Our bracket says Pitt will win the NCAA men's basketball championship. That doesn't mean it'll happen. And if it does happen, we won't be able to claim (honestly, anyway) that we knew it was gonna happen. We'll just have guessed right. [eds. note: After this was written, Pitt lost to Villanova, failed to make the Final Four, ruined our bracket, and painfully proved our point about predicting the future.]

And there's no way to know right now whether the governor will call a special session in the summer, unless your name is Rick Perry and you've been talking to yourself. A summer special was the media-driven rumor of the week at the Capitol, presumably on the state budget, based on the notion that Perry will veto the budget that's now being written, etc., etc., etc.

The best thing you can say (honestly, anyway) is that it's too early to know what's going to happen with the budget, the stimulus, vetoes and all of that.

We have a theory, however, on why the rumor has traction, and why the rumor of an Unseat-New-Speaker-Joe-Straus petition got legs last week. Lawmakers gossip more than a church choir, especially when there's nothing to distract them. And in the House, there's clearly nothing to distract them.

Every session is odd in its own way. This one has had a remarkably slow start. The session is a few days shy of the halfway mark, and the House has not yet considered a bill. Near the end of the week, only 17 pieces of legislation had been moved to the House Calendars Committee — the panel that schedules what other committees have considered for a vote in the full House. Only 60 bills had come up for votes in the various House committees, and only 23 had been "reported" from those committees — sent on their way to Calendars. The Senate had passed 73 bills.

The standard line is that there's only one bill — the budget — that has to pass each session. Lawmakers are eternally optimistic: 4,706 bills have been filed in the House (of 7,152 total), and there are 10 weeks left in the 20-week session.

One of those 73 Senate bills — Voter ID — got all the attention. It passed unaltered and on a party-line vote. It goes to the House, which could have it up in committee in a couple of weeks.

That Sinking Feeling

The state's biggest pension funds lost a combined $40.8 billion in value between the end of the fiscal year in August and the end of February, and might soon be asking lawmakers for more money.

The market value of the Teacher Retirement System's assets dropped to $70.6 billion from $104.9 billion, or 32.7 percent.

The market value of the Employee Retirement System did a little better, falling to $15 billion $21.5 billion, a 30.2 percent drop.

The market's to blame, but the costs will be borne by the state and the educators and state employees that contribute to those funds unless the markets turn around and earn all that money back. (A note: These aren't actual losses until and unless the funds sell their assets; the lost value is the difference between what the assets were worth six months ago and what they're worth now.)

The market disasters put the Legislature in a bind: They probably need to send some money to the funds, eventually, so ERS and TRS can meet their obligations. ERS, where the numbers are less bleak, has 89 cents on hand for every $1 of liabilities. At TRS, the plunge left 68 cents for every $1 in liabilities.

"This is not rocket science," says Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, chair of the House Pensions, Investments & Financial Services Committee. "You get a market turnaround... adjust the contributions... or adjust benefits."

She and others are still trying to figure out what needs to be done to the funds right away. She's concentrating on calming retirees: "No one's in any danger of not getting their check."

TRS' actuaries — Irving-based Gabriel Roeder Smith & Co. — said in their assessment that lawmakers should wait before they do anything dramatic.

"We believe the current financial environment is too volatile, with future expectations too uncertain, to create a long-term solution during this legislative session," the TRS actuaries said in their mid-year report.

But the fund's executive director suggested they'll be looking for money before lawmakers leave town.

"[The outlook] has changed from neutral to consider some type of contribution increase ... that would be very helpful," Ronnie Jung told Truitt's committee.

And they recommended "no unfunded benefit enhancements be considered by the Legislature." To get the fund in shape for any extras, they said, would require the contributions from both the state and the educators to be raised above 9 percent. Each increase of one percent raises about $707 million for the retirement fund per year (while taking it from the state budget or teacher paychecks, or both). At ERS, a smaller fund, a one percent increase in contributions the corresponding number is about $55 million annually.

For TRS, the state contributes 6.58 percent of an educator's pay; the educator pays 6.4 percent. The ERS numbers: 6.45 percent state, and 6 percent employee.

That probably kills the idea of a "13th check" — an extra month's check for current retirees. The actuaries again, from their letter: "It is possible that the Legislature could authorize a 13th check for retirees and separately fund these benefits outside of TRS. However, we believe the first priority of the State should be ensuring the long-term viability of the System."

The ERS numbers, while better, still present some budget problems. That combined 12.45 percent of pay doesn't cover the "normal cost" of the fund — that would take an additional three percent. Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, says he's not sure how much, if any, the Lege will spend. But it won't just come from the state: Otto, whose Appropriations subcommittee will look at ERS, says the employees should bear some of the costs, too.

"Nobody's interested in cutting benefits," Truitt says. "We're going to adjust the contributions and pray for a better market."

Healthier Than Average — But Still Ill

The Texas chapter of the current recession began with 2009 and the state "was probably on the brink weeks or months before then," according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Texas is doing better than the country as a whole, and the recession here began at least six months after the national downturn, according to a new report from the Fed.

Key points:

• The leaders of the recession here: Energy prices, high-tech activity, and exports.

• Employment was up in the first half of 2008, but fell in the second half, particularly in September (Hurricane Ike gets the cite) and then in November and December. And the rates elsewhere are rising as more people lose jobs; according to the Fed, the Texas numbers rose because the labor force grew faster than jobs grew.

• Home foreclosures, inventories and mortgage delinquencies all grew in Texas, but less so than in other parts of the U.S. Prices here rose through the third quarter of the year even as they were plummeting elsewhere. The Fed expects them to "dip" this year.

• Energy industry layoffs are expected this year, too, and the Fed predicts the areas that led the upturn — Permian Basin and Barnett Shale drilling — will lead the way downhill.

