While former Comptroller John Sharp and the rest of Gov. Rick Perry's tax reform commission works on proposed revisions to the state's business taxes, they're starting to hear more noise from lawmakers and lobbyists. That's not unusual with a special session approaching, but it's dangerous for tax bills: An unprotected tax bill lasts about as long as free pot at a rock concert and isn't nearly as much fun.

And a couple of Republican leaders in the House who were in the middle of the school finance battles of the last year say voting on a tax bill isn't the easiest option available to lawmakers who want to solve the problem with a minimum amount of spilled blood.

Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, sent an email to his colleagues in the House questioning why they'd want to vote on a tax bill while they've got an estimated $4.3 billion sitting idle. His suggestion: Take $2.5 billion or thereabouts and put it into public schools. That's enough, according to Chisum, to lower local school property taxes by 20 cents, which would (temporarily) satisfy the courts and would also give school districts freedom to raise a little money for teacher pay or other needs. He'd allow the districts to raise up to a nickel in local taxes in the first year (and up to 15 cents overall) if they want to do so and if they win approval from local voters.

"You don't go down and pass a tax bill when you've got a damn surplus — how the hell do you explain that?" Chisum said during a repair break at his place in Pampa, which was hit by the range fires in the Panhandle. Chisum said he emailed his idea to everyone in the House — Republicans and Democrats alike. He said he hasn't heard back from most of them but added that he "hasn't heard anybody do flip-flops over this tax bill."

Chisum says the presence of a surplus, the upcoming elections, and the absence of any real leverage to push legislators into an uncomfortable vote all conspire against a tax bill this spring. Sharp and others have said that spending the surplus now would set the table for a tax bill next year, but Chisum contends the state's economy might make that unnecessary right away.

Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Weatherford, says he's still willing to work on a tax bill, but says the time constraints will make it difficult and says Chisum's idea might be attractive to lawmakers. "We're trying to work with the governor's office, but we've got so many dynamics... a lot of lame ducks, people coming off of tough primaries, people with tough elections in November... How do you convince people back home you're doing your job if you pass a tax bill while you've got a surplus? That's not very Republican."

Keffer, chairman of the tax-writing Ways & Means Committee, sidesteps a bit when you ask whether he'll be carrying the governor's tax proposal. He does say it's hard to make the case for a tax bill right now, but he's quick to say he's not trying to pour cold water on Perry or Sharp or the tax panel. "We just have to deal with life as it is and not life as we'd like it to be," he says.

A special session on taxes for schools, unless it's carefully orchestrated, could open members to sniping from within and without the House. And Keffer says the businesses that are in favor of a tax bill won't be nearly as loud as those that are against it. That sort of noise can be unnerving in an election year. Speaking of November, he says there's another obstacle, and it's named Carole Keeton Strayhorn: "Strayhorn is still running for governor and she's still the comptroller and she still controls the numbers..."

Whether the fix is to spend the surplus or pass a tax bill, he says, "we all want to be successful and we all want to make sure the schools open."

It's All in the Timing

Gov. Rick Perry has said he wants new state income from a revised business tax to replace local school property taxes.

The Legislature has to put more state money into public schools if it wants to keep up education standards while easing pressure on local property taxes.

The Texas Supreme Court has given the other branches of state government until June 1 to change school finance formulas in a way that gives local schools meaningful control over their own property taxes.

House Speaker Tom Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst agree — probably by accident — that they'd like to do some education reform. And in the past, both the House and the Senate have tied school finance and education reforms together, effectively piggybacking education reform — which isn't required — on school finance reform — which is required by the courts.

The push by some House leaders to put off school finance reform until the regular session next year could thwart Perry, who's looking for a big win on school finance in a competitive election year, while it also helps Craddick and Dewhurst get the other goodies they want.

