By Matt Stiles, The Texas Tribune More than two-dozen people have asked Gov. Rick Perry to appoint them to replace former Texas Supreme Court Justice Scott Brister, who resigned recently to return to private practice.

At least 27 lawyers and judges from across the state asked to be considered for the state's highest civil appellate court, which pays $150,000 a year, according to records released by Perry's office.

The applicants include:

• Wade Birdwell, Lawyer, Wallach & Andrews

• Jeff Boyd, lawyer, Thompson & Knight

• Harvey Brown, Lawyer, Wright Brown & Close

• Jeff Brown, Justice, Texas Court of Appeals, 14th District

• Tracy Christopher, Judge, 295th District Court

• John Donovan, Director of Judicial and Legal Issues for Harris County Judge Ed Emmett

• David Gaultney, Justice, Texas Court of Appeals, 9th District

• Tom Gray, Chief Justice, Texas Court of Appeals, 10th District

• Eva M. Guzman, Justice, Texas Court of Appeals, 14th District

• Martha Hill Jamison, Senior Adviser, Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector

• Evelyn Keyes, Justice, Texas Court of Appeals, 1st District

• Douglas Lang, Texas Court of Appeals, 5th District

• Liz Lang-Miers, Texas Court of Appeals, 5th District

• Debra Lehrman, Judge, 360th District Court

• Renee McElhaney, Lawyer, Cox Smith, Inc.

• Robert Pemberton, Texas Court of Appeals, 3rd District

• David Schenck, Lawyer, Jones Day

• Shawn Stephens, Lawyer, Baker Hostetler

• Rebecca Simmons, Justice, Texas Court of Appeals, 4th District

• Rick Strange, Justice, Texas Court of Appeals, 11th District

• Kent Sullivan, Justice, Texas Court of Appeals, 14th District

• Susan Vance, Lawyer, Lawyer, Alexander Dubose

• Rose Vela, Justice, Texas Court of Appeals, 13th District

• Alan Waldrop, Texas Court of Appeals, 3rd District

• Betsy Whitaker, Lawyer

• Randy Wilson, Judge, 157th District Court

• Dana Womack, Judge, 348th District Court

The eventual appointee would finish Brister's term and presumably face re-election in 2010.

mailto:mstiles@texastribune.org

by Matt Stiles, The Texas Tribune Gov. Rick Perry today appointed state appellate court justice Eva Guzman to the Texas Supreme Court.

Guzman, now a member of the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston, will replace Scott Brister, who left the bench last month to return to private practice. [Her bio is online here, and you can find a copy of her application with the governor's appointments office here.]

One of at least 26 applicants for the job, Guzman, 48, will be the first Latina on the court and Perry's first female appointment to the panel. The governor has selected at least seven other justices since March 2001.

"Justice Guzman is known throughout legal circles as a strict constructionist with an unmatched work ethic, and has demonstrated a proven record of sound jurisprudence," the governor said in a written statement. "I am proud to appoint this principled, conservative judge as the first Hispanic woman on the Supreme Court of Texas."

Guzman is married to a police sergeant and graduated from Austin High School in Houston in 1979. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Houston before attending the South Texas College of Law, where she graduated in 1989.

She has been a state judge since 1999, first at the 309th District Court before being appointed by Perry to the appellate post in 2001. She won re-election in 2002 and 2004.

mstiles@texastribune.org

by Brandi Grissom, The Texas Tribune El Paso district Judge William "Bill" Moody plans to float his Texas Supreme Court campaign message to Texans next year.

Literally.

Moody, who is making his third run for the state's highest civil court, said Thursday he plans to use a bright orange blimp in his campaign to become the first Democrat elected to statewide office in more than a decade.

"Our plan is to fly across Texas stopping in dozens of counties to listen and talk to the voters... and impress upon them the importance of the Texas Supreme Court," Moody said.

It won't be Moody's first unorthodox campaign.

Moody — father of state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso — ran twice before for the court.

He lost a conventional campaign in 2002 to now Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson.

Then, in 2006, he walked more than 1,000 miles, from one end of the Lone Star state to the other, in his campaign against Justice Don Willett.

Moody said the idea for the blimp campaign came to him when he saw a dirigible overhead as he trekked through Central Texas in 2006.

"I said, 'You know, there might be an easier way to do this,'" Moody recalled.

Moody lost the 2006 race, but he was the best performer on the Democrats' statewide ticket that year, with nearly 45 percent of the vote.

This time, Moody plans to run against Justice Paul Green for Place 5 on the court.

He said he thinks his chances for success are better in 2010 because recent elections have been trending toward Democrats in Texas' largest urban counties.

Moody said he doesn't plan to launch the blimp until then end of the campaign, because renting a blimp isn't cheap. Moody said he estimates it will cost $400,000 to $500,000 to use one for just a month or two, and said he's still looking for a pilot to fly the thing.

The blimp, he said, is just a tool to help get out his message of reform for the court.

Big campaign contributors have too much sway in the court's judicial decisions, Moody said, and justices should be chosen in non-partisan elections separate from the primary and general elections.

"Justice is not Democrat or Republican, and the people who come before the courts do not want political judges," Moody said.

The Moody blimp will launch from El Paso and head to points eastward next fall.

bgrissom@texastribune.org

Who'll head the Texas GOP?

Cathie Adams, head of the Texas Eagle Forum and a prominent endorser of Gov. Rick Perry, says she's running for chairman of the Texas Republican Party. Tina Benkiser, the Houston attorney who had that job, left to work directly for Perry's campaign. Adams says she wants the job now and for a full term after the party's convention in June, and says simply that she wants to bolster Republicans' chances of winning elections.

