LSR reported in this week's issue on the controversy between Democrats and the Harris County tax office regarding voter registration operations.

The story is publically viewable here.

One detail not included in the story: Democratic Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan fired Andy Taylor, outside counsel to the county in the lawsuit. The attorney he brought on to replace Taylor, John Odam, is himself a former Harris County Democratic Party Chairman.

In talking with LSR earlier this week, Ryan said his handling of the case was "completely non-partisan."

And it looks like the resolution agreement reached between the Democrats and Harris County hasn't quieted the the war of words, which continues this week between Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Leo Vasquez and Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie ...

Rep. Terri Hodge (D-Dallas) faces federal corruption charges, accused of accepting bribes from developer Brian Potashnik in exchange for her support of his low-income housing projects.

The Dallas Morning News reports the date for that trial has been set for: March 8, 2009, the Monday after the March 2 primary.

So the question now is:

Rick Green, a former House member 1999-2003, has announced he is running for Texas Supreme Court Place 3, which is being vacated by Justice Harriett O'Neill.

Here's his Web site,

and his announcement, in which he says:

Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) Rep. John Otto (R-Dayton) today announced the launch of a new website, www.AppraisalReform.com, which aims to bust myths about three proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution, Props. 2, 3, and 5, previously written about in our newsletter on Oct. 16. The propositions address abuse in the property tax appraisal system.

The website was created by STAR PAC, a statewide political action committee. Williams and Otto, who co-chair the PAC, co-authored the legislation authorizing the placement of Propositions 2, 3, and 5 on the ballot.

The El Paso CBS affiliate and the Dallas Morning News are reporting that Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso), a fire-breathing liberal in the Texas Capitol who recently authored a book about how fiscally conservative policies like low taxes and spending caps starve the government, is not running for re-election in 2010.

Here's his statement:

In our family, public service is the highest calling. While other public service may lie ahead, I will not run for the Texas Senate in 2010. During each day of the last decade, we have endeavored to do our very best for the people of our great community and state. In public life, especially in Texas during this decade, doing what's right, not what's expedient is what matters. I am grateful to the people who elected me for the opportunity to serve.

More on this to come, I'm sure.

The Texas Association of Business (TAB) today released "For the Record" (.PDF version here), the association’s biennial scorecard rating legislators on how they voted on issues affecting the state's business climate. The scorecard used 12 votes to score state Senators and 11 votes to score state Representatives.

Railroad Commissioner Victor Carrillo, hospitalized at Brackenridge in Austin on Thursday Oct. 1, was released yesterday Oct. 4 and is now resting and recovering at home according to a statement. According to Susan Lilly at Lilly and Company, LLC, Carrillo is remaining in contact with his staff at the Texas Railroad Commission.

Said the statement from Lilly:

Chairman Carrillo is still under medical supervision while awaiting further diagnosis and a subsequent course of treatment that will be determined when more information is available.

Chairman Carrillo and his wife Joy appreciate all of the calls and emails of concern. The Carrillo family asks that you keep them in your prayers for a definitive diagnosis and a quick recovery.

Carrillo underwent some tests at Brackenridge Hospital and during his stay there was, according to a previous release from Lilly, alert and talking to his friends, family and medical staff.

Melinda Fredricks, a former State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) member for SD 4, has announced today that she is running to chair the Republican Party of Texas.

Tina Benkiser announced on Sept. 26 that she is stepping down to be a senior advisor in the campaign to re-elect Gov. Rick Perry. Cathie Adams of the conservative Texas Eagle Forum recently threw her hat into the ring.

Now Fredricks. She today sent a letter to the SREC, which said:

I want to be clear up front: If elected, it is my intention to serve for the interim and not to run for chair in June. We have the greatest grassroots party in the country, and the power of our party should reside with the delegates to our state convention. I think they should be able to choose a candidate without anyone running with the advantage of incumbency.

She goes on to say the party needs to "rejuvenate" with the "youthful idealism of College Republicans," and "broaden our appeal to Hispanics and other minorities while preserving our principles, and work more closely with elected leaders  who ultimately determine whether the ideals of our platform become the laws of our state."

Cathie Adams of the Texas Eagle Forum is running to become the next chair of the Republican Party of Texas, the Dallas Morning News and theAustin American Statesman are reporting.

The Morning News entry indicates Robin Armstrong will not be vying for the position.