• Among the big cities, Austin and Dallas have led the recession, with Houston continuing its growth. But then there's this line: "In 2009, all the major metro areas in Texas will likely experience recessions."

• Unemployment in the state will rise by 2.8 percent — "the equivalent of 296,000 jobs."

Hold 'em

The nominations of Texas Workforce Commissioners Tom Pauken and Andres Alcantar are on hold in the Texas Senate, which is watching to see how the battle over unemployment insurance and the federal stimulus comes out.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed both men. Alcantar was on the Guv's budget and policy staff before this. Pauken, a Dallas lawyer, is a former head of the Texas GOP and has run for various offices over the years.

But the senator who heads nominations — Mike Jackson, R-La Porte — says the hold isn't partisan and blames it on the stimulus tussle.

Perry declared his opposition to the UI stimulus money — $556 million worth — last week. Pauken had been working with lawmakers to find a way to accept the money without locking the state into unfunded federal mandates when that stimulus money is gone. And a couple of Republicans — Sen. Kevin Eltife of Tyler and Rep. Tan Parker of Flower Mound — filed legislation last week that attempts to take the money and weaken the federal strings on it.

While that was developing, Jackson says, a number of senators from both parties asked him to take Pauken and Alcantar off the "nominations eligible" list pending in the Senate. That allows senators to approve other gubernatorial nominees who, like the TWC pair, have been okayed by Jackson's committee. He revised the list, removing their names. "Several members in the Senate have questions they'd like to ask..." he says. "There's no need to rush."

He says Pauken and Alcantar could be up for confirmation "in a couple of weeks."

Fixing a Hole

The expected deficit in the state's unemployment insurance accounts could be erased with federal stimulus money and with the balance of an economic development fund in the governor's office.

That "Texas Enterprise Fund" got its money from the insurance fund in the first place.

Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, told a group of reporters that the UI deficit will hit $800 million later this year. Most of that — $555 million — could be covered if the state will accept federal stimulus money targeted at UI. The other $245 million, he said, just happens to be the current balance of the TEF.

"I'm not gonna stand around and allow the governor to willingly create insolvency in the unemployment trust fund, and double the tax on employers," Dunnam said.

Gov. Rick Perry said this week that he wants the state to refuse the federal UI money, because it comes with some requirements he says could cost the state well after the federal money runs out. Dunnam and others dispute that, saying the costs of those changes is far outweighed by the stimulus money.

And Perry's way would result in larger tax increases for Texas employers, who'll be assessed for that deficit.

He's off for Arlington, where his House committee on the stimulus money will hold a public hearing this weekend. Perry taped a phone message urging Republicans in that area to flood the hearing to tell the committee of their low regard for the federal stimulus.

Dunnam and Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, said they were at a loss to explain Perry's desire to turn down the money. Coleman blamed national politics and suggested the governor and his Republican peers around the country want to annoy the new administration.

"Taking money out of a proven job creation fund would be shortsighted and irresponsible," Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Perry, said in an email. "The best way to address unemployment in Texas is by creating more jobs, and that’s exactly what the Texas Enterprise Fund continues to do."

Money v. Health Care

House lawmakers started the discussion over state's uninsured children by hearing testimony on proposals — some with nine-figure price tags — that would significantly expand public health insurance programs in Texas.

Advocates for the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program proposals plead human decency — Texas ranks last in the U.S. in the percentage of children with coverage. The proponents argue that expanding coverage will save healthcare providers and the government money in the long run. But with budgeteers trying to hold costs down, the cheapest initiatives are most likely to succeed. And fiscal conservatives say they will resist throwing good money into what they consider a bad system.

In this first foray, the House Human Services Committee looked at more than two dozen bills in four general categories: Allowing parents to reenroll in children's Medicaid once a year, instead of once every six months; expanding CHIP to cover families with incomes from 200 to 300 percent of the federal poverty level; improving the eligibility process for social service programs; and specialized programs.

Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, a former House Appropriations chair, said before the hearing that he hasn't looked into specific proposals yet this session, but is strongly against extending the child Medicaid continuous eligibility period to 12 months from six. (He heads the Texas Conservative Coalition, which lists the decision to limit that period to six months as a "conservative victory".)

"I have health care for my family, and I pay it every month," he said. "Six months does not seem unreasonable to me, and we've been very diligent about getting people to come in and fill out their stuff and try to make it really easy for them."

Witnesses provided visceral narratives about gaps in the state's safety net. Representatives of physician and hospital groups also supported legislation designed to insure more people and shift the patient burden from emergency rooms to primary care providers.

Testifying in favor of extending the child Medicaid reenrollment period, Ofelia Zapata of Austin said her adult daughter had to quit her job after getting written up repeatedly by her employer for missing work to renew her three children's health coverage and to go to the doctor. Zapata's daughter worked for Maximus, a private company under contract with Texas to help enroll children in public health insurance programs.

The 12-month reenrollment period is the "industry standard" for health insurance, said a physician representing the Texas Medical Association and other doctors' groups.

The Rev. Lisa Hunt, rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Houston, spoke in favor of allowing families with incomes between 200 and 300 percent of the federal poverty level to purchase CHIP coverage, with premiums on a sliding scale tied to their abilities to pay. That would relieve pressure on small businesses wanting to make sure their employees have health insurance, she says.

Zapata and Hunt came to the hearing as part of the Texas IAF Network, a nonprofit coalition of organizations, including religious ones, that lobby for social causes.

Chisum said he's open to a CHIP expansion if it involves families buying into the program and incurring no extra cost to the state. Anne Dunkelberg, associate director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, expressed cautious optimism that others in the GOP could also be open to the idea.

"Obviously we still have Republican leadership and a Republican majority in both of our chambers. We've also gotten encouraging signals on creating a CHIP buy-in program. It's getting a warmer reception," she said.

Chisum does draw the line at offering CHIP outright to all families at 300 percent of the poverty level. Expanding CHIP like that is a step toward socialized health care that Chisum doesn't want to take, he says.

