Early voting in the April runoff elections runs Monday through Friday of next week (that's March 31-April 4). The pickings are slim, and you're loopy if you think turnout will look like it did in the first week of March.

• The only statewide race on the runoff ballot is on the Democratic side, where Dale Henry and Mark Thompson are vying for the nomination for the Texas Railroad Commission. The winner will face Republican Michael Williams in November.

• Two runoffs — one in each party — are on the congressional section of the ballot. Former U.S. Rep. Shelley Sekula Gibbs of Houston and Pete Olson of Sugar Land each want to challenge Democrat Nick Lampson of Stafford in CD-22. And Democrats Stephen Love and Eric Roberson of Dallas are vying for a shot at U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, in CD-32.

• No state Senate races have runoffs. The House has five — all on the Republican side.

• In HD-52, where Rep. Mike Krusee decided not to run, Bryan Daniel and Dee Hobbs will face off, with the winner running against Democrat Diana Maldonado in November.

• In HD-55, Ralph Sheffield and Martha Tyroch are angling for the spot now held by Rep. Dianne White Delisi; the Democrat waiting in the wings there is Sam Murphey of Harker Heights.

• In HD-81, Rep. Buddy West of Odessa is battling to keep his seat after finishing second in the first round to former District Judge Tryon Lewis. There's no Democrat in that contest.

• Either Angie Chen Button or Randy Dunning, both of Garland, will face Democrat Sandra Phuong VuLe in November. They're in a runoff for the HD-112 seat now held by Rep. Fred Hill, R-Richardson.

• And in HD-144, where Rep. Robert Talton decided not to seek reelection, Ken Legler and Fred Roberts of Pasadena have another round. The winner there will face Democrat Joel Redmond in November.

RRC

It's apples and oranges in the Railroad Commission runoff.

Henry, 76, is a retired oil and gas engineer from Lampasas. He's done a lot of work with the Lower Colorado River Authority and alternative fuels. He's run in this race before, against Commissioners Victor Carrillo and Elizabeth Ames Jones, and he's run as a candidate from both major parties. He says he has no predictions about the runoff results.

"I wouldn't even want to try."

Henry has never met nor talked to Thompson, a 48-year-old former Austin police officer who's now an advocate for people with disabilities and a therapist for blind children.

While Henry is campaigning on his experience in the oil and gas industry, Thompson is doing just the opposite. "People like me because I work with blind children... I'm not in the oil and gas industry," he says.

If he wins, Thompson wants to change the name of the agency because it has nothing to do with railroads. He also wants to get the commission to stop taking PAC money. On his site, he asks Gov. Rick Perry and all three Railroad Commissioners — Carrillo, Jones, and Michael Williams, the Republican in this year's race, to resign and return all of their campaign money collected from energy corporations.

"It's like a bad movie from the 50s when you come in and everybody's corrupt," Thompson says. "I'm not saying the whole commission's corrupt, but there are segments that need to be changed."

Thompson says his lack of experience has given Henry some ammunition. "He recently attacked me... because I didn't do a lot of voting," Thompson says. "I voted in the last city council election in Austin and I've voted off and on, but there were always the same characters running. When it comes down to it, there's no change."

Apparently, Thompson didn't vote once between 1996 and this year's primary.

So what's he doing in a Railroad Commission race? He says his first real brush with politics was advocating for a blind friend at some Cap Metro meetings (Austin's mass transit agency) — apparently, some officials were pretty rude and Thompson got frustrated. Then he started researching gas explosions in Cleburne and Wiley.

"I asked the Railroad Commission about it and they just blew me off," Thompson says.

That's when he started considering a run for the office. "I heard politics were so slimy and bad," he says. "But finally I said, 'I'm going to do it.'"

CD-22

They're getting a little testy in CD-22.

Olson's endorsements are piling up. The Olson for Congress Committee got some new members — Congressmen Sam Johnson and John Culberson, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, State Reps. Mike O'Day and Dennis Bonnen, plus a military trio of former CD-22 candidates: Kevyn Bazzy, Brian Klock, and Ryan Rowley. He's also got a list of city council folks and precinct chairs behind him. And he's got PACs and party groups, including the Eagle Forum, Concerned Women for America and the Republican National Coalition for Life and the United Republicans of Harris County.

"They're coming out of the woodworks," says Luke Marchant, Olson's campaign manager.

None of this scares Sekula Gibbs, according to campaign strategist C.B. Currier.