In today's LSR, Adams, also a Republican national committeewoman, speaks admiringly of Benkiser's leadership and the successes the GOP has had in Texas during her tenure as chairman. Benkiser announced her pending resignation Sept. 26.

Joey Longley, who has served as executive director of the Sunset Advisory Commission for 14 years, is resigning at the end of the day tomorrow, Sept. 30, and will join the office of Blackridge, a Texas-based lobby firm.

Longley has worked in Texas politics for 30 years. As executive director, he was responsible for day-to-day operations of the staff, planning the course of agency reviews, producing reports, conducting public hearings, and interacting with the Commission and the Legislature.

Ken Levine, the Deputy Director, will take over as acting director when Longley leaves. Because there is currently no Chairman of the Sunset Advisory Commission, it is not yet clear exactly who will be the interim or long-haul executive director of Sunset. Levine told LSR that he has requested an interim executive director be appointed.

The Public Utility Commisison's summit on federal Cap and Trade legislation continued yesterday. The Cap and Trade bill, HR 2454, would put a nationwide cap on emissions, require companies to trade CO2 "credits" for the right to emit, and set goals every few years for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, including 83 percent by 2050. Here are some more highlights from the summit:

Before a gathering of chairmen, policy experts, environmentalists, farmers, and others, Gov. Rick Perry once again slammed HR 2454, also known as the Waxman-Markey "Cap and Trade" legislation, saying that if passed in its current form, it would amount to "the largets tax increase in American history," and calling it a "pending meteor strike on the Texas economy."

He called on Texans to contact their elected officials to express their disapproval both of the bill and of what he again alled the "activist EPA" [federal Environmental Protection Agency]. Among other concrete economic ills, he said that the bill would cause the price of gasoline to rise 41 percent, and that it would force many agricultural-based families to lose their farms. Hundreds of thousands of jobs would be lost in Texas in the coming years as a result of the legislation, he said.

 The Texas Public Policy Foundation is moving on up.

At its 20th Anniversary Gala on Friday evening Sept. 11, TPPF, a conservative think-tank known for in-depth studies on an array of policy issues facing Texas, announced a fundraising campaign to establish a permanent headquarters a block and a half away from the Texas State Capitol. (The architectural rendering can be viewed here.)

TPPF's current location is already relatively close to the Capitol building, but the new location will move it even closer. The foundation signed a contract to purchase a historic storefront at 916 Congress Ave., one and a half blocks south of the Capitol. TPPF’s Capital Freedom Fund campaign intends to raise more than $5 million toward the purchase and renovation of the building, originally built in 1876, into a state-of-the-art headquarters.

Marc Katz, who owns Katz's Deli ("Katz's Never Kloses"), is running for Lieutenant Governor as a Democrat, the Austin American Statesman reported today. One of his major campaign issues is the revised franchise tax, about which he has complained to newspapers in the past.

Katz today was quoted in the Statesman:

Katz will never quit for Texas. There’s no question we’re in one of the most difficult periods for the State of Texas. But I don’t see any urgency (among state leaders). There needs to be some urgency … some vision.

I can’t help it. I can’t afford not to do something for Texas.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who many have speculated would vie for the U.S. Senate seat that Hutchison will at some point vacate to run for Governor, today announced that he will run for re-election to the number two statewide elected office.

Tomorrow -- September 4, 2009 -- there will be no weekly issue of the Lone Star Report.

Don't fret: We will publish again on Sept. 11.

In the meantime, enjoy the glorious and long-awaited advent of College Football, and Happy Labor Day!

The Texas Public Policy Foundation today released a study (found here) indicating that bilingual education in Texas is the most expensive but not most effective way to transition students lacking in English proficiency (called "English language learners -- "ELL") into the state's English-based education system. The study defines "bilingual education" as "instruction provided to students in their native tongue in all subjects in a self-contained classroom with other students who speak the same language."

Hank Gilbert, the 2006 Democratic candidate for Agriculture Commissioner, and outspoken opponent of toll roads, has told the Austin American Statesman that he plans to go for the Democratic nomination for governor.

Gilbert was quoted in the Statesman saying:

I just feel like we need that person at the top that has the experience of fighting in the (Legislature) and fighting to get things done for the people of Texas across this state, get people inspired to take a hard look.