Perry has said his agenda for the special session will be school finance and nothing else. His worry is that education reform and other issues could lower chances of a school finance fix, or that general horse-trading on side issues would spoil things. Former Comptroller John Sharp, who heads the Perry-appointed committee that's trying to cook up a tax bill, has said bringing other issues into play would kill a rare chance to overhaul the state's primary business tax.

But in the House, where tax bills have to start, there's noise about that tax bill and a sentiment among some of Craddick's lieutenants to use a multi-billion-dollar budget surplus to patch school finance until next year's regular session. That group, led for the moment by Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, doesn't think voters will sign off on a tax bill when there's money lying around. Plus, putting off the tax bill gets them out of the election season.

It would also be a boon to legislators who want various sorts of education reform. A long-term solution to school finance has to pass, and anything attached to it would pass, too. January might be a better deal for those who want to overhaul school finance and make changes to education, even if it makes it harder to pass the tax bill Perry and Sharp are promoting.

Pre-Squeals: What You'll Hear When the Tax Bill Goes Public

Some businesses like the tax proposal floated, but not yet voted on, by the governor's tax reform commission. But some key groups still think the overall tab is too big and squirm at the idea of replacing personal taxes with business taxes in a state that already puts a relatively heavy load on business taxpayers.

Start calling around on the idea and you'll stumble across a Council on State Taxation report that says Texas businesses carry 60.2 percent of the state and local tax burden (Ernst & Young, the accounting firm, did the numbers for the CST). Only three states— Wyoming, Alaska, and South Dakota — put greater shares of the tax load on businesses, according to that 2005 survey. Nationally, the average business paid 43 percent of the state and local taxes in its locale. Spin the numbers a different way: State and local business taxes in Texas equal 5.8 percent of private sector economic activity; no other big state is in that ballpark, and the national average was 4.3 percent.

Former Comptroller John Sharp has told various groups that the tax reform panel he chairs is trying to raise enough money to replace the current franchise tax and to buy down local school property taxes. That would require a business tax that raises around $6 billion, along with increased taxes on cigarettes and some smaller items. They're not currently considering a higher sales tax, but they've talked about it and some conservatives prefer it.

The new deal works for some businesses. Their property taxes would drop even as average business taxes rose. Some come out okay, some win big and some lose big. But the overall burden of state and local taxes would shift away from homeowners — who get a break and no new tax to pay — and toward businesses — which get a break on one tax and a hike in another one. The full cost of property tax relief for business and residential property owners would be borne by businesses.

Don't Use a Pen

If you're making plans for April, you must be trying to avoid the Texas Legislature.

We're hearing from two schools of rumor on special sessions at the moment, both in April. One would have a session starting on April 4, which would put runoff elections and a long Easter/Passover weekend in the middle of the tax bill. We're also hearing April 18, which would start the race to June 1 with the first round of elections and the holiday out of the way.

While we're monkeying around with this, it would be risky to bet that the Tax Reform Commission will vote out a proposal next week. That could still happen, but there's some sentiment that waiting until closer to the special session would be smarter. That would reduce the amount of time the proposal is exposed to snipers who don't like it.

Flat Tuesday

Take a look at the primary election turnout numbers and you have to conclude that politics is way down on the list of things to worry about for most adults in Texas.

Overall turnout was down 22.5 percent from the gubernatorial primaries four years ago, and the drop is completely attributable to Democrats. They had an expensive and competitive race for governor four years ago; this year, it was competitive and anemically financed. Their numbers fell to 600,529 this year from 1,003,388 four years ago, a 40.1 percent bungee jump. Republican numbers were up 8.7 percent, but their turnout wasn't anything to crow about, at 676,529. The difference between 2002 and 2006: 348,753 voters.

If you want to argue that people who voted four years ago stayed home this time because they want to sign petitions for independent candidates Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, you'll have to ponder this question, which either disproves the idea or points to something interesting ahead: Were Democratic voters the only ones looking for alternatives?

