After coming up short in the official recount, state Rep. Nathan Macias, R-Bulverde, is going to court to try to keep his seat. A copy of the lawsuit is posted here. One point of attack: He contends a "fairly large" number of people voted in both the Republican and Democratic primaries. Macias lost the election by 38 votes in the initial count. The recount closed that to 17. He won the seat two years ago by a similarly narrow margin. His opponent then, Rep. Carter Casteel, elected not to go to court. The winner, for the moment, is Doug Miller, former Mayor of New Braunfels. Macias' lawyers — Rene Diaz and Trey Trainor — say Miller benefitted from some votes that shouldn't have been counted, and that Macias suffered because election officials didn't count some votes they should have counted. They contend the number of questionable votes was greater than Miller's margin of victory. And they're asking the court to either figure out the real result or order a new election. Miller says he was "saddened" by the lawsuit and compared Macias' effort to Al Gore's push for a Florida recount in 2000: "You hope the guy would do the right thing and allow the voice of the people to be heard."

A sharp-eyed reader spotted this one; the new Showtime series State of the Union starts with a shot that has the state's top leaders — Rick Perry, David Dewhurst, and Tom Craddick — smack dab in the middle of a political crowd.

As long as you don't have a direct conflict of interest, you can apparently work for the state and have a private law practice at the same time.House staffer Trey Trainor is working off hours as an attorney on an election law case — an arrangement that's unusual, but apparently legal. Trainor is one of two lawyers representing Rep. Nathan Macias, R-Bulverde. Macias is suing to overturn the primary election that ousted him after one term by 17 votes (look here for that story). Trainor is also the clerk of the House Committee on Regulated Industries and a top aide to its chairman, Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford. He admits it's an unusual circumstance, but says he checked state law and the House's own rules before signing on with the lead lawyer in the case, former Judge Rene Diaz. He's not representing anyone with business before the House or the committee, and the rules of the House say you can have a second job if you've got your employer's approval. King, he says, approved. And, he adds, he's not working on the case on House time. He says he's done legal work for his family while on the state payroll. And he's listed with the Republican National Lawyer's Association in the "hire a Republican lawyer" section. Trainor says he's involved because of what he knows about election law after working for a year for then-Secretary of State Roger Williams. "I have a unique perspective," he says. Doug Miller, who won the primary — at least so far — says Trainor's involvement surprised him. "He was on the recount team, too," Miller said. "It amazes me... like a Republican governor giving $20,000 in a Republican primary. What's going on here?" Gov. Rick Perry contributed that amount to Macias.

Texas House candidate Ken Legler owns properties in Harris and Galveston counties, but don't buy the line that he's got homestead exemptions on both of them. Local tax officials say it ain't so, in spite of what they've posted on the Internet.Texas law only allows one homestead exemption per taxpayer. Former Rep. Gene Seaman, R-Corpus Christi, lost a reelection bid two years ago with a similar issue playing a role; he had exemptions on properties in Travis and Nueces counties, and blamed his wife for the mistake. Legler's foes thought they caught him making the same mistake, but it's a bogus claim. The websites for the appraisal districts in Galveston and in Harris counties indicate Legler has homestead exemptions in both places. But the Galveston website is out of date. It's got the old owner listed (though Barbara Legler shows up on a tax payment) and says there's a homestead exemption. Officials with the Galveston Central Appraisal District say they're in the process of updating it, and say the Leglers don't have and haven't applied for a homestead exemption there. The Harris County exemption is apparently the only one they've got. Legler's daughter goes to Friendswood High School, which is in neither the school district nor the House district where Legler is running for office. But he's got a house in both places. Points of interest on the web pages below: 1-Owners' names in Harris County 2-The homestead exemption in Harris County 3-Tax payment in Galveston County 4-The outdated homestead exemption in Galveston County 5-The outdated ownership info in Galveston County

Glenn Shankle will leave the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, where he's the executive director, as soon as a replacement is named. He told the board this week and they'll start a search to replace him. He's held the post since mid-2004 and worked for the agency for a decade before that. In fact, he retired once before and returned, joining zillions of other long-term state employees allowed by the Legislature to collect retirement checks and paychecks at the same time. Before he joined the environmental agency, Shankle worked in the Texas Senate and for the Comptroller of Public Accounts.

One loop in the race for Travis County District Attorney works like this:

1. An anonymously authored political website posts "news" that House Parliamentarian Terry Keel is helping candidate Mindy Montford.

2. The other candidate — Rosemary Lehmberg — sends out mailers (see below) repeating that and other bits from blogs, a statewide political journal, and the local paper.

That's not an unusual two-step in the political ecosystem. But there's potentially a dirty trick in this example. It turns out that political consultant Kelly Fero, who's working for Lehmberg in this race, is the anonymous blogger on that first website (credit the first report on that to the Austin American-Statesman). He apparently wrote the bit about Keel, and still vouches for it (though he didn't sign it at the time).

Keel, who works for House Speaker Tom Craddick, says he hasn't played any role in any of the DA campaigns. He's not saying explicitly what he'll do, but expect legal action that hits on libel, slander, campaign finance, and political ethics.

