The latest Wayne Christian news from The Texas Tribune.
Talking point No. 1 for an elected official facing an ethics investigation in Texas: Blame the politicization of the Public Integrity Unit, which is funded by the Legislature but operates out of the district attorney's office in heavily Democratic Travis County. Full Story
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Nobody's openly campaigning right now, but there's talk of who might succeed Joe Straus if he stumbles before January. Attribute the speculation to inertia: The House's top job was in play for at least four years before Straus won it 17 months ago, and members and the lobby and the press and other gawkers have been trained to study every new complaint, slight, reward and compliment for signs of a coup. While he appears to be on solid ground going into his second session behind the podium, don't erase the possibility of a contest. It's an uncertain environment: It's an election year, Straus is green and the Capitol is full of people who are constantly looking for a better deal than the one they've got. Full Story
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Coming soon to a large pink state capitol building in this very state: A day-long seminar on slot machines and casinos and all that, especially as it pertains to the state budget. Full Story
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The Speaker doesn't have anyone studying gambling in advance of the next legislative session, and a leading Democrat says legislators ought to get together on their own to consider the issue. Full Story
House lawmakers passed the Senate version of long-awaited health care reform on Sunday night. And Texas leaders were quick to fire off on it. Full Story
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Public testimony on the state's social studies curriculum has started here State Board of Education meeting. It's easy to tell from the banks of cameras and scribes, college students with bright yellow "Save Our History" t-shirts on and people from civil rights and conservative groups itching to testify. Full Story
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Farouk Mohammed Shami, who's running for governor as a Democrat, has a strong Middle Eastern accent and a strange name. Some of his fellow Democrats are loathe to talk about it. He's not worried. "If a president can be named Barack Hussein Obama, a governor can be named Farouk Shami," he said. "If a president can be black, a governor can be brown." Full Story
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Thanks to sites like Facebook and Twitter, we know the elected officials who represent us better than ever — sometimes in weirdly intimate ways. You can find out that Dan Patrick had to put his dog down, that Wayne Christian is a fan of real estate wunderkind and reality TV star Chad Rogers, and that Bill White just finished listening to a book on tape. But woe to the pol who hasn't updated her status in a year. Full Story
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It's time to harvest the political speculations of the last several months: Democrats and Republicans have until January 4 to put their names on the ballots, or not, in anticipation of the March 2 primaries. Full Story
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