Texas Republicans named former Rep. Talmadge Heflin of Houston the new executive director of the state party.

He'll replace Jeff Fisher, the former political consultant who held the post for the last two election cycles (and who'll remain in the background as an "advisor" to the Texas GOP. Heflin was in the House for 22 years and was chairman of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee when he was upset by Houston Democrat Hubert Vo in 2004 in an election that came down to a couple dozen votes and an election contest in the House. He lost a rematch last November (54.3 percent to 45.7 percent), and has since been working as a policy fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin. Heflin will continue in that post while serving as the GOP's executive director.

Executive directors usually come from consulting or political operative ranks. Fisher did a stint as Van Zandt County Judge, but he's also got experience running campaigns. Heflin doesn't have that. But he's a fiscal and social conservative; in fact, his top credential — $10 billion in cuts to the 2004-05 state budget while he headed the budget committee — is also the main reason Democrats blasted his appointment to this gig. State GOP Chair Tina Benkiser touted that in a press release announcing she's hiring Heflin, saying he "helped close a $10 billion budget shortfall without raising taxes." Her Democratic counterpart, Boyd Richie, touted it, too. His version: "When Heflin had to choose between making the special interests pay their fair share or cutting the heart of the state budget, Heflin cut 200,000 children off of CHIP, forced students to use out of date textbooks in classrooms, and proposed a tax on groceries."

Roger Williams, who was running elections for the state until earlier this summer, is now running elections for the state GOP.The former Texas Secretary of State is heading up the 2008 coordinated campaign for the Republican Party of Texas, a fundraising gig that'll return him to regular contact with the people who pay for campaigns. Williams was appointed by Perry after serving as a national fundraiser for President George W. Bush. In between, he was the state's top election official, a political but nonpartisan job. It's not unusual for folks in either party to go back and forth like that, but it's a weird tradition. Here's a copy of Williams' latest money-raising letter (on a second page, readers are prompted to donate $20,000, $25,000, $5,000, or "I/we cannot commit at that level today, but enclosed is a contribution of ..."):

They say they're running...

State district Judge Susan Criss, a Galveston Democrat, will run for the Texas Supreme Court. She's challenging Justice Phil Johnson of Amarillo, a Gov. Rick Perry appointee who has never run statewide. On her website, Criss calls herself "the blogging judge;" she's got one on the campaign site and another one called "As the Island Floats"...

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, will apparently face former Webb County Judge Louis Bruni in next year's Democratic primary. She's held that seat since 1987...

Tim Turner, a former State Republican Executive Committee member, a member of the Texas Medical Board, and a former candidate, is considering a run against Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte. Turner's a Republican; Jackson's already got Democrat Joe Jaworski gunning for him...

Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, got her fill of rumors about her intentions; she announced that she'll soon announce that she's running for reelection to the Senate. Local gossips had her looking at county posts, but she's not interested. One line in her announcement stood out: "Others who continue to discuss running for Senate District 26 should be clear; if they run in that race, they'll be running against me."...

Jeff Humber will be in the Republican primary to replace Rep. Anna Mowery, R-Fort Worth. She's retiring and about 500 people have been thinking about getting into that race. Humber, a health care exec, said in his announcement that he wants to work on affordable and accessible health care if elected.

Eric Bearse, who's been working for Gov. Rick Perry longer than all but one or two people on the governor's staff, is leaving to open a public affairs, political and speechwriting shop. Bearse has done all of those things for Perry, working in his campaigns, his government communications shop and writing Perry's fancy words for the last few years. He'll office with other Perry alums like Mike Toomey, Ray Sullivan, and Rossanna Salazar.

Richard Alvarado of San Antonio is the new interim executive director of the Texas ACLU. He's the replacement, for now, for Will Harrell, who left that organization to work for the Texas Youth Commission. A search for a permanent replacement is underway.

Ron Hutcheson, a veteran Texas political reporter who did time in Austin and in Washington, D.C., is switching sides: He'll join Austin-based Public Strategies Inc., working in their Washington office. He was with McClatchy Newspapers, owners of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, his professional home for a couple of decades.

The Texas Railroad Commission is keeping up the tradition of putting the commissioner who's on the ballot in the middle seat. Michael Williams return to the chairmanship of that agency.

The Texas State Teachers Association hired Joe Patrick Bean, a former teacher and journalist, to handle public affairs. He was most recently the editorial page editor at the Victoria Advocate, and he also did time at the San Antonio Express-News.

State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, was elected chairman-elect of the Southern Legislative Conference, a group made up of lawmakers from 16 states.

Appointments: Benjamin Sasse, an assistant prof at the LBJ School at the University of Texas at Austin, was tapped by President George W. Bush as assistant secretary of health and human services for planning and evaluation. That requires Senate consent.

Don McLeroy of Bryan is Gov. Rick Perry's choice to chair the State Board of Education. That's an elected post, but the governor gets to pick which of the board members serves in the middle seat. McLeroy, a favorite of the right and a foil of the left, has been on the board for eight years.

Randy Clapp, an attorney from El Campo, will put on the robes for the 329th Family District Court until the next general election. Perry appointed him to replace Judge Dan Sklar for that Wharton-based court. Samuel "Roger" Bridgwater III of Houston will take over the 178th District Court. He's a former prosecutor and until now was a private practice attorney, and he'll replace Judge William Harmon.

Perry named four new board members for the Department of Information Resources: Austin venture capitalist Cliff Mountain, who'll be the chairman; Harris County District Clerk Charles Bacarisse (a reappointment); Rosemary Martinez, vice president for business affairs at the University of Texas at Brownsville; and Robert Pickering Jr., CEO of LBI International in Houston.

Les Butler of Fort Worth and Kevin Jackson of Austin will join the state's Council on Purchasing from People with Disabilities. Butler is CPP of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission; Jackson is retired from the General Motors Corp.

Perry named Jesse Adams as presiding officer of the Texas Racing Commission. Adams is president of a tax-consulting firm and of Adams Land and Livestock. The governor appointed Ronald Ederer, a San Antonio attorney, to that board. He's a former U.S. Magistrate and a former federal prosecutor.

Bob Barnes of Granbury (formerly of Odessa) will join the Texas Mutual Insurance Co.'s board as a Perry appointee. That's the insurer of last resort for workers' comp insurance. Barnes runs a real estate and development company and is a former head of the Texas Restaurant Association. While he was at it, the Guv named Richard Cooper of Lubbock to preside over that board.

Cydney Donnell of Fredericksburg, a business prof at Texas A&M University, will take a seat on the Employee Retirement System board. Perry named her to a term running through 2012.

Finally, Perry named three directors for the One Star Foundation, which promotes volunteerism and community service: Beau Egert of Friendswood, who used to be on the One Star staff and now works for Luscinia Health; Pastor Charles Lewis Jackson of Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Houston; and actress Janine Turner of Colleyville.

Deaths: Dr. Robert Bernstein, Texas Commissioner of Health from 1980-91, who'd been battling leukemia and heart trouble. He was 87.