While other states are facing deficits large and small, the Texas Legislature will start its next session with a surplus of almost $15 billion, according to House Speaker Tom Craddick.

The Rio Grande Guardian quoted him from a speech to Republicans in Hidalgo County. He gave some credit to soaring oil prices (and the taxes therefrom), but said lawmakers deserve some laurels: “Now, I didn’t create the price of oil and I know that’s helped a little but let me tell you right now, so did cutting spending, so did consolidating agencies, so did saying the word ‘no.’”

He suggested budgeteers should use the money to increase funding for Parks & Wildlife, and to supplant gasoline tax money that now goes to the state police instead of to state highways.

The exact sources of Craddick’s numbers weren’t immediately available, but aides say he’s including estimates of current taxes as well as expectations about the state’s new business tax and what that will produce for the state treasury. And he’s including what’s stashed in the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

Comptroller Susan Combs hasn’t revised her estimates of state revenue and has told other audiences that the state’s new business margins tax could fall short of some predictions; you can find other financial wizards, witches and warlocks who say it’ll do better than expected. Texas companies are only now completing returns under that tax for the first time, and she doesn’t expect to have solid numbers on its performance until late summer. The tax is due in mid-June.

Roadies

The other foot dropped, and the appointments of Deirdre Delisi of Austin and William Meadows of Fort Worth to the Texas Transportation Commission are now official.

Their mission: Calm everyone down and keep Gov. Rick Perry’s road-building program alive, even with political fire ant mounds — toll roads and private foreign ownership and property rights — raising the temperature.

“Texas faces serious challenges in providing a transportation infrastructure that will sustain our state’s rapid pace of population and trade growth,” Perry said. “Both Deirdre and Bill have the integrity and expertise to ensure that these needs are met efficiently and responsibly. I am confident their contribution to the commission will maintain the momentum of the late Commissioner Ric Williamson’s pioneering vision, and secure comprehensive transportation solutions that will reduce traffic congestion, improve safety and keep our state’s doors open to economic growth and success.”

Delisi was Perry’s chief of staff until she left state employment last summer. She’s also worked on a couple of presidential campaigns (Lamar Alexander and George W. Bush) and for then-state Sen. Bill Ratliff. She’ll chair the commission, a job that’s been held by San Antonio’s Hope Andrade since Williamson's death last year.

Meadows, an insurance exec with Hub International Rigg and the vice chair of the North Texas Tollway Authority, will fill an open spot on the board, bringing the commission to full strength for the first time since Williamson died.

These will require Senate consent. Delisi and Perry have already done some politicking to get this far, convincing Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, to go along (an appointee’s local senator, by closely followed tradition, has to approve before an appointment is made).

The appointments got nods of approval (coordinated, and delivered by email to reporters within hours and in some cases, minutes, of the announcement) from the Texas Association of Business, the Texas Motor Transportation Association, the U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association, a group called the Texas RV Association, and from Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Lewisville, who was glad to get someone from North Texas on the board: “As the state's most populated metro area, we have enormous needs that are critical not just to our region — but the entire state, mainly because our growth is driving the state economy,” she said in a press release.

Supremes OK Voter ID Laws

The U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in an Indiana case, says laws requiring voters to provide photo identification are legal.

A proposal for such a law in Texas failed during last year's legislative session, but supporters had already vowed to try again. This bolsters their argument against accusations that a Voter ID law would curtail voters' rights. It’s been a sharply partisan issue here and in other states, with Republicans saying the laws are needed to insure the integrity of ballots, and Democrats saying that requiring photo identification disproportionately suppresses Democratic voting.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott — joined by attorneys general from several other states — filed an amicus brief in the case asking the high court to uphold Indiana's law. A copy of the court's opinion is available here. And a copy of Abbott's brief is available here.

Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, blocked the bill last year and says he'll try to do it again next year. "I'm saddened that the Supreme Court has chosen to legalize discrimination," he said. "But just because the court's decision indicates that it's legal, doesn’t mean it's right."