"Washington is in Washington," Currier says. "That would worry her if she lived in Virginia, like Pete. Unlike her opponent, who has a tremendous amount of connections in D.C., she's connected in the [House] district."

Sekula Gibbs got the most votes on March 4th. She's got endorsements from primary opponents Dean Hrbacek and Cynthia Dunbar. Currier says she's sticking to a clean campaign.

"Pete's always tried to paint her into a nasty corner, and that's an unfortunate thing for the general constituency of the district," Currier says. "Shelley's sticking with facts and reality."

Olson says he's sticking to the facts, too. His campaign just sent out a document on Sekula Gibbs' office spending during her short tenure in Washington in 2006, saying it raises questions about her claim to be a fiscal conservative.

Currier says the campaign is working on an official statement about the claims, but that Sekula Gibbs' spending was more cost-effective than the majority of Congressmen and that she returned $20,000 to the federal government before leaving Washington.

"Every statement just shows his desperation and out and out hypocrisy," Currier says.

CD-32

Roberson and Love are fighting for air.

Love, 74, has financed his campaign out of pocket. The retired clergyman and therapist says he inherited a little cash from his parents and has run a "modest campaign" – no yard signs or bumper stickers. He says this race isn't generating much heat.

"With these bit fights between Obama and Clinton, nobody's going to listen to anything else," he says. "They're sucking up all the oxygen."

That said, he's zeroed in on two facts about Roberson — that he lives outside the district and switched parties in 2006.

"I live outside the district by 2.1 miles," admits Roberson, a trial lawyer. "I was honest with folks about that." He says he didn't move so his kids could stay in the same school.

As for the jump to the blue side, Roberson says after the 2006 election, he was fed up: "I couldn't take it anymore... I was displeased that the Republican Party was getting away with not being challenged."

The residency thing will prevent him and his wife from voting in the runoff, but Roberson says he's found plenty of support among Republicans who are cutting their ties to the party. He says friends and neighbors who never talked politics with him before are suddenly telling him all about their own skepticism of the GOP. He's also picked up endorsements from the Dallas Morning News and the Burnt Orange Report, plus Rep. Allen Vaught, D-Dallas, and some local government folks.

If he doesn't come out on top April 8, Love's not too worried. He had fun: "Anyone who feels like they're just brown shoes in a sea of tuxedoes should run for political office."

HD-52

The candidates in HD-52 hadn't strayed far from their positions as friendly foes.

"I think it's certainly competitive," says Daniel, who's got endorsements from a list of conservative PACs, like Texas Right to Life and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. "Voters are beginning to draw distinctions on the issues, but there's no personal attacks and I think it'll continue in that vein."

Daniel says he knows the media is sick of hearing them say the campaign is issue-based.

The district just doesn't like dirty campaigning, says Hobbs, who picked up endorsements from the other two primary candidates, Vivian Sullivan and John Gordon.

The big challenge is getting voters back to the polls. Hobbs says he hears plenty of "Don't worry, son, I already voted for you!" He also says he and his opponent joked about making a commercial with the two of them dressed in sumo suits.

"Anything to remind people to vote again," he says.

But to dampen their clean campaigning, Daniel just sent out a mail piece with a quote from the Texas State Rifle Association that Hobbs is "hostile to 2nd Amendment issues." Hobbs says he and his opponent both got "A" ratings from TSRA, and that Daniel just has more money to send out mail.

HD-55

Sheffield is smacking Tyroch for involvement in the Trans-Texas Corridor. She's smacking him for a history of delinquent taxes.

John Alaniz and Mike Pearce, the other two from the primary, are both endorsing Sheffield. So is the Empower Texans PAC, which made a parody of one of Tyroch's campaign videos and stuck it on YouTube. Tyroch requested they pull it. (You can see the original add and link to the parody here.)

Sheffield caught a bit of luck on TV. Fox News 44 did a story on how the Internet shapes campaigns — the anchor and reporter both refer to him as a state representative instead of just a candidate. You can see the report here. That'd be illegal if the candidate did it, but when the media does it, it's free advertising. They even mentioned his MySpace and Facebook profiles on air.

Sheffield, owner of Las Casas Restaurant in Temple, has been attacking Tyroch for her spending on the Temple City Council. He says she increased spending on culture and leisure services by over 100 percent, but gave highways and public safety much less. But, he does say she only has the endorsement of the firefighters and police force because she raised their salaries — so she hasn't completely left public safety in the dust.

