Weatherford Mayor Joe Tison kicked off the first day of filing, saying he'll run in the GOP primary against Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford. And then the flood began.

Filing for next year's elections started this week and continues through January 2.

The two major parties are taking applications and money from candidates who want to be on the 2008 ballot. And they're updating their lists of people who've signed up. Here are the links to those lists:

Republican Party of Texas candidate filings

Texas Democratic Party candidate filings

After the parties close the books in early January, they'll turn things over to the Texas Secretary of State, who runs the March 4 elections. Other parties — Libertarians and Greens — select their candidates later in the year without primary elections, and they'll be added to the general election ballot once they've got their lists together.

The state parties aren't the only place where you'll get this stuff, so we're sharing the charts we keep to follow the election filings.

Our spreadsheets include candidates who've actually filed and those who've announced their filings in announcements, whether they've done the party stuff or not. If you see an incumbent with nothing in the "Returning?" column, don't freak out. They just haven't filed yet. The sources for all this are the state parties, and where we could get information, the county parties. State legislative candidates file with the state if their districts cross one or more county lines. Otherwise they file locally. One last thing: We'll change these as we get new information, and the date at the top of each chart will tell you the last time it was updated.

You Don't See This Every Day

With a tough election 12 weeks away, this might seem like a funny time for a Republican to propose new taxes. But Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, says he wants to raise sales taxes enough to do away with school property taxes.

King, who'll face Weatherford Mayor Joe Tison in the March 4 primary, won't exactly how he'd get more money out of the sales tax. "I don't really want to get into the specifics about that," he says. Local property taxes pay more than half the costs of public education. Shifting that to the state might help homeowners and business property owners, but they and everyone else would pay a sales tax to make up the difference.

The idea suddenly has King in the local newspapers and has given Tison something to talk about.

"It's a bad idea that would make it even harder for businesses and families who are already being squeezed enough — another example of how politicians initiate something without asking their local constituents what effect it has on their schools, their government, or their living standards," Tison says.

King is sticking to his guns. He says he's been talking to groups around his district for months and that they "overwhelmingly" prefer sales taxes to property taxes. Lawmakers have fixed school finance repeatedly, but property taxes keep rising: "It's headed for a train wreck... I'm real comfortable with [his proposal]. I have yet to find anyone in the district who tells me they'd rather pay the property tax."

He says the tax doesn't work, that it forces people "to rent their homes from the state" and that it should be killed with a constitutional amendment in favor of higher sales taxes dedicated to public schools.

He would leave other property taxes — those that fund local governments other than schools — in place. Those amount to less than half the average property tax bill and don't rise as fast as school taxes have. He'd rebate money to low-income people at the end of each year to make up for the harder hit they take, relative to their incomes, from the sales tax.

King says he and other members of the Texas Conservative Coalition have been talking about the sales tax-property tax swap for months. And he says House Speaker Tom Craddick plans to announce that a new legislative committee will look at alternatives to the property tax before the next legislative session. Craddick's office isn't making public promises. "The issue of eliminating school property taxes and replacing them with sales tax is an interesting idea, and the speaker will visit with the members about the viability of that idea in the coming days and weeks," says Alexis DeLee, a spokeswoman for Craddick.

Tison, speaking before the tax flap, told us he has no particular problem with King, but said the incumbent has spent his time on utility and telecommunications issues and that "the people in Parker and Wise Counties need someone to work with them on their issues."

King is one of House Speaker Tom Craddick's top lieutenants; Tison says he hasn't got a position on Craddick. "I don't know anything about the speaker," he says.

In a written statement, he was a little harder on King than in an interview: "This fast-growing area needs a representative whose top priorities are the hard-working families and small business owners of Parker and Wise counties, not the partisan agendas of politicians in Austin," Tison said. Tison's finishing his fourth term as mayor; before that, he was Weatherford ISD's superintendent.

Danger in the Details

A lawmaker tinkering with sales taxes can do one of two things to bring in more money: Raise the rate or add to the number of things that the state taxes. Both have economic and political risks.

The first option is a complicated piece of math that we'll oversimplify for illustration. The state's current sales tax of 6.25 percent brings in about $21 billion annually, or about $3.4 billion per penny of the tax rate (that's a rough calculation based on the comptroller's current revenue estimate, which is based on expected levels of taxable sales in the state this year and next).

These next numbers are even gamier, so we'll apologize in advance to the revenuers who do this for a living: If you want to raise, say, $3.4 billion, you add a penny to the sales tax. If you want to get rid of all local school property taxes, you'd have to add four or five cents to the current rate. And you'd have to guess how much you were going to hurt sales by doing that, since sales tax increases amount to price increases on everyday goods. Higher taxes can lower sales, so you have to raise taxes even higher to get the money you wanted, which can lower sales. It's full of trouble

The second way is easier to explain, if politically more dangerous. You raise revenue by getting rid of sales tax exemptions currently in place, choosing from a cafeteria array of items like home sales, food, medicine, farm equipment, utilities, car repairs, haircuts and perms, and on and on. Apply the existing rate to an untaxed item, and you get that much more revenue without raising the tax rate.

But each of those exempted items has one or more constituencies. Local reports of Rep. Phil King's comments on sales taxes, for example, set off the Realtors, the medical associations, and others who sell goods and services that aren't subject to taxes. That was based on newspaper reports that he'd suggested taxes on their transactions. King says he's not endorsing any specific changes right now. He also declines to name anything he definitely wouldn't subject to sales tax. As far as he's concerned, it's all on the table.

It's All in the Timing

For a few months, the regular limits on campaign contributions didn't apply to Democrats giving to U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega.

But the Houston Democrat and his supporters didn't make much of the opportunity.

Now, with multi-millionaire lawyer Mikal Watts out of the race, some Democrats are wondering if Noriega lost more than just a primary opponent.

Noriega's chances to be the Democratic candidate against U.S. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in next year's Senate race improved when Watts dropped out of the race in October. Noriega, a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who has served in Afghanistan, was at a huge financial disadvantage against Watts, who bankrolled his own campaign with millions of his own money.

But strategists say that Watt's early exit dried up the media interest and, more importantly, the money that comes with that interest in the race. And he'll need money — raised at a clip of $800,000 a month or more — if he makes it to the general election next November and spends enough to head-to-head against Cornyn on advertising and organization.

