Deirdre Delisi is resigning as chief of staff to Gov. Rick Perry on July 1. She'll be replaced by his general counsel, Brian Newby.Delisi, married to a Republican political consultant and been and daughter-in-law of a state rep, has been a policy and political advisor to Perry since he ran for lieutenant governor in 1998, and just gave birth to twin boys, Will and David. She was Perry's campaign manager in the 2002 governor's race and worked as deputy chief of staff before getting her current job in September 2004. She also worked on policy for George W. Bush's first campaign for president. Her departure isn't completely unexpected, and in fact, the speculation about who might replace her has been underway since before the legislative session ended. And to fill in the blank created above, her husband is Ted Delisi, a consultant, and her mother-in-law is Rep. Dianne White Delisi, R-Temple. Newby's was one of several names we'd heard mentioned around the Pink Building, a list that also included Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Department of Transportation and an old friend of the governor's, and Robert Howden, a former Perry aide who's now a lobbyist. Newby became Perry's general counsel in November 2004. He'd been a regent at Texas Tech and a lawyer with Fort Worth-based Cantey & Hanger. Perry also promoted a couple of staffers to fill in gaps created by Delisi's departure and that of Phil Wilson, the governor's nominee for Secretary of State. Kris Heckmann and Kathy Walt will become deputy chiefs of staff. Heckmann is Perry's policy director and a veteran of the Sunset Advisory Commission. Walt is a former reporter — at the Houston Chronicle, among other spots — who joined the governor as press secretary in December 2000.

Texas Education Commissioner Shirley Neeley says she'll resign at the end of the month after just more than three years in that post.Neeley, a former teacher, administrator and school superintendant, has been commissioner since January 2004. She said in her announcement that she wanted to serve for five years. But she just scraped through a recurrence of skin cancer — she's cancer-free now — and wants to spend more time with her family. Neeley indicated in her notice to the agency staff that she decided to quit after finding out the governor wasn't going to reappoint her. "I can compare my situation to that of a superintendent when a school board decides to take no action or not extend their contract," she wrote. "Anyway you look at it, the message is clear: when it is time to go, it is time to go." Perry hasn't said who he'll name in her place. Neeley got good marks from one of the state's teacher groups, which also took the opportunity to spank the governor and the Legislature. "As a veteran educator herself, Commissioner Neeley has tried to keep in touch with educators in the field who actually have to implement the policy edicts and inadequate budgets handed down from the governor and legislative leadership," said Texas AFT President Linda Bridges. "In the process, she has helped to round off some of the rough edges of those policies and make them more workable."

President George W. Bush appointed State Demographer Steve Murdock to be the next director of the U.S. Census. Murdock, currently working out of the University of Texas at San Antonio (he was at Texas A&M University before that) is one of those rare people whose facts are highly regarded by everybody who's paying attention. He currently runs the Texas State Data Center and wrote about where the state's going in The Texas Challenge, an influential report that's become a regular reference for policy wonks in state government.

Emmett Sheppard, president of the Texas AFL-CIO, will retire at the end of his current term. The 64-year-old succeeded Joe Gunn in 2003 and will step down in August, when the AFL-CIO is supposed to elect its officers. Sheppard has been a union activist for 40 years and came to Austin in 1989 as the state legislative director. Becky Moeller, now the secretary-treasurer of the Texas federation, will run for president and is so far the only declared candidate for the post.

Add three names to the org chart at the Department of Information Resources. Casey Hoffman, most recently a deputy attorney general, will be executive assistant to DIR chief Brian Rawson. Cindy Reed and Ginger Salone have joined that agency as deputy executive directors. Reed's already at DIR, where she was running a division. Salone's been working in IT in the attorney general's child support division.

Daniel Womack, after five years with Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, is leaving to work for Commissioner Buddy Garcia at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.