would be in the best interests of all current and retired state of Texas employees. As a trustee of the Employees Retirement System, you have fiduciary responsibility for the management of a $19.9 billion portfolio. Yet, you have now declared personal bankruptcy. It is unreasonable to ask Texans to trust their financial futures to a man who has shown himself unable to manage his own fiscal affairs - and admitted it in a court proceeding. Your credibility as a board member has been irreparably damaged. You have squandered the confidence of both current and retired state employees. After all, how can these employees be confident that you will protect their retirement and health benefits when you have proven to be ineffective and incompetent in governing your own personal finances? There are more than 64,000 retired state employees and more than 132,000 active state employees participating in the Employee Retirement System of Texas. A number of these Texans reside in the district I represent. As a fiduciary for all of these individuals, you would best do your duty by resigning your position. In addition to the fact that you have declared personal bankruptcy, I note also that you served as treasurer for an organization under criminal indictment. As the treasurer of Tom DeLay's political action committee (TRMPAC), you were responsible for many of the activities found by a Travis County Grand Jury to violate state law. Again, how can Texans rest assured that you will protect their health care and retirement funds when you have shown such blatant disregard for the law? Finally, a state district judge ruled in a civil case that you violated Texas' campaign finance and elections laws while acting as the treasurer for Mr. DeLay's indicted political action committee (TRMPAC). The judge issued a $196,000 judgment against you; the first judgment against any single individual regarding the same allegations that resulted in the criminal indictments of Tom DeLay, three of his top lieutenants, his political action committee (TRMPAC), and the Texas Association of Business. Felony indictments against an organization in whose governance you participated. A personal judgment for violating state law taken against you in an amount nine times the average income of most Texans. A personal bankruptcy. These are not the mistakes of youth. And, though one mistake might be overlooked, three strikes always makes an out. Texas asks its public servants to lead by example. Clearly, this behavior is not the type Texas seeks. Your behavior makes it impossible for you to continue in the fiduciary governance of a $19.9 billion portfolio. I ask that you put Texas' interests ahead of your own and resign your position as a trustee of the Employees Retirement System of Texas. Sincerely, Pete P. Gallego 

Rep. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, will give up his House seat to challenge Sen. Frank Madla of San Antonio in the March Democratic primary.Uresti has been openly considering such a race for weeks. He plans to concentrate on two of Madla's votes -- one in favor of a health and human services consolidation that downsized Childrens' Health Insurance and other programs, and one in favor of a tax bill during this year's school finance battles that Uresti and many other Democrats said was easy on the wealthy and hard on the poor. Uresti has been a legislator since 1997. Madla took a seat in the House in 1973 and joined the Senate in 1993. Uresti has a big fundraiser/party every year at a VFW hall in his district and plans to make the formal announcement there. He says he's hired Democratic political consultant Kelly Fero of Austin to run the race. Uresti did some polling before making up his mind and says he and the incumbent are within five percentage points in San Antonio and that the numbers get better when voters are "educated" about things like those two votes. HD-19 could be a hot pocket in a relatively calm political year. Most statewide races are -- at the moment -- uncontested. And most legislative and congressional seats in Texas, thanks to the twin obstacles of incumbency and redistricting, aren't competitive. But with a Senate race, a House contest to replace Uresti, and a three-way race in CD-28, voters might have a lot of people banging on their doors. We don't have names yet for the Uresti race -- they'll surface when he's official. In that other contest, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, is being challenged by former U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, and state Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo. Those three districts share big chunks of Bexar County.

Austin political consultant John Colyandro is off the hook in a federal civil case stemming from the 2002 elections.Democrats Kirk Watson and Mike Head sued Colyandro and the Law Enforcement Alliance of America for allegedly funneling corporate money into the campaign chests of their Republican opponents. But U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel released Colyandro from the suit saying he found "no actionable or unlawful conduct." LEAA is still in it, though. Watson, who ran for attorney general against Greg Abbott, and Head, who ran for a Texas House seat, contend the LEAA worked on behalf of their opponents without disclosing the identities of donors, and that the group used corporate money illegally in that effort.

Walker, Harle, Ward, Baril, and ToddBrian Keith Walker, a Republican attorney from Panola County who used to be an assistant sergeant-at-arms in the Texas Senate, is running for the Texas House seat currently occupied by Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville. Walker will have to win a primary first: Mike Alberts, who lost narrowly to Hopson in 2004, has already declared. Judge Sid Harle of San Antonio is joining the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. He was appointed to that judge-judging panel by the Texas Supreme Court. Kathy Ward, a former high school teacher who had been vice chair of the Collin County GOP, is the new chairman. Rick Neudorff resigned to run for Collin County Judge. James Baril is leaving government -- he's an aide to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn -- for the Texas office of Fleishman Hillard. Saved by a helmet, and recovering: Former Austin Mayor Bruce Todd, who went over the handlebars of his bike on a rural road during the Thanksgiving break.