The state's top criminal judge has inspired a parody website and a complaint from a group of lawyers that's dead serious.

Texas voters reelected Sharon Keller last year for another six-year term as presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. That panel's got the same juice as the Texas Supreme Court, only on the criminal side of the law. And it's become a lightning rod since Keller told lawyers for Michael Richards last month that she wouldn't keep the office open past five o'clock to receive their legal briefs.

With no legal papers in the works, Richards was executed that evening.

Keller apparently did that without asking her fellow judges, who contributed some of the most damning quotes in the news accounts that followed.

Keller has also inspired a parody website — SharonKiller.com— which includes links to, among other things, a parody MySpace page.

And something more serious, too: Now a group of prominent and not-so prominent defense lawyers is after her hide, sending a letter to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct that says her actions violated the judicial canons by denying a condemned man an appeal to which he was entitled.

"Judge Keller's actions denied Michael Richard two constitutional rights, access to the courts and due process, which led to his execution. Her actions also brought the integrity of the Texas judiciary and of her court into disrepute and was a source of scandal to the citizens of the state," they wrote.

The complaint was filed by the Texas Civil Rights Project; in their press release announcing it, they said it was signed by a group that includes former State Bar President Broadus Spivey, Houston criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin, University of Houston law professor Mike Olivas, former appellate judge Michol O’Connor, legal ethics author Chuck Herring, Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, Southern Methodist Law School clinical supervisor Eliot Shavin, and former Nueces County Attorney Mike Westergren.

The last time that agency tangled with an appellate judge — Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht — he fought them in court and won.

Oops, in a Good Way

The state has $1.5 billion more in its general revenue account than predicted, according to Comptroller Susan Combs. That's on top of $7 billion she forecasted earlier this year.

In a letter to the governor and legislative leaders, the comptroller said the state ended the year with an $8.5 billion balance in GR. At the beginning of the year, Combs projected a balance of $7 billion. The state brought in more tax money than she expected, and spent less, she said her in letter. State sales taxes — the backbone of Texas state finance — increased by 10.9 percent over the fiscal 2006 mark.

Combs said the state's Rainy Day fund (officially, the Economic Stabilization Fund) will total $4.6 billion when she makes a required deposit later this year.

Experts who've been watching weren't surprised at the final balance, but can't quite put their fingers on the reason the state's economy is acting this way. Whatever the reason, they say it's good news.

"It means the state has some wiggle room," says Dale Craymer, economist with the Texas Taxpayer and Research Association. "If the margin tax doesn't make its estimate [next year], legislators will have some room."

The state's new business tax — sold as a way to pay for cuts in local property taxes — is due for the first time next May. Both the comptroller and legislative number-crunchers say the local tax cuts will cost more than the new tax will bring in. Lawmakers, with an eye on that, kept their mitts off billions that were available for current spending last session as a hedge against those projections.

Even if the money's not needed for that, there are other things to worry about. "This could give us a bigger cushion as a state than other states will have if the economy tanks," Craymer says. "There'd be less chance of a tax increase."

The size of the treasure chest already made it possible to "certify" a pay raise for state employees (two percent in the current fiscal year; two percent in the next one, totaling $242.7 million). A spokesman for Combs said lawmakers also appropriated about $300 million for transportation, contingent on the comptroller's certification that the money will be there. It will be.

Isett Pulls Out a Plum

Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, will head the Sunset Advisory Commission for the next two years.

He was on the panel before, but left it when he took leave of the Lege to serve in the Gulf War (he's in the Navy Reserve). House Speaker Tom Craddick appointed him, also naming Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, to that panel.

And Craddick reappointed Ike Sugg of San Angelo as a citizen member of Sunset.

It's the House's turn to name the chairman; until September 1, it was Sen. Kim Brimer, R-Fort Worth. Isett has the gig until September 2009. Reps. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, and Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, are coming off the commission, to be replaced by Isett and Harper-Brown.

Three others are coming off, too, but Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst hasn't named their replacements: Howard Wolf, a public member, and Sens. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, and John Whitmire, D-Houston.

They've got some hot potatoes on their review agenda as they enter the next legislative session: the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas Youth Commission lead the list, with their toll roads and their scandals, respectively, followed in no particular order by the Texas Department of Agriculture, the Texas Department of Insurance, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Office of State-Federal Relations.