Tom Mechler of Amarillo is running for party chair at the GOP convention next summer. That's the regular election time for the spot and it's open to both genders, so long as the vice chair is not the same gender as the chair. Mechler is on the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) and says in his pitch that the party is in a time of "crisis" because its "ranks are being fractured" — that'd be a reference to the race at the top of the ballot — and because of "a lack of a consistent message being offered to the voters." He's also a Perry appointee, serving as vice chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice.

Melinda Fredricks, a former SREC member from Conroe, wants to run and serve only until the June 2010 election. " I have worked for decades to build a Republican Majority, and I am deeply concerned the work many of us have done is in grave danger after two poor election cycles," she said in an email to the SREC members who'll pick someone to finish Benkiser's term. She's a Perry appointee, too, to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission now, and previously to the Texas Medical Board.

Democrats are expected to be in the hunt, but Eva Guzman will have a primary opponent even though she's got Perry's seal of approval.

Rose Vela, who had already said she'll be running for that seat in next year's Republican primary, followed the Guzman announcement by saying she'll stay in the race. That could be lively, what with a noisy governor's race that could increase attention on politics and on other races like this one. She was a district court judge and has been on the 13th Court of Appeals since 2006. She's also going to be in mid-term next year; if she wins, she's on the Supreme Court, and if she loses, she keeps her current job.

Only the Guv knows why he picked a Latina from Houston instead of one from South Texas, but here's one bug in the soup: Vela's husband, Filemon Vela Jr. (his dad was the late and well-known federal judge), gave $4,000 in two installments to the gubernatorial campaign of one Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is running against the guy who was in charge of the appointment. It couldn't have helped.

Put a marker here for analysis later. If the two judges stay in, and if they're tied — by their own or by other hands — to the gubernatorial candidates, their fates could rise or fall with Perry and Hutchison. That's an insider game, but this is, after all, a primary election.

Endorsements, candidates, money, and rap music...

Democrat John Sharp picked up an endorsement from Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, in his bid for U.S. Senate. That's a slap to Houston Mayor Bill White, who's also in the hunt. Whether they actually get to run is up to U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who has said she'll quit that post to concentrate on her campaign to knock off Gov. Rick Perry. Sharp and White are, so far, the only Democrats to express serious interest in her job. Van de Putte leads the Democratic caucus in the Texas Senate and has been involved in Party affairs at the national level, too.

• Maverick County Judge Jose "Pepe" Aranda Jr. told the Rio Grande Guardian he might challenge Rep. Tracy King, D-Batesville, in next year's Democratic primary. He's in his second term as judge and has said he won't seek a third term. He's also a former mayor of Eagle Pass. He hasn't made a final decision. King said he takes all comers seriously, "especially county-wide officeholders from counties in my district," but says he's not sure yet what Aranda will finally do. This isn't the first time the challenger has looked at challenging King. And, for the record: King says he'll seek an eighth term in HD-80.

• Republican Lisa Luby Ryan says she'll have the support of former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach if she runs for the Texas House in HD-108. That's the Park Cities seat held now by Republican Dan Branch. He's interested in running for attorney general if Greg Abbott doesn't seek reelection; if he does, Luby Ryan would run for his spot. That's four stops on the political bus line: If Kay Bailey Hutchison resigns, and if Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst quits to run for that, and if Abbott decides to go after the Lite Guv job, and if Branch goes for AG, then Luby Ryan, a high-end interior designer, will run for the House.

• Stephen Thomas has named a treasurer, resigned from the Cedar Park City Council and plans to run for the HD-20 seat in Williamson County. Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, is giving that up to run for the Texas Senate (where Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, decided not to run again). Thomas will join Milton Rister and Charles Schwertner in the GOP primary. One other tidbit: Thomas picked up the endorsement of local businessman Jarrod Weaver, significant because Weaver was thinking about running himself.

• Barry Cooper, a former cop running for Texas attorney general on what he calls a "pro-family, pro-gun, pro-pot platform," has an offbeat fundraiser coming up in Austin. The main act? Hip-hop artist Devin the Dude, described as "a brilliant oddball with a spaced-out flow."

• Gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina claims to have raised $111,000 in one day last week — part of a Ron Paul-style "Money Bomb." The campaign said the money — which doesn't get officially reported until January — came from all over the country.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed:

• Jeff Rose of Austin to the 353rd district court, replacing the late Scott Ozmun. Rose is deputy first assistant to Attorney General Greg Abbott.

• Former Plano Mayor Jeran Akers to the Texas State Affordable Housing Corp.'s board.

• Robert "Rob" Kyker of Richardson to the Credit Union Commission. He's the owner of R&D Sales and Leasing.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst named Charles McMahen and Sens. Glenn Hegar, Joan Huffman, Robert Nichols, and John Whitmire to the Sunset Advisory Commission. Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa will remain on that board, and Hegar, who was also on the board before, will chair it.

Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples added two seats to the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority Board and named Will Coward of Coryell County and John Paul Dineen III of Waxahachie to that panel. Coward is a rancher. Dineen is a farmer.

When Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, married Joyce Feinberg, a few days ago, the name of the biggest celebrity in the deal got left out. Sandra Day O'Connor, the former U.S. Supreme Court justice and an El Paso native, performed the ceremony.

Tom DeLay, his feet in tatters, bailed out of Dancing with the Stars. The former U.S. House Majority Leader, a Sugar Land Republican, had stress fractures in his feet that he said forced him out.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Victor Carrillo is recovering and waiting for a diagnosis after feeling ill enough to go to the hospital for three days last week.

Deaths: Jessica Hobby Catto, journalist and conservationist daughter of a Texas governor, William P. Hobby; a cabinet secretary and first leader of the Women's Army Corps, Oveta Culp Hobby; and brother to former Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, after a struggle with cancer. She was 72.