"The great narrative of the Watts/Noriega saga was there," says one Democratic strategist speaking on background. "And now that it's gone, it's left a great void."

Also gone is Noriega's ability to ask deep-pocketed donors to go above and beyond the usual campaign limits of $2,300 per election. Because of the "millionaire's amendment" in federal campaign-finance law, opponents of wealthy, self-financed candidates can ask for up to six times the individual giving limit, which amounts to $13,800 per election this election cycle.

Now that Watts is out, Noriega's limits have snapped back to normal. The window of opportunity lasted almost five months — from June 1st, when Watts reported to the Federal Election Commission that he'd given his campaign $3.8 million, until Oct. 23, when he dropped out of the contest. But only seven individuals (one was former Gov. Dolph Briscoe) donated more than $10,000 to Noriega up through the end of September, FEC records show, and only a handful more crossed the standard $2,300 barrier. Noriega's campaign said three individuals gave the full $13,800 maximum to Noriega in October before Watts dropped out, and says several others during that same time gave more than the normal $2,300 per election but did not max out.

Sue Schechter, Noriega's campaign manager, says the campaign did its best to take advantage of the higher maximums while it could, but persuading donors to part with 13 grand was no walk in the park.

"It's not easy, that's a lot of money," she says.

It's hard to raise money against a self-financing candidate — some donors see a bad investment there — but for whatever reason, Noriega's camp missed a chance.

Whether Noriega, who raised about $580,000 through the end of September, has the money-raising chops to take on Cornyn is a concern among some Democratic strategists. Cornyn already has a big lead, with $6.6 million on hand at the end of September. He also got big money shots in the arm a few weeks ago when President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney came back to the Lone Star State to raise dough for his campaign.

In a state as big as Texas, strategists estimate that $10 to $15 million minimum is needed to have a shot at winning. Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, who lost to Cornyn in 2002, made it into that financial park and still fell short on Election Day. Noriega says money and "making my name a household name" isn't the issue, and told reporters in Austin this week, "It's not about how the media looks at Cornyn's bank account, but how [voters] look at their own bank accounts."

"[Noriega] has got to wake up and live and breath raising money everyday," one Democratic consultant says.

That hefty price tag may also deter fat cat, out-of-state Democratic donors from opening their pocket books to Noriega, strategists say, when they could get a bigger bang for their buck by donating to a Senate race in a smaller state — New Mexico's an easy example — where campaigns costs less.

Schechter says claims that the Noriega campaign slowed down after Watts dropped out are false, and they have remained as aggressive as ever in their efforts. She says they plan to spend in the six-figures in the primary alone to increase Noriega's statewide visibility. With Watts out, little-known Ray McMurrey, a high school teacher and tennis coach from Corpus Christi, is the only other declared hopeful to be the Democratic nominee and isn't expected to put up much of a fight.

Jason Stanford, who was with the Watts campaign until it fizzled, says it's easy to criticize Noriega's campaign from the sidelines but points out that no one has figured out how to beat a Republican in a statewide office in many, many moons.

"There's no playbook on how to do it," Stanford says. "[The Noriega campaign] is going to have to feel their way through this."

— by Alan Suderman

The 3 Percent Solution

It'll be the biggest steroid testing program in the world. Officials aren't quite sure what it's going to look like, and they won't know its consequences until at least 2009. But the passage of Senate Bill 8 turned the eyes of the nation upon Texas, and its restrooms.

Texas high schools will become one great big laboratory during this school year. The experiment will show how many kids actually use steroids, and will determine whether the threat of randomized urinalysis tests hinders steroid use.

Tests get most of the attention, but the legislation mandates that all athletic coaches, for grades 7 and up, go through an educational program designated by the University Interscholastic League or by the individual school district.

"The whole point of this program is to ensure safety, and a fair and competitive environment for our young athletes," says the House sponsor, Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van.

The program's specifics aren't set in stone yet, he says. The UIL released a tentative set of rules and is taking public comments until Dec. 19. The UIL is reviewing bids from 14 private testing companies, Rogers says.

About 3 percent of high school athletes would be tested each school year, with test subjects spread around 30 percent of state high schools. That translates to about 20,000 to 25,000 students per year, out of the more than 700,000 students who play sports.

According to the nationwide Monitoring the Future Study, from the University of Michigan, about 2.7 percent of American high school seniors in 2006 reported ever having tried steroids, down from a high of 4 percent in 2002. About 1.8 percent of seniors said they used steroids in the past year, and 1.1 percent in the past month. (Those figures are comparable to stats for the use of crack cocaine.)

If the MTF survey is accurate, and the testing is fair, testing 25,000 students would catch about 275 steroid users. Officials aren't sure what the UIL is going to do with its statistics or how long records will be kept.

"That is one of the questions that has been asked," Flynn says. "We don't want schools to be answering that in courts."

The UIL will produce the statistics and results at the behest of lawmakers, says Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, stressing that legislators aren't interested in which individuals tested positive or not. "We're looking for prevalence," he says.

But there will be consequences for those who fail. For the athletes, the first confirmed positive test result carries a one-month suspension from competition, and the student must pass a subsequent test before being reinstated. A second failure brings a one-year ban. A third strike, and you're out of public school sports.

Details are still being hashed out, but a student who tests positive will have the same chance as everyone else (3 percent) of getting tested during the next school year.

Dust off the abacus again, and that means about 88.5 percent of student-athletes will never be tested in four years of competition. A student has about an 11 percent chance of being tested once in four years, a 0.51 percent chance of being tested twice, a 0.01 percent chance of being tested three times (that's 1-in-10,000), and a 0.000081 percent chance of being called to duty four times in four years (that's an 8-in-10 million chance).

If you assume 150,000 freshmen will play sports during all four years, about 16,500 will be tested once, 765 will be tested twice, 15 will be tested three times, and one-eighth of a kid will be tested four times.

Even though a 3 percent chance of being tested each year "is still a relatively small amount, even that little bit of fear could be a deterrent," Janek says.

Thus far, the limited amount of science on the topic of drug testing is inconclusive. A two-year, randomized controlled study of 11 Oregon high schools (five that had testing policies and six that did not), showed no difference in past-month drug use between students at testing schools and students at non-testing schools.

The authors of that study (the Student Athlete Testing Using Randomized Notification, or SATURN) appeared in the Nov. 2007 Journal of Adolescent Health) conclude in the abstract, "More research is needed before DAT [drug and alcohol testing] is considered an effective deterrent for school-based athletes."