The left-leaning Burnt Orange Report calls this "an exciting development," surmising that his entry into the race could create a more active Democratic primary and prevent Democratic voters from crossing the aisle to vote for Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Gov. Rick Perry Aug. 25 announced appointments to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and to the University of North Texas Board of Regents.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams has gotten an endorsement from former U.S. House Speaker and conservative firebrand Newt Gingrich. Williams' campaign website has published a glowing column by Gingrich, touting Williams' extensive resume and conservative bona fides, and, of course, asking for money for Williams' campaign.

An excerpt from Gingrich's endorsement:

As someone who has been elected statewide in Texas three times, Michael caught my eye by advocating the right energy policies for America’s future. Unlike the liberals who want to bring fossil fuel exploration to a grinding halt and worsen the economic crisis, Michael wants to expand domestic exploration of both traditional fossil fuels as well as clean, renewable sources.

From their respective posts, House Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding Chairman Jim Dunnam (D-Waco) and Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken both announced that Texas' unemployment rate has risen to 7.9 percent.

Pauken highlighted the net addition of 37,900 jobs. The rise in both figures -- unemployment rate and available jobs -- seems to indicate that the Texas labor force is growing faster than jobs are, meaning people are coming to Texas even though they do not have jobs lined up here yet. Also, it means that more people already living in Texas have decided to start looking for work, meaning they have to be reported by TWC as "unemployed," TWC spokeswoman Ann Hatchitt told LSR.

Further, Hatchitt observed, the labor force in the U.S. is going down, whereas in Texas the labor force continues to grow.

House Speaker Joe Straus’s communications director Angela Hale today announced she will leave the Speaker's office to join Red Media Group as managing partner. Red Media Group is a strategic communications company with offices in Austin and Dallas. Hale will begin providing consulting services in September, specializing in public relations, public affairs, crisis communications and multi-media production.

Said Straus:

Angela did an outstanding job communicating the priorities of the Texas Legislature during the 81st legislative session. I was fortunate to have an experienced communications professional guiding me through my first session as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. Her years of dedicated service have truly benefited the State of Texas, and I know she will have great success in this new phase of her career.

Said Hale:

During a Q&A at a press conference today to unveil a study showing the adverse effects of Obama-style healthcare reform on the state of Texas, Gov. Rick Perry was asked to respond to a few of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's jabs.

To Hutchison's charges that he has been in office for too long, at 9 years and counting, he said:

I understand the Senator has been in Washington for 16 years. She may not have a grasp of all that is going on in the state of Texas. She may not know or understand the progress that we've made in this state. There is a reason why we're number one in job creation. We are luring doctors … from all across the country. … People are coming here because we have created a great economy. There are more Fortune 500 companies that call texas home than any other state in the nation. We got low taxes. We cut taxes for over 40,000 small businesses this last legislative session. That is the scenario that is driving the Texas economy. We are the envy of the nation.

He continued:

The Texas State Rifle Association (TSRA), that official state affiliate of the National Rifle Association, last week named Sen. Glenn Hegar (R-Katy) its Legislator of the Year for 2009.

"Senator Hegar has long been recognized by law abiding Texas gun owners as a friend and ally but his actions during the 81st Texas Legislature clearly affirm his place as one of the state's foremost champions of second amendment rights,” said TSRA legislative director Alice Tripp.

Hegar authored in the 81st SB 730, which had it passed would have prevented employers from prohibiting their workers from keeping licensed firearms in their vehicles when they park on the jobsite. It passed the Senate but died in the House due to the Voter ID chubfest.

Hegar will be formally presented with the Doc Brown Legislator of the Year Award on Feb. 27, 2010 at TSRA's annual members' meeting in Mesquite.

Hegar said in a statement that he plans to continue working to pass the legislation in future sessions. Said he:

Texas Supreme Court Justice Scott Brister announced today that he will leave the Court effective September 7, 2009, to return to private practice with the law firm of Andrews Kurth L.L.P. Brister will lead Andrews Kurth’s appellate section from the firm’s Austin office.

Brister has served on the state's high court for six years since his appointment in November 2003. Before that he was chief justice of the 14th District Court of Appeals in Houston, justice on the First Court of Appeals in Houston and district judge in Harris County.

Said Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson:

Dan Huberty, president of the Humble ISD School Board and a lifelong Republican, has announced he would seek Rep. Joe Crabb's (R-Kingwood) Texas House seat. He will be a candidate in the Marhc 2010 Republican primary.