Gallegos, who remained in Austin in spite of life-threatening kidney troubles to prevent the bill from passing, could have a harder time now. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, a supporter of the legislation, ran TV ads in favor of the idea earlier this year and will have another go. "I look forward to passing a fair Voter ID law in Texas next year that fully protects the voting rights of all U.S. citizens registered to vote in Texas," he said.

The sponsor of last year's bill, Rep. Betty Brown, R-Terrell, still supports the idea and says the decision will bolster support next year for another try. Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, said the decision "puts to rest the fallacious and deceitful argument that voter identification is a ploy to deny access to the polls."

Christian heads the Texas Conservative Coalition — a legislative group — and said they'll push for new Voter ID legislation next year.

Isn’t That Special?

Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, is squiring Austen Furse III around political circles, touting him as the Republican who ought to succeed Janek in SD-17 later this year.

The incumbent is leaving as of June 2. And former Harris County Republican Chair Gary Polland — who lost the 2002 GOP primary that put Janek in the seat — is also in the water.

Don’t count Democratic state Rep. Scott Hochberg in or out of that race yet. If the special election to replace Janek is on the same day as the general election in November, sitting House members (the other in question here is Republican Rep. Charlie Howard of Sugar Land) would have to run for either Senate or House but not both. If it’s on any other date, they could run for the Senate without giving up their reelection bids; a loser in the Senate race wouldn’t be forced to give up the House seat. Hochberg says the question about his plans isn’t ripe until the election date’s been set.

Can a Democrat win it? Allen Blakemore, who ran Janek’s races and will run Furse’s effort, says it’s Republican turf even on a bad day. By his measure, Democratic hopes are based on a dramatically Democratic turnout in Harris County, which makes up about half the vote in a normal year. Hochberg says the district leans Republican, but isn’t prohibitive. “It’s good enough that it’s not tilting at windmills,” he says. “It’s probably closer than some of the ones people are concerned about.” He says a Democrat who can get independents’ votes could win the Senate seat.

Oh, and spike the rumor that it’s possible to run for both seats, since the House would be on the general election ballot and the Senate would be on a special election ballot. The wizards at the Secretary of State’s office say it’s considered the same election for purposes of eligibility.

Incompatibility

As we wrote last week, the governor can’t appoint himself to the U.S. Senate (or to anything else). A couple of readers asked where the prohibition is, so we dug a bit.

It’s in common law, but not in statute. And it’s apparently well established enough to prevent even an ambitious officeholder from testing it in court.

The concept here is “incompatibility,” and the idea is that you can’t, as an officeholder, do two things at once. It’s the doctrine that keeps city council members from appointing themselves to city boards, that keeps governors from naming themselves to the public utility commission, and so on. The lawyers at the Capitol read it to mean that you can’t make those kinds of appointments unless the law expressly allows the exception.

One lawyer pointed us to the Attorney General’s website and to a pretty useful (for this and other questions) publication called Traps for the Unwary.

Off the Leash

Democrat Joe Moody, who started the general election season promising to limit his campaign contributions to $2,300, won’t keep that promise.

He says in a press release that it was a challenge to Republican Dee Margo, that Margo turned down the challenge to limit incoming contributions, and that Moody won’t obey the limits, either.

The proposal threatened to unilaterally disarm the Democrat against a Republican who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in an expensive primary against Rep. Pat Haggerty, R-El Paso. The decision to back out re-arms Moody, but opened him to an easy shot from the Republican. "This is the first time I've ever heard of a candidate seeking public trust going back on his word six months before an election," Margo said in a press release of his own.

On the Tubes

Texas Republicans are getting into Internet video and say they were prompted to do it, in part, by Texas Democrats. The Democrats put video clips and an edited short on the web after their last state convention, and liberals dominate the Texas blogs.

If you go to YouTube and search for Texas Republican, most of what shows up right now is either about U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Clute, or is a swat from Democrats aimed at the GOP. Gov. Rick Perry has some postings, and Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams does, too. And some campaigns have been active on the Internet; Perry, for instance, ran ads online that didn’t run on radio or TV during his last campaign.