Janek hadn't seen the SATURN study, but he says an important goal of the statewide testing program is to pinpoint the level of steroid use by students, and to ascertain if testing — whether that means testing more or less students someday — is a way to address the problem.

Flynn scoffs at the results. "That's somebody's opinion. Everyone has an opinion," he says.

He adds, though, that legislators will be keeping an eye on future research, and "if something comes up that says this program is not one that's going to curtail steroid use, then, yeah, we're going to look at something else."

Janek says the money for the first two years of testing are coming from general funds. The bill's fiscal note estimates the cost of the program at $4 million per year.

Officials are sorting out how to pay for testing beyond the 2008-2009 school year. Two possibilities are that the money could come from the state budget, or it could come from an increase in the price of tickets to UIL events.

— by Patrick Brendel

Political People and Their Moves

Carter Smith is the new executive director of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Until now, he's been head of the Nature Conservancy of Texas. And he's replacing Robert Cook, who resigned earlier this year.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, got the number three spot in the Senate's GOP leadership. We mention it here because of who he's not. He won after U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas — who's got the number four spot — gave up her effort to move up. That also pushed John Cornyn of Texas out of the running. He'd made a play for Hutchison's spot in case she moved up.

Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, won a $420,000 settlement from the city, ending a lawsuit over the city's decision to terminate his job at the Fire Department when he was elected to the Lege in 1991. The money is for back pension benefits.

Les Trobman got a promotion: He's the new general counsel at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. 

Tarrant County Commissioner J.D. Johnson is the new president of the Texas Association of Counties. The new president-elect is Roberts County Judge Vernon Cook, and Travis County Constable Bruce Elfant is TAC's new vice president.

Gov. Rick Perry's appointment machine has been on. He named:

• Former Transportation Commissioner Johnny Johnson of Houston to the "Study Committee on Private Participation in Toll Projects." He'll be joined by Robert Poole, a transportation consultant with the Reason Foundation, and Grady Smithey of Duncanville, a former city councilman who's now secretary of the Dallas Regional Mobility Coalition.

• Former Highland Village Mayor William Lawrence and Janelle Shepard of Weatherford to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. Lawrence owns and runs a dispute resolution firm. Shepard is a registered nurse case manager at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital.

While Perry was making those last two appointments, the Texas Supreme Court was appointing Justice Jan Patterson of the state's 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin to that panel. And the State Bar of Texas named Tom Alan Cunningham of Houston to the panel; he's the founding partner of Cunningham Darlow LLP.

Quotes of the Week

Former President George H. W. Bush, telling the Houston Chronicle why he's not working on an autobiography: "Well, one, you've got the president there, and so you know to the degree that it would be published soon, people would always try to find differences between father and son, nuances of difference in personality, differences in policy, and I just don't want to risk something that would come out that in some way would complicate his life. I'm confident that historians will be kind to us in a lot of ways and maybe critical in others. But I have confidence that those things will happen. Some good historian will write something."

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, in The Dallas Morning News after she dropped out of a race for the Senate GOP's number three post: "I never made the decision to run. I'm very happy where I am... It's one rung difference but it's not, I think, important at this point. I'm in every meeting that leadership has."

Hutchison, in the Houston Chronicle, on her reputation for ducking tough political fights, like the 2006 governor's race: "It's a bad rap. I didn't run for governor because I thought it would split the party, and the party wasn't ready. That's not the case today."

Democratic political consultant Colin Strother, in the Austin American-Statesman, on Rep. Dawnna Duke's vote this year to keep Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick at the helm: "That whole line of Dawnna voting for Craddick has no traction. It hasn't come up. This is Austin, probably the most politically aware city in the state, and they have no idea who he is."

Bowling Green statistician Jim Albert, in The Wall Street Journal: "You can prove any silly hypothesis... by running a statistical test on tons of data."

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Texas Weekly: Volume 24, Issue 25, 10 December 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.

Bloggers are using up a great deal of bandwidth this week on discussion of Texas House races. They're also talking about U.S. House contests, discussing U.S. Senate happenings and touching upon the topic of the state Senate. And there are some random posts, too.

* * * * *

Full House

State Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, is officially seeking reelection: "That should end one nasty rumor," he says in his A Capitol Blog. Peña is looking at a strong challenge from fellow Democrat Eddie "Touch the Tip of Your Nose With Your Finger" Saenz, says Capitol Annex, who's wishing Peña all the best despite his status as a "Craddick D."

After hearing state Rep. Phil King's idea to support schools through sales tax revenue, Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog, says, "Good luck with that." Burnt OrangeReport remarks, "I see now why Parent PAC has recruited a primary challenger to Craddick supporter Phil King," while Annex quips, "Oh, Rep. King. You are deliberately trying to get sent home by the voters, aren't you?"Annex adds that the Parent PAC recruit is Weatherford Mayor Joe Tison. Kuff's take is here.

And in an earlier post on King, Burnt Orange refers to state Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, as "Speaker Cracker Barrel." On a more serious note, BurkaBlog explains why the Weatherford Republican's proposal just won't work, seriously.

Former House District 10 candidate Lorenzo Sadun throws his weight behind fellow Democrat and current HD-10 wannabe Dan Grant in this Burnt Orange post.

Brian Thompson is taking a crack at state Rep. Dawnna Dukes in HD-46's Democratic primary, says Burnt Orange. In a post laced with profanities, McBlogger elucidates his position against Dukes, while muckraker takes credit for outing an indiscretion by Dukes in 2004.

Tim "the guy who likes talking cows" Kleinschmidt, a Repbulican, is taking another stab at incumbent Robert L. Cook III, D-Eagle Lake, in HD-17, says Annex.

Edwards Aquifer Authority Chairman Doug Miller is in the HD-73 race, says Burnt Orange. In the Democratic primary, he'll face Daniel Boone (a bonafide descendant of the Alamo defender, apparently). Incumbent Nathan Macias, R-Bulverde, might have a GOP challenger in one Wayne Harrell, a Republican who Burnt Orange (*gasp*) respects.

Democrat Chris Utchell has announced his candidacy for HD-91. In 2006, Utchell ran Democrat Byron Sibbett's campaign for the same seat, according to Burnt Orange. Utchell is a computer technician for Keller Independent School District, proffers Annex.