"What we're doing is moving our state, every time we come back through the appropriations process, closer and closer and closer to socialized medicine," Chisum said.

Proposals to improve the state's eligibility process are a continuation of long-running battles once involving private contractors, like Accenture, hired to enroll people in social service programs, followed by significant drops in the number of clients in those programs.

Closer Than You Think

Texas Republican voters prefer Kay Bailey Hutchison over Rick Perry, but the gap between the two is not that large and the actual vote is a year and a few million dollars worth of campaigning from now.

Hutchison wins the support of 36 percent of the voters to Perry's 30 percent. Nearly a quarter of those voters — 24 percent — haven't decided, and 11 percent said they'd prefer a third candidate (that adds up to 101 percent, because of rounding).

"The large number of people who are undecided in all of the election numbers suggest that while insiders and political junkies are paying attention to the run-up to 2010, many Texans are not tuned in yet," said Jim Henson, who heads the Texas Politics Project. "Among those who have a preference this early in the contest, the Perry-Hutchison race appears much closer than many people seem to think."

Pollsters at the University of Texas at Austin's Government Department and the Texas Politics project polled 800 Texas adults between February 24 and March 6. The margin of error in the Internet poll is +/- 3.5 percent; it's higher on the Perry Hutchison question — +/- 5.7 percent — since that was limited to Republicans and not all Texas adults.

Unemployment and jobs are the biggest problem facing the country and the state, according to those voters. On the national level, they're also concerned about the banking crisis/credit crunch and by the national debt. On the state level, top concerns included banking and also mortgages/home ownership/foreclosures, though the housing collapse has been much milder in Texas than elsewhere in the U.S.

More people think the governor is doing a good job than think he's doing a bad one. The Legislature doesn't fare as well, with about equal numbers of hoorahs and raspberries. About two-fifths — 39 percent — approve of the job Perry's doing, while 34 percent disapprove. For the Lege, those numbers are 30 percent to the good, 30 to the bad. They're a bit more intense about the Guv, with 11 percent strongly approving his performance and 17 percent strongly disapproving.

President Barack Obama gets good marks from 45 percent of Texans and crummy ones from 42 percent. Congress? Not so many fans: 25 percent of Texans approve of the national legislature, while 53 give Congress bad marks. Intensity is stronger with the national folk: Obama gets strong good marks from 29 percent, bad ones from 30 percent; Congress is strongly approved by under four percent, disapproved by 37 percent.

Queried about issues, Texans want the Legislature to take back control over college tuition rates (47 percent to 26 percent). A third of the respondents said the top ten percent rule for college admissions should be left as is; 25 percent would modify in some way, and 22 percent would abolish it. And 46 percent of those asked said state revenues should be increased to make college education affordable; 15 percent said they'd address affordability only for the most needy, and 14 percent said state revenues should not be increased to bring college prices down.

Nearly half — 45 percent —think the public schools should teach evolution and creationism or intelligent design as competing theories. Shown an array of education proposals, their favorites were higher teacher pay (27 percent), publicly funded vouchers for private schools (19 percent) and giving new funding to the state's poorest school districts (16 percent). Just over half said standardized tests are unbiased measures of student performance.

Only 12 percent of Texans would ban gambling in the state. Another 17 percent would leave gambling laws unchanged. About 13 percent would allow expansion only where it's allowed now. And 40 percent would allow full casino gambling.

Texans aren't crazy about immigrants: 69 percent support ending in-state college tuition for undocumented immigrants; 59 percent support adding an English-only amendment to the state constitution; 48 percent would end bilingual education in public schools; and 78 percent would require businesses to verify the immigration status of their workers and fine businesses that intentionally employ undocumented immigrants.

Oh, yeah: That Voter ID thing working through the Lege? It's favored by 69 percent of voters.

The "If" Job

The pollsters in that new UT poll asked voters how they feel about various candidates who might be running for U.S. Senate if Kay Bailey Hutchison steps down early to run for governor.

Instead of a head-to-head (more on that in a second), they had the respondents say where, on a scale of 1 to 100, they'd rate their chances of voting for each of those candidates. The results, from top to bottom: Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott, 51.4; Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, 48.5; Republican Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, 47.7; Democratic former Comptroller John Sharp, 47.2; Democratic Houston Mayor Bill White, 45.4; Republican Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, 44.8; Republican state Sen. Florence Shapiro, 44.3; Republican former Secretary of State Roger Williams, 44.1.

They put each Republican in a head-to-head race with Democrat Sharp, who outperformed only Shapiro (by one percentage point) and Roger Williams (by four points). They did it with White, too, who outdid Williams by one point and ran behind everyone else. Abbott did best in those fantasy matchups, followed by Michael Williams.

Flotsam & Jetsam

Attorney General Greg Abbott says the state has the right to make sure cities comply with federal immigration law: "The Texas Legislature is not prohibited from adopting some form of legislation designed to compel local governments to comply with any duties they may have under federal immigration laws, so long as such legislation is not inconsistent with federal law." Gobbledygook? It means state lawmakers can tell Texas cities they can't become "sanctuary cities" under federal law.

• Four of the nation's metro areas grew by more than 100,000 people in the 12 months that ended in mid-2008 and two of them were in Texas. Dallas-Fort Worth added 147,000 people, according to the Census Bureau, and Houston added 130,000. Harris, Dallas, and Tarrant counties were among the ten fastest-growing counties in the nation. And Austin-Round Rock was the second fastest-growing metropolitan area in percentage terms, up 3.8 percent in those 12 months. Harris County, with four million residents, is now the third-largest county in the U.S. (behind Los Angeles County, California, and Cook County, Illinois). Texas had the largest share of the 100 fastest-growing counties, with 19. One more thing: Andrews, Texas, grew 4 percent in that year, making it the second-fastest growing "micro area" in the country.