But there’s nothing before now from the state GOP. They’ve bought a hi-def camera and is working on a website redesign. Hans Klingler, a party spokesman, says they’ll add something every few weeks until the June convention, when they’ll post more often. Their first effort is a straight-ahead commercial — not the sort of thing people hurry to pass along to their friends — but he says they’ll loosen up as they go along.

Flotsam & Jetsam

Rep. Nathan Macias, R-Bulverde, lost a round in his attempt to flip the results of the GOP primary that choked his reelection bid (Macias lost to Doug Miller by 17 votes). He asked the visiting judge in that election contest to step aside so another judge could be appointed. That judge, James Clawson, said the request wasn’t proper in an election case. The state’s 3rd Court of Appeals agrees. Macias can take it to the Texas Supreme Court, or let it rest. The trial on the election results is set for May 19. Macias’ lawyers say they’ll focus on Box 5 from Gillespie County, which came in hours after the rest of the votes were counted.

• John McCain is comfortably ahead of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in Texas, according to a survey done by students at the Earl Survey Research Lab at Texas Tech University. They talked to 507 voting age Texans (including 483 registered voters) on the phone between March 25 and April 14. And the sample included almost twice as many Republicans as Democrats (45 percent to 24 percent). With that group, McCain outpolled Obama 58 percent to 29 percent, and outpolled Clinton 59 percent to 30 percent. President George W. Bush had a rough time: 42 percent approve of the way he’s handling his job, while 46.5 percent disapprove.

• Clamping down on lawsuits has boosted the state economy by $112.5 billion annually, according to an economic study done for Texans for Lawsuit Reform. That group hired Waco economist Ray Perryman to quantify their work. His assessment: Tort reform is responsible for 499,000 jobs, a $2.6 billion increase in state revenue, and a 21.3 percent drop in medical liability insurance costs.

• Texas could halve the number of uninsured children in the state by making it easier to sign them up for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. A group of legislators and health care advocates say half of the state’s 1.5 million uninsured children are already eligible for the two programs. They’re not insured, according to those folks, because the eligibility and enrollment system isn’t working, because the state requires them to re-enroll more than once a year, and because the state doesn’t do enough to advertise the programs.

• We don’t generally do sports here, but sports folks don’t generally hold fundraisers for the LBJ School of Public Affairs, either. That school has a Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Global Affairs, started with $500,000 from the UT Athletic Department. The UT football coach is the honoree at a May 16 dinner headlined by Penn State coach Joe Paterno and former NFL star and Republican Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann.

Reignited

A Harris County grand jury re-indicted the wife of a Texas Supreme Court justice on arson charges. Francisca Medina, wife of Justice David Medina, was indicted earlier this year, but the first grand jury's work was tossed out by a judge. Now she's been charged again. Justice Medina, accused in the first round on charges of tampering with evidence, hasn't been charged by this panel. The charges stem from a fire at the Medina's home in Spring last summer that investigators suspect was intentionally started. The first grand jury accused Francisca Medina of arson and Justice Medina of tampering with evidence. Now, she's charged with starting the fire that damaged her home and a neighbor's home.

Political People and Their Moves

Becky Gregory is the new U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas; the U.S. Senate confirmed her appointment. Gregory, a Dallas lawyer and a former assistant U.S. Attorney, succeeds Matt Orwig, who resigned a year ago (and who’d been replaced on an interim basis by John Ratcliffe).

Karl Eschbach of San Antonio is the state’s new demographer, replacing Steve Murdock, who left that gig to head the U.S. Census Bureau. Like his predecessor, Eschbach is head of the Texas Data Center at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

A year after firing the management team in the prepaid college tuition division, Comptroller Susan Combs hired Kevin Dieters to head the new “Educational Opportunities and Investment Division.” Under his purview: the state’s 529 college savings plans, the Texas Guaranteed Tuition Program that was known as the Texas Tomorrow Fund (and is now closed to enrollment) and the Texas Tomorrow Fund II, which is scheduled to open later this year. Dieters had been at the Office of the Fire Fighters Pension Commissioner.

Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, former commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, is joining Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas as vice president and chief medical officer. He’s currently working at the UT Health Science Center in Houston in the Institute for Health Policy.

Gardere Wynne Sewell added Elizabeth Hurst to its environmental practice, saying she’ll work closely with the firm’s state lobbyists. She worked with the Environmental Protection Agency before joining Oklahoma City-based Tronox, a chemical company.

Trey Trainor is leaving Rep. Phil King’s staff after almost ten years with the Weatherford Republican and with the Secretary of State. He plans to practice law and do some lobbying. Caleb Troxclair will take over as clerk of the House Committee on Regulated Industries, which King chairs.

Spencer Chambers is the new government relations manager at the Port of Houston Authority. He’s been an aide to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and to state Rep. Tony Goolsby, R-Dallas.

Larry Gonzales, last seen working for Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, and in the Pink Building for 16 years before that, has moved to the Texas State University System. He’s the number two to Patricia Hayes, the vice chancellor for governmental relations and educational policy.

Gov. Perry appointed:

• Nine members to the Rio Grande Regional Water Authority Board, including Joe Barrera III, general manager of the Brownsville Irrigation District; Dario Guerra Jr., an Edinburg rancher; Wayne Halbert of San Benito, GM of Harlingen Irrigation District and Adams Gardens Irrigation District; Sonny Hinojosa or Edinburg, GM of Hidalgo County Irrigation District No. 2; Sonia Kaninger of Harlingen, with Cameron County Irrigation District No. 2; Brian Macmanus of Harlingen, director of water and wastewater at the East Rio Hondo Water Supply Corp.; Samuel Sparks, owner and operator of SRS Farms in Harlingen; Jimmie Steidinger, a Donna rancher and farmer; and Frank “JoJo” White of Progreso lakes, GM of Irrigation District No. 9 in Hidalgo and Cameron Counties.

• Michael Bray, an El Paso real estate agent, as presiding officer of the Manufactured Housing Board.

• Dr. Ahmed Osama Gaber, director of transplantation for Methodist Hospital Physician Organization of Houston, as presiding officer of the Chronic Kidney Disease Task Force. His 12-member panel will make recommendations on disease treatments.

Busted: Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, for driving under the influence after a DPS trooper saw his car weaving on the highway late on a weekday night. He spent the rest of the night in jail.

Quotes of the Week

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Clute, talking to Politico about his race for president and the enthusiasm of his supporters: “I’m a real candidate, but I try to keep everybody living in the real world.”

Victor Manjarrez Jr., the local Border Patrol chief in El Paso, quoted by the Associated Press: “Most of these people are economic migrants but we have to deal with them between the ports of entry because we have not, in terms of a legislative fix, determined what we do with these people. I think it’s pretty obvious that the country has a need for economic migrants. To what degree, I don’t know. That’s for the country to decide and for the politicians to decide.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, quoted in the Brownsville Herald on local opposition to a new border fence: “If you don’t like the idea, maybe you should consider building the fence around the northern part of your city.”

Scott McCown, head of the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities, quoted in The Dallas Morning News on the effect of adding 400+ kids to the state’s child welfare system after the West Texas ranch raid: “It’s kind of like asking in the midst of [Hurricane] Katrina whether a rain shower in New Orleans would be a problem. It’s no problem because it’s already a disaster.”

Francisco Ayala, an evolutionary biologist and geneticist at the University of California, Irvine, quoted in The New York Times on adding creation stories to science curricula: “We don’t teach alchemy along with chemistry. We don’t teach witchcraft along with medicine. We don’t teach astrology with astronomy.”

Gerald North, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, quoted in the Austin American-Statesman on long-term climate changes: “Where it’s wet, it’s going to get wetter. Where it’s dry, it’s going to get drier.”

Former federal and state legislator Craig Washington, asserting his innocence on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, quoted by the Houston Chronicle: “I assume that when they went and got the indictment, they were ready for trial, because they’re sure as hell going to have to try it.”