Keel's involvement in the race would be a big deal, if true. He's a former first assistant to DA Ronnie Earle (as Lehmberg is now). Earle has been in Craddick's political business since the 2002 election that put Craddick in power, so Keel, who's generally been a defender and friend of Earle's, might have a motive to get involved.

Whatever his motive, he researched the Austin Political Report, called the registrars in Bryan/College Station, found out Fero was the owner, and called foul. He's not commenting further at this point because of "pending litigation."

So be agnostic about this for a minute. The election is Tuesday, and chances are good that voters will go to the polls either suspecting Montford of getting help from Republicans, or suspecting Lehmberg of paying for laundered news she could use in her political mailers to slime the opposition.

Who's the trickster? We'll know sometime after Election Day. And if there is a crime under all of this, the prosecutor in charge would be... the candidate who wins next week.

Glenn Shankle will leave the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, where he's the executive director, as soon as his replacement is named (they want someone new in place before the start of the legislative session in January 2009). He told the board this week and they'll start a search to replace him. One name in the hat is Shankle's number two, Mark Vickery. Shankle held the post since mid-2004 and worked for the agency for a decade before that. In fact, he retired once before and returned, joining zillions of other long-term state employees allowed by the Legislature to collect retirement checks and paychecks at the same time. Before he joined the environmental agency, Shankle worked in the Texas Senate and for the Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Dr. Kenneth Shine will take over as interim chancellor of the University of Texas System. He's currently the vice chancellor for health affairs and will fill in until the Board of Regents names a permanent replacement for Mark Yudof, who's leaving to run the University of California System.

Tom Krampitz is leaving the Texas Motor Speedway, where he's been general counsel and head of government affairs for six years, to hang his own shingle in Fort Worth. He's the former head of the District and County Attorneys Association in Austin; he'll specialize in transportation and economic development.

State Sens. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio and Kirk Watson of Austin will co-chair the Texas Democratic Party's state convention in Austin in June. Keeping score? She's for Clinton. He's for Obama.

Ken Anderson, appointments director for Gov. Rick Perry for the last six years, is moving on. That job goes to his deputy, Theresa Spears, who's worked for several years in Perry's political office with grassroots groups and issues. From her new perch, she'll handle Perry's appointments, the latest of which include:

• Luke Inman of Wellington as district attorney for the five-county 100th judicial district. He's a private attorney and will replace Stuart Messer of Memphis, who left the job when Perry appointed him to a judgeship.

• Ten new members to the Brazos River Authority Board and named Christopher DeCluitt of Waco to chair that panel. The newbies include Patricia Bailon, a retired political consultant from Belton; Richard Ball, co-owner of Wes-Tex Vending Co. in Mineral Wells; Grady Barr, president of Double Barr Corp. in Abilene; F. LeRoy Bell, president of Compass Financial Strategies in Tuscola; Peter Bennis, CEO of First State Bank Texas in Cleburne; Zach Brady, a Lubbock attorney; John Brieden, a Brenham insurance agent; John Sloan, president of First Texas Bank Round Rock; Scott Smith, a consultant with A.G. Edwards & Sons in Cedar Park; and Salvatore Zaccagnino, an associate at LPL Financial Services in Caldwell.

• Seven new members to the Office of Rural Community Affairs and put Wallace Klussman, a rancher and retired Texas A&M University professor, in the chairman's spot. The new members are David Alders of Nacogdoches, president of Carrizo Creek Corp. and manager of Alders' Enterprises; Woodrow Anderson, owner of Anderson Farms in Colorado City; Bedias Mayor Mackie Bobo, an education consultant; Charles Butts, CEO of Medical Arts Hospital in Lamesa; Remelle Farrar of Crowell, director of the Knox County Visioning Team and the Texas Prairie Rivers Region; Joaquin Rodriguez, an Eagle Pass attorney; Linda Saenz, who owns a realty company in Carrizo Springs; and Patrick Wallace of Athens, an administrator at East Texas Medical Center there.

• John Eckstrum of Montgomery to run the Texas Real Estate Commission, and named Avis Wukasch of Georgetown to an open spot on that board. Both are real estate brokers.

• William Berry James of Palestine to the Upper Neches River Municipal Water Authority Board of Directors. He's an orthodontist. And he'll replace Joe Crutcher of Palestine.

• Douglas Saunders, who owns an eponymous company in Amarillo, to the Oil Field Cleanup Fund Advisory Committee.

• Lewis McMahan of Dallas to the Texas Water Development Board in place of William Meadows of Fort Worth. McMahan is a retired veep at Texas Instruments.

• Named David Duree of Odessa the chairman of the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy and added Stephen Peña of Georgetown to that panel. Both men are CPAs.

Maybe he did something bad in a previous life: Chris Lippincott is the new head of media relations for the Texas Department of Transportation. He joined that agency after a stint with the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault and until now was in the federal legislative affairs section.

Nora Belcher, until recently the deputy director of the governor's budget staff, left the Pink Building for Strategic Partnerships, where she'll be a senior consultant.

Republican consultant David Weeks — founder of Austin-based Weeks & Co. — is this year's "outstanding alumnus" of the College of Communications at the University of Texas.

Deaths: Darshoel "D" Willis, who for years was the clerk to the House Committee on Business and Industry, of cancer. He was 33.