Eye on Williamson has its eye on retiring state Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, speculating that his membership on the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission could be the plum appointment rumored about on the Internets. (Maybe, but the position is unpaid.) Meanwhile, here's a glowing report on a fundraiser for HD-52 Democrat Diana Maldonado, written by the Maldonado campaign, relayed by Williamson. Here's a list of HD-52 candidates — real and hypothetical — from Off the Kuff.

The online Texas Progressive Alliance is endorsing Dan Barrett, the only Democrat running in HD-97, says Burnt Orange. And if the number of campaign signs has direct correlation to the number of votes, Barrett's going to win the election by a margin of about 91 to 9, according to Burnt Orange. But Burka believes the GOP's baseline advantage in the district will prove enough for Mark Shelton to beat Barrett.

Former Chet Edwards staffer Sam Murphey is in it to win it in HD-55's Democratic primary, says Annex. More on this from Kuff.

Kuff has the news on HD-129, featuring Democrat Sherrie Matula, and also says Texas Democratic Party communications director Amber Moon is not running in HD-144, but that Democrat Joel Redmond, a mortgage broker, is.

CPA Ginny McDavid, a Democrat, is challenging state Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, in HD-138, says Annex. Here's an interesting tidbit: McDavid, a former flight attendant, earned the U.S. Air Force's Civilian Desert Shield & Desert Storm Medal.

Democrat Armando Walle has declared his candidacy in HD-140, says Kuff. And Texas Blue has an interview with state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, here.

* * * * *

CD Players

Wayne Avellant, whom Annex dubs "one of those corporate seminar gurus," has thrown down the gauntlet in Congressional District 3's GOP primary, where he'll face incumbent Sam Johnson, R-Plano. Meanwhile, Republican Kevin George garnered 554 signatures for the right to take on U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall, in CD-4, says Annex.

"Texas Justice" Judge Larry Joe Doherty, a Democrat, says he's got $300 grand in the kitty for his bid in CD-10, according to Texas Politics. Republican U.S. Rep. John Carter wrote an op-ed for The Hill on the need for bipartisanship, which Williamson finds hilarious. And here's a "Personal Message from District 31 Congressional Candidate Brian P. Ruiz," from Ruiz's Brian P. Ruiz for Congress blog.

Winner of Headline of the Week, by first-round knockout, is Half Empty for a CD-22-related post titled, "Sekula Gibbs Touts Racist Islamophobic Blog." The Grand Old Party's Pete Olsen is officially in the CD-22 hunt, says Annex. And adhering to its appellation, cd 22 watcher has everything you'd ever want to know about CD-22, and more! [eds. note: Each word in that last sentence is a different link. Sheesh!]

* * * * *

Senate Tenants and Applicants

Burnt Orange has a poll — and the results don't look too good for U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Texas Blue says the poll results indicate "a potential statewide opening for Democrats," not necessarily "a groundswell of support for Democrats."

You know it's getting close that special time of year when legislators are getting called the Grinch. The College Democrats of America oblige with this video on Cornyn, via Burnt Orange. Also in Burnt Orange's A/V club is video of Rick Noriega's official announcement to run (if you're not down with multimedia, here's the text of the speech from Annex) and, to be fair, a real video of Cornyn.

Annex isn't happy with a recent vote by Cornyn regarding the Alternative Minimum Tax.

Democratic U.S. House members from Texas are publicly backing Noriega, relays Annex in this post here. Kuff explains why this is important, here.

Noriega's passed the quarter-million dollar mark in online contributions, reports Burnt Orange, while PinkDome engages in some (off-)colorful hyperbole in this post on U.S. Senate leadership, and takes a moment to diss U.S. Senate race newcomer Marc Smith, a Republican.

Texas Observer Blog takes a good look at the Democratic Primary, featuring Noriega and Ray McMurrey, here. And Burka wonders if Kay Bailey Hutchison's failure to launch a Senate leadership bid could hurt her in a 2010 gubernatorial election.

* * * * *

Rookie of the Year

State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, is the Texas District and County Attorneys Association's Freshman of the Year. WTF? says Burnt Orange. Meanwhile, Annex has a CNN clip of the aforementioned FOTY engaging in alleged "asshattery."

* * * * *

And the Rest

Former Atlanta Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney stepped into the Bayou City this week as part of her Green Party bid for the Presidency, reports Brains and Eggs.

Burnt Orange has a roundup of Democratic declarations of candidacy here.

McBlogger uses the words "craptacular douche," "nebbish" and "irredeemably stupid" in this post on the 2010 gubernatorial race.

Professors-R-Squared has four posts on Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's speech in College Station, one, two, three and four. Here's the take by Chronic, the Austin Chronicle's blog. Here's one by In the Pink Texas. This is what PinkDome has to say on the subject. Here's Texas Politics' two cents. And three from Trail Blazers. Plus one from Memoirs of a Young Conservative.

Burnt Orange interviews Texas Supreme Court candidate Susan Criss, a Democrat. And Grits for Breakfast is calling on some Democrat, any Democrat, to run for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

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This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria and finds Austin's climate pleasantly arid. We cherry-pick the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. The opinions here belong (mostly) to the bloggers, and we're including their links so you can hunt them down if you wish. Our blogroll — the list of Texas blogs we watch — is on our links page, and if you know of a Texas political blog that ought to be on it, just shoot us a note. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey.

The National Football League wants baseball-style parleys with two big cable companies, but Texas legislators aren't sure they have the authority to schedule the game.

The footballers want lawmakers, in the 2009 session, to appoint a third-party arbitrator to preside over talks, the way baseball handles owner-player talks: The NFL and cable companies would each submit a proposal, including distribution size and price, and then the mediator would pick one. The cable companies say they want no part of that.

During a special meeting of the House Committee on Regulated Industries, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones asked legislators to force Time Warner and Comcast to the arbitration table over the price and distribution of the NFL Network. (Jones is also head of the owners' NFL Network Committee.)

On Nov. 29, the Cowboys beat the Green Bay Packers in a game available only on the NFL Network — causing Cowboys fans outside of the Dallas-Fort Worth area to either find something else to do, to seek out a satellite dish, or to find a bar showing the game. Many of the disgruntled also chose to complain to their local lawmakers.

From the committee's point of view, the issues are twofold: Whether the committee has jurisdiction over the issue, and if so, what it should do.