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Texas Weekly: Volume 25, Issue 18, 5 May 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.

Bloggers haven't tired of typing about the Presidential race yet. They're also interested in news from the court system, Gov. Rick Perry's latest road appointments and a few campaign contests. And at the end, unsorted entries.

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Taking President

Houstoned notes, with disgust and disdain, that Lake Jackson congressman Ron Paul is still in the presidential hunt. And PoliTex notices that Paul's new book is number one on Amazon.com's list of bestsellers.

Superdelegate John Patrick, the vice president of the Texas AFL-CIO, is going for Barack Obama, according to Burnt Orange Report. Meanwhile, Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog, says Hillary Clinton picked up a superdelegate of her own, McAllen lawyer Jaime Gonzalez Jr. "That brings to 13 the number of superdelegates Clinton holds from Texas. Barack Obama has 10. And a dozen are now uncommitted." PoliTex has more.

Burnt Orange, who wants Texas Democrats to set aside their Clinton-Obama divisions during the state convention, has a video summing up the Democratic Primary in seven minutes. And KVUE's Political Junkie has a Google Map that breaks down the county-by-county results for each state's presidential primary.

PoliTex, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's blog, has audio clips of Pres. Lyndon Johnson from 1968. And here and here are articles about the tapes.

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Court-craft

This is from BurkaBlog: "The Texas Supreme Court has ruled on a longstanding case involving homebuilder Bob Perry. Do you think the court (a) ruled for Bob Perry (b) ruled against Bob Perry (c) that this is a stupid question because we all know the answer?"

Muckraker has a video clip from Fox 7 Austin news about the arrest of state Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, for driving while intoxicated. More gloating here from muckraker and here from WilcoWise. Chronic, the Austin Chronicle's blog, defuses some of the irony by noting that Krusee's committee version of 2003's HB3588 didn't include the stiffer penalties for drunk drivers that eventually passed.

BurkaBlog says Krusee's arrest might jeopardize an anticipated appointment to the Texas Highway Commission, while mcblogger takes the opportunity to bash DWI laws.

Tex Parte Blog weighs in on Francisca Medina's indictment, the latest Dallas County DNA exoneration and the newest East Texas U.S. Attorney. Meanwhile, Burnt Orangegives word of a new newsletter, The Justice Newsladder, and Chronic reports that Austin police officers won't take advantage of a state "cite-and-release" law.

Chronic says Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson has broken federal gun laws, while Grits for Breakfast wonders if the government is so keen on seizing FLDS assets, why didn't it do the same for the Catholic Church?Grits says authorities are probably inflating the number of pregnant underage girls. And Texas Politics says underage girls account for five percent of all Texas births each year, and that unmarried mothers account for 36 percent of births.

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Road Crew

State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, doesn't openly disapprove of Deirdre Delisi's appointment to the Texas Transportation Commission, according to Chronic, who says fellow appointee William Meadows might have the tougher time getting approved by the Lege. Texas Politics has quotes from the two appointees.

BurkaBlog says any idea that Delisi will convincePerry to back off his private tolling strategy is "a lovely fairy tale, but it isn’t Perry’s style. Or Delisi’s."

Mcblogger says the appointments comprise a two-word message to the Lege, that isn't suitable for reproduction here. And state Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, calls Delisi "a rubber stamp" for Perry, via Vaqueros & Wonkeros, the El Paso Times's blog.

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On the Trail

Off the Kuff takes a look at a Swing State Project entry that puts two Texas Democrats in the top 75 of the most competitive House races in the country (no Texas Republicans made the list, which is drawn up on the basis of campaign cash on hand). Burnt Orange says "it's a good time to be a Democrat in Texas."

Eye on Williamson says an Austin American-Statesman article on "full-time" Lege employees only includes opponents of House SpeakerTom Craddick.

