The Brief: May 3, 2010

It’s a good day to stay home and watch TV.

Just make sure that the set is tuned to CNN at 10:35 CST when state Reps. Debbie Riddle, R-Houston, and Trey Martinez Fisher, D-San Antonio, will join CNN anchor Tony Harris to debate Arizona’s new immigration enforcement law.

Riddle has pledged to file legislation similar to Arizona’s SB 1070 in Texas during the 2011 session. Martinez Fischer is the chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. It sounds like must-see TV.

And don’t take any breaks during the commercials, or you might miss the latest installment in the gubernatorial ad wars.

The Democratic candidate, Bill White, has a new ad going up on TV today. It opens, “A man on the move — that’s what they call him.” It highlights Houston’s tax reductions and job growth during White’s tenure as mayor, and knocks his Republican opponent, incumbent Gov. Rick Perry, as someone who “simply works to get re-elected.”

Perry, meanwhile, is in that city he has no interest in ever moving to — Washington, D.C. — where he spent the weekend with some TV stars at the glitzy White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Today he will participate in a roundtable discussion about job creation and economic growth put on by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Chamber Foundation.

Look for that on C-SPAN 2.

CULLED

• Gov. Rick Perry, once again, said "no" to the federal government. On Friday, he notified U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that Texas won't commit to creating a new temporary health care pool for high-risk patients. Texas, like several other states, already has a pool for high-risk patients, but it had the option of expanding that pool or running a temporary parallel program. In a statement, Perry expressed concern that the federal government had not insured that states would not be left with significant costs from creating the high-risk pools.

• It’s the end of an era. Today is Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle’s last full day at work. His replacement, soon-to-be former First Assistant Chief David Brown will be sworn in tomorrow afternoon.

• If it’s live entertainment you’re looking for and you’re near the Capitol, the House Select Committee on Transportation Funding, chaired by state Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, will gather for some invited testimony this morning.

• Stay tuned. Attorney General Greg Abbott will be talking with reporters about the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico later this morning.

"Who better to run than average citizens who are fed up with a government that doesn't listen to the people?” — Konni Burton of the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party steering committee on the Tea Party members running for office.

MUST READ:

• As Perry's star rises, so do image worries — Houston Chronicle

• Are the feds punishing Texas? — The Dallas Morning News

• "A Country Of Immigrants"— The Texas Tribune  

• Texas Democrat Is Striving to Make His Name Known — The New York Times

• Shrinking the state budget easier said than done — Austin American-Statesman

• Mexico's crime syndicates increasingly target authorities in drug war's new phase — The Washington Post