Political People and their Moves

At the Republican Party of Texas convention in Fort Worth, Steve Munisteri of Houston was re-elected the party chairman, and Melinda Fredricks of Conroe was kept on as vice chairwoman.

At the Texas Democratic Party convention in Houston, former Cameron County Judge Gilberto Hinojosa became the party’s first-ever Hispanic chairman.

Pat Dixon was reelected chairman of the Texas Libertarian Party by nine votes, and the party elected his opponent, Tom Glass, to be his vice chairman. 

Chris Lippincott has set up his own strategic communications, public relations and public affairs shop. The former Texas Department of Transportation spokesman is now operating as Hound’s Creek Consulting.

Mark Miner, who worked for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst before he became spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry (and then for presidential candidate RP), is back in the fold; he's joined Dewhurst's campaign as a communications consultant now that his old boss is in a runoff. 

Gov. Rick Perry has appointed Jake Ellzey of Midlothian and reappointed Richard McLeon IV of Victoria to the Texas Veterans Commission. Ellzey is a retired fighter pilot of the U.S. Navy. McLeon is general manager of Rusk County Electric Cooperative and is an ordained priest serving the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas.

Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg announced that Dr. Charles Fischer, 59, was indicted by a Travis County Grand Jury on five felony cases. Fischer was employed as a psychiatrist at the Austin State Hospital until his dismissal on Nov. 14, 2011.

Deaths: Political writer Lori Rodriguez, most recently a reporter and columnist with the Houston Chronicle and the first Hispanic editor of the Daily Texan — the paper at the University of Texas-Austin. She was 62.

Former Rep. Alexander Mack "Bobby" Aikin III, D-Commerce. He was 65. Aikin served only one term, but stayed involved in politics and had a long family history to draw from: His father, who served in the Legislature from 1933 to 1979, authored a famous overhaul of the state's school finance system.