• Twenty years ago, another senator asked Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, if she had a green card. He was referring to the cards senators use to count votes on their bills; she thought he was making a crack about the work permits the U.S. gives to foreign nationals working in the U.S. It's apparently still on her mind, because she asked Senate staffers to put them on another color of paper this year. But she was too late: The green cards have already been printed up.

Political People and Their Moves

Former Dallas Mayor and Texas Secretary of State Ron Kirk is now the U.S. Trade Representative; the U.S. Senate approved his nomination 95-5.

Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, joins the State Preservation Board; the Lite Guv appointed him.

Reps. Ana Hernandez of Houston and Marc Veasey of Fort Worth are the new finance chairs for the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee, heading that group's efforts in the 2010 election cycle.

Darlene Brugnoli, who did tax policy for former House Speaker Tom Craddick, now has that same posting, more or less, with Gov. Rick Perry.

Dr. Christopher Madden of Dallas is the new president of the Texas Association of Neurological Surgeons.

John Drogan, formerly press secretary for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, is the new executive director of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse. That's a part-time deal; he's also opened a public relations shop in Austin.

The Guv appointed Dionicio "Don" Flores of El Paso and reappointed Curtistene McCowan of DeSoto and Tracye McDaniel of Houston to the board of trustees at Texas Southern University. Flores is former publisher of the El Paso Times. McCowan is a retired senior investigator with the Federal Trade Commission. And McDaniel is an exec with the Greater Houston Partnership.

Perry named retired Garland policeman and former Rep. Thomas Latham and real estate investor Vicki Smith Weinberg of Colleyville to the Texas Racing Commission.

Deaths: John Moseley, the first executive director of the Texas Legislative Council, and the president of Austin College for 25 years. He was 93.

Quotes of the Week

Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, asked by The Dallas Morning News if Voter ID legislation would distance the GOP from Hispanic voters: "The Latino community is not stupid. You can't call us fat, ugly and stupid for a year and then ask us to go to the prom with you. It's just not going to happen."

Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville, talking about Voter ID with the Austin American-Statesman: "This apparently is the thing that decides if you're a good person or a bad person this year."

Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden, quoted in the Houston Chronicle on the relative size of the federal stimulus money bound for Texas: "So when you talk about a million here and a million there, it's just not that much money."

Judge Cathy Cochran of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in a written opinion on the competency of Andre Lee Thomas, who killed his estranged wife and son, and later tore out his own eyes and ate one of them: "This is a sad case. Applicant is clearly 'crazy,' but he is also 'sane' under Texas law."

Norm Eisen, ethics advisor at the White House, in the Washington Post: "Sometimes my job is to scare the bejesus out of everybody. That's part of my function. That's what I do."

Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, in the Austin American-Statesman: "Personally, I don't believe in evolution. I don't believe I came from a salamander that came out of a pond."

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Texas Weekly: Volume 26, Issue 11, 23 March 2009. Ross Ramsey, Editor. Copyright 2009 by Printing Production Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. One-year online subscription: $250. For information about your subscription, call (512) 302-5703 or email biz@texasweekly.com. For news, email ramsey@texasweekly.com, or call (512) 288-6598.

Claims against homeowners' insurance policies in Texas rose to $6.6 billion in 2008, up from $1.8 billion the year before and enough to swamp what insurers charged in premiums last year.

But the industry did well enough in the years leading up to 2008 to come out ahead, according to figures from the Texas Department of Insurance. From 2003 to 2008, the companies collected $28.1 billion from policyholders, and paid out $16.3 billion in losses. When you add in their expenses, they were still head, paying out 93.5 cents on every premium dollar they collected.

The 2008 loss ratio — what they paid out in claims against what they collected in premiums — was the worst in the last 17 years, according to the Texas Department of Insurance. Last year's ratio was 127, meaning they paid out $1.27 in claims for every $1 collected in premiums. That's only the fourth time it's gone over 1.0 in the 17 years the agency reported.

According to another ratio that combines losses and company expenses and compares that to premiums collected, the companies paid $1.65 for every premium dollar they collected.

By accident, at the end of a meeting with the leaders of the Tigua Indians, Rep. Valinda Bolton learned that women can't vote or hold elected positions in that tribe.

That's stirred up some dust in the House, where Bolton and other legislators want to talk to women from the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo in El Paso and find out more.

Rep. Norma Chavez, D-El Paso, says it's a tribal issue and that she'll back the Tigua women. She says they have twice been offered the right to vote and twice have turned it down. "The white man has been telling the red man what to do for a long time now," Chavez said. "That is a decision that's up to the women of the Tigua tribe — it's not my decision."

This came up as Bolton, D-Austin, was exchanging pleasantries with Tigua Gov. Frank Paiz at the end of a meeting. She said she stands for election every two years; he replied that he stands for election every year by the men of the tribe, and that women can't run and can't vote. "I said 'Really?' and then, 'Okay, see you later.' I needed time to process that one."

Bolton and others say they're interested in empowerment. The Tiguas came to Austin to promote legislation that would allow them to reopen the Speaking Rock Casino closed by the state in 2002.

"I'm not a big proponent of the expansion of gambling," Bolton said. "I have mixed feelings — most of them not good... but I also felt this was a way to help the tribe back to where they had been — they did kind of get messed over."

Indian gaming legislation came up two years ago and the House voted 66-66 on it, marking its failure. Bolton voted with the Tiguas on a record vote that was verified, but added a note to the House Journal saying she was shown voting yes but intended to vote no.

Bolton talked to other legislators in the week-and-a-half since that meeting. She hasn't decided what, if anything, ought to happen. But she and her colleagues are flabbergasted. "It's been a fairly consistent response: 'Wow. Seriously?'" she said.