Cannibals

Republicans have a beef with reporters and others who say legislators didn't endorse challengers to incumbents in their own parties before this year. The Democrats were doing it two years ago, they (correctly) point out.

It's still unusual, and it doesn't make for great relationships when the Lege convenes. This year's big example: Five Republicans endorsed Chris Hatley, who lost to Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, in spite of having bottomless financing and campaign help from the Texas Republican Legislative Campaign Committee and its only real funder, Dr. James Leininger of San Antonio. That's the first time we're aware of Republican-on-Republican dog piling publicly in a legislative race (holler if you have an earlier example). It's newsy in part because it marks the end of the Reagan Rule — Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican — in Texas GOP primaries.

The Democrats did something similar this year — with Houston incumbents like Rep. Garnet Coleman backing opponents of Rep. Al Edwards. And a group of Houston Democrats went after Rep. Ron Wilson, also a Democrat from Houston, two years ago, endorsing his opponent, Alma Allen, who's now a state representative. Republicans go after Democrats all the time, and vice versa, but it's unusual for Republicans to go after their own, at least overtly.

April Matchups

Forty candidates for state office aren't done yet. They're in runoffs set for April 11. Here's the list, with the first place finisher listed first, and incumbents noted with an (i) after their names.

Democrats

U.S. Senate:Barbara Ann Radnofsky, Houston, 43%; Gene Kelly, Universal City, 38.2%.

CD-10:Ted Ankrum, Cypress, 36.8%; Paul Foreman, Austin, 35.8%.

Lieutenant Governor:Maria Luisa Alvarado, Austin, 39.8%; Ben Z. Grant, Marshall, 38.4%.

HD-42:Richard Raymond (i), Laredo, 49.8%; Mercurio Martinez Jr., Laredo, 32.3%.

HD-47:Valinda Bolton, Austin, 43.1%; Jason Earle, Austin, 42%.

HD-146:Al Edwards (i), Houston, 48.2%; Borris Miles, Houston, 32.8%.

Republicans

CD-30:Wilson Aurbach, Dallas, 44.6%; Amir Omar, Dallas, 36%.

Court of Criminal Appeals:Charles Holcomb (i), Wimberley, 45%; Terry Keel, Austin, 30.7%.

State Board of Education:Ken Mercer, San Antonio, 49.8%; Dan Montgomery (i), Fredericksburg, 35%.

HD-11:Larry Durrett, Jacksonville, 42.2%; Brian Keith Walker, Tatum, 32.5%.

HD-28:John Zerwas, Houston, 25.2%; David Melanson, El Campo, 16.4%.

HD-47:Bill Welch, Austin, 38.5%; Alex Castano, Austin, 28.4%.

HD-50:Jeff Fleece, Austin, 46.9%; Don Zimmerman, Austin, 43.7%.

HD-54:Jimmie Don Aycock, Killeen, 39.1%; Dale Hopkins, Marble Falls, 28.8%.

HD-63:Tan Parker, Flower Mound, 24.6%; Anne Lakusta, Flower Mound, 23.6%.

HD-71:Kevin Christian, Abilene, 37.7%; Susan King, Abilene, 28.7%.

HD-72:Drew Darby, San Angelo, 40.4%; Scott Campbell (i), San Angelo, 33.4%.

HD-118:George Antuna, San Antonio, 49.4%; Steve Salyer, Universal City, 28.2%.

HD-133:Michael Scofield, Houston, 35.1%; Jim Murphy, Houston, 33.7%.

Justice, 3rd Court of Appeals:Will Wilson, Austin, 33.7%; Bill Davidson, Austin, 24.4%.

Dates to note: Runoff candidates have until Friday (3/17) to thrown in the towel and concede the party nomination to their opponents. That's also the deadline for officials in each county to canvass the primary votes; the state parties do their canvassing by Wednesday, March 22. Early voting is set for the first week of April, and the runoff elections are on Tuesday, April 11.

Early Exit

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting will resign before his term ends in June, allowing the State Democratic Executive Committee to elect a temporary replacement in April.