Combs for Rudy

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs will be state chairman of Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign.

Combs is the first and so far the only statewide elected official to endorse anyone other than former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson. Most of the statewides are staying out so far, but Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, Railroad Commissioner Victor Carrillo, and Attorney General Greg Abbott have all pledged to Thompson.

Patterson, meanwhile, says a funder for Thompson in Fort Worth — sponsored by Ramona Bass, among others — attracted $200,000 before the event. They're aiming at $250,000.

Money on the Table

The seven people running to replace Rep. Anna Mowery, R-Fort Worth, in HD-97 filed their first money reports with a month to go before that special election.

In alphabetical order:

• Dan Barrett, an attorney who's the only Democrat in the race, raised $36,788, spent $21,820, and had $10,380 in the bank as of September 27.

• Craig Goldman, a Republican insurance salesman who used to work for then-U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, raised $181,453, spent $17,129 and had $162,692 on hand at the end of the month. His campaign folk say he raised more money in the district than anyone else. That's a defensive move; his opponents pointed out that he raised a lot of his money outside the district, from other spots in Texas and from other states and Washington, D.C. He got $2,000, by the way, from the Friends of Phil Gramm PAC, run by his old boss, and $2,500 more from Gramm his own self. His biggest single contribution — $10,000 — was from Edward Netherland of Lancassas, Tennessee.

• Chris Hatch, a Republican accountant and Fort Worth school board trustee, raised $6,550, spent $15,498 and ended up with $5,680 in the bank. The accounting trick there? He spent $13,954 in personal funds — his own dough — on the campaign.

• Jeff Humber, a business development exec from Benbrook, loaned his campaign $50,000. He raised $3,620, spent $22,104, and made it to the end of the month with $31,143 in the till.

• Former Rep. Bob Leonard, an attorney, raised $47,320, spent $42,012, and had $113,169 in the bank at the end. He loaned his campaign $100,000. Point of interest: His campaign treasurer is Fran Chiles, a former National GOP committeewoman from Texas. The biggest contributors were Mr. & Mrs. Charles Ringer, who gave $10,000.

• James Dean Schull, a Republican attorney from Benbrook, raised $2,800, spent $2,500 and had $300 on September 27.

• Dr. Mark Shelton, a Republican pediatrician, raised $37,700, spent $15,423, and had $30,786 in the bank at the end of the period. His biggest contribution — $10,000 — was from the Texas Medical Association PAC. And he loaned his campaign $5,000.

Newbies

It's not time to file, officially, for the Texas primaries. But the campaign treasurer reports are steadily coming in...

This week's new campaign treasurer filings with the Texas Ethics Commission include Samuel "Sam" Murphey and Michael Pearce in HD-55 — where Rep. Dianne White Delisi is hanging up her running shoes. Murphey's a Democrat from Harker Heights and worked as a district guy for U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco. Pearce, a Republican, is a former teacher and now sells instruction programs.

Charles "Chuck" Randolph, a Democrat, filed a report showing his interest in HD-61, where the incumbent is Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford.

B. Allen Fletcher, chairman of the Greater Tomball Chamber of Commerce, is looking at HD-130, where Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Tomball, is the current House member.

And Houston City Council member Carol Alvarado put in a treasurer report for HD-145, Rep. Rick Noriega's seat.

Political Cannibals

Republicans aren't the only House members targeting their colleagues from across the aisle.

Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, says the Democrats are doing the same thing. She doesn't particularly like the practice, but says Democrats who complain about it are "wimps, weenies, and whining yellow dogs," and accuses them of hypocrisy.

What apparently set her off was the exchange last week between Democratic Rep. Jim Dunnam and former Republican Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth. Then she got wind of a fundraiser held by Tarrant County Democrats for a "100 for $100" fund that'll support Democrats challenging incumbent House and Senate Republicans. Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, was at the kickoff (he's in the photos posted on the Mid-Cities Democrats website), and Reps. Paula Hightower-Pierson and Mark Veasey are listed as members of the host committee.

Truitt thinks the fratricidal campaigning makes legislating more difficult because it's hard to work alongside someone who tried to knock you off in the last election cycle. "I think it's not a good idea for us to work against sitting House members — it causes ill will... But don't say it's a bad deal if you're doing it yourselves.