Said Huberty:

Representative Crabb has been a faithful representative for the people of District 127. I want to thank Joe and Nancy for giving so many years of their lives in service to the people of Texas and especially northeast Harris County.  I believe my candidacy offers a great opportunity to elect a conservative businessman, with public school finance experience, to the Texas House.

I am keenly aware the next legislative session will deal with legislative redistricting and another attempt to secure the voting process by requiring photo identification to vote. These and other issues require that a strong conservative be elected to follow Rep. Crabb’s history of conservative leadership.

Health and Human Services Commission Chairman Albert Hawkins addressed Rep. Jim Dunnams' (R-Waco) Select Committee on the Federal Economic Stabilization Fund on Wednesday August 12. He said that in addition to the stimulus funds already given to Texas, the state could receive another $470 million in bonus FMAP money because its unemployment rate has gone up from “Tier One” to “Tier Two” status. As the state’s unemployment inches up, the state is likely to get more in matching funds from the federal government.

If Texas’ current unemployment rate of 7.5 percent holds steady next week when the Workforce Commission releases its numbers, the state will go into Tier Two.

Hawkins said if that happens, the state could start drawing in the next quarter. If the state goes into third tier unemployment status, that’s an additional three percent in FMAP funding.

The PUC approved Thursday Aug. 13 CenterPoint Energy’s application requesting approval of costs for rebuilding the electric infrastructure of its service territory (mostly the Houston area) as a result of Hurricane Ike. All parties to the case reached a settlement on the amount of the securitized charges. The Legislature passed SB 769, which authorized securitization of hurricane costs. The securities issued would be repaid by a charge on electric bills, but utilities argue that consumers save money under securitization because the debt service on the bonds costs less than the rate of return that would be authorized under traditional regulation.

Sen. Mario Gallegos (D-Galena Park) sent a letter to the commission and a staff member to the meeting asking the commission not to authorize any charge on customers’ bills for hurricane recovery. Gallegos also praised Houston mayor Bill White for his efforts to reduce the charges to consumers.

Justice Rebecca Simmons, currently serving on the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio, today announced she is seeking election to Place 3 on the Texas Supreme Court, a position held by Harriet O'Neill, who recently announced that she will not seek re-election in 2010.

Said Simmons:

I have a reverence for the law, a dedication to justice and a commitment to fairness. I am committed to ensuring that the citizens of the State of Texas are served by a legal system that is both fair and impartial while maintaining the strict standards of the law.

Dan Patrick (R-Houston) has announced that he intends to focus on getting re-elected to the Texas Senate, District 7 including downtown Houston and northwest Harris County. In a statement released today, he addressed speculation that he may run for, or that Gov. Rick Perry might appoint him to, the U.S. Senate to fill the seat of Kay Bailey Hutchison as she runs for governor. Although she indicated earlier in the summer while talking to conservative radio host Mark Davis in Dallas that she might resign as early as October or November, Hutchison later backtracked and has been glib about relinquishing the seat.

Patrick said that if he were given the opportunity to serve in the U.S. Senate, he would "seriously consider it at the appropriate time, but my sights are set on the Texas Senate."

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Thomas Schieffer criticized Republican gubernatorial candidate U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for being one of 31 senators to vote against confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court. He asserted: "The only reason Senator Hutchison voted against Judge Sotomayor was because Republican partisans demanded it."

Hutchison explained her vote against Sotomayor on July 28 when she said:

After her meeting with me and her testimony before the Judiciary Committee, I remain concerned about her views on the Second Amendment. I cannot reconcile her opinion that the Second Amendment is not an individual right protected from State infringement with the Supreme Court’s Heller decision.

Hutchison also expressed continued concern over Sotomayor's statements in past speeches that Federal appellate courts are where policy is made.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O-Neill of Houston announced yesterday that she would not seek reelection to the high court in 2010, according to the Houston Chronicle's Texas Politics blog. Said she:

I am deeply grateful for the unique opportunity to have served the people of this great state during my nearly 18-year tenure on the district court, the court of appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas. During that time I have viewed my proper role as interpreting and applying the law as written, rather than making the law. I have worked hard to render timely decisions that, though often legally or factually complex, are readily understandable to the people of Texas who have entrusted us with resolving their disputes.

Wasting no time, Republican Justice Jim Moseley of the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas has stepped up to fill her seat.

