Texans for Public Justice filed a criminal complaint against a political action committee and House Speaker Tom Craddick Monday, saying they're trying to buy the March elections. A lawyer for Craddick says there's nothing to it.

The complaint centers on contributions given by Texas Jobs & Opportunity Build a Secure Future to three Democrats who have supported Craddick's speakership in the past. The PAC got its biggest contribution — $250,000 — from Craddick. And its sole beneficiaries, as of the last reports, were Reps. Kevin Bailey of Houston, Kino Flores of Palmview, and Aaron Peña of Edinburg. Each got $50,000 from the PAC.

The Austin American-Statesman ran a story on Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, last week, quoting her saying she didn't take money from that PAC because she didn't want the distraction of Craddick's support and wanted to remain free to support any other speaker candidate. TPJ apparently took that to mean there were strings attached to Craddick's proposal. Thus, their complaint to Travis County prosecutors.

Their letter says Craddick's a speaker candidate, that the reelections of the three Democrats would be valuable to his chances of reelection to that post, and that his contributions are thus illegal under the laws governing speaker elections.

Campaign-season complaints usually get an immediate discount from prosecutors. It's too easy to manipulate the appearance of an investigation in the days before an election (early voting starts next week) and they can always look into complaints starting on March 5, when the election is over.

District Attorney Ronnie Earle is looking into it, according to a written statement: "In order to determine whether there has been a violation of the Texas Speakers Act, it will be necessary to gather additional information. The Public Integrity Unit is in the process of gathering such information and steps are being taken to secure relevant documents."

Roy Minton, Craddick's lawyer, says there's no substance to the complaint. "They're trying to say this is a contribution to the speaker's race, and it ain't," he says. "It's just not there."

According to Minton, Craddick contributed to the PAC but didn't make the decisions on where its contributions should go. Either way, he sees no foul play.

Can political action committees base their decisions on how candidates plan to vote in the speaker's race? Probably, according to an opinion drafted for consideration by the Texas Ethics Commission. That panel was asked (anonymously) whether it's legal for political action committees to ask candidates about their preferences for speaker and then to base the PAC's decisions and contributions on the answers to those questions. The draft answer, in a word: Yup. The committees can ask candidates all about their speaker preferences, and can base their decision on the answers. What they can't do, according to an opinion drafted for the full Ethics Commission's consideration, is "promise or agree to cause economic benefit to a person or threaten to cause the withholding of economic benefit from a person. Placing a candidate to whom the questions are asked on notice that the committee will make its decision on whether or not to support the candidate based on the candidate's responses would constitute legislative bribery..." The trip wire is in what the committee tells the candidate. They can ask, and they can make their decision on the basis of the answers, but they can't promise or threaten the candidate with the consequences. It's a two-way street, by the way. The draft opinion also says candidates can't accept economic benefits or campaign contributions if those are based on the candidates' answers to questions about the speaker's race. If the money's based on an understanding that a candidate will vote one way or the other, it's a felony, according to that draft. The full Ethics Commission meets tomorrow morning.

Like the rest of the state, bloggers are giddy over the upcoming Texas Presidential primary. They're also paying attention to state House races, U.S. Congressional contests and the math wizards in the state transportation agency.

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White House Blues, and Reds

Here are some tips for the Texas media folks now that the big show is coming to town, by KVUE's Political Junkie, and here are five things to consider about the Texas primary by Texas Blue.

BurkaBlog received a telephone call from potential independent candidate Michael Bloomberg and muses on how things might play out for the Ds and the Rs in Texas. Here's Burnt Orange Report's take for the Blue Team. Meanwhile, Grits for Breakfast says Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama are the strongest candidates on criminal justice reform.

Political Junkie has a statement from U.S. Sen. John Cornyn wherein he backs Arizona Sen. John McCain, while Texas Ag Commissioner Todd Staples calls McCain a "strong conservative," but withholds an actual endorsement, according to Trail Blazers. And Annex lists which Texans have given endorsements and which ones haven't.

Mark McKinnon explains in a video the differences between New York and Texas, via Political Junkie, while the biggest Hillary Clinton fan in the state, former Land Commissioner Gary Mauro, appears in this video on Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog.

From Professors-R-Squared, an IVR Poll showing McCain's gains in Texas following the withdrawal of Mitt Romney. Professors also has a piece on the scaling down of the Presidential campaign by Lake Jackson Congressman Ron Paul, saying that his Presidential war chest gives him a huge advantage over CD-14 primary opponent Chris Peden. (We'll add that Paul can't use his Presidential monies in CD-14 unless he completely drops out of the race for Prez, which he says he's not going to do.)

