Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade named John Sepehri of Dallas to be her general counsel, replacing Jay Dyer, who left the SOS for a gig with Attorney General Greg Abbott. Sepehri was most recently with the Patton Boggs law firm.

Scott Haywood is leaving the Secretary of State's office, where he's been the spokesman for just over three years. His replacement, for now, is Ashley Burton. Haywood had been on Gov. Rick Perry's media staff before going to work for then-SOS Roger Williams. He's going to work for Houston-based Spacehab, which bills itself as a "space commerce" pioneer. He'll remain in Austin.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed Brian Gary of Gunter to the 397th Judicial District Court in Grayson County. Until now, Gary was an attorney in private practice. That's a new court.

The Guv made a couple of insurance appointments. He named Rod Bordelon Jr. the commissioner of the Workers' Compensation Division at the Texas Department of Insurance. Bordelon has been running the Office of Public Insurance Counsel, which represents ratepayers before insurance regulators. He's replacing Albert Betts. In Bordelon's place, the governor tapped Deeia Beck of Fort Worth; she had been an administrative law judge in the Workers' Comp Division.

Chrissy Borskey moves to General Electric, where she's in charge of Mid-South government relations. In English: She'll lobby in Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, and New Mexico.

Deaths: Mary Ellen Murphy Hall, wife of U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Rockwall, for 63 years. She was 83.