Her return volley on the corridor is that the local panel doesn't approve or disapprove the thing — it's just an advisory committee.

The two haven't held any debates or forums since the primary. Sheffield says he's invited her, but she's refused. His answer on the taxes? He says he had some tough times but has paid all his debts and turned the business around.

HD-112

Want some heat? Look in Dallas' northeastern 'burbs.

Craig Murphy, Button's consultant, contends the campaign wanted to stay clean — but after starting calling Button out for her campaign donations to influential Dems, they had to get serious. Button's campaign sent out a footnoted press release with all kinds of attacks: Dunning raised property taxes and spending while on the Garland City Council, wanted to abolish the public school system, and wore a bulletproof vest to a city council meeting. There's also talk of him having a bunker under his home and calling a co-worker a Nazi. State Sens. John Carona, R-Dallas, and Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, wrote a letter to Republican voters, encouraging them to read up on Dunning and support Button.

Even the Dallas Observer is on Button's bandwagon. One story on Dunning features his picture with the caption "Republicans: Want a body-armored, property-rights advocating survivalist with links to the Republic of Texas militia as your next state representative? Vote for Randall Dunning on April 8."

Dunning has a lengthy reply to all this posted by Suzyblitz, a blogger we mentioned in our last HD-112 report. There, Dunning says the main source for these rumors is Garland City Councilman Larry Jeffus — and that Jeffus does some expensive political consulting for Button. That's true — she paid him more than $25,000 over the past few months. Dunning admits to donning the bulletproof vest — but as a joke after a council colleague threatened him. His "bunker" is apparently a tornado shelter.

"All of these attacks are a desperate attempt to rescue Ms. Button's campaign which is sinking from the weight of her numerous contributions and decade of support for liberal Dallas County Democrats," Dunning says, returning to his original strategy.

One more: His latest press release claims his opponent endorsed him — the last time he ran for Garland City Council.

HD-144

After the primary, we reported that Talton, the incumbent (he gave up the statehouse for an unsuccessful run for Congress), is backing Roberts. So is John Hughey, who ran against Legler and Roberts in the primary.

"Things are pretty status quo as far as information going out," says Roberts. "We send out one thing, they send out another."

Roberts says the most recent conflict involved Legler accusing Roberts of being responsible for tax increases — Roberts is a trustee of the Pasadena School Board.

"What he doesn't understand is that your taxes are associated with your appraisal caps," Roberts says. "Somebody coached him and had bad information."

Return fire? How's this: Legler has two homes, one in HD-144 and one in Friendswood, which is part of HD-129. That other house allows his daughter to go to Friendswood High School, where she's a junior and a Wranglerette. That's not only in a different House district; it's in a different school district, too.

One more thing. Legler's campaign site refers to him as "Legler, A Republican State Representative" across the top. Other banners on the site have the required "for," as in "Legler for state rep"; that one's missing.

—by Karie Meltzer

Miller, by.... Some

The counters in HD-73 say Doug Miller beat Nathan Macias, but this might not be over. It's tight, by all accounts.

A spokesman for the Republican Party of Texas puts Miller's margin of victory at 17. The question now: Will Macias — a Bulverde Republican and the current state representative — go to court to challenge the results?

If he does, it'll be a fight over which ballots were allowed into the count and which ones were not. Legal challenges are relatively rare, but not unheard of: Democrat Ciro Rodriguez, for instance, lost his congressional seat to Henry Cuellar after a primary election count, a recount, and a trial (he won his way back into Congress later).

In this one, Miller won — in the first, unofficial count — by 38 votes. The official count shaved a few off of that, but not enough to get Macias a second term. Miller won a majority in only one of the district's four counties — Gillespie — but that was enough.

On TV, but Not on the Ballot

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst recently completed a run of TV ads on Voter ID and immigration, geared to dovetail with non-binding GOP ballot questions on those issues. The Lite Guv's not on the ballot, but wanted to "talk to voters while they were paying attention."

Dewhurst does all of the talking in the ad, which starts with pictures of soldiers saluting at a cemetery, a shot of Dewhurst, pictures from polling places, of a driver's license with a fingerprint on it and then a final shot of Dewhurst's bumper-sticker logo, which says "David Dewhurst Lieutenant Governor."