"My impression is that Texas doesn't have jurisdiction about program content," said committee Chairman Phil King, R-Weatherford, after the meeting. He tends to view the disagreement as a problem between two businesses, he said, but didn't give a timetable for a decision.

The NFL wants to charge cable companies 70 cents per customer per month and to include the NFL Network in their basic cable packages, along with golf and hockey channels owned by the cable companies. The cable companies want to add the NFL Network to a special sports package — costing $5 to $8 per month — that already includes baseball and basketball, or alternatively, to offer NFL Network games on a pay-per-view basis. Basic cable customers wouldn't pay for what they aren't watching, and in the pay-per-view plan, the NFL would keep all the proceeds.

Goodell and Jones argued that Time Warner and Comcast have an unfair advantage in the Texas cable market and that, since fair competition does not exist, the Legislature should intervene on the behalf of NFL fans.

Cable proponents disagreed: "Competition is alive and well in the video market in Texas," said former Rep. Todd Baxter, now a lobbyist for the Texas Cable and Telecommunications Association.

The Federal Communications Commission has express jurisdiction over this exact kind of dispute, said Howard Symons, also with the cable association.

Goodell and Jones accused the cable companies of giving preferential treatment to less popular channels the cable companies own (concerning things like cooking and shopping), another matter over which Symons said the FCC has express authority.

That was countered by University of Texas at Austin law professor Ernie Young. He said the NFL's proposal is for the state to provide a less costly and less complex forum in which to resolve a dispute about federal law, something well within a state's rights.

"I think the law professor made a very powerful argument," said state Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas. "But the ability to do something is a long way from doing it."

The NFL got some support from Larry Darby, an economic and financial consultant based in Washington, D.C.: "The playing field is still not level, and there are still considerable benefits to incumbency for telecommunication and cable companies."

Darby, who's been involved with telecommunications deregulation since the 70s, said the NFL paid for his trip to Austin but that he was testifying on his own behalf. Large cable companies still enjoy significant advantages over their competition, Darby said. He also presented research purporting that cable companies do favor their own shows over independent programming.

"Incumbents will not yield dominance without a fight," Darby said.

"I'm just interested in getting this dang thing settled," said Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas.

Swinford said his city's government loses money every time someone switches to satellite from cable and that makes him think the Legislature might have some jurisdiction over the matter.

Baxter suggested that cities could tax satellite and cable companies the same amount (an idea that caught the attention of San Antonio City Councilman John Clamp, who was in attendance).

Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, said his constituents worry that the NFL is planning to reduce the number of games shown on broadcast TV for free.

The NFL has been yanking free games from its viewers, Baxter said, noting that 20 percent of Texas households have antenna TV only, and in some regions, like Oliveira's, the number is 36 percent or higher.

Goodell said broadcast customers miss access to only 25 of the NFL's 256 regular season games per year only on cable. And he said that's not likely to go up much, if any. He said the NFL's popularity is built upon free TV, and revenue from games shown on subscription TV will allow for games to continue to be shown on free TV.

—by Patrick Brendel

Add Dawnna Dukes to the list of Texas lawmakers misreporting credit card spending by their campaigns.

Nearly a third of the Austin Democrat's spending over the last eight years went through 19 credit card accounts. That's legal, but the law requires candidates to say where they spent the money rather than listing the credit card company as a vendor. She did the latter.

From 2000 to the latest report filed last July (the years for which electronic reports were available from the Texas Ethics Commission), Dukes spent a total of $296,377 (rounded).

That total included $89,697 spent on credit cards and not attributable to any particular vendor. It includes, for instance, $32,247 spent on American Express. While her reports describe the items purchased — furnishings, meals, rental cars, air fare, lodging, printing, gifts, and so on — they don't include information about where those things were purchased, what hotels and airlines and printing companies she paid.

Her reports do include such details on purchases that didn't involve credit cards. Her overall spending over that eight-year period — just under $300,000 — was relatively light when compared to others in the House. But about 30 percent of it isn't traceable to any particular vendor. There's no way to know, for those purchases, who the Dukes campaign was doing business with, where she was staying on trips, or even the destinations of some of those trips.

Earlier this year, the Houston Chronicle outed more than a half-dozen lawmakers with the same mistake in their campaign finance reports, including Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, who's now seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. He and all but two others quickly corrected their reports on file with the state (the state's online database doesn't show any corrections by Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, and Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio). Noriega's report was corrected, but the state fined him $1,000 for the transgression this week, reducing his penalty to that amount from the $10,000 they could have fined him.

Elsewhere in her report, Dukes was specific about where the money went. Dukes spent $17,054 reimbursing herself for various things, $7,546 on furnishings for her campaign and state offices, $11,764 for gasoline, $5,700 at Office Max, $22,677 on phones and cell phone services, $987 on cable TV, $465 for "radio equipment" for her office, and $279 for XM Satellite Radio.

The reimbursements included a $2,500 payment that covered expenses from another report; that earlier report, however, didn't include a form for spending by the candidate herself. And the spending was counted against the campaign twice, first as normal campaign expenses for goods and services, then as a reimbursement.

The spending on gasoline sounds odder before you break it down. Assuming gasoline prices of $2.75 per gallon (it covers more than just the price you're paying now) and assuming she gets just 15 miles per gallon, it's enough for 64,167 miles. Her home in Pflugerville is 16.3 miles from the Capitol. With our assumptions and that mileage, her spending would cover 1,968 trips from home to the Pink Building and back. That's 246 round-trips every year, or about the number of work days in a 50-week work year. A caveat: If average gas prices were lower, her mileage was better, or she didn't go to work every day, then some explanation's in order.

Dukes wasn't immediately available for comment (she's been out of town or otherwise tied up since we first called last week). Colin Strother, her campaign consultant, says she started reporting the credit card expenditures correctly when the Ethics Commission sent a "tip sheet" to lawmakers in June. That sheet — the second page of the document found here — says "the name of the vendor who sold the goods or services is always disclosed as the payee. DO NOT disclose as the payee the name of the credit card issuer." That reminder doesn't refer to a new law. The reporting rule it refers to has been in place since before Dukes first ran for office in 1994.

So why are people reading Dukes' campaign finance reports? She hasn't had a serious contest since that first one, when she beat two other Democrats vying to succeed Rep. Wilhelmina Delco, D-Austin. She's faced mostly Libertarians (she beat a Democratic challenger in 2000) and has never dipped below 72 percent in a general or primary election since the 1994 race.