The Tigua government isn't controlled by state law — tribal regulation, such as it is, is a federal issue. But the Legislature does have something the tribe wants: Bills that would allow them to reopen Speaking Rock. Bolton and other lawmakers want to talk to the tribe's leaders and to women in the tribe. Chavez said they'll all be here next week, when hearings on the legislation they're interested in (she mentioned HJR 108 and HR 1308) is set for committee hearings. The Tiguas had 1,638 "enrolled members" as of January, 54 percent of them female, according to the tribe's website.

"Somehow, this issue needs to come forward," Bolton said. "The full enfranchisement of women is in the state's interest."

Chavez points out the tribe's sovereignty. It's in her legislative district, and she'll stick with her constituents on this one. "I find it very do-gooder of Rep. Bolton to be concerned, however, I will back the Tigua women in whatever they want."

Texas is outperforming the rest of the country economically, but that's no credit to Gov. Rick Perry, his chief Republican rival told a roomful of newspaper executives in Austin. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said the state has formidable problems, including high property taxes, high dropout and high levels of uninsured children. That's why, she said, "it's so important that we have a competition" in the 2010 governor's race.Hutchison said the state's strengths are location, weather, right to work laws that limit unions, and the lack of a state income tax. She gives credit for that last one to herself, claiming she was "the only state official" who was against the idea when it arose in the early 1990s. Perry attributes the state's relative prosperity to "low taxes, controlled government spending, and a fair legal system," all of which he has promoted as governor. "Ultimately, I think those decisions that we have made over the last five, six, seven years in particular, will allow us to work quickly to resume our progress and our lead as we go forward," he said. Hutchison told the Texas Daily Newspaper Association audience that Republicans haven't had much input into the federal answers to the recession and decried the stimulus package as too much, too early. She said only a third of the package will stimulate the economy and says the government should have stabilized the banking and housing industries before starting the stimulus spending. Hutchison told the newspaper people she's in favor of a federal shield law protecting journalists, as long as they can show "real journalistic intent." That's a pet issue of many news execs. With the lines between traditional and nontraditional journalists and bloggers growing more vague, she said, "it's very important we have the ability to discern when a journalist is a journalist." And then she did a riff on the governor's race in 2010. Here's that bit:

The elephant in the room today -- actually there are two elephants in the room today, or will be -- right now there's one. I want to say a little bit about the governor's race for 2010. Becuase I haven't started the real campaign. I haven't make a formal announcement. But I do want you to understand why I am looking at this so carefully, and am organizing in order to make a run. The governor is going to be here today, later. He's going to tell you that Texas is in good shape, that we're in better shape than most other states. I would agree with him. We are in better shape that most other states. But it's not because he's handing out $5 million checks to companies to move here. Every governor is going to have an enterprise fund, and that is a legitimate fund for bringing people in, maybe making that last pitch. The reason Texas is in good shape today is because of the attributes that we have that neither the governor nor I produced. One is our location in the country. We have more Fortune 500 companies here because we're in the middle of hte country and we have good weather and we have good air service... I didn't have a thing to do with it. Neither did anybody else except, looking at God on high. Number two, we are a right to work state. This was established by our early leaders. And when I talk to the people who have moved their businesses here, this is reason number one. We are not a state dominated by unions and this is a very important attribute, because there is a better business climate here. Number three, we don't have a state income tax. Now I'm going to take some credit for that because I was the only state official that stood up against the governor and the lieutenant governor in 1991 when they decided it was time for Texas to look at an income tax. And they formed a commission, and the commission voted that it was time for Texas to have an income tax. I was the only state official that stood up and wrote op-ed pieces against Bob Bullock, all over the state, saying we should not have a state income tax and why it was important. And the outcry was so overwhelming that it caused us to have a constitutional amendment against a state income tax. This is a big attribute for our state. There are only seven states that don't have one, and it is good for Texas. But there are clouds on the horizon and this is why I think it's so important that we have a competition. Texas has the highest property taxes of any state in America. That has been shown just in the last year by the property rights association. In fact, some of the CEOs tell me that that is a downside of coming to Texas. Because they realize that in some parts of our state, property taxes are confiscatory. Number two. We have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any state in our nation. This is unacceptable. We have high dropout rates at a time when we are importing people to do good-paying jobs, which shows a disconnect in our K-12, K-14, and K-16 education system. I know that I am being asked every year to recapture visas so we can import nurses because of the nursing shortage in our state and our nation. We are importing engineers. We are importing scientists. We are importing technology jobs. We should be training our own young people for those jobs and we should be doing it instead of allowing our young people to drop out of high school. We should be putting them into programs that give them a future, whether it be a community college that gives them training or a four-year college that puts them on an engineer or degree track. Number three. We have one of the highest rates of health care uninsured in America. I do not think we are using our dollars wisely. I know we are not using our federal dollars wisely. And I think we can do better. If we increase the number of people and children covered, so they can be treated in doctor's offices instead of emergency rooms, it will be the best humanitarian way to treat these children, but it will also be the best use of our tax dollars, and again, our property tax dollars. I'm very concerned about our unemployment fund. I am concerned that we are going to see a tax on business come January because our unemployment fund is going to go under the level at which we are going to have to put a tax on business that would be added to what we have now. I'm very concerned about this. So, I want you to know that I am not idly looking at this decision, that there are reasons that Texas must take the next step if we are going to remain the greatest state in our nation.