On the pdf of our printed issue last week, we informed readers that we would not be publishing today, Aug. 7, but we forgot to let people know via the blog. Our bad. For the record: the Lone Star Report is not releasing a weekly issue today. We WILL publish again on Aug. 14. Sorry for the confusion!

Democrats in Texas expressed jubilee and at the U.S. Senate's 68-31 confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor as the first Latino-Latina on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Not surprisingly, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie couched a partisan jab in his congratulatory remarks:

The confirmation of Justice Sotomayor is a proud moment for all who believe in the promise of America. However, that pride does not extend to Texas’ two Republican Senators, whose crass political opposition to Justice Sotomayor showed utter disregard for her outstanding qualifications.

Texas Democrats proudly congratulate Justice Sonia Sotomayor on becoming the first Hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court, and we are confident she will serve with distinction and inspire generations of Americans who believe in justice and the rule of law.

The Austin American Statesman is reporting that former State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy is responding to criticisms of the SBOE's attempts to rewrite the state's social studies curriculum to include how the Judeo-Christian tradition uniquely influenced the founding fathers in creating a limited government that allowed its citizens to be free.

The American Humanist Association (AHA), which advocates "keep[ing] religion out of American classrooms," had written a letter to the SBOE criticizing their efforts. So McLeroy wrote a letter in response, entitled "The Gift of Medieval Christendom to the World," which the association posted on their website. Writes McLeroy:

Gov. Rick Perry publicly announced his acceptance of two invitations, one from Belo Corporation, owner of the Dallas Morning News and four Texas television stations, the other from the Collin County Republican party, to debates against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Hutchison's campaign has accepted the Belo invite but said they have not seen the invitation from the Collin County Republicans, according to the Associated Press.

Former Houston Chronicle reporter Janet Elliott is joining the staff of Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chairwoman Jane Nelson (R-Lewisville) as communications director, Nelson announced today. Elliott will officially join Nelson's staff on August 10. Elliott covered 10 legislative sessions and focused heavily on health and human services policy.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Jim Dunnam of Waco has been slapped with $1,500 in fines from the Texas Ethics Commission for failing to specify what services staffers were being reimbursed for, as required by the Texas Election Code, on the House Democratic Campaign Committee reports in 2006 and 2007. Those reimbursements came to about $15,000. Dunnam serves as treasurer of the HDCC.

The HDCC's purpose, of course, is to elect Democrats into the Texas House of Representatives, funneling money to competitive races around the state for that purpose. It has been among the major beneficiaries of the Texas Democratic Trust, as most recently reported in the July 24 issue of LSR.

Dunnam has already paid the fine, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The full Ethics Commission ruling can be found here.

The Washington Times, a conservative-leaning periodical based in the nation's Capitol, ran an opinion piece by Gov. Rick Perry today extolling the virtues of limited government, using the Lone Star State as evidence, and, of course, slamming the kind of big, perpetual, all-encompassing government that reigns (pardon the pun) inside the beltway.

"In Texas, we have long based our approach on individual liberty and initiative, believing that families, entrepreneurs and individual citizens deserve the opportunity to strive and succeed -- with minimal government interference," Perry wrote. "After regular, 140-day legislative sessions every two years, Texas lawmakers go home to live under the laws they pass."

In an interview with conservative radio talk show host Mark Davis of WBAP Dallas, Hutchison announced that she would be resigning her position as Texas' senior U.S. Senator in October or November to focus on challenging Gov. Rick Perry for the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary. She has not settled on a specific date, saying that she wants to do as much as she can to fight Obamacare, cap and trade, and other major leftist initiatives in Washington.

Former Speaker Rep. Tom Craddick (R-Midland) July 17 was officially named the 2010 National Chairman of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Board of Directors. ALEC is a consortium of conservative legislators from around the country. He will take office for one year starting at the States and Nation Policy Summit in December.

Millions of Americans would actually lose private insurance under the federal health care reform bill, a study from the Heritage Foundation and the Lewin Group stated in a recent study.

About 88 million could lose their private, employer-based coverage, as they could be transitioned out of their current plan as employers opt out of continuing their existing coverage, a press release from the Heritage Foundation said.

A Travis County grand jury has indicted Rep. Kino Flores (D-Palmview) of 16 counts of tampering with a government record and three counts of perjury, the Austin American Statesman and Dallas Morning News reported on Friday. The upshot, the grand jury handed down charges that Flores knowingly failed to represent sources of income on financial statements that lawmakers are required to submit to the Texas Ethics Commission. The statements in question go back to 2004.