But she might have a battle this time. Some of her Democratic colleagues have been trying to recruit a primary opponent because of Dukes' support for Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick, who rewarded her with spots on the Appropriations and Calendars committees. Nobody's filed against her, but Austin lawyer Brian Thompson has filed a campaign treasurer report, which allows him to raise money while he decides whether he'll get in.

The last election of the year will be over next week, with either Dr. Mark Shelton or Dan Barrett winning the remaining year of Anna Mowery's time in Fort Worth's House District 97.

It is, on paper, a Republican district, and all but one of the five Republicans culled in the first round has endorsed Shelton. Former Rep. Bob Leonard hasn't. And his backers, quietly, are pushing the same line that Barrett's backers are pushing, loudly. To wit: That Election Day auto-dial calls blasting Leonard and smearing candidate Craig Goldman, as the source were somehow tied to Shelton.

Maybe so.

The Lone Star Project — a Democratic group run by Washington consultant Matt Angle — notes the appearance of Dialing Solutions LLC of Roswell, New Mexico, on Shelton's last campaign finance report. That info wasn't available before voters made their first decisions, but appeared in the reports that were due eight days before the runoff. Shelton spent $1,586 with the company, which has done nearly $300,000 in business in Texas in the last four years, some for groups that have helped House Speaker Tom Craddick stay in control in the Legislature (that's the part of interest to the Democrats at the moment; most of the group's work — $254,271 of it — was done for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst). Shelton has said that if he wins a full term next year, he'd support another term as speaker for Craddick. Barrett's a "no" vote. Leonard wouldn't state a position before the special election, leading many local politicos to conclude he's also a "no."

The runoff election is Tuesday. And although filing is underway for the regular election for a full term in that office, Shelton is the only Republican who's filed; a spokesman for Leonard says his guy hasn't decided whether he'll run.

Oh, yeah, the reports! Barrett raised $72,607 and spent $46,365 between the last days of October and the first week of December. With eight days left before the runoff, he had $20,923 in the bank. He got $5,000 from the Fort Worth Firefighters along with contributions from the House Democratic Campaign Committee, $4,057, and the Texas Parent PAC, $2,225. Shelton raised $78,938, spent $105,061, and ended with $39,380 in the bank and $50,000 in outstanding personal loans to his campaign. His contributors included Texans for Lawsuit Reform, $25,000, and Houston builder Bob Perry, $10,000.

Push-back on sales tax swaps, and a deal in the middle stages on sales taxes for online and catalog sales.

Swapping higher sales taxes for lower property taxes is a bad idea, says a report from the Center for Public Policy Priorities. They contend it would be hard on Texas businesses, would raise taxes for most Texas families, and would hurt public education, which gets the property taxes in question now and would be in line to get the increased sales taxes.

Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, made this topical, saying he and other conservatives have been working on the idea and that he's hoping the House will make it the subject of an interim study on the state's taxes. He wasn't specific about how he'd raise taxes. Replacing the state's school property tax would increase the 6.25 percent sales tax rate by five to six cents on the current tax base; the rate increase would be smaller if lawmakers extended the tax to things that are currently tax-free.

Either way, the CPPP folks say it's spinach. Business would be hurt because Texas would have the highest sales tax in the U.S., a differential that would make Texas prices less competitive. They contend it would be regressive — harder on poorer Texans — though King proposes a year-end rebate for lower income Texans to make it less regressive. And they contend it would be hard on public education, since the revenue from the tax would swing with the economy. The current system, with sales and property taxes, is less susceptible to quick economic changes.

King has said the Texas Conservative Coalition is working on a proposal and that he hopes this will be an issue when the Legislature meets about a year from now.

• While we're in Taxland, Comptroller Susan Combs says the states are moving closer to a deal that'll make it easier to tax online and mail order sales. Stuff you buy online and through catalogs is taxable now, but people ignore that to the tune of about $541 million a year. That's the amount of taxes the state doesn't collect from those sales, Combs estimates. Businesses don't have to collect taxes for the state if they're not located her, and most taxpayers don't voluntarily donate the tax money they save back to the state.

The deal worked out by the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board — a multi-state panel that's been trying to work out a compromise that can survive battalions of legislators and the U.S. Congress — hinges on whether taxes are applied where things are sold or where they're delivered. Things sold over state lines would be taxed at the destination's tax rate; buy something from an Oklahoma company online, for instance, and your local sales tax would apply. But things sold within the state would be taxed at the origin's sales tax rate. Buy a Dell computer from, say, Fabens, and Round Rock would still get to collect local sales taxes.

Combs will go to the Legislature to ask them to join the SST project, which now includes 22 states. Once enough states have opted in, they'll go to Congress to try to get the system put into federal law.

This is an excerpt from an actual memo circulating in the comptroller's office, possibly proving that there's a link between an office building full of cubicles and a KOA Kampground:

"This is a reminder that the Texas Facilities Commission (TFC), Tenant Manual, 'Section VII. Safety, Security and Shared Areas' prohibits employees in state buildings to use unauthorized appliances in their office spaces. The TFC wishes to provide a hazard-free working environment for all state employees. Failure to comply may result in notification to the proper personnel to ensure compliance. A List of unauthorized and potentially hazardous appliances includes, but is not limited to: air purifiers, aquariums, coffee cup warmers, coffee makers, coffee pots, crock pots, curling irons, desk or floor fans, hot plates, immersible water heaters, indoor grills (such as; George Foreman type grills), microwave ovens, refrigerators, space heaters, steam irons, toaster ovens, toasters, water coolers/dispensers with heating or cooling elements".

San Antonio Republican Francisco "Quico" Canseco has tripped the wire, and anyone who gets into the Republican primary for CD-23 with him can bust the normal spending caps.

That's called the Millionaires' Amendment, and it says that if your opponent tosses more than a certain amount of his own money into the race — it's $350,000 for House candidates — then your donors don't have the normal campaign finance limits. The normal limit is $2,300 per person for a primary election. Once the wire's tripped, though, it jumps to $6,900 in a House race.

That said, Canseco's the only guy in the race so far. Bexar County Commission Lyle Larson has talked about it, and if he waits until next year to file (January 2 is the deadline), he won't have to forfeit his county seat to run. The GOP nominee will face U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, in November.