That would give someone a leg up on the full term, and that's enough to start a fight. In an email to members of the SDEC, Soechting said he's got new duties at the law firm where he works and also wants to spend more time with his family. He called a replacement election for April 22.

Among the contestants who've said they want to play when Soechting leaves: Boyd Richie, a former district attorney from Graham, Glen Maxey, a former state legislator from Austin, and San Antonio lawyer Charlie Urbina Jones. Maxey emailed supporters and others crying foul, accusing Soechting of pulling out to give Richie — who's on the SDEC — an advantage. Maxey said in the note that he won't seek the job when it goes before the SDEC, but will campaign at the convention. He called Soechting's early out "a backroom deal."

That, in turn, elicited an email from Dennis Teal, an SDEC member who briefly considered running for the job. Teal's supporting Richie (who distributed the email) and says Maxey's pitch misconstrued some of the party's rules and hid Maxey's intention of letting Richie get the interim job so he won't have as much time to work the floor at the convention. Fun, no?

Separately, Richie sent out a note this week saying he's won endorsements for his bid to head the Democrats. He's got the backing of state Reps. Stephen Frost, Mark Homer, Chuck Hopson, Jim McReynolds, and David Farabee, and former U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin.

Bullets

• Kinky Friedman's petitioners can get financial prizes for signing up enough people. So-called "Super Volunteers" are people who work at least ten hours a week and get 500 or more signatures to get the entertainer on the gubernatorial ballot. They get a buck a signature for their work, though the campaign says they'll limit the number of people who get the cash.

• Carole Keeton Strayhorn says her petitions will carry the signatures of former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez Jr. and former House Speaker Rayford Price. Kinky Friedman adds Willie Nelson to his list of signers, and Nelson also cut a radio spot promoting Friedman and biodiesel fuel.

• Former President Bill Clinton will be speak at the Center for Public Policy Priorities benefit on May 19. The group's honoree is B. Rapoport of Waco, a longtime financier of Democratic and liberal causes in Texas.

• Rep. Carter Casteel, R-New Braunfels, hired Austin lawyer Buck Wood to work on a recount. She lost by 45 votes to Nathan Macias on Election Day. There's a recount going in El Paso, where Rep. Pat Haggerty won by just under 100 votes, and talk of a couple more. Lawyers who watch this stuff say electronic voting makes recounts less likely to flip the results, but mail-in and provisional ballots can still swing close races if they're initially miscounted. 

• Susan King, who came in second but got into the runoff in HD-71 (Rep. Bob Hunter, R-Abilene, didn't seek reelection) got an endorsement from John Young, who finished last in that four-person GOP primary. She'll face Kevin Christian.

• Alex Castano, the second-place finisher in HD-47, got the endorsement of Rich Phillips, who finished out of the money in that race. Castano wants the spot held by Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, who's running for a judgeship. Castano's next rival is Bill Welch.

• In HD-63, Rep. Mary Denny, R-Aubrey, endorsed Tan Parker to take her spot in the House next year. He's in a runoff with Anne Lakusta of Flower Mound.

• Bill Davidson, trying to win a runoff for a nomination to the 3rd Court of Appeals, got an endorsement from Lee Parsley, who didn't make the final round. Will Wilson led in the first round of voting; the other candidates were knocking his use of the word "judge" in his campaign materials, saying it was improper.

• Put this on your list of fiscal seeds that could grow into weeds: The Social Security Administration is auditing several Texas school districts that take part in that program, looking to see if those district hired retiring teachers on a short-term basis to boost their retirement pay. Most districts don't offer Social Security benefits and teachers without Social Security credit can lose spousal benefits. If they get a short-term job that includes the bennies, however, they aren't penalized. The auditors — we found out about them from the Texas Federation of Teachers — want to see what's what.

