For those just tuning in, that would mean a Republican state comptroller running as an independent has one of the state's prominent Democratic consultants among her advisors.Aides to Carole Keeton Strayhorn aides say consultant George Shipley isn't on the payroll yet, but they expect him to be helping the campaign. Shipley has been an advisor to a long list of Democrats over the years, including Ann Richards, Bob Bullock, Dan Morales, Henry Cisneros and Judith Zaffirini. In recent years, he's been working with the five lawyers who won a huge settlement for the state from the tobacco industry.

Lamb moves, Blifford takes HAC, Robbins gets to keep the big desk, and some appointments get handed out.Caasi Lamb is moving from the House Appropriations Committee, where she was director, to Speaker Tom Craddick's office as a policy analyst for corrections, business and industry and government reform. Andrew Blifford will take over the House committee's budget staff. He's worked for Appropriations Chair Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, for the last three-and-a-half years, most recently as legislative director. Take the "interim" off the executive director title on Pat Sweeney Robbins' desk. The board of the Associated Republicans of Texas elected her to replace Norm Newton, who's held the job since 1975. Newbie state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, will get spots on the House Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Culture, Recreation and Tourism. House Speaker Tom Craddick assigned those after she was sworn in last week, and the assignments will hold until after the November elections, when committees are rebuilt. Alan Johnson, a Harlingen banker and a retired U.S. Army captain, will join the Veteran's Land Board. The appointment was Gov. Rick Perry's; the chairman of the VLB is Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson. Johnson is replacing the late Mike Ussery of Amarillo.
Three appointments and a reappointment to the Texas Board of Professional Land Surveying: Nedra Foster, president of Shine and Associates in Silsbee; Paul Kwan, president of Landtech Consultants in Houston; Anthony Trevino Jr., a Laredo attorney; and Douglas William Turner of League City, also with Landtech.

Railroad Commission Chair Elizabeth Ames Jones entered the final weekend with endorsements from every non-judicial statewide official except for Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn.An aide to Jones says they didn't ask for the comptroller's blessing. Strayhorn, the top vote getter of any GOP candidate four years ago, is running as an independent against Gov. Rick Perry, who appointed Jones to the RRC. Strayhorn wouldn't have endorsed Jones if she'd been asked, as it turns out. Doing so, in the view of Strayhorn's attorneys, would have put her independent candidacy at risk. Like the voters who sign their petitions, independent candidates disqualify themselves if they vote in primaries. But for the candidates, it goes further. Strayhorn's camp interprets the law to say she can't take part in any activities of a political party: endorsing their candidates, voting in their primaries, going to their functions, you name it. Jones did her a favor by not asking for her support.

Five senators and at least 17 House members will be in office for a special session this spring knowing they won't return for a regular session next January. Another three House members are in primary runoffs and will know on April 12th whether voters want them around after the end of the year.With the exceptions of two House members who hope to be in the Senate next year, those legislators will be voting as if their political futures don't depend on it. They've got nothing to lose, feeding speculation about the prospects for a tax bill and about the political stability of Speaker Tom Craddick, who's expected to seek another term in the House's top job when the Lege convenes next January. Five are leaving the upper chamber: Sens. Ken Armbrister, D-Victoria; Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin; Jon Lindsay, R-Houston; Frank Madla, D-San Antonio; and Todd Staples, R-Palestine. In the House, the Dead Members Walking include Reps. Roy Blake Jr., R-Nacogdoches; Carter Casteel, New Braunfels; Mary Denny, R-Aubrey; Bob Griggs, R-North Richland Hills; Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington; Peggy Hamric, R-Houston; Glenn Hegar Jr., R-Katy; Ruben Hope Jr., R-Conroe; Bob Hunter, R-Abilene; Suzanna Gratia Hupp, R-Lampasas; Jesse Jones, D-Dallas; Terry Keel, R-Austin; Pete Laney, D-Hale Center; Joe Nixon, R-Houston; Elvira Reyna, R-Mesquite; Jim Solis, D-Harlingen; Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio. Put asterisks next to Hegar and Uresti; they won primaries for Senate seats and might be back in bigger offices. A few House incumbents have runoff elections ahead of them and will find out next month whether they're dead or alive, politically speaking: Reps. Scott Campbell, R-San Angelo; Al Edwards, D-Houston; and Richard Raymond, D-Laredo. Three members will serve in the special session for the first time, getting their first bite at school finance: Kirk England, R-Grand Prairie; Ana Hernandez, D-Houston; and Donna Howard, D-Austin. All three won special elections to replace members who died or resigned. And then there's a group that won't be named until November: Members who will find out in the general election that they are currently serving their last term in the Legislature. But they'll be voting and behaving in a special session as if they're coming back; the free agents are the people who'll know during the special session that their days of political risk -- and perhaps, caution -- are behind them.

Legislators seeking higher offices got mixed results on Election Day.Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine, didn't have an opponent in the GOP primary for agriculture commissioner; he's okay so far. Rep. Terry Keel, an Austin Republican who was the only other lawmaker seeking statewide office, will be in a runoff against incumbent Judge Charles Holcomb for the GOP nomination to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Houston Republican Reps. Peggy Hamric and Joe Nixon finished second and third in a race for state Senate. Reps. Glenn Hegar Jr., R-Katy, and Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, won their primaries for state Senate and move to the next round. Uresti beat Sen. Frank Madla; Hegar was running for Ken Armbrister's spot since the Victoria Democrat didn't seek another term. Rep. Ruben Hope Jr., R-Conroe, decided he'd rather be a state district judge than serve a fifth term in the House. Now he's headed for a runoff. He got 32 percent of the vote in a six-person race for the 258th District Court. He'll face Cara Wood, who got 25 percent, on April 11. The last-place finisher in that field is a former House member: Keith Valigura.

Sen. Mario Gallegos released the following statement today: "I have been increasingly aware and concerned that I have a disease. I am an alcoholic.""Through this disease, I have injured my health and caused pain to my family. For the sake of those whom I represent in the Texas Legislature, my family, and for my own well-being, under the guidance of my physician I recently quit drinking and am currently enrolled in a one month residential treatment program to help get me on the right track toward a healthier lifestyle. "I am in contact with my legislative staff so that I may remain abreast of the issues and responsive to my constituents. I plan to continue my legislative duties and will devote my full energies to representing the people of the 6th Senatorial district as we move into an expected special session on public education funding. "I am proud to represent the people of my Senate district, and I want them to be proud of me. I ask for your support and prayers as I battle this disease."