Tan Parker picks up two endorsements.Bill Lawrence, who finished fourth in the GOP primary in HD-63, endorsed Tan Parker, who's in a runoff for that spot against Anne Lakusta. Both candidates are from Flower Mound. Rep. Mary Denny, R-Aubrey, didn't seek reelection. Parker finished first -- by 79 votes -- in round one. Ricky Grunden, who finished third, also endorsed Parker, after sitting down with both of the runoff candidates. What won it? He said he likes both of them but agreed with Parker on merit-based pay for teachers and allowing vouchers for public schools.

Elephants in the room.Texas GOP Chair Tina Benkiser says she has the support of most of the State Republican Executive Committee in her bid for reelection as head of the Party. But 26 of that body's 62 members didn't sign for her. Two potential challengers are in the wings: Gina Parker of Waco, who lost to Benkiser two years ago, and former Dallas County GOP Chair Nate Crain, who's been considering a run but hasn't decided whether he'll do it. Benkiser issued a press release announcing the support of "77 current and former SREC members," but more than half the people on the list are no longer on the GOP's governing board. She's got 36 of the current members (as with the Democrats, a woman and a man from each of the state's 31 state Senate districts is elected to the board).

Pinning tails on donkeys.Over in Democrat Land, Boyd Richie is stacking up endorsements to replace Charles Soechting as chair. Soechting, who'd already said this would be his last term, decided to quit early, leaving the choice of his successor to the State Democratic Executive Committee. That prompted an angry reaction from former state Rep. Glen Maxey of Austin, who also wants the job. Maxey won't run for the interim job, but still wants to run for the two-year term at the party convention in June. He'll have some catching up to do. Richie has bagged endorsements from two of the leading Democrats in the House -- Garnet Coleman of Houston and Jim Dunnam of Waco -- from gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell, from Democratic National Committee member Sue Lovell of Houston, who like Maxey has been involved in gay and lesbian rights issues for years.

Kirk England, the newest Republican in the Texas House (he won a special election to replace Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie) got better committee assignments than the newest Democrat. House Speaker Tom Craddick, a Republican, put England on Corrections and County Affairs. Donna Howard, who won a special election to replace Republican Todd Baxter of Austin, will be serving on Judiciary and Culture, Recreation, and Tourism.

Patrick gets his mic back.With the blessing of his Democratic opponent and the Federal Communications Commission, Republican Senate nominee Dan Patrick is back on the air in Houston. He was off during the primary fight for Jon Lindsay's seat in the state Senate and now, having won the first round easily, he's back on KSEV-AM from 4 to 6 every afternoon. You can listen online at www.ksev.com if you're into talk radio, or if you're a lobbyist trying to figure out or suck up to the new guy. Patrick faces Democrat Michael Kubosh in November. Voters in the district gave Republicans in contested races in 2004 72 to 73 percent of their support.