Flotsam & Jetsam

• U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Clute, will apparently have a primary opponent. Andy Mann, a Republican whose resume includes staff time with former U.S. Rep. Jack Brooks, D-Beaumont, plans to join that contest. He says he likes the incumbent, but doesn't stop there. From his website: "If you are like me, you like our current representative — and you might even agree with his basic message — but when you look at his whacky voting record as well as his recent comments while running for president, you realize that he doesn't really share our values."

• Minnesota U.S. Senate wannabe Al Franken will make two Texas stops — Dallas and Houston — to raise money for his challenge of U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota. Franken's a Democrat (in case you weren't watching), and one of his Texas hosts is former gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell.

• Remember that set-to a few years ago about Mexico's water debt to Texas? The country to the south just closed the year — for the first time in 15 years — with no water debt to the U.S.

• The state chapter of the Sierra Club is officially opposed to fences and barricades between the U.S. and Mexico now, saying walls could be hard on the environment. They're afraid the barriers will keep critters from running around, whether they stop human immigrants or not. It would be hard on the ecosystem along the Rio Grande, they contend, and in turn, on eco-tourism in the state. They're asking the federal government for more time for public comment and a complete environmental impact statement before any walls or fences go up. The group once filed suit to stop a wall on the Texas border; that was settled in 2000, when the federal government backed off its building plans.

Political People and Their Moves

Refugio County Commissioner Raymond Villarreal plead guilty to tampering with government records during the March 2006 primary elections. He'll resign, spend 90 days in jail, pay a $1,500 fine and spend five years on probation, according to the attorney general's office.

Nick Dauster is the new director of government affairs at the Texas Department of State Health Services, moving up into a spot opened by Kirk Cole's promotion earlier in the year. Dauster's been at DSHS for several years, and worked in the Pink Building before that.

Dustin Lanier is leaving the Department of Information Resources to run the Council on Competitive Government.

Ray Martinez is closing his consulting shop and will be the new director of government relations at Rice University. He'll remain in Austin and shuttle between there, Houston, and Washington, D.C.

Gov. Rick Perry's latest round of appointments includes these hookups:

• San Antonio attorney Rolando Pablos of to the Texas Racing Commission. His company specializes in business development and international trade promotion.

• Richard Earl McElreath of Amarillo and Norman Parrish of The Woodlands to the State Pension Review Board. McElreath is a consultant with A.G. Edwards and Sons. Parrish is a retired consulting actuary.

• Tony Gilman of Austin to the Health Professions Council. His day job: executive officer of the Texas Health Care Policy Council and Perry's liaison to the state's health profession licensing boards.

• Irene Armendariz, an exec with Superior HealthPlan in El Paso, and Burnet County Judge Donna Klaeger of Horseshoe Bay to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

• Tracye McDaniel of Houston to the Texas Economic Development Corp. She's with the Houston Partnership now, but used to toil in the state's economic development office.

Retiring: Dr. Kern Wildenthal, the president of the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, in September 2008. That'll end a 22-year tenure at the helm.

Quotes of the Week

Elizabeth Villafranca, whose family has a Mexican restaurant in Farmer's Branch, quoted in the Houston Chronicle on a new effort to regulate paint colors on houses there: "I believe controlling the color you paint your house is basically profiling the Hispanic community. We all know who paints their homes tropical colors."

Former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, asked at UT Pan American to compare the Berlin Wall with the barrier proposed on the U.S.-Mexico border, quoted by the Rio Grande Guardian: "Well, I cannot repeat what President Reagan once said, but take each historically: the Great Wall of China, or the Berlin Wall, and other walls. They have not been particularly effective; not particularly efficient."

Longview Mayor Jay Dean, talking to the Longview News-Journal after local official confronted their local state reps at a meeting: "One of the things we're trying to do is bring our region together to try and help these guys, these legislators, focus on what we consider our primary issues. When they're politically involved on opposite ends of issues or support of a speaker, that breeds ill feeling. The election of a speaker is tough-duty politics. I don't think it's easy to forget and forgive once a vote is taken, because that's how they play ball."

Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, on legislative politics: "This is a blood sport. If you don't like it, do something else."

Washington Supreme Court Justice James Johnson, in an opinion — quoted by The New York Times — knocking down a state law that made it illegal to lie about material facts in political campaigns there: "It naively assumes that the government is capable of correctly and consistently negotiating the thin line between fact and opinion in political speech."