• State sales tax revenues rose 15.2 percent in February, compared to the same month in 2005. That's feeding a state budget surplus that could prompt the comptroller to raise her estimate of what's in the till. Her latest pronouncement was that the state had $4.3 billion above what it needs to cover the current budget.

• Linebarger Goggan Blair & Simpson is one of three firms chosen by the IRS to help the federal government collect taxes. That's a new deal for the feds. The Austin-based law firm does the same thing for school districts and cities and counties; they and other firms have tried for years to get the state to open up its tax collection business to private firms.

• There now exists a "Texas Poker Political Action Committee" that'll work to expand legal poker in the state. The Poker PAC's founders want the state to legalize tournaments that benefit charity. They've got a website: www.texaspokerpac.com.

Gotta Watch Those Pesky URLs

The state's senior U.S. senator is finding out the hard way that the Internet is unforgiving of typos. In an email to supporters of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, her staff urges them to vote for her in a Parade Magazine feature on eight women to watch in advance of the 2008 elections. The address to do that is www.thewhitehouseproject.org. But the Hutchison gang directed their followers to a slightly different address, apparently by accident: www.whitehouseproject.org. The first one is a website devoted to the idea of putting a woman in the White House. The second one steals some of the same words but is all about dating and music and ads that range from starting a blog to finding all kinds of sex partners.

Political People and Their Moves

Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, made his private troubles public, apologizing, going for help and saying he'll return. In his own words: "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."

Gov. Rick Perry appointed Ruben Gonzales Reyes of Lubbock to the 72nd District Court. He's a partner in a law firm there. He'll replace Judge J. Blair Cherry Jr., who retired.

Perry named Dionicio Vidal "Sonny" Flores of Houston to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. He owns and operates an engineering and construction company.

Ken Luce, a former employee of the Texas Department of Agriculture who now is a regional president of Weber Shandwick Worldwide, a public relations firm, was appointed by former Ag Commissioner Rick Perry to the Texas State University System Board of Regents.

Perry named Drs. John Coble of Rockwall and Carolyn Carman-Merrifield of Mansfield to the Texas Optometry Board and named Dr. D. Dixon Golden of Center to chair that panel.

James Lee of Houston will join the Teacher Retirement System of Texas board by appointment of the Guv. He's a private investor.

Quotes of the Week

Jack Abramoff, in Vanity Fair, on how Washington has reacted to his troubles: "You're really no one in this town unless you haven't met me."

Michael Amezquita, Bexar County's chief appraiser, talking about the need for disclosing home prices to make appraisals fair, in the San Antonio Express-News: "We have a 25-year history of not being fair to homeowners."

State Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville, in The Dallas Morning News on special session prospects: "Voters are beginning to say, 'What are you doing down there?' If we lollygag around and become divisive and start fighting, the voters aren't going to like it. If we get something done, we're OK. If we don't, we're not going to be."

Rep. Carter Casteel, R-New Braunfels, telling the San Antonio Express-News she'll ask for a recount in her 45-vote loss to Nathan Macias: "I certainly don't suspect any improprieties by the Hill Country county clerks. But my supporters are having a fit. I feel I owe it to the district, and I look forward to resolving it."

Texas Republican Judy Deats, quoted in Newsweek on her loyalty to U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land: "Right now, I wouldn't vote Democratic if Jesus Christ was running."

Kinky Friedman, caught by The Dallas Morning News sipping a beer in a moving car (there's a law against it) in a parade: "Yes, I admit to holding a Guinness. I even admit to drinking it. But I did not swallow."

An irked U.S. Bankruptcy judge in San Antonio, Leif Clark, fired off a written order denying a motion because it was incomprehensible, and he ended it with a footnote just to make sure the lawyers in the case got the point: "Or, in the words of the competition judge to Adam Sandler's title character in the movie, "Billy Madison," after Billy Madison had responded to a question with an answer that sounded superficially reasonable but lacked any substance, Mr. Madison, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I've ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul. Deciphering motions like the one presented here wastes valuable chamber staff time, and invites this sort of footnote."