"Americans have given their lives to protect our right to vote. That's why it's so critical only American citizens are allowed to vote. I'm David Dewhurst. We need to implement existing federal law and issue a tamper-proof driver's license or photo I.D. so we know who's here. And make sure that only U.S. citizens vote. Join me in protecting this basic American freedom. Our right to vote."

The text on the screen changes during the ad, starting with Dewhurst's name, and in time with the script, "Only American Citizens Vote", his name again, "Tamper-Proof Photo I.D.", then his web address — www.dewhurst.org— and finally a disclaimer.

In the second, an announcer starts things off: "Washington refuses to stop illegal immigration. So Texas added additional law enforcement, and surveillance technology. Texas is doing its part. Washington needs to do theirs." Then Dewhurst speaks: "Like you, I'm angry at Washington for failing to secure our borders while dangerous drug traffic and illegal immigration and gang activity are increasing. I'm David Dewhurst. We need to secure our borders and we need strong federal law enforcement to do it now."

The ad starts with pictures of the Rio Grande, of footage from helicopters, and a shot of the U.S. Capitol. Dewhurst comes on screen as he begins speaking, and the camera cuts away to graphics while he talks. The text on screen during the ad includes "26% increase in state law enforcement", "Plus over $100 million: helicopters, crime labs, overtime for border sheriff's deputies." Dewhurst's name comes up with his mug, as does his web address. The next graphics are headlines from ABC News and the Houston Chronicle: "Gang Crackdown on Illegal Immigrants", and "Six Illegal Immigrants Receive Prison for Smuggling Scheme." As Dewhurst says the words, the text "Secure Borders" and "Strong Enforcement" appears. The spot ends like the other one, with the bumper sticker logo and a disclaimer.

A media buyer we know found footprints of recent "buys" of TV time in smaller markets around the state, but a spokesman for Dewhurst says the ads have stopped running. The commercials didn't stop on Election Day, but did go off the air just a few days ago. That's verified, somewhat, by the dates on the ads' intros (the part that doesn't go on TV): The first was cut in February; the second, two days after the Texas primaries.

Let's Make a Deal

There's a tentative settlement in the fight over a state fund that subsidizes phone service in expensive-to-serve areas.

The competitors battling over the Universal Service Fund told state regulators they have a settlement in principle and need time to put the details on paper.

They didn't announce the terms, but the deal is expected to trim the size of those subsidies to AT&T and other phone companies, and to reduce the 4.4 percent levy on phone bills that feeds the USF. The Public Utility Commission's staff recommended huge cuts in the fund (see our earlier story), but the deal isn't expected to go as far as the staff recommended.

Generally speaking, AT&T was leading the fight to leave the fund alone — that company is the biggest recipient of the money — and competitors from cable and smaller phone companies were urging cuts in those subsidies.

The announcement means, for now, that the Public Utility Commission won't have to hold a planned April hearing on the USF.

World Police

Texas isn't bound by decisions of the World Court, and doesn't have to hold a second trial for Jose Medellin, a Mexican citizen who's now on Death Row, according to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The court's 6-3 decision in Medellin v. Texas is a win for the state, which said it didn't have to abide by the World Court's ruling. It's a loss for the Bush Administration, which had tried to force the state to honor the terms of the Vienna Conventions — in particular, for provisions requiring states to tell foreign nationals they have the right to contact their consulates before they're tried.

Texas didn't notify Medellin before he was accused, tried, and convicted for his part in the gang rape and murder of two Houston teenagers.

The full opinion is online here.

Flotsam & Jetsam

• U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has added a blog to his campaign website and found — in a sea of liberal bloggers — a list of conservative bloggers who've endorsed him for reelection. You know things have changed when a politician takes an endorsement from something called yeah, right, whatever. His chief challenger, Democrat Rick Noriega, turned his campaign website into a memorial this week to honor Americans killed in Iraq on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of that country.

• He can't vote in the election, but former Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting endorsed Rosemary Lehmberg in the hard-fought runoff for Travis County District Attorney. She and Mindy Montford are battling to replace their boss, Ronnie Earle, in the DA's office that has jurisdiction over state political and government figures.

• Now that he's committed to it, El Paso Democrat Joe Moody is trying to pull Republican Dee Margo into a self-imposed limit on the size of campaign contributions. Texas races have no limits; Moody's following the federal limits ($2,300 for individuals and $5,000 for political action committees) and says Margo should, too. The Republican's answer? Fuggetaboutit.