Candidates are coming out of the woodwork...

Karen Wiegman, a former Grand Prairie school board member, will try to wrest the HD-106 seat back for the Republicans. She'll challenge Rep. Kirk England, a Democrat elected as a Republican who changed parties earlier this year. She lists herself as a former England supporter — he's in his first term — who can't abide his party switch. England won last year with 49.2 percent of the vote, with a Democrat just 235 votes behind him and a Libertarian taking the rest of the votes. It's a tossup district.

• Corpus Christi teacher Ray McMurrey, seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, starts with a challenge to supporters: Help raise $5,000 before he files for office next week, when he needs to pay that much to the Texas Democratic Party to file for office. He'll jump in on Tuesday.

• Rep. Harold Dutton Jr., D-Houston, has to pay $16,000 in back child support and $8,000 in legal fees after his ex-wife hauled him into court. At issue were support payments for the couple's four sons. Dutton is chairman of the House Committee on Juvenile Justice & Family Issues.

• Fort Worth Sen. Kim Brimer picked up endorsements from the political affiliates of the Arlington Professional Fire Fighters, Fort Worth Fire Fighters Association, Arlington Police Association, and the Fort Worth Police Officers Association. The Republican incumbent will face former Fort Worth City Councilwoman Wendy Davis, a Democrat, in next year's elections.

• If you believe local races drive turnout, watch Harris County. To nobody's surprise, Charles Bacarisse will be running against appointed County Judge Ed Emmett in the March GOP primary. Emmett, a businessman and former state legislator, took the job when Robert Eckels resigned. He wants to win in his own right, and Bacarisse, the former district clerk, wants to knock him off.

On that same turnout theory, the Democratic primary in Travis County could be interesting. Tax Assessor-Collector Nelda Wells Spears faces a challenge from former state Rep. Glen Maxey.

• A dozen Democrats from the state's congressional delegation endorsed Rick Noriega in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a San Antonio Republican. That's one Democrat short of a load. Missing is Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who says, through a spokesman, that he's voting for the Democrat but not endorsing. He just doesn't do that, the spokesman says.

• Randy Dunning, one of three candidates in the hunt in HD-112, got endorsements from Republican National Committeewoman Denise McNamara and from Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, R-Parker. Dunning, a former Garland city councilman, is running against Angie Chen Button and James Shepard. Rep. Fred Hill, who's got the seat now, isn't seeking reelection. And everyone in this paragraph, to simplify things, is a Republican.

• Meanwhile, in Houston, there's some political cannibalism underway. Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, is backing a Republican challenger to a Republican lawmaker in a district overlapped by Patrick's own Senate district. It's probably not unprecedented, but it's out of the ordinary. Patrick won his seat by beating a Houston city council member and two Texas House members. One, Joe Nixon, was supported by Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale of Tomball. All are Republicans. That's the context, and now, we'll quote from Patrick's letter on behalf of former Houston policeman Allen Fletcher, who is taking on Van Arsdale in the primary: "Last year, we learned together how difficult it was to win against the establishment's candidate; it will be even tougher to win against the establishment's incumbent candidate."

The publisher of a math textbook wants Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott to overrule the State Board of Education, after the board voted to reject the use of math books already in use in 30 school districts.

Everyday Mathematics is the third-grade book of choice in more than two dozen districts including the second-largest, Dallas, and one of the best, Highland Park. But last month, the SBOE voted not to put it on either the "conforming" or "non-conforming" lists of books for use in Texas public schools. They put it on a list of "rejected" books, meaning school districts can use it but that the state won't help pay for the books.

The board's vote — actually a tie — followed the recommendation of Educational Research Analysts. They knocked the book for allowing students to depend on calculators over memorization and for not providing timed quizzes, among other things. The book apparently meets the state's curriculum requirements.

Now the publisher — McGraw-Hill — is asking Scott to put the book on the conforming or non-conforming list before the end of the year. If he decides not to overturn the board's decision, they can take it to court.

The SBOE decision wasn't legal, the publisher says, because rejecting the book wasn't one of the board's options once they found it met at least 50 percent of the state's curriculum requirements. And the vote was weird. One member of the board was absent, leaving 14 members there to vote. One abstained, and seven voted to put the book on the non-conforming list; that same group then voted to put it on the rejected list. Since there weren't eight votes — a majority on the 15-member board —the vote to reject wasn't legal, the company says in its briefs.

Lawmakers asked Attorney General Greg Abbott — in two different rounds — about the powers and duties of the Speaker and the House and how and whether to conduct elections and coups. And here are the requests and the shower of legal briefs that followed:

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Briefs and other documents from the inquiry over the powers of the Speaker of the House:

06/18/07 Request for Opinion (RQ-0589-GA): Reps. Jim Keffer and Byron Cook

06/20/07 Reply and Request for Briefs: Attorney General

07/19/07 Supplemental request (RQ-0605-GA): Rep. Will Hartnett

07/20/07 Brief: Speaker Tom Craddick

07/20/07 Brief: Rep. Warren Chisum

07/20/07 Brief: Parliamentarian Terry Keel

07/23/07 Brief: Former Speaker Rayford Price

07/25/07 Brief: Rep. Dan Flynn

07/31/07 Brief: Common Cause

08/01/07 Brief: Texas Progressive Alliance

08/03/07 Brief: Rep. Charlie Geren et al

08/03/07 Brief: Rep. Jodie Laubenberg

08/03/07 Brief: Rep. Leo Berman et al

08/03/07 Brief: Rep. Bill Callegari

08/03/07 Brief: Rep. Jim Pitts

08/03/07 Statement: Craddick on filings of 08/03/07

08/03/07 Supplemental brief: Parliamentarian Terry Keel

08/03/07 Letter: Rep. Jim Dunnam

08/03/07 Brief: Rep. Brian McCall

08/08/07 Supplemental brief: Speaker Tom Craddick

08/09/07 Letter: Rep. Charlie Geren

08/10/07 Letter: Parliamentarian Terry Keel

08/20/07 Memo: Rep. Jim Dunnam on Abbott and Craddick

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Quickie background: At the end of the legislative session, House Speaker Tom Craddick held off a challenge to his leadership post by telling members he had "absolute power" to deny their efforts to be recognized for motions to remove him from the chair.