---

Texas Weekly: Volume 22, Issue 37, 20 March 2006. Ross Ramsey, Editor. George Phenix, Publisher. Copyright 2006 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.

Notes from the runoffs....The Young Conservatives of Texas went out of their way to say they don't like the choices in the GOP runoff in HD-72, where Rep. Scott Campbell faces Drew Darby. The third-place finisher, Kevin Housley, endorsed Darby (who finished first) over the incumbent. The YCT sent out press releases noting their endorsements and included this district, followed by a blank where the name of a favorite would appear. If they had one, that is. Will Wilson's runoff opponent, Bill Davidson, has been slinging hash about Wilson's use of the word "judge" in his campaign materials, but that stuff apparently doesn't bug a couple of former judges. Joe Greenhill and Tom Phillips, two former chief justices of the Texas Supreme Court, endorsed Wilson. Williamson County DA John Bradley's on Wilson's list, too. Wilson and Davidson are vying for a spot on the 3rd Court of Appeals.

Taxes only, taxes and education reform, or more money for teachers? Ask four politicos and you'll get four opinions.If you listen to Gov. Rick Perry, you'll hear a pitch for a new business tax that would raise enough money to replace the current franchise tax and lower local school property taxes by 50 cents. That would, in the Guv's view, make the courts happy. He said he'll keep the "call" -- the legal agenda for the special session -- narrow, to avoid distracting fights over education reform and other issues. He says the notion of skipping the new tax and using the state's current surplus -- a balance of $4.3 billion, with an asterisk -- would be irresponsible. It would forfeit a "rare chance" to fix the state's busted business taxes and it would set the stage for a tax bill next year, when legislators convene for their regular biennial session. And it would only pay for a 20 percent property tax cut, while the proposed tax swap would cut property taxes 33 percent. A carrot: Perry said he'd add education reform to the agenda if the House and the Senate have agreed on something and if they've already finished with school finance. If you listen to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, you'll hear a similar pitch for a new business tax -- with major and minor differences -- and an argument for reforms in public education, with higher standards for students and across-the-board and incentive pay raises for teachers. Dewhurst thinks the education stuff needs a boost from the court-ordered changes to school finance to help it along. He said the Senate will probably pass an education reform bill early in the session, while they're waiting for the House to pass a tax bill (or, in the alternative, to send the Senate an appropriations bill that spends the surplus and skips the tax issue). He's also against using much of the surplus and walks through the sort of semantic pretzel you can only get in politics or sitcoms. Increasing the business tax now to reduce property taxes is a wash -- since one goes up and one goes down, there's no net tax increase. There would still be a budget surplus. If, however, you use the budget surplus to reduce local property taxes and you come back later and raise business taxes to cover the ongoing costs of that property tax break, the business tax then becomes a tax increase that puts everyone in political trouble. About that asterisk on the surplus. The non-official number-crunchers around Austin are telling us that surging sales and natural gas tax revenues are running up the balances in the state's accounts. Don't be surprised if you hear an announcement from Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn in the next couple of weeks raising that number by up to $2.5 billion. Most estimators have it at about $2 billion, but only one number counts, and that's whatever number the comptroller puts in her official estimate for the upcoming special session. Dewhurst and Perry both talked to the new Texas Association of Manufacturers (which all but endorsed the not-quite-complete work of the governor's tax reform commission headed by John Sharp). Perry is building a case for the panel's work. Dewhurst gave it a flat reception, saying he understands that it's a gross receipts tax with deductions and that he's willing to look at it. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell actually sounds more receptive to the new business tax than Dewhurst, but he would raise more than is needed for property tax reform so he could give teachers an across-the-board $6,000 raise. That's both a plan and a way to pay for it -- he's pre-answering the squawk from Perry's political office -- but it's also a tax increase, which gives them something else to squawk about. Like Perry and Dewhurst, Bell thinks using the surplus is a bad idea; he calls it a "fiscal sugar rush." Strayhorn wants teachers to get a $4,000 across-the-board pay raise and wants teachers at low-performing schools that improve to get $2,500 bonuses. She'd restore the $1,000 stipend given to teachers for healthcare and wants a study of the differences between the retirement fund for state employees and the one for teachers. The state puts up 6.4 percent of pay for the ERS and 6.0 percent for the TRS. Strayhorn wouldn't say what she wants the study to do, but did say she doesn't want the state to lower what it puts into the employee fund. She says all that would cost $1.7 billion annually. She didn't present a new way to pay for it, but referred reporters to go back to her proposals for gambling and other revenues and to look at growth in the state economy -- and the state's related tax revenues -- for funding.

