Add Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, to the Legislative Budget Board. He'll replace Vilma Luna, who quit the Lege to become a lobbyist.

Peggy Romberg will retire in December after 26 years with the Women's Health and Family Planning Association of Texas and will be replaced by Fran Hagerty, who they describe as someone with a long history of non-profit management.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed David Wellington Chew of El Paso as chief justice of the 8th Court of Appeals. Chew, a Democrat, is already on that court and on the ballot for the post he's already got. He'll be on the ballot for chief next time around. The governor named Kenneth Carr to Chew's spot. He's an attorney and another El Pasoan.

Lisa Hughes is half-joining The Eppstein Group in their Austin offices and half-soloing. Hughes will keep her telecom and other private clients, but will also join the Fort Worth-based firm to help rep some of its non-telecom clients. She'll work out of their offices.

Harvey Kronberg, the proprietor of what we refer to around here as Brand Q, has signed a deal with the Washington, D.C.-based National Journal to include his Quorum Report in a national package of state political news sites led by The Hotline — the National Journal's daily digest of politics around the U.S.

Terry Franks, legislative director for Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls, is leaving that post to work for "incoming Sen. Dan Patrick," R-Houston. He'll remain in Estes' office until the new boss is elected, assuming that happens.

Houston City Councilwoman Carol Alvarado is the new president of the Texas Municipal League's board. That'll put her in the middle of the battle over appraisal and revenue caps next session. Some lawmakers want caps on local governments; the locals want the state to stay out of their business.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees apparently wants nothing to do with his mom's campaign for the state's 3rd Court of Appeals. Democrat Mina Brees is running against Republican David Puryear, and had an ad up saying she's the sister of former University of Texas quarterback Marty Akins and the mother of the Saint's quarterback. It included pictures of the two athletes.

But she got a letter from her son — which is now being forwarded around in Republican press releases — demanding she cease and desist from using his name and likeness in her ads. The letter, from an attorney with the company that represents him, ends with a threat of legal action: "should you and your campaign fail to comply with the terms of this letter, Mr. Brees will be forced to explore all available remedies, both at law and inequity against you and your campaign. Govern yourself accordingly." 

Dr. Mike McKinney, the former legislator, chief of staff to the governor, head of state health and human services, lobbyist, and football-inspired whacker of Texas Tech fans, is the new chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. The board of regents there picked McKinney to replace Robert McTeer, who's leaving in a couple of months. McKinney's not an alum, but his sons Sean and Seth — now professional football players — attended school and played football for A&M. Dr. McKinney is currently the chief operating officer at the UT Health Science Center at Houston; he's been in various jobs in the UT System since 2002. He's the sole finalist for the chancellor job; it'll be a done deal before the end of the year.

Lobbyist Jeff Clark joins the Texas wing of the American Electronics Association as director of public and legislative affairs.

Appointments: Gov. Rick Perry named Patrick Pirtle of Amarillo to the 7th Court of Appeals. Pirtle, currently a district judge there, will replace Don Reavis, who retired earlier this year. Pirtle's already on the ballot (without opposition) for that spot; the appointment covers the remainder of Reavis' term.

Recovering: Democratic political consultant Ed Martin, after a heart attack in Chicago. Friends say all signs are good at this point.

Dave Lieber at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has a new gubernatorial candidate, and the kid shows some promise. . . The video for Austin James Lieber, candidate for governor.Link here.

The biggest names in Texas politics? Leininger, Perry (the other one), Butt, and Baron

• Dr. James Leininger of San Antonio continues to be a financial wellspring for Texas conservatives. He gave $1,040,908 in October, to Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the Republican Party of Texas, Stars Over Texas, Associated Republicans of Texas (details below) and to some candidates: Talmadge Heflin of Houston, $83,000; Michael Esparza of Alice, $50,000, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, $50,000; and Nelson Balido of San Antonio, $15,000. Leininger and his wife Cecilia Leininger have contributed $4,747,453 so far this year, according to records at the Texas Ethics Commission.

• Houston homebuilder Bob Perry and his wife, Doylene Perry, have given $4,409,000 to political causes this year, including $718,500 since the late September 30-day reports were filed. Their biggest donations were to Gov. Rick Perry and the Republican Party of Texas; they wrote $150,000 checks to each. Houston Senate candidate Dan Patrick got $50,000. James Landtroop of Plainview and Gene Seaman of Corpus each got $40,000. George Antuna of San Antonio and the Harris County GOP each got $30,000.

• Charles Butt, CEO of the HEB Grocery Co. in San Antonio, gave at least $237,500 during October, according to campaign finance reports that have been put online by the Texas Ethics Commission. The beneficiaries include the Texas Parent PAC, $135,000; Stars Over Texas PAC, $5,000; Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville; Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, $25,000; $10,000 each to Reps. Robby Cook, D-Eagle Lake, Mark Homer, D-Paris, and Hubert Vo, D-Houston; and smaller amounts to a handful of House and State Board of Education candidates.

• The Texas Democratic Trust brought in $415,000 and spent $419,974, leaving $6,155 in the bank. Dallas trial lawyer Fred Baron contributed $335,000. Russell Budd, cofounder of the Baron & Budd law firm in Dallas, gave $80,000. Those two accounted for all the money that came in during October. During the July-September period, the trust brought in $460,000, all but $25,000 of it from Baron. The other donor was Bernard Rapoport of Waco. While we're on a roll, the first half of the year saw $780,000 in donations, including $655,000 from Baron, $100,000 from Budd, and $12,500 each from Amy Fikes and Lee Fikes of Dallas. If you weren't adding along the way, Baron has given $1,425,000 to the trust so far this year; Budd's tab is at $180,000. If you add in Baron's contributions to other candidates and PACs, his total for the year is $1,479,560.

Their report shows $264,500 in contributions to the HDCC in October — $25,000 more than HDCC reported receiving. Watch the telegram reports for that check. The trust gave $95,500 to the Texas Democratic Party, and $28,140 to the Texas Progress Council PAC.