In two different requests, lawmakers asked Attorney General Greg Abbott for his opinion — which isn't legally binding — on six questions:

1 — Are the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate "legislative officers" who can be replaced by legislators according to House and Senate rules, or "state officers" who can only be removed as described in the Constitution?

2 — If a Speaker or a President pro tempore in the Senate is constitutionally impeached, does that cost the officeholder his or her seat in the Legislature, or just the leadership gig?

3 — If a Speaker is legally removed during a legislative session, does the House have a legal obligation to name a replacement or do they have to leave the seat empty?

4 — Does the Speaker have unlimited discretion about whether to recognize members' motions, including a motion to remove that Speaker?

5 — Do senators have the power — by Constitution or rule — to remove the president of the Senate by a majority vote, and at any time? Or is removal governed by the Constitution?

6 — Does the president of the Senate have the power — constitutionally or by rule — to refuse to recognize a motion by a senator to vacate the chair?

The first four questions were posed by Reps. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, and Byron Cook, R-Corsicana. They closed their letter asking "whether there is any limit to the speaker's power in the face of House Rule 5, Section 24" — the rule cited by Craddick when he said the speaker has an "absolute" power to recognize or not recognize questions and motions from the floor of the House. They contend, in essence, that the speaker can control the order of recognition of legislators, but not whether they have a right to be recognized in the first place.

Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, followed a month later with the last two questions tossing the Senate and its rules fully into the soup. He said in his request to Abbott that he thinks these are political questions and that separation of powers should bar the AG from weighing in on legislative matters. But in case Abbott wanted to jump in, Hartnett wanted him to consider questions about the Senate along with those about the House.

Gov. Rick Perry says in legal briefs filed Friday that his campaign followed finance reporting laws in accepting and disclosing $1 million in late contributions from the Republican Governor's Association. Those contributions came during the final days of the 2006 elections.

Democrat Chris Bell, who finished second in that four-way race, sued Perry's campaign, saying RGA wasn't properly registered to give the money and that Perry's camp broke the law by taking it. Bell also said the governor and RGA were trying to cloak the real source of the money.

In Bell's view, the contributions were made by Houston homebuilder Bob Perry to RGA, which then gave the money to Gov. Perry (the two Perry's aren't related) to hide the homebuilder's involvement.

In his briefs, the governor denies doing anything wrong and asks the court to throw out the case and reward the Republican victor with legal fees.

Mauricio Celis, a South Texan accused of practicing law without a license in a noisy case that's splashed several political figures, wants to move his case from Corpus Christi to Austin.

His lawyer (Austin's Steve McConnico) says two cases already filed in Austin cover the same ground as a lawsuit in Nueces County.

Celis and his lawyers say he's authorized to practice law in Mexico and that he hasn't broken any laws restricting who gets to be a lawyer and who doesn't.

Celis' legal troubles began this fall and quickly got into the political pool: He's given to a number of local politicos in state and federal offices, and he's close to then-U.S. Senate candidate Mikal Watts. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is suing him, too, in one of the Travis County suits cited in the motion for a change of venue. In fact, Abbott sued in Austin before the locals moved in Corpus. Jason Stanford, a consultant who worked for Watts and, last year, for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell, is handling media calls for Celis.

Elsa Murano will be the next president of Texas A&M University, after being named the sole finalist for that job. She is currently vice chancellor of the Texas A&M University System and dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the main campus in College Station. She'll be the first woman in that post, and the first Hispanic.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed former Dallas City Manager Richard Knight Jr. to the board of regents at Texas Southern University in Houston. Knight is the managing partner of Pegasus Texas Holdings LLC.

Perry named Texas Tech University professor Juan Sanchez Muñoz of Lubbock to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Muñoz, who's also assistant to the president at Tech, is commissioner of the Lubbock Housing Authority.

And there are three new appointees on the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, which oversees the prison system: Eric Gambrell, a lawyer from Highland Park; R. Terrell McCombs, vice president of McCombs Enterprises in San Antonio; and Janice Harris Lord of Arlington, a social worker and consultant on crime victim issues.

A reorganization at the Texas Education Agency makes Ray Glynn the acting deputy commission (one of three) for school district leadership and educator quality. Barbara Knaggs and Shirley Beaulieu got promoted to associate commissioner jobs. And three become deputy associate commissioners: Gloria Zyskowski, Lisa Dawn-Fisher, and Laura Taylor. All six were in other jobs at TEA before the moves.

David Quin is leaving the Texas Senate after 13 years as a staffer there, most recently as legislative director to Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas. Quin got a management gig with the Conference of Urban Counties. Graham Keever, now the director of the Intergovernmental Relations Committee, will take Quin's spot with West.

ERCOT (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas) has three new board members: Bob Helton of International Power America Services; Robert Thomas of Green Mountain Energy; and Charles Jenkins of Oncor.

A plug: John Young, political columnist for the Waco Tribune-Herald, has a book of collected columns out. You can get Ghosts of Liberals Past at the front desk of the paper (that's old school) or by ordering it on Amazon (that's new school).

Deaths: Elspeth Rostow, former dean of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and a formal and informal advisor to presidents, governors and other public officials here and in Washington, D.C. She was 90.

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle -- the prosecutor who handles cases involving state officials -- won't seek reelection next year.His statement: "I want to thank the people of Travis County for entrusting me with the responsibility of this office to see that justice is done. At the end of my term we will have had a 32-year partnership, because doing justice is the job of the community itself. "If a candidate for district attorney comes forward whose election would in my judgment best serve the interests of this community I will be free to make my opinion known. "I can only say that I have learned from my service over the decades that the first, last, and most important responsibility of the district attorney is to put the interests of the children first. "As long as that can be done, I am confident that the district attorney will be fully capable of sorting out everything and anything else that needs to occur in order to see that justice is done. That's because the bottom line of this job is that if it doesn't lead toward justice for the children, it is not justice at all. "This has been for me the best job in the world and I am grateful to the voters of Travis County for this rich and wonderful opportunity and these experiences for all these years. "I want to thank my splendid staff, and especially First Assistant District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, for making the success of this office over these decades possible. "There are particular cases pending that are enormously important to this State, this country, and democracy itself. If they are not resolved during the forthcoming last year of my term I will offer my assistance on those matters on a pro bono basis to my successor. "I look forward to whatever the future may bring. "I have no specific plans, other than to not go gently into that good night."