The Washington, D.C., lobsters hired by the state to work on federal government issues is off the payroll, at least for now: Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn put a hold on future payments to Cassidy & Associates while she's doing an audit of their contract.Texas House Democrats tried to stop the contract last year but didn't have the votes to kill it. Strayhorn says the contract with the firm is "a wholly inappropriate and unwise use of public money," but hasn't pointed to any law that's being broken. She noted in a press release on the subject that state law prohibits the use of public money to lobby the Texas Legislature or on behalf of candidates at any level. The Washington firm doesn't lobby in Texas. But the company's contributions to candidates have been questioned by Strayhorn and others, though state money, once paid to the firm, is no longer restricted by Texas law. Democrats said Strayhorn was welcome, but late to the game. Gov. Rick Perry, through a press release, dismissed her stop payment order as a publicity stunt. His office and the Office of State-Federal Relations authorized the payments to Cassidy & Associates.

We don't generally make predictions here, but we'll make this one: If Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn get enough good signatures to get on the ballot, the next governor of Texas will skulk into office with less than 50 percent of the vote, and possibly with less than 40 percent.The two independents have until May 12 to get 45,540 signatures each, and Secretary of State Roger Williams has said it will take him as long to validate them as it's taking the candidates to collect them. We'll know what's what by mid-summer or so. In the meantime, Democrat Chris Bell is doing some positioning work, telling reporters, financiers and opinion leaders that the real race is between him and Republican Rick Perry and that the two independents will finish out of the money. It's similar -- to a point -- to the thinking of the number folk in Perry's camp. The major party campaigns think both the Republicans and the Democrats will get their base votes and that the fight is over the rest. Republicans will tell you their base vote is between 40 and 45 percent of the voting public and that Democrats can expect 35 percent, more or less. Pull a number out of the hat: John Kerry got 38.2 percent against George W. Bush two years ago in Texas. Perry's reelect numbers -- the percentage he gets when pollsters ask whether they want him reelected or want an unnamed someone to replace him -- are in the high 30s to mid-40s, depending on the pollster, the headlines, and the atmospheric conditions. A recent poll for The Dallas Morning News, for instance, had Perry at 36 percent. Those are relatively low reelection numbers and they're one reason so many people are taking a crack at the incumbent. Perry's camp is betting their guy will get 40 percent or more, that Bell will get 25 to 30 percent, that Strayhorn will come in at 15 to 20 percent, and that Friedman will split the remainder with a Libertarian to be named later, after their political convention. Bell's betting he'll do better than that, that neither Republicans nor Democrats will follow Strayhorn or Friedman and that he -- Bell -- will be the beneficiary of voters' sour feelings about Perry. Bell thinks the winner will have 37 to 40 percent, and that he's got a good shot. The Democratic Party's grassroots are worth something, he says, and that organization will offset Strayhorn's funding advantage. Strayhorn's logic is similar to Bell's, with a different outcome. In her version, Republicans unhappy with Perry will land in her camp, along with Democrats who don't think Bell can win. Where Bell talks about party infrastructure, Strayhorn's camp points to its huge financial edge over the Democrat and says voters will only be seeing two candidates on TV in the weeks leading up to the election -- her and Perry. As it develops, watch who's getting lashed. Bell, Friedman, and Strayhorn are battling to win the "alternative to Perry" vote; the leader will be shooting at Perry and ignoring the other two, hoping the crowded field doesn't spoil a shot to get over the 35 percent it will take to be a serious threat. Perry will be working to solidify the GOP base, on the theory that the first contestant to claim 40 percent will get to live in the Governor's Mansion for four years.