Burnt Orange has a two-parter explaining the delegate-picking process in Texas, here and here. Who do you think McCain is gonna pick to be his running mate? Join the speculation at Professors. And also in the spirit of picking, Democracy for Texas has a new Presidential poll, via Burnt Orange.

Capitol Annex takes a look at why Harris County matters in the White House race. In reference to a tentative Clinton-Obama showdown in Houston, Trail Blazers, the Dallas Morning News' blog, writes, "A Democratic presidential debate sponsored by Big Oil. Only in Texas."

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In the Texas House

State. Rep. Aaron Peña takes a timeout from the game to offer his condolences to opponent Eddie Saenz, whose father passed away. "'Craddick D' or not," Peña's got the backing of Annex. After taking a peek at voter registration information, Burnt Orange wonders why 15 people are using the address of state Rep. Phil King's law firm, and district office, on their voter registration forms.

Burnt Orange doesn't like the voting record of HD-46 incumbent Dawnna Dukes, whose refusal of Craddick money doesn't sway the opinion of PinkDome. In this post in support of Dukes' opponent Brian Thompson, McBlogger says that "Travis County is the bluest county in Texas." Not so fast McBlogger! Take a look at this map from CNN.

State Rep. Paul Moreno's primary opponent Marissa Marquez is low on funds and big on Craddick, says Annex, using this post to endorse Democrat Moreno, who did not graduate the University of Texas Law School, much to the surprise of Vaqueros & Wonkeros, the El Paso Times' blog.

This is novel: HD-97 Republican candidate Bob Leonard says Craddick has a soft spot for illegal immigrants, according to PoliTex, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's blog. Meanwhile, Annex examines donations to HD-43 Democrat Tara Rios Ybarra, concluding that Ybarra doesn't seem so blue.

State Rep. Pat Haggerty, R-El Paso, is getting love (and money) from other GOPers who don't like Craddick, says Texas Politics and BurkaBlog, too. Meanwhile, Vaqueros reports that El Pasoans should be seeing Haggerty and GOP opponent Dee Margo on the TV now. (Also from Vaqueros, El Paso-area campaign finance data. Enjoy!)

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U.S. House Watching

Austin Political Report says that "Texas Justice" alumnus Larry Joe Doherty hasn't been very ethical in his quest for the Democratic nomination in Congressional District 10, supporting that assertion with a list of incidences, which themselves don't seem very unethical. Meanwhile, Off the Kuff has an interview with Doherty's primary opponent Dan Grant. And over in CD-22, incumbent Nick Lampson's got the most green in the field, reports Burnt Orange, saying that cash will come in handy against the eventual GOP nominee.

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House of Cards

Capitol Annex has a statement from state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, blasting the Texas Department of Transportation. And Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is "extremely concerned" about the agency, according to PoliTex.

Annex is pleased that TxDOT is finally facing the music, while Burnt Orange predicts that the agency's $1.1 billion "accounting error" is going to help Democrats come November. And here's an opportunity for readers to dig up some muck of their own, via muckraker.

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House Brew

Lance Armstrong had a run-in with a bouncer at a Fourth Street bar, reports Austin 360. Armstrong later apologized. In other news, former Capitol Crowd "Person of the Week" Shyra Darr is back under the Dome as Craddick's Director of Administration.

New UT regent Janiece Longoria donates to *gasp* Democrats, says Chronic, the Austin Chronicle's blog. (Don't worry, she also has ties to a big donor for Rick Perry, Chronic adds.)

Grits has an analysis of overcrowding in Texas jails.

Texas Blue sits down with state Senate District 9 candidate Melvin Willms (who might like to buy a vowel). Meanwhile, Texas Politics has interviews with both Democrats vying for the Texas Supreme Court, Susan Criss and Linda Yañez.

Postcards from the Lege, the Austin American-Statesman's blog, reports that the judge presiding over the strip club "pole tax" case has recused herself do to a possible conflict of interest. (No, it has nothing to do with a moonlighting gig.) And former state lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate Sissy Farenthold wins the first Molly Ivins Lifetime Achievement Award, says PoliTex.

Texas Redneck Mother wins the more prestigious Headline of the Week Award for a post on pistol shrimp called, "I want a concealed shrimp permit."

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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.

Democrat Hillary Clinton will make a swing through the state's border regions this week, stopping in El Paso, Corpus Christi, McAllen and San Antonio on Tuesday and Wednesday. Those aren't the usual hotspots for presidential candidates in Texas at this time of year — normally, they're hitting Dallas, Houston, and Austin to raise money they'll spend elsewhere. And by now, the parties have recently been down to the single candidate they'll nominate for president. It's a weird year. Clinton will start Tuesday evening in El Paso and travel eastward the next day.