Bonavita was a favorite of his colleagues and competitors. He worked for several papers, including the Houston Post and the San Antonio Express-News and he was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and of the Austin and Washington press corps. Click here for his obituary in the San Antonio Express-News.This obit was put together by Dave McNeely and includes material from the Express-News.
FREDERICK WILLIAMS BONAVITA II
May 15, 1935 -- March 20, 2006 Longtime Texas newsman Fred Bonavita, who worked for the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Post for more than three decades, died Monday night after collapsing Sunday morning with a brain hemorrhage. He was taken to Northeast Baptist Hospital in San Antonio in a deep coma, but never regained consciousness. Bonavita, 70, a gentleman with a sharp, dry wit, was a fixture in the Texas capitol in the 1970s and 1980s, reporting on subjects as wide-ranging as the last school reform special session in 1984 to the 1988 presidential race. The Texas Legislative Reference Library has almost 2,000 of his stories on file, and those are just he ones dealing with state government. Even before going to the Post's Austin bureau in 1969, Bonavita covered the riot-rocked 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He headed up the Post's Washington Bureau from 1970 to 1973, when he returned to the Post's Austin Bureau. In a story about Bonavita by Express-News writers Carmina Danini and John MacCormack, Bonavita' ethics and humor were mentioned as key ingredients to his success and popularity. "Fred was a great journeyman political reporter with a wickedly dry sense of humor. Fools could not escape being pricked by it," said Austin columnist Dave McNeely, a longtime friend. "He not only served his readers well, he continually entertained his colleagues."
Sam Kinch, the former longtime publisher of Texas Weekly and previously of The Dallas Morning News, recalled Bonavita as an unflappable reporter with an encyclopedic memory of political and social events, and a clear sense of ethical conduct. "He was among the very few who stopped taking freebies from politicians and interest groups. And even though that came to be the prevailing view, it wasn't when he started espousing it," said Kinch. He was named the Post's political reporter in Houston after the 1988 presidential election, but moved to the Express-News in November 1989, after his mother-in-law suffered a stroke. He became state editor in 1990. Bonavita respected good writing, but also deadlines. "Got anything daily?" Bonavita, white-bearded and wearing a vintage green eyeshade, would ask reporters every morning. After hearing their offerings, he would always say "File early." But he also understood the pressures of reporting, and went to bat for those he supervised, recalled Laura Tolley, now state editor of The Houston Chronicle. In the Express-News story, Bonavita's mentoring and teaching abilities were underlined. "Fred shielded his reporters from management's harsh critiques, and he nurtured qualities that helped the nervous novice grow," said Gary Martin, the Express-News correspondent in Washington, D.C. "He taught me damn near everything I know about the craft and he was patient doing it. I will miss him dearly." "It was more than the just the way he looked and acted," said Craig Thomason, an Express-News assistant managing editor who worked shoulder to shoulder with Bonavita. "It was the way he cared about the language, accuracy and fairness. But he broke the old stereotype about cynicism: I never saw Fred be pessimistic or sarcastic. He loved life and laughter." Bonavita retired in the spring of 2000. Born May 15, 1935, in Charlottesville, VA, Bonavita began reporting there for the hometown Daily Progress, then moved to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. After serving from late 1957 to mid-1962 in the Air Force, Bonavita met wife-to-be Evelyn while covering a press conference for the Journal in Albuquerque, NM. Evelyn's public relations firm was showcasing an author. They married Dec. 10, 1964. Bonavita's career took him to the St. Thomas Daily News in the Virgin Islands and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times before he joined the Post in Houston in 1967. Bonavita was an amateur radio operator (K5 QLF) for most of his adult life. After retirement Bonavita wrote a mystery novel set in Brownsville, as yet unpublished, titled "Border Rat." Bonavita had just returned from a weeklong road trip to New Mexico -- one of his favorite places -- with Evelyn, well-known in League of Women Voters and environmental circles, and son Nick and his wife Lauri of Austin. Other survivors include his brother Richard of Virginia. Bonavita will be cremated and his remains interred at Fort Sam Houston. A memorial service has not been set. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the American Civil Liberties Union or National Public Radio.

Rep. Pat Haggerty, R-El Paso, was still the winner of the GOP primary (against challenger Lorraine O'Donnell) after a recount. No votes changed.Haggerty got out of election night with a 106 vote lead that was later revised to 105 votes. That held up in the recount, and he'll face a Democratic attorney -- Leon Schydlower -- in November. That's HD-78 if you're keeping score.

Walter Hinojosa is retiring as political and legislative director of the Texas AFL-CIO, but not until after the special session(s) on school finance that start next month. His announcement includes a new spin on a tired line, noting that his reason for leaving after ten years is "really and truly to spend more time with his family." Hinojosa is a former school teacher turned organizer; he worked at the Texas Federation of Teachers before joining the AFL-CIO. Gov. Rick Perry named J.P. "Pat" McDaniel, director of the Haley Memorial Library and History Center in Midland, to the Texas Historical Records Advisory Board. He named Sharon Carr of El Paso and Sally Reynolds of Rockport to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Carr's a librarian with the El Paso ISD; Reynolds is the retired director of the Texas Legislative Reference Library. Perry appointed Kerry Hall, an Austin Banker, to the Texas Economic Development Corporation. The governor named Dr. Charles Mitchell of Dallas, Al Silva of San Antonio, COO of Labatt Food Service, and C. Dan Smith of Plano, president and owner of Smith Exploration, to the board of regents at the University of North Texas. Mitchell and Smith are alums of the school. Perry named Nancy Cain Marcus, Virginia Dudley of Comanche, Robert Kruckmeyer of Spring, and Linda Valdez of Rockport to Humanities Texas, which administers grants. All but Marcus are reappointments. Araminta Everton, until now the legislative director for Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Tomball, is leaving to become executive assistant to Milton Rister, the new director of the Texas Legislative Council. Van Arsdale hasn't replaced her yet. Kevin Cooper -- half of Austin knows him as Trooper Cooper -- is joining the Ratliff Co. as a lobster. He was most recently a regional director for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, and before that worked for the Department of Public Safety, where he got that nickname. Deaths: Bill Hale, a civil rights advocate whose four decades of public service included stops at VISTA, the Fort Worth Human Relations Commission, and the Texas Human Rights Commission. He was 70. Fred Bonavita, a favorite of his colleagues and competitors in journalism, worked for several papers including the Houston Post and the San Antonio Express-News. He was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and of the Austin and Washington press corps. He was 70.