Now that he's called a special session on school finance for April 17, Gov. Rick Perry has to sell lawmakers on the idea of raising state taxes to lower local property taxes while not putting new money into education. It's a swap, see, and not an increase in taxes.He has to get Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick on the same page for the first time on the issue. That's not all: He has to do that while lawmakers eye a burgeoning budget surplus that could defer school finance until next year -- a "fast train out of town" that could give them temporary relief during a confusing and unstable election year. School finance and a new business tax provide the centerpiece for Perry's speeches of late. The tax reform commission he set up -- headed by state comptroller-turned-tax consultant John Sharp ? has put together a new business tax that'll be publicly unveiled next week. A public hearing will follow that, and Perry will have lawmakers over to the Mansion to try to sell them on his plan as the session begins. The surplus is a big obstacle, as we pointed out last week. Perry and Sharp and their wonks are pushing the notion that it will never be easier -- as a matter of legislative and electoral politics -- to get a new business tax in place. The Texas Supreme Court set a June 1 deadline for a fix to the current school finance system: In short, they directed the state to put more money into public education to take some of the financial pressure off of local school districts. The Perry-Sharp proposal -- already agreed to by the 24-member tax panel but not yet detailed for the public or for most lawmakers -- would raise around $6 billion that would be used to replace the current corporate franchise tax and to reduce local school property taxes by 50 cents. Doing it now would let Perry -- and lawmakers, too -- run for election on the boast they lowered property taxes significantly and that they solved school finance before the courts stepped in. The wallet argument could be popular with homeowners and with businesses that own taxable property -- school taxes on a $150,000 house would drop $750 a year. The risk is that the businesses paying a new tax would be angry about the levy and about the neutrality of it: Their taxes would go up, but schools wouldn't get any more money and the proposal means a net shift of tax burdens to businesses and away from homeowners. Most businesses don't pay taxes now and most wouldn't under the proposal -- sole proprietors and businesses with revenues under $300,000 a year would be exempted. But substantial businesses that don't pay the current franchise tax -- from big manufacturers to newspapers to law firms to you-name-it -- would be added to the rolls. They'd pay a one-percent tax on their gross receipts minus their choice of cost of goods sold or employee pay (retailers and wholesalers would pay 1/2 of one percent). Some lawyers complain that amounts to a personal income tax, but their firms would pay it whether they had any company income in a given year or not. It's complex, and so are the patterns of support and opposition. And there's that surplus, now at $4.3 billion and expected to grow by $2 billion or more when the comptroller makes an official estimate before the session. Lawmakers could use that one-time money to buy down local property taxes now, got out and get reelected, and then come back in January to try to cobble together a permanent fix. That's not as clean an escape as it seems. A tax bill enacted this spring wouldn't hit full steam for almost a year. The new tax on businesses would give them time to adjust and would come due in May 2007. In the meantime, some of the surplus and taxes that come in faster -- like a proposed $1 additional tax on smokes -- would cover the cost of lower school taxes between now and then. If lawmakers use the surplus now and do the tax bill in January, they'll have to figure out how to cover the bills while the tax is gathering steam. The surplus will cover costs between now and January, but the Legislature would have to either rush businesses into a new tax next year or find another pot of money to bridge the gap. Voters eyes glaze over at these sorts of explanations, but there's the risk that they'll tag lawmakers later for what will look more like a tax hike to cover a deficit than the tax swap Perry is proposing.

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.