• An international dispute most people didn't know about has ended: Texas will start exporting beef to Mexico after a four-year ban. Ag Commission Todd Staples blocked Canadian cattle from being shipped to Mexico through Texas almost a month ago. The other border states on the American side joined in and that little blockade forced a settlement. Mexico blocked the sales in December 2003 because of concerns about mad cow disease.

Political People and Their Moves

Gov. Rick Perry appointed Oscar Fogle of Lockhart to the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority. Fogle, owner of the Oak Hill Ranch, will replace John Schneider of Lockhart on that board.

The Guv appointed Pablo Schneider of Richardson, an exec with Fusion Mobile, to the Manufactured Housing Board. He'll replace Frances Shannon of Spring Branch.

Perry made Harold Hahn of El Paso the chairman of the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority. He's the president and CEO of Rocky Mountain Mortgage Co., and replaces John Broaddus of El Paso.

Perry named John Paulo Flores of Dallas the presiding officer of the Texas Residential Construction Commission and reappointed Steven Leipsner of Austin to that board. Flores is an attorney; Leipsner is a principal of Leipsner Ventures Inc. Flores replaces Patrick Cordero of Midland.

And the governor named Stacee Bell of Horseshoe Bay and Catherine Estrada of Fort Worth to the Communities in Schools Advisory Committee, replacing Linda Navejar and Linda Mora on that panel. Bell is a community volunteer; Estrada is a marketing consultant.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst appointed Bobby Ray of Plano to the Task Force on Higher Education Funding. Ray is a regent at the University of North Texas and an exec with Hovnanian Enterprises, a homebuilder.

Dewhurst is the Texas Legislative Conference's 2008 Texan of the Year.

State Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, signed with Austin-based Brown McCarroll as Of Counsel. The firm's announcement says he'll support their operations in Austin and El Paso.

The political versions of the Oscars, presented by the American Association of Political Consultants, are public. And the Pollies (in Texas) go to: The Fort Worth-based Eppstein Group, which pulled in five of the awards for work on several ballot issues and on a Dallas mayoral race; Strategic Perception Inc., which pulled in four awards for that "Coal is Filthy" campaign that ran in statewide papers a year ago; and Houston-based Bethel Nathan, for work on a local bond campaign.

As expected, Mark Yudof is leaving the University of Texas System, where he's the chancellor, to lead the University of California System. Texas will start the search for a replacement.

Quotes of the Week

Former University of Texas Regent Robert Estrada, telling The Dallas Morning News the requirements for the next chancellor, with Mark Yudof leaving to run the University of California System: "You'd probably start with, 'Must walk on water,' and you'd probably want to throw in, 'Win the Final Four and another BCS championship.'"

Yudof, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle after accepting the California job: "Gasoline is expensive here."

Presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, in Newsweek: "I will keep campaigning for as long as people are supporting me and the money is there and that's what they want. I feel badly about just quitting... So for me, it's indefinite."

Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, quoted in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about proposals to sell the state lottery to a private concern: "It's a matter of price. If somebody comes in and promises to give us more money than we're making now, I'd be for it. If they can't, I won't. It's pretty simple."

Leslie Paige with Citizens Against Government Waste, quoted in the Houston Chronicle on the $2.2 billion in federal budget earmarks for projects in Texas: "Why should a person in Seattle or Michigan be paying for the Houston Zoo?"

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Texas Weekly: Volume 25, Issue 13, 31 March 2008. Ross Ramsey, Editor. Copyright 2008 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.

Official results from the Texas Secretary of State: Democratic Party primary Republican Party primary

Bloggers are chronicling the continuing war over Democratic presidential delegates in Texas. They're also taking note of the impact of a certain Lake Jackson congressman at Republican conventions, runoffs for primary nominations and the hot seat recently occupied by the Texas House Speaker. And then, some miscellaneous posts.

* * * * *

Donkey Doings

Barack Obama says he's won Texas; Hillary Clinton says maybe, maybe not, according to Postcards from the Lege, the Austin American-Statesman's blog. The numbers from Burnt Orange Report support Obama, but as Half-Empty muses, "The fat lady, however, doesn’t sing until the state convention this June. That’s the rule here in wild and woolly Texas. It’s not who you vote for, but who shows up... "

Those words rang true in Harris County's SD-6, where Obama no-shows swung the delegate total in favor of Clinton, according to Texas Observer Blog. They say the count was more proportional for Obama in Bexar County, but the convention was just as chaotic. Observer also says it was crazy in Tarrant County: here and here.