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Texas Weekly: Volume 24, Issue 17, 15 October 2007. Ross Ramsey, Editor. Copyright 2007 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 (512) 302-5703 or email biz@texasweekly.com. For news, email ramsey@texasweekly.com, or call (512) 288-6598.

Challengers are lining up, and so are the rumor-spreaders, but the solid turnover numbers in the state Legislature and the Texas congressional delegation are confined to the Texas House.

And only a half-dozen members have opened their parachutes. As of this moment, these people won't be in their seats when the Texas House reconvenes:

• Dianne White Delisi, R-Temple, HD-55, won't seek reelection.

• Fred Hill, R-Richardson, HD-112, won't seek reelection.

• Anna Mowery, R-Fort Worth, HD-97, resigned last month.

• Rick Noriega, D-Houston, HD-145, running for U.S. Senate.

• Mike O'Day, R-Pearland, HD-29, won't seek reelection.

• Robert Talton, HD-144, R-Pasadena, running for U.S. House.

So far, nobody in the state Senate or in the state's congressional delegation has made any official noises about not coming back for more.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn raised more money during the last three months than his two Democratic opponents combined, but one of them still has more money in the bank.

According to the reports they've filed with the Federal Election Commission, Cornyn raised $1.7 million during July, August, and September, bringing his total cash on hand to $6.6 million.

San Antonio attorney Mikal Watts, one of two Democrats challenging the Republican incumbent, raised $570,374 during the quarter. Combined with earlier contributions of $1.1 million and his own checks for the balance, that brought his cash on hand total to $8.3 million at the end of last month.

Rick Noriega, a Houston Democrat giving up a Texas House seat to make this race, brought in $580,722 during the quarter — an amount that includes a $50,000 loan from the candidate himself. He ended the period with $510,314 in the bank.

Squint back at those numbers: We're already looking at a possible $16 million race and the elections aren't until next year.

Your land commissioner, who's backing one candidate for president, took off on your governor, who's backing another one.

Jerry Patterson went on a roll, and wrote it down. Some of the highlights from a press release from Patterson — who's backing Fred Thompson — on the subject of Gov. Rick Perry's endorsement of former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani:

• "Texans supporting the Mayor of New York City? Get a rope."

• "With all due respect, Governor Perry's endorsement is all hat and no cattle. He has no base to offer a national campaign. He only got 39% in his last election. Heck, even I got 600,000 more votes than he did in 2006."

• "I'm confused. Why would the most conservative governor in Texas history endorse a pro choice, rabidly anti Second Amendment, former New York City mayor who supported Democrat Mario Cuomo over Republican George Pataki for governor of New York?"

• "Perry is the same governor who upstaged Arnold in California with a message that Republicans need to return to their conservative roots if they expect to win elections. I guess the red meat he was serving in California was 'rare' as opposed to 'well done'."

• "What happened to Republicans using conservative principles as the first measure of who to support for elected office?"

Congress, as expected, upheld President George W. Bush's veto of legislation that would have expanded the Children's Health Insurance Program; there were more yups than nopes, but not the two-thirds needed to overturn his veto.

That sends the legislation back to the negotiating rooms of Congress, where they'll try to come with a version more legislators like. The Texas delegation voted on straight party lines, with Democrats voting for the bill (excepting the one who didn't vote at all), and Republicans voting, with Bush, against it:

For the S-CHIP bill: Henry Cuellar, Lloyd Doggett, Chet Edwards, Charlie Gonzalez, Al Green, Gene Green, Ruben Hinojosa, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Nick Lampson, Solomon Ortiz Sr., Silvestre Reyes, and Ciro Rodriguez.

Against the S-CHIP bill: Joe Barton, Kevin Brady, Michael Burgess, John Carter, Michael Conaway, John Culberson, Louis Gohmert, Kay Granger, Ralph Hall, Jeb Hensarling, Sam Johnson, Kenny Marchant, Mike McCaul, Randy Neugebauer, Ron Paul, Ted Poe, Pete Sessions, Lamar Smith, and Mac Thornberry.

Didn't Vote: Eddie Bernice Johnson

To summarize: The state's senior senator won't seek reelection and might quit early, and hasn't decided whether to run for governor or to get out and earn some money in the private sector.