According to the Statesman, Flores could face up to two years in state jail and a fine of up to $10,000 in fines for the tampering offenses, and one year in a state jail and up to $4,000 in fines for the perjury.

The full indictments can be viewed here.

Col. Steve McCraw, who has served as Gov. Rick Perry's emergency management director and director of homeland security since 2004, will head up the Texas Department of Public Safety, the agency announce on Friday. He will take over for Col. Stanley Clark who resigned abruptly in May over allegations of sexual harassment. Clark had taken over for Col. Tommy Davis who was forced to retire in August 2008 following the arson at the Governor's Mansion.

“We are fortunate to have someone of Steven McCraw’s caliber to step in as the new director of DPS,” said Allan B. Polunsky, Chairman of the Texas Public Safety Commission. “His resume is distinguished and impeccable. He will undoubtedly build on the solid foundation and history of the Department and lead it forcefully into the future.”

Perhaps now the Perry campaign can stop wisecracking about how it's not too late for Kay Bailey Hutchison to flake out of the race again. She announced today at the Dallas County GOP headquarters, saying:

"I'm running for governor because I want results, not politics."

She announced that her exploratory committee was officially closed and that the first leg of the campaign for Governor of Texas was starting. She said that a formal statewide announcement tour would happen in August.

She also announced that she has raised about $6.7 million and currently has a total of about $12.5 million cash on hand for the race.

Perry today announced that Rob Johnson is leaving his position as Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's chief of staff to manage Perry's reelection campaign.

"Rob is one of the smartest and most respected political strategists in Texas," Perry said. "Along with his innate leadership ability, his political experience and firm grasp of key Texas issues will be a huge asset to our campaign. I’m glad he is part of our team."

Perry identified several other key positions in his campaign:

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples announced yesterday that he will be running for reelection in 2010, and two major farmers' advocacy groups endorsed him right out of the gate.

Said Staples: "I am running for re-election as Commissioner of Agriculture to continue the pursuit of common – sense solutions that promote and protect Texas’ agriculture industry and ensure state government works for the people, not the other way around."

Dallas attorney Eric Johnson announced this morning that his campaign received a total of $65,000 in contributions between June 5, when he filed papers to begin raising money, and June 30. Johnson is looking to run for the Texas House of Representatives from House District 100 against Terri Hodge (D-Dallas), who is currently under federal indictment for bribery.

Johnson received over $60,000 in monetary contributions from over 300 individuals and nearly $5,000 in in-kind contributions. His press release boasts over 70% of the contributors to Johnson's campaign were individuals who gave $100 or less.

"I am humbled by the level of support we received from our friends and family during the last three weeks of June," said Johnson. "I am truly blessed to have such strong support, especially in the faith and non-profit communities in which I have worked for years, and also in the business and legal communities. I look forward to reaching out beyond my friends and family for support in the months to come."

Johnson, a first time political candidate, is touting his community service record at various public schools and community centers in HD 100.

" … [P]eople know that I am serious about making House District 100 a better place to live, learn, work, and retire."

Gov. Rick Perry issued the following statement on the special legislative session:

"I am pleased that lawmakers passed legislation to continue the Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Department of Insurance and three other state agencies, and authorized the issuance of $2 billion in transportation bonds that were approved by Texas voters in 2007.
 
"With more than 1,000 people moving to Texas each day and a growing economy, improving transportation in our state continues to be a top priority of mine. I had hoped to reduce uncertainty regarding several major transportation projects across the state by extending the comprehensive development agreement authority for local and state transportation agencies. Although the CDA bill did not pass, we will continue to work with legislators and local officials to find transportation solutions for our state."

And on the other side of the aisle, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie said the session was a case of "the good, the bad and the ugly." The good -- "the Republican politicians who control the legislature are getting out of town before they do any further damage to our state." The bad -- "this special session offered more of the same misplaced priorities from do-nothing Governor Perry and his fellow Republicans, who once again failed to address skyrocketing insurance rates, traffic congestion and children's health insurance. In fact, a special session could have been avoided had the Republican legislative majority been willing to work with Democrats to address these important issues in a timely manner during the regular session instead of placing a higher priority on a divisive partisan agenda." And the ugly -- "Governor Rick Perry’s decision to add only one additional issue – expansion of private toll road contracts – to the special session. ..."