KVUE's Political Junkie live-blogged the Travis County convention, and Observer's take is here.

Postcards has the results from Hays County's convention, which earlier had "teetered on the verge of anarchy." Meanwhile, state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, characterizes the event in Hidalgo County as "lengthy, historic and sometimes chaotic," in his A Capitol Blog. And Half-Empty says confusion reigned supreme in Fort Bend County, while a couple of commenters on Texas Kaos report on Kaufman and Wise Counties (once you're there, scroll down to the bottom of the page.)

Obama took off his shoe and crushed Clinton in Dallas's SD-16 and SD-23 conventions (and also in SD-2), reports Trail Blazers, the Dallas Morning News's blog. And Dos Centavos reports that Harris County's SD-14 event went "Smooooooth," while musings says many rules were broken during Fort Bend County's SD-17 convention. Also here.

Political Junkie turns her blog into a lonely hearts forum for Democrats who found amore at the conventions — then lost it. And Burnt Orange has an item on state "superdelegates."

* * * * *

Republican r3VOLution

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's blog PoliTex predicted partially cloudy skies with a strong possibility of Ron Paul supporters at GOP conventions. They were correct.

Party officials in SD-12 brokered a pre-convention peace treaty, ensuring that a significant number of delegates to the state convention will be flying the Paulistinian flag, PoliTex says. Folks in SD-10 didn't get the memo — latest word from PoliTex was they were still fighting it out. And Paul's r3VOLutionaries hijacked Travis County's SD-25 convention, but didn't muster quite enough support to take over SD-14, says Postcards.

Things were "relatively ho-hum" in Sugar Land's SD-17, says Texas Safety Forum. The most interesting development was the announcement by Austin Furse to run for state Sen. Kyle Janek's soon-to-be open seat. Here's more info from the county seat.

* * * * *

Runoff Roundup

BurkaBlog analyzes the five GOP state House runoffs on April 8. Eye on Williamson takes a look at the GOP's HD-52, saying Bryan Daniel has more money, while Dee Hobbs has that hometown appeal.

Observer writes a story on the two Democrats still standing in the race for Railroad Commission. And Trail Blazers — paralleling our own covereage — says the GOP's HD-112 race has been so nasty that James Leininger is withdrawing his support for Randall Dunning. (Leinenger didn't say, however, that he's now backing opponent Angie Chen Button.)

* * * * *

Gone Fishin'

Political Junkie scoped out TomCraddick's deposition for a lawsuit regarding an alleged "threaten" letter to a travel company. She has a screenshot here that is prime for opponent's campaign mailers. The raw, uncut footage is here. And commentary is here, here and here. Trail Blazers' take is here.

* * * * *

Farrago

Rick Perry for Governor, in 2010? BurkaBlog moans.

Remember Mauricio Celis? TexParte Blog does.

Congratulations to il Duce Ross Ramsey for officially joining the M$M! via Burnt Orange.

An analysis of the pole tax smackdown, by Chronic, the Austin Chronicle's blog.

More maps of presidential primary results, by Greg's Opinion, here, here and here.

A take on the Bexar County needle exchange fight, by Grits for Breakfast.

Mike Falick's Blog won an award.

Cross-tabs of primary results by state representative district, from Off the Kuff.

An interview with Dwight Fullingim, a Democrat running for Congress in District 19, by Texas Blue.

Bloggers love... John Cornyn?

Videos from the U.S. Senate race, via Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog.

A money fight in an El Paso state House race, from Vaqueros & Wonkeros, the El Paso Times's blog.

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This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria but is spending the spring in the mid-Atlantic region. 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.

Things you'll find on the final page of the Macias lawsuit: A former judge's email address, and a House staffer.

We take you now to Runoff Land, where a handful of candidates are still smacking each other for a chance at their party's nomination.

• Fred Roberts is after Ken Legler for using his Social Security number in a mailer. The Legler gang says it was a mistake, but Roberts says he's filing criminal complaints and civil suits as a result. He says it'll lead to identity theft. The risk in bringing it up: Roberts is bringing attention to Legler's mailer, which attacked him for unsettled federal tax debts. That's a GOP runoff, in HD-144. Late money for Roberts came from the Texas Parent PAC, $10,000. Legler got runoff help from Houston builder Bob Perry, $25,000; Beer distributor John Nau III, $10,000; Dallas billionaire Robert Rowling, $10,000; and Empower Texans PAC, $6,901.