Asked after her speech, Hutchison said she doesn't agree with the governor's approach to the unemployment insurance stimulus money. But like Perry, she doesn't like the attached federal strings. And she doesn't like the idea of leaving $556 million from the feds on the table if it means Texas businesses will have to pay that amount in taxes to shore up UI. She told reporters she'd be looking for ways to get the federal money without saddling business with new and more expensive UI rules. Legislators are working on that now, and Perry left himself room to take the money if the state isn't stuck with higher costs after the federal money runs out. "I hope that he is looking for innovative ways not to dock the taxpayers of Texas with $550 million turned down, without looking at all of the avenues to produce the right result but without all the mandates that the federal government should not have put on," she said. "And I think that there might be a way to do that, and I hope so." Perry, talking to that same audience, and later, to reporters, repeated his objections to the UI stimulus and the changes it would require here. "I think most Texans look at Washington, D.C. today and see what's going on up there, and they're like, 'Listen, the last thing we want is Washington coming down here to Texas and telling us how to run our state,'" he said. "We have a system in place that works," Perry said. "The people who lose their jobs by no fault of their own are going to be covered, and so, the fact of the matter is, it's working in Texas." Quick math catchup: The stimulus would require the state to change its eligibility rules in a way that would add an estimated $70 million to $80 million to the annual cost of the program. There's a provision that prevents the state from reverting later to its current standards. But that latter provision might have some holes in it; that's where the policy hackers are concentrating their efforts. Here's another report on the proceedings from the Houston Chronicle's R.G. Ratcliffe.

The regular legislative session is more than halfway over now with little to show for it, and if you believe bloggers, this one could go into overtime. Other topics of interest on the Internet this week include the GOP heavyweight showdown casting a shadow over the Legislature, the thousands of bills that have not been considered by the House and revelations that public servants like to have a good time, too. Wrapping it up are a few unrelated posts, including one blog's hard look at a state senator and school bonds.

* * * * *

Special Order

Texas Politics, the Houston Chronicle's blog, relays secondhand information that Gov. Rick Perry brought up the possibility of a special session to a group of conservatives: "If it (the budget) grows unacceptably... I'll keep them (lawmakers) here all summer," Perry said, allegedly.

Some lawmakers are telling KVUE's Political Junkie that a special session is necessary, and some are saying it's not. BurkaBlog finds statistics supporting folks' concerns about a special session, saying the Senate and House are both way behind the pace set in 2007. But Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, tells KUT's Notes from the Lege that the House can make up that gap in a week or two.

Postcards from the Lege, the Austin American-Statesman's blog, has a video progress report for the Lege, and Junkie has a wrap up here.

* * * * *

Governating

Postcards camped outside a Round Rock fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to get footage of the gubernatorial aspirant. They failed to obtain similar video of the incumbent Gov. Perry, but not for a lack of trying.

Showing even more dedication to the cause, arguably, Notes from the Lege went up in a World War II-era B-24 bomber with Perry and talked to him about stimulus strings. Meanwhile, on the ground, Burka wonders about the accuracy of a University of Texas poll Perry has been touting against Hutchison. The pollsters wondered why Burka didn't call before he whizzed on their fire hydrant.

A couple of blogs have sprung up specifically to cover the Perry-Hutchison conflict — Rick vs. Kay (by an anonymous blogger) and Kay vs. Rick (which has multiple writers, apparently).

* * * * *

Introductions Necessary

Bay Area Houston looks at bills related to ethics reform and homebuilders, while Texas Politics spotlights a specific campaign ethics bill by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston.

A friend of mean rachel's posts her opinion about the pre-abortion ultrasound bill. Pollabear says that if lawmakers are so worried about preventing abortions, they should be promoting non-abstinence-only sex education in schools.

WhosPlayin isn't a fan of HB 4441 by Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, D-Alice, saying cities should have control over urban pipelines. And UrbanGrounds is calling all battle stations to thwart legislation by Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, that would abolish the death penalty in Texas. The blogger also looks at bills about guns and motorcycle lane-splitting.

A Keyboard and a .45 looks at gun bills he likes, including Senate Bill 730 by Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, making parking lots a safe place for firearms. Meanwhile, NewspaperTree.com Blog has the latest on bills filed by El Paso's Sen. Eliot Shapleigh and Rep. Marisa Marquez. And the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's PoliTex explains why an open source document bill by Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, has Microsoft riled up again.

Williamson Republic looks at bills by local Reps. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, and Diana Maldonado, D-Round Rock. Mike Falick's Blog posts the blogger's public testimony on school accountability legislation. Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-McAllen, writes on his El Wiri Wiri Blog about the dozen or so bills he has scheduled for hearings this week.

* * * * *

Fiddlin' Around

UrbanGrounds spots Railroad Commissioner Michael Willams partaking in a conservative happy hour at SXSW in Austin. Trail Blazers has the dish on a virtual bowling tournament among state legislators. And Rep. Guillen picks North Carolina to win the NCAA men's basketball tournament. (Here's his bracket.)

A concert in Austin put Texas "Off the Record" into a Proustian frame of mind, and he reminisces about seeing future former Gov. Pappy Lee O'Daniel, Bob Wills and the Light Crust Doughboys in Fort Worth when ice wagons existed.

If there really is a conspiracy to oust House Speaker Joe Straus, it's not being masterminded by Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, he says in his Poli-Tex blog. Meanwhile, Texas Politics reports that Martinez Fischer and other Democratic House leaders received invitations for drinks last week with Straus in the Speaker's Apartment. And Martinez Fischer announces that he and lobbyist Phil Wilson have made peace, avoiding a political beat down that the state rep warned was in the works for the former Texas Secretary of State and Perry chief of staff.

Headline of the Week Award goes to ABC-13's Political Blog for an entry with the potential to make many people feel obsolete, called, "You're not a politician if you don't Facebook."

* * * * *

Finishing Touches

Here's something: Texas Watchdog alleges that the firm employing Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, stands to gain from a $805 million school bond proposal he backed in 2007. Ellis responds by issuing a statement to Texas Politics, saying that he follows the law. Watchdog responds with a list of questions for Ellis. Texas Politics has more. (And in the spirit of bipartisanship, Watchdog raises questions about Republican Ray Hutchison, too.

Burnt Orange Report leaks a sneak peek of an interview with Tom Schieffer, potential Democratic gubernatorial candidate. And Pink Dome returns to the blogosphere.