Now is that the sort of thing you'd say if you wanted people to put money in your campaign accounts or cut deals with you in Congress?

One great thing about being an incumbent U.S. senator flirting with a race for Texas governor — People can give you money because you're a senator, and they can do it without any risk they'll be seen as contributing to a gubernatorial candidate. And federal campaign accounts can be converted directly into state campaign accounts, at least in Texas, by simply writing a check from the federal account to the state one.

That's one reason — the other is her consistently high poll numbers — that U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has been taken seriously as a potential state candidate. She has a big campaign account. Her most recent (available) report at the Federal Election Commission showed her cash on hand totaled $7.7 million. And she can raise money from people who want her to be governor and from people who think it's a good idea to contribute to a sitting U.S. senator.

But with a series of comments over the last week, Hutchison has made herself a lame duck and maybe plugged the money line, too.

She said — first in an interview with Texas Monthly and later in conversations with Washington reporters — that she won't seek reelection in 2012, that she'll probably leave office early, and that she's thinking about (but isn't committed to) a campaign for governor of Texas in 2010.

Couple of caveats: Hutchison said in her first Senate run that she wouldn't seek the third term in office she's now serving. She has looked at gubernatorial runs twice before — seriously enough to get supporters talking among themselves and with reporters and others. You know the joke about breakfast, and the chicken and the pig? If you're having eggs and bacon, the chicken was involved, but the pig's committed. At this point, Hutchison's only involved (the same can be said about the other Republican flirt, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst).

She announced, in essence, that she'll soon be ending her Senate career and that she's thinking about a run for governor in 2010. Is that enough to check potential gubernatorial opponents like Dewhurst or Chris Bell or John Sharp or Roger Williams or Rick Perry or Your Name Here?

It is enough to unmask donors from here on out: They're no longer giving money to a senator who might run again; their contributions will be seen by other potential candidates as part of the next governor's race. [Counterpoint, from a Democratic consultant: Republicans could flock to her, and this might prove to be a successful bid to shoulder them out of the race before they get in.]

It gets the speculative juices flowing.

When will she leave, and who would run for that seat if there's a special election? And who would Perry appoint to fill the seat between Hutchison's departure and that special election? That's not necessarily preemptory: The last time this happened, Democrat Lloyd Bentsen left office, Gov. Ann Richards appointed Bob Krueger to the Senate, and Hutchison beat him in a special election and then beat Richard Fisher in the general election that followed a few months later. (Getting appointed to the U.S. Senate from Texas is more curse than blessing: No Texas appointee has gone on to win a full term).

Toss this one in [from a Republican lobbyist], just to keep your heavily medicated Austin insider conversation going: If Bush is followed in the White House by Rudy Giuliani and Perry gets a federal gig of whatever kind out of his endorsement of the former NYC mayor, he'd leave Austin near the beginning of the next legislative session. Go ahead — act like a pulp novelist: That'd put Dewhurst in the Mansion, at least temporarily, put one of the 31 senators in the Lite Guv's chair, and depending on the timing, might even put Dewhurst in a position to appoint an interim senator to Hutchison's spot.

That was fun. Now exhale.

Hutchison's talk inspired some conversation, but did she say anything that would merit a change of plans for potential givers? Candidates?

The news is that Hutchison is saying publicly now what she has been saying privately for a few months: That she's tiring of Washington and that she'd like to run for governor if the table settings are right, and that she might quit early, both to get out of Washington and to convince people that she's serious now about what she considered in 2002 and 2006.

But she's not yet committed.

The presidential candidates have raised a little more than five percent of their money in Texas, with a national take so far of $416.2 million and a Texas haul of $21.1 million.

How they rank nationally, according to the Federal Election Commission: Hillary Clinton, $89 million; Barrack Obama, $79.4 million; Mitt Romney, $61.6 million; Rudy Giuliani, $46.7 million; John McCain, $31.4 million; John Edwards, $30.1 million; Bill Richardson, $18.5 million; Christopher Dodd, $13.6 million; Fred Thompson, $12.7 million; Ron Paul, $8.2 million; etc.