• Ralph Sheffield, with third-party help, took a swing at Martha Tyroch for her spending during a Washington, D.C., trip she took while on the Temple City Council. The details: She upgraded to a $450 per night room at the Mayflower Hotel and had a $30, seven-block cab fare on her expense report. The allegations didn't come from the Sheffield camp, but from Austin-based Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. The two Republicans are in a runoff in HD-55. The only late money in that race was a $10,000 check to Sheffield from Dr. James Leininger of San Antonio, who's also one of the biggest backers of TFR. Tyroch's biggest helpers are the Texas Association of Realtors PAC, which gave $33,541 since the primary election.

• Tryon Lewis hasn't been able to get a debate scheduled with Rep. Buddy West in HD-81. "We have a number of differences," says Lewis, a former district judge currently in private practice as an attorney in Odessa. "Mainly public education, the gross margins tax and immigration." Lewis says his opponent voted for the 2006 gross margin tax (which pays for cuts in school property taxes). He thinks it should be "eliminated or strongly changed." He hasn't proposed an alternative. Lewis isn't a fan of the TAKS test, but says West sponsors it. He also criticizes his opponent's position on giving drivers licenses and in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. He says he hasn't attacked anything about West but his voting record. We called West — he's not available for interviews, according to aides. Jesse Gore and Randy Rives — the other two primary candidates – are backing West. Notable: West's post-primary contributors include a half-dozen of his House colleagues: Byron Cook, $500; Delwin Jones, $1,000; Edmund Kuempel, $2,000; Tommy Merritt, $1,000; Jim Pitts, $10,000; and Allan Ritter, $2,500.

• The HD-112 race — a remarkably hard-fought race to succeed Fred Hill in the House — has a mess of interesting money floating around. Since the primaries cut the field from three to two, Angie Button got money from Sen. John Carona, $5,000; Texas Instruments Chairman Thomas Engibous, $10,000; Hyperion CEO Albert Huddleston, $5,000; Diodes Inc. CEO Keh-Shew Lu, $10,000; former Texas Republican Party Chair Fred Meyer, $2,500; and finally, a $150,000 loan from the candidate herself, bringing her total loan balance to $310,000. Randy Dunning's purse isn't as large. He got $5,000 from Bob Perry, $10,000 from the Texas Home School Coalition PAC, and $7,569 from Empower Texans PAC (which makes in-kind expenditures instead of giving money).

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed Pete Olson over Shelley Sekula Gibbs in the CD-22 runoff.

• The Houston Chronicle, following its sister paper in San Antonio, is dropping distribution in Austin and other spots outside of the main service area. Both papers are owned by the Hearst Corp. By this time next week, neither will be available in racks in the state capital nor for home delivery. Get thee to the Internet; both are free online, at chron.com and at mysanantonio.com.

With less than a week to go, the candidates in HD-52 are finally arguing about something.

Both Dee Hobbs and Bryan Daniel have capitalized on their positive, clean campaigning. They debate the issues, shake hands and make jokes. But on Mar. 25, Daniel sent out a mail piece showing the Texas State Rifle Association's rating of the candidates — "A" for Daniel and "hostile toward 2nd Amendment issues" for Hobbs. Then, Hobbs responded with an e-mail defending what he said was an A rating for himself, too. A letter from TSRA dated Mar. 19 proves that. Wait, there's more. On the 27th, Daniel sent out another mail piece with a side-by-side comparison of the candidates on issues and endorsements. It mainly shows how Daniel's got big conservative PACs — like Texas Right to Life and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility — on his side and Hobbs doesn't. It also repeats TSRA grade of "hostile." So, Hobbs sent another retort.

Alice Tripp, the legislative director for TSRA PAC, says the NRA mails the candidate questionnaire in January to every state candidate and asks for it to be returned to TSRA Feb. 4.

"Daniel and 99.9 percent of the other candidates got it in immediately," Tripp says. "That cutoff date is to build a sense of urgency."

Tripp says she wanted to get the info on the Web site by Feb. 19, on the 14, she noticed the one from Hobbs was missing. Apparently, he was the only Republican that hadn't returned the questionnaire. She couldn't get a hold of him, so she had to give him a rating of "?" which on their legend equals "should be considered hostile to 2nd Amendment issues."

"I didn't assign him that title," Tripp says. "He took it on himself."