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This edition of Out There was compiled and written by Patrick Brendel, who hails from Victoria but is semi-settled in Austin. We cherry-pick the state's political blogs each week, looking for news, info, gossip, and new jokes. The opinions here belong (mostly) to the bloggers, and we're including their links so you can hunt them down if you wish. Our blogroll — the list of Texas blogs we watch — is on our links page, and if you know of a Texas political blog that ought to be on it, just shoot us a note. Please send comments, suggestions, gripes or retorts to Texas Weekly editor Ross Ramsey.

It's okay for the Texas Democratic Party to require candidates to swear they'll support the winner of the party primary in the general election, according to a federal appeals court.

In a case filed by U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with lower courts on the loyalty oath and said it is constitutional.

"This court need not judge the wisdom or utility of the TDP oath requirement," the judges wrote. "We do affirm, for the foregoing reasons, that it does not violate the Constitution."

Kucinich was running for president when he filed to get on the Texas ballot in 2007. He crossed out the part of the filing form that said he agreed to support the party's candidate in the November general election. The Texas Democrats disqualified him. He sued (with Willie Nelson as his state-resident wingman), failed to get on the ballot, and then moved to get the oath declared unconstitutional. And now he's lost that effort, though he can appeal.

Texas might be able to get $556 million in federal stimulus money without any permanent changes in its unemployment insurance program, according to an advisory letter from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Gov. Rick Perry says the state shouldn't take the money, because it requires changes that would cost the UI program an estimated $70 million to $80 million annually. Those strings, he says, are too high a price for the stimulus money. His chief political rival of the moment, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, agrees but says Perry should be looking for ways to take the money and cut the strings instead of rejecting it outright.

Policymakers from both sides are trying to find a way to take the money without permanently accepting those new federal requirements. With the economy worsening, the fund is expected to have an $800 million deficit by October. That'll have to be made up with an increased tax on employers, and one argument for taking the federal money is that it would cut that tax bill by $556 million. And a letter from the Labor Department might provide the answer they seek:

The memo, written in a question and answer format, includes this bit:

Question. UIPL No. 14-09 provides that applications for incentive payments should only be made under provisions of state laws that are currently in effect as permanent law and not subject to discontinuation. Does this mean that my state may never repeal any of the provisions that qualified it for a UC Modernization payment?

Answer: No. If a state eventually decides to repeal or modify any of these provisions, it may do so, and it will not be required to return any incentive payments. However, in providing the incentive payments, Congress clearly intended to support states that had already adopted certain eligibility provisions and to expand eligibility to additional beneficiaries by encouraging other states to adopt these provisions. By specifying that the provisions must be in effect as permanent law, Congress also made clear its intention that the benefit expansions not be transitory. While states are free to change or repeal the provisions on which modernization payments were based subsequent to receipt of incentive payments, Congress and the Department rely on states' good faith in adopting the eligibility criteria, and the application must attest to this good faith as required by the following Q&A...

They're saying, in essence, that states have the right to come back and change their standards later, but that legislation written to comply with the higher standards cannot include "sunset" provisions on those standards. They can change back later, but can't include that intention in their law at the outset.

"It seems to answer that [objection]," said Rick Levy, legal director of the Texas AFL-CIO. "The Legislature will always be in control of what the laws are like." He and others have talked about creating a commission to look at the state's UI program after the session to decide how it ought to work in the future. But Bill Hammond, a former lawmaker and Texas Workforce commissioner who now heads the Texas Association of Business, still opposes taking the stimulus money. "It's short-term gain and long-term pain," he said. He questions whether the Texas Legislature would change the law back once the new standards are in place, and he doesn't trust the guidance from the Labor Department: "Their guidance conflicts with the statute — it doesn't make any sense."

Q: Name a bill that was filed before Thanksgiving, has bipartisan support with more than two-thirds of the senators signed on as sponsors or co-sponsors, and involving an issue of major interest to the public, and that has not been referred to a committee.

A: College tuition.

All the college tuition bills in the House have been sent to that chamber's higher education committee. But five bills aimed at tuition freezes and filed in the Senate — four in November, one in March — are still sitting in Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's In Box.

One of those — SB 105 — would require student approval before a university's tuition could rise. Tuition could rise with inflation, but other than that, the bill by Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-Brownsville, would freeze the rates for two years. Other bills would freeze it indefinitely.

Dewhurst let one bill out, a proposal by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, that would put a leash on the colleges without freezing tuition. Her version would cap the amounts of their increases at five percent and tie it to other funding from the state. Colleges were allowed to set their own rates because state budgeteers were starving them. Zaffirini's fix would allow them to slow the tuition increases if the Legislature is willing to put some food on the table.

Zaffirini's Higher Education Committee will hear that bill on April Fool's Day, and she's got 19 co-authors on board. But none of the proposals to freeze tuition will be on the agenda; they haven't even been referred by the Lite Guv to that or any other committee.

It's not partisan: 13 of the 22 signers on Hinojosa's bill are Republicans. And if you include the authors of similar legislation — Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, and Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio — 25 of the Senate's 31 members are officially on board with Hinojosa.

But most of those are also signed onto Zaffirini's version.

Aides say Dewhurst isn't blocking the issue. They don't know when or whether he'll send the remaining bills to committee, but they say it could happen soon or it could take a while. Really, they said that.

The House is a couple of weeks away from this particular melee. Their Higher Education Committee, chaired by Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, will look at specialty college tuition bills (cuts for veterans, good students, etc.) next week and general bills with freezes and limits a week later.

Unemployment, eco devo, Pre-K, guns, and some miscellany

State unemployment rose to 6.5 percent in February, up from 4.5 percent in the same month last year, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. The state lost 46,100 non-agricultural jobs last month; over the last 12 months, Texas is down 62,600 jobs.