Here's video of a speech by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega on April 11, via Half-Empty. Meanwhile, mcblogger floats a rumor that the Farm Bureau intends to support Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary, and Vaqueros & Wonkeros relays fundraising mailers from the two House District 78 candidates.

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Leftovers

Political Junkie gives news of the debut of a Wednesday afternoon radio show Texas Politics Today.

The Capitol Crowd has an entry on people who've switched jobs, an item on Isaac Albarado's unique desk and a baby announcement.

Texas Blue goes "On the Record" with Janelle Rath, chair of the Bandera County Democratic Party, and with Tillman Chaplin, chair of the Erath County Democratic Party.

Texas Kaos went to a Texas Solar Forum.

Texas Observer Blog has a piece on the border wall.

Vaqueros & Wonkeros has pictures from an immigration rally.

Mean rachel gives Republicans props for redirecting visitors to www.txdemocrats.com to www.texasgop.org.

And PoliSci@UST has an Olympic Torch Game.

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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.

Budgeting starts with a twist this year, with officials telling agencies to begin with current spending and to add in a two percent pay raise for state employees. Then? Show how they'd cut ten percent from that.The letter from the governor's office and the Legislative Budget Board is a bit different this time, and the politics are weird. They've recently started by telling agencies to come with in pre-cut budgets. That lets lawmakers add to the bare bones, looking like 181 tooth fairies in the process. This time, they're telling the agencies to come in with full budgets that the Legislature can then cut. That'll make them as popular as an orphanage manager in a Charles Dickens novel. Pair this with what House Speaker Tom Craddick said last week about having $15 billion in available funds, and the next budget might be relatively painless to write. Comptroller Susan Combs raised a flag about that $15 billion, saying it's more like $10.7 billion. They're looking at the same number, but at different times in the budget. It's $10.7 as of last year, but Craddick thinks it'll hit $15 billion by the time the next budget starts. Agencies have to submit budget requests in July and August. This week's letter, below, is the first step:

State Sen. Florence Shapiro is getting ready to set up an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Senate in anticipation of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's resignation or retirement, sources said this afternoon.Shapiro, a Republican, has been in the state Senate since 1993 and was a Plano city council member and Mayor before seeking state office. She wasn't immediately available for comment. Hutchison hasn't gone anywhere yet. But she's talked about running for governor in 2010 and has told supporters that leaving the federal office early is one option she's considering. An early declaration from Shapiro would accomplish a couple of things: It allows her to start raising federal campaign money and puts her at the top of the speculation list of possible successors to Hutchison, at least for now. It carries some risk, too. Hutchison and her supporters might take it as presumptuous, for what that's worth. If Hutchison does step down early, and Gov. Rick Perry appoints a successor, his choice will amount to either an endorsment for or against Shapiro. The state Republican Party convention is about a month away, so she'll get some feedback from the regulars pretty soon. As for campaign finance, Shapiro ended last year with $853,580 in her state account. But state law is more lenient than federal law, and not all of that money would transfer to a federal race (Hutchison, who'd be going from the stricter system to the more lenient one, could move all of the $8,520,717 in her federal account to a state race).

It's the kind of Special Deals for Politicians saga that can taint the whole institution: Texas lawmakers are accused of lying about their employees to obtain benefits to which those workers would not otherwise be entitled.

Some of the employees are former lawmakers; some are just favored staffers. The full-time designation qualifies workers for free health insurance that costs part-time employees hundreds of dollars each month. As it turns out, former state officeholders and state employees who want to pad their retirement benefits don't have to work full-time; a part-timer can get a full year's credit toward retirement with a minimal work load.

Political consultants — the kind of kids who grew up throwing spitballs from the back rows of their classrooms — will boil it down to something simple and sinister, and it won't be about the struggles over who's the speaker of the House. It'll be about padding benefits for former lawmakers and other employees who don't actually do the full-time work required of everyone else who gets those bennies.

The flap started with stories in the Austin American-Statesman, which pointed to three cases where current lawmakers were designating part-timers as full-timers, thus enabling those workers to qualify for health insurance usually reserved for people who put in 40 hours a week. The salaries were low, but the potential benefits were high. And in Austin, it's turned into a game of political tag centered on insider concerns, excuses, questions, and accusations.