Hobbs and Tripp e-mailed some and eventually, he got the questionnaire in on the 19. The same day, Tripp sent Hobbs a letter saying his answers gave him an "A" rating. But, she didn't change the voter's guide on the TSRA PAC site right away. She didn't change it until the early morning hours of the 28th — there's a footnote explaining Hobbs' tardiness there, too.

Daniel says when he sent both mail pieces, the voter's guide still showed "?" next to Hobbs. Anyone could find that info by checking the site. He checked it again after sending the mail pieces on the 27th and found an "A" next to his opponent's name and says he called the post office and tried to stop it. Too late.

So what does Hobbs have to say about all this? He says his questionnaire didn't come on time and as soon as he got it, he sent it in. That would be just before Mar. 19.

"His mail piece makes people think I'm hostile to every Republican issue out there," Hobbs says. "You start talking to Texans about taking their guns away and they're going to ask questions. Even people who don't have guns will fight for the right for their neighbor to have one."

Daniel says he doesn't think the conflict will be beneficial or harmful for either candidate — and he's frustrated that the site changed before voters received his mail piece.

"I'm in an unenviable position," he says. "Some voters think he just submitted the questionnaire for political gain, others think that he's hiding something, but that's not for me to decide. I didn't make a personal judgment here."

— by Karie Meltzer

Keel v. Fero... (Alleged) high-living officeholders... Back to court for a controversial workers' comp case... Tax watchers... and a new CFO at TRS

House Parliamentarian Terry Keel filed a criminal complaint against political consultant Kelly Fero. At issue: An online posting accusing Keel of helping Democrat Mindy Montford in the runoff for Travis County District Attorney. Keel says the website that posted that belongs to Fero, who's on Rosemary Lehmberg's campaign payroll and who — in Keel's view — was "laundering" news he could then use to boost Lehmberg's chances against Montford in next week's election. The posting quotes Keel talking to an unnamed group and saying Montford's race was more important to him at the moment than a House race where his sister-in-law is challenging an incumbent Democrat. He says, in an affidavit attached to his complaint, that the report is false and that he didn't attend a meeting or say those things.

Fero's lawyer, Buck Wood of Austin, called the complaint frivolous and said the statements on the blog weren't — in legal terms — campaign communications. There's no violation of state election laws, he said. "You can say anything you want on your blog. This is not an ad." And he suggested Keel wouldn't have filed a complaint if the election wasn't coming up next week. "This all about Tuesday," Wood said.

Fero called Keel "one of Travis County's most litigious Republicans," and pooh-poohed the complaint. "Terry Keel carries his law license like a bludgeon, whether he's trying to bully a judicial opponent off the ballot or punish a Democrat who caught him trying to effect a Democratic runoff," Fero said.

• Ralph Sheffield redoubled his last-minute hit on Martha Tyroch in HD-55, producing a former city employee to back his charges of "lavish spending" at taxpayer expense. Michelle Garcia, quoted in an email from Sheffield, accused Tyroch of misusing a city credit card while a member of the city council and said she regularly upgraded air and hotel reservations made by Garcia for city business. Sheffield and Tyroch are in a runoff on Tuesday.

• The Texas Supreme Court will rehear Entergy v. Summers, a case that prompted an outcry from labor and other interests when the court decided it last year. It's a workers' compensation case that turns on whether a company can avoid premise liability by labeling itself a general contractor. A worker hurt on Entergy property sued but was tossed because the company was acting as a general contractor, and paying workers' compensation premiums. The court didn't set a date for the rehearing.

• There's a new business margins tax in effect and with it, a new committee to watch. Comptroller Susan Combs will chair the new Business Tax Advisory Committee. Four lawmakers are on board: Sens. Steve Ogden and Kirk Watson, and Reps. Warren Chisum and Myra Crownover. They'll be joined by a couple of non-government tax wizards: Dale Craymer of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, and Donna Rutter, a CPA. And by "taxpayer members," listed here with the industry they're representing: David Gilliland, Joe Mack Hilliard,and Mike Luther, services; Dan Hagan, transportation; Lynn Chilton, finance; Judy Lindquist, retail; Judy Kilgore, construction; A.J. Brune III, oil and gas; Gary Trudgeon and Emily Parrino, manufacturing; David White, communications; Sharon Aston, utilities; Eric Donaldson, trucking; and Andy Ellard, manufacturing.

• Ken Welch is leaving the Health and Human Services Commission this month to be the new chief financial officer for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. He headed fiscal management at the comptroller's office before that.

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.