How they rank here (same source): Giuliani, $4.8 million; Clinton, $3.1 million; Edwards, $2.5 million; Romney, $2.3 million; McCain, $2.2 million; Obama, $2.2 million; Richardson, $1.3 million; Thompson, $1.2 million; Paul, $731,649; etc.

In Texas, Republican candidates have raised $11.8 million to the Democrats' $9.3 million. Nationally, the Democrats are ahead, with $241.1 million to the Republicans' $175.1 million.

• Game on: Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, announced his reelection bid. He's seeking a second term in HD-54.

• Daniel Boone, a Democrat who claims his famous namesake as an ancestor, will run in HD-73. Rep. Nathan Macias, R-Bulverde, also has a challenger in the Republican primary: Former New Braunfels Mayor Doug Miller. Boone got 5.6 percent of the vote as a write-in last November; with a Democrat in that race, Macias got 75.2 percent and Libertarian Charles Ellis got 19.2 percent.

The group that sued to stop the Texas Association of Counties from lobbying lawmakers got half a win in Williamson County. State District Judge Ken Anderson ruled the group can't use tax money for that purpose.

But he also agreed with lawyers for TAC, who argued that the group can't be prevented from lobbying as long as the lobbying isn't paid for with tax money.

If the group collects no dues, there's no regulation. If it does (and it has in the past) it has to segregate taxpayer-funded dues from its other monies, and those other monies have to be used for any lobbying done by the group. TAC does have other sources of income: investments, licensing fees, educational seminars, and the like.

Anderson also made a distinction between lobbying and advocacy on one hand, and providing information to the Legislature, on the other. That second bit's legal no matter who's paying for it. As for lobbying, he included direct contact and indirect — like telling counties how to persuade lawmakers and issuing press releases advocating a particular position on legislation. That's a no-no, at least with dues dough. And the ruling doesn't apply to individual counties, he said.

One more thing: The counties owe $25,945.80 in legal fees to the people who sued: Peggy Venable, Janice Brauner, and Judith Morris.

They weren't satisfied, and are considering an appeal to try to close off the use of other money paid to TAC by counties for insurance and other services. "Unfortunately, this is only a partial victory as the Texas Association of Counties has found a way to circumvent the law and continue to lobby using our money against taxpayer interests," Venable said in a press release.

• Gov. Rick Perry named three new regents for the University of Texas System: James Dannenbaum, chair of Houston-based Dannenbaum Engineering Corp.; Paul Foster, president and CEO of Western Refining Co. of El Paso; and Printice Gary of Dallas, founder and managing partner of Carleton Residential Properties. Two of them — Dannenbaum and Gary — were on the special committee that came up with the new state business tax that comes due for the first time next year.

• The governor named five Texans to the Lower Colorado River Authority Board: Brenda Adair of Blanco, vice president of Wells Fargo Bank of Austin; Steve Balas, a pharmacist from Eagle Lake who also owns Eagle Lake Drugstore; Becky Armendariz Klein of San Antonio, principal of RA Klein & Co.; Franklin Spears of Austin, an attorney with Arenson and Spears; and Bobby Steiner, a rancher from Bastrop.

• Dr. Mark McClellan will be a visiting fellow in health policy at UT Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs. He's the son of former comptroller and gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn, and served in two high-level spots in the Bush Administration: administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Commissioner of the Food & Drug Administration. He's also an associate prof at Stanford University in California.

Robert Scott loses his interim title.Gov. Rick Perry named his former aide the state's new commissioner of education, a role Scott has filled for the last few months since Shirley Neeley resigned the position. Scott was deputy commissioner at the Texas Education Agency for four years and worked as Perry's policy aide on that subject before that. Neeley quit in June. Several candidates for her job have been mentioned, but Scott's name has been in the hopper since before she left.