• From the accused: "Everybody does it, and has for years. Why is this coming up now?"

• From foes of the Speaker: "All three legislators named in the first stories — Reps. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, and Craig Eiland, D-Galveston — have been vociferous critics of House Speaker Tom Craddick. Who fingered them?"

• From some insiders, some outsiders, and sooner or later, from investigators and auditors: "The personnel papers that made those and similar schemes possible were approved by each House member and turned into Craddick's House Administration Chairman, Rep. Tony Goolsby, R-Dallas. Who in that food chain is to blame?"

• From Craddick's office: "We didn't know this was going on, and want to stop it from happening again."

• From his foes: "How is it possible that management didn't know? Goolsby himself hired short-term employees — lobbyists, even — in a way that qualified them for state benefits."

While the accusation and recrimination machine is churning, open record requests from political people and reporters are flying; this will involve the whole Legislature before it's over. Craddick has asked the House General Investigating & Ethics Committee to look into it, as well as the State Auditor's Office. Travis County prosecutors have inquired with state officials about the workers, the falsified work forms, and so on.

In the case of state pension benefits, it turns out that someone who wants to game the system doesn't have to lie. They just have to read the free handbook from the Employees Retirement System and follow the instructions.

For former legislators who served for at least eight years, each additional year on the state payroll is currently worth $2,875 annually, once they start collecting their pensions.

Those pensions are based on years of service multiplied by 2.3 percent of a state judge's salary, which is currently $125,000. Former lawmakers can start collecting their pensions at age 60 if they served for at least eight years in elected office, and at age 50 if they served for at least 12 years. (They have options as to how they get their benefits, but those are the basics.) A 65-year-old former lawmaker with 16 years in the Legislature, for instance, would be eligible for an annual pension of $46,000. If she worked for a state agency for two years on top of that, the annual benefit would increase to $51,750.

The regs say the beneficiary gets credit for a month as soon as that paycheck is recorded and the retirement benefit deducted from it. If our imaginary former lawmaker is on the books for $200 monthly, and allowed the $12 deduction for retirement each month, the benefits would accumulate. As long as she's on the payroll when the monthly checks are cut, she gets the pension bennies for that month.

She doesn't even have to work full-time.

Two new polls — one done on the Internet and the other on behalf of Democratic bloggers — say the Texas race for U.S. Senate is closer than you thought. Both have U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, only four percentage points ahead of Democrat Rick Noriega.

The Research 2000 poll, done for the Daily Kos, has Cornyn at 48 percent and Noriega at 44 percent, with a 4 percent margin of error. That was a phone poll done last week. A Rasmussen online poll released earlier in the week had Cornyn at 47 and Noriega at 43; it had a 4.5 percent margin of error.

Most polls up to this point have reported a double-digit gap between the candidates, with Noriega stuck in the low 30s, and these new surveys don't reveal any changes that might underlie the new numbers. A recurring sour spot for Cornyn: Few recent polls show him getting more than 50 percent of the vote. That's not fatal, but it's a sign of potential trouble.

The results? Noriega immediately began touting the results in his fundraising messages. Cornyn's camp said the polls are flawed and that their guy still enjoys a sizable lead.

Former Rep. Robert Puente will take over as interim head of the San Antonio Water System.The president and CEO of SAWS, David Chardavoyne, resigned earlier in the day. A statement from the System's Board of Trustees said they were "acknowledging differences in management style and future direction."

This email really got sent by a legislative liaison at the University of North Texas, and we have been assured — emphatically — that the lieutenant governor's office didn't have anything to do with it, although it's a charity tournament for legislators and lobbyists that's headlined by David Dewhurst.

Subject: Lt. Gov. Tournament Confirmation This email is to confirm your registration in the 2008 Lt. Governor's Golf Tournament. The Tournament is scheduled for a 1:00 pm Shotgun start May 27th at Colonial Country Club, 3735 Country Club Circle, Fort Worth Texas. If you registered for a team, this information is only being sent to you so please forward to your players. If you need to make any changes to your team please contact the Tournament Office at 817-xxx-xxxx. After the 24th of May you may call my cell phone at 817-xxx-xxxx. On the date of the outing the Colonial Golf Shop number is 817-xxx-xxxx. (Since the Club is closed that day the main number will not be answered). Registration begins at 11:00 am and lunch will be delivered to your cart prior to the tee time. That is the important info....the following are answers to various questions we have been asked. Yes, Sen. Fraser, knowing that your golf game could have fallen apart Monday night although you have now played more consecutive days that Zaffirini has voted, the driving range will be open at noon that day. To Pat Haggerty, of course you are invited...just don't pull a mission impossible and tear off your mask to reveal that you are really Jerry Yost. To Seidlits if you can crawl down off that pile of money you made in the buyout you can play again with David Cain, just don't tell him that he is no longer a Senator...we are trying to let him down slowly. To Mario Munoz, yes I understand, new job, new boss and after over 20 years at Capitol you have only had time to meet one legislator, yes he is playing and yes we will try to put you together. Yes, Goolsby you will again play as a single. To Rob Orr..someone has asked to play with you... being a Chairman is cool isn't it? To Time Warner we got your list of who you want to play with and the list of who you do not want AT&T to play with. To AT&T we got your list of who you want to play with and who you do not want Time Warner to play with. As soon as the pairing committee finishes with it's conflict resolution class we will get back with you. Yes, it is the good Rob Johnson (Lt. Gov's) that is playing. Yes, Rick Donley we got your stuff and you can bring you punk a.. Champions golf game to a real course. Buster we still need your stuff, no we water Colonial from the Trinity River and you don't own it yet. To any elected official playing who desires to serve in Congress at some point..Lockheed Martin would like to play with you before you have a chance to vote to sell the F-35 to Taiwan. Winn glad to see Diageo is registered we will attempt to accommodate your request, the Committee drinks Crown Royal and Vodka. To former Rep. Dean Cobb, sorry you cannot be here, we are happy that you are the Chairman of the Travis County Grand Jury, but I bet the Hookers and Bookies are happier. Finally to Charlie Evans, please, please, please quit sending X-Out golf balls as your donation, it has gotten embarrassing. Hope everyone read this on their Blackberry. Danny

Grant Harpold, a Houston lawyer and GOP precinct chair, says he'll run for the Texas Senate seat being vacated by Kyle Janek, R-Houston, early next month. He started with a swipe at the new business margins tax, and said his treasurer will be Harris County Attorney Michael Fleming. Janek hasn't officially resigned, but says he still plans to quit on June 2. No date's been set for the special election to replace him.

Greta Rymal is the new director of budget and fiscal policy at the state's Health and Human Services Commission. She was most recently the agency's federal liaison in Washington, D.C. Rymal replaces Ken Welch, who left to become CFO at the Teacher Retirement System.

Larry McKinney is leaving the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department after 25 years to run the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. He was director of coastal fisheries and senior director of aquatic resources at TPW.

Move Ryan Weisman, a former House and Senate staffer who left (for a bit) for New Orleans, into Sen. Kevin Eltife's staff. He'll be a legislative aide specializing in natural resources.

Chesley "Ches" Blevins joins the Austin office of Jackson Walker, where he'll work on regulatory and legislative environmental issues for mining and energy clients.

Dr. Josie Williams, a Paris gastroenterologist, is the new president of the Texas Medical Association. And the new president-elect is Dr. William Fleming III, a Houston neurologist.

Fort Worth attorney Roland Johnson was elected president-elect of the State Bar of Texas. He'll be president in about 13 months.

Gov. Rick Perry reappointed Fort Worth district Judge Jean Boyd to the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission and named three new members to that panel: B.W. McClendon, pastor of St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Austin; Scott O'Grady of Dallas, a motivational speaker; and Robert Shults, a Houston attorney.