It's official: Gov. Rick Perry endorsed former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani this morning.That's an important endorsement for a Yankee who'll be looking for Southern votes next year, and a sign — to some watchers — that Perry is angling for national attention and maybe a spot on a presidential ticket. "For the last six months, I have cogitated, I've looked, I've studied these candidates — some of them I know very well — and came to the conclusion that the individual who can lead America with clarity, the individual who has the experience, the individual who cleaned up a city that was absolutely on its back is mayor Rudy Giuliani," Perry said. Flashback to January 2006, with Perry embroiled in a four-way race for reelection against Democrat Chris Bell, Republican-turned-independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn, and independent Kinky Friedman. That month, Perry won an endorsement from Giuliani; and in 2005-2006, the political action committee of the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm gave $20,000 to Perry's campaign. This isn't a new relationship. Perry said, in a conference call with reporters, that he "won't consider" going on the ballot as a vice presidential candidate. Asked if he'd turn down the veep spot if offered it, he added: "I just had to move out of the Mansion [for renovations] and I'm not looking for another move." But Giuliani, in that same call, kept the idea afloat: "I would say that Gov. Perry is at the top of everyone's list — mine and everyone else's." Perry's leap prompted a towel snap from Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who, with Attorney General Greg Abbott, is co-chairing the Texas campaign for presidential candidate Fred Thompson. "I'm confused," Patterson said. "One of the most, if not the most conservative governor in Texas history, endorses a pro-choice, rabidly anti-2nd Amendment former New York mayor who as mayor, endorsed the Democrat candidate Mario Cuomo over the Republican candidate George Pataki for New York governor. What happened to conservative principles as a measure when choosing who to endorse for any office?" A talking points memo sent to Perry friendlies addresses differences between the candidate and the governor on four big issues: abortion, gay marriage and gays in general, gun control, and immigration. Perry's answers, in order: "Good people can disagree on this issue"; "...we, too, are called to love everyone even if we may disagree on issues like this one"; "Mayor Giuliani makes a distinction between what may work in New York City versus the rest of America"; and "Mayor Giuliani understands that you cannot have homeland security without border security." The two politicians said they're off to Iowa to campaign for Giuliani. Perry will be one of Giuliani's national co-chairs; his Texas chair is Comptroller Susan Combs.

Rep. Robert Puente, D-San Antonio, is telling supporters there he won't seek reelection next year. He's been busy raising money for a reelection bid this year, but with the prospect of a hard reelection race in front of him — and with a minor flap over his business dealings with a friendly lobbyist just behind him — he's apparently decided to leave the Texas Legislature. Puente, an attorney first elected to the House in 1990, is chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee and was an early supporter of Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick. He's the dean of San Antonio's House delegation, and one of the Legislature's top people on water issues. San Antonio limits the terms of city council members, and one — Roland Gutierrez — has been considering a race with Puente for several weeks. His council district covers the majority of HD-119, he says. He says he's interested in the race, that he's talked to Puente in the last 24 hours, and that he'll have a formal announcement after he talks to his family and others, probably in a week or so. He added that he's "heavily inclined to run." We're told he's not likely to be a Craddick supporter. Earlier this year, Puente was the subject of a series of stories in the San Antonio Express-News about his business dealings with lobbyist Marc Rodriguez, whose clients also had business before Puente's committee. According to the paper, they were in a land deal together, and Puente sold a Southside San Antonio house to Rodriguez for a substantial profit, just a few months after he himself purchased it. Puente is the seventh incumbent to say he won't be back when the next Legislature convenes in January 2009. The list also includes these representatives:

• Dianne White Delisi, R-Temple, HD-55, won't seek reelection.

• Fred Hill, R-Richardson, HD-112, won't seek reelection.

• Anna Mowery, R-Fort Worth, HD-97, resigned.

• Rick Noriega, D-Houston, HD-145, running for U.S. Senate.

• Mike O'Day, R-Pearland, HD-29, won't seek reelection.

• Robert Talton, HD-144, R-Pasadena, running for U.S. House.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed Dallas attorney David Schenck to the Texas Lottery Commission, giving that agency a full complement of commissioners for the first time since 2005.

Zach Vaughn, who left the Pink Building this summer after staff work there, signed on as the campaign manager for Jonathan Sibley, a Republican who's challenging Rep. Charles "Doc" Anderson of Waco.

Lisa Mayes is the new director of government affairs for Dallas-based Lennox International after six years in the lobby shop at the recently renamed law firm of Tuggey Rosenthal Pauerstein Sandoloski Agather.

Robyn Hadley, a former capitol staffer who runs the Capitol Crowd, a networking website for government folk, is joining WaterPR, a public affairs firm that works on water issues. She plans to keep the web thing going, too.

Still alive! Former U.S. Rep. Jack Brooks, D-Beaumont, mistakenly counted among the dead in this space last week. Sorry, sorry, sorry.