• Look next week for the public launch of Innovate Texas, an Austin-based nonprofit tasked with helping Texans commercialize new technologies. Ryan Confer, former investment manager of the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, says they'll be connecting researchers with entrepreneurs, connecting entrepreneurs with researchers and assisting fledgling high-tech companies who've been weaned off ETF money. Innovate Texas was created in mid-2008 using a federal Wagner-Pizer grant coming through the Texas Workforce Commission, Confer said. Other folks connected to the new think tank include Austin attorney and eco devo guru Pike Powers and serial entrepreneur David Nance. The closest thing around to Innovate Texas is the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Confer said, but his organization's initial focus will be exclusively on Texas.

• More than half the members of the Texas House have signed their support for full-day pre-kindergarten in the state, moving that a notch forward. The Pre-K bill got a hearing in Senate Education but hasn't come to a vote there. In the House, it's got 79 signatures (of 150 members), but hasn't yet had a hearing. The legislation would expand part-time Pre-K programs, on a local option basis, to full-time. And school districts would be allowed to pay private programs to handle the load. The main hangup? The cost: $300 million per year.

• The Senate-approved "take your gun to work" bill includes an out for public, private and charter schools. It lets people keep their legal guns in their cars, even in the company parking lot or garage, and indemnifies the companies, in most instances, against whatever happens as a result. But it doesn't apply to educators and their colleagues. They have to leave the guns at home.

• The first thing out of the House this year was Rep. Dawnna Dukes' legislation allowing the state to spend money luring movie-makers to Texas. Funding is still up for grabs. Some conservatives took potshots at the bill, saying the state shouldn't be spending tax money on such things; only six House members voted against it... The Senate struck first on the top 10 rule that required state universities to show preference for applicants from the top 10 percent of their high school classes. The fix, from Sen. Florence Shapiro, as amended: Only the first 60 percent of each incoming class would be subject to the top 10 rule. An add-on would provide $1,000 scholarships to some of those students, limited by the charity of the state's budgeteers... College tuition is up in the Senate's Higher Education Committee next week; Voter ID's set for its debut in House Elections week after next.

The Texas Education Agency is using Twitter to make announcements and such. And now they're doing quickie surveys, too. These five tweets arrived in quick succession on Friday afternoon:

We would like your input on how the Texas Education Agency should use its stimulus funds to address 4 areas of education. Questions to come: Stimulus Q1: What are some innovative or promising practices that could be used to achieve rigorous post-secondary standards? Stimulus Q2: How do you think teachers should be evaluated? Stimulus Q3: What constitutes teacher effectiveness? Stimulus Q4: What types or kinds of interventions would you like to see the state fund to help low-performing schools improve?

The dean of the Texas Capitol press corps — Clay Robison of the Houston Chronicle — is among the latest casualties of the shrinking news business in the state.Robison, who first covered the Capitol in 1971 as a reporter for the late San Antonio Light, became the Chronicle's Austin bureau chief in 1982 and has been in that chair since then. He's one of dozens of reporters laid off this week by the Chronicle. Janet Elliott, whose pink slip arrived prematurely a couple of weeks ago, is on that same list. She'll finish the legislative session with the paper; Robison will finish this week. The Chronicle's Austin bureau is combined with the San Antonio Express-News bureau; Lisa Sandberg, a reporter with that paper, was laid off a few weeks ago.

Democrats are facing a tougher run at statewide offices in 2010 than they will in 2012, former Rep. Rick Noriega told a group of UT public affairs students Wednesday afternoon. An upbeat Noriega reflected on his own run for U.S. Senate, which ended just a few months ago, and didn't rule out taking another shot at a big-time political office.

Asked about Democrats' chances in a possible special election to replace U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (should she step down to run for Governor), Noriega said anything's possible, but Democrats should be in a better position in 2012 to win statewide. His reasons: 1) After the U.S. Census and redistricting, the addition of three to five U.S. Congressional seats to the state's total should incite additional political participation; 2) Pres. Barack Obama should top the ticket again — "He's carrying the ball for the whole team," Noriega said; and, 3) State demographics are trending in a Democratic direction.

He added as a caveat that Obama's performance, which will likely be graded according to the state of the economy, will probably dictate Democrats' fortunes while he's President, for better or for worse.

Looking back at his own campaign — he lost to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn — Noriega said it was "disappointing" to witness the visceral emotions Texans had about immigration. In focus groups for his campaign, it wasn't uncommon to hear inquiries about how to pronounce "Noriega" and people saying they wouldn't be voting for him if he called himself "Mexican-American" instead of plain ol' American. (Laughing, Noriega said he thought it was "cute" that supporters would invariably choose to hold campaign rallies for him at Mexican restaurants. "They'd find every little taqueria..." he said.)

There were plenty of good moments on the trail, too, he said, like when an East Texas couple gave up their bedroom to his wife Melissa Noriega, relegating themselves to the trailer out back. Or in West Texas, when a woman tracked him down to apologize for not donating sooner, saying she had to wait on her Social Security payment before cutting him a $25 check. "We won every part of the state that believes in evolution and global warming, and we lost every other part," is a favorite observation of Melissa's, he said.

Noriega talked about the rapid evolution of technology and its increasing effectiveness in organizing campaign supporters and raising money. He also said that Obama's success proved that a message of hopefulness and motivation can beat attempts to appeal to people's fears and cynicism.

"Community organizing is back in vogue again," said Noriega, who is working as vice president for community-based initiatives for Neighborhood Centers Inc., a nonprofit with seven community centers in Houston.

As for his political future, Noriega didn't drop any hints that he's considering any particular office, but he didn't say he wouldn't run again in the future, or even in 2010. (He did say that he's been told by various people that voters — when facing special elections attracting a myriad of candidates — will often pull the lever for the candidate they've previously supported.)

"Never say never," he said, "and never say always."

Sharon Keller, chief judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, filed papers with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct saying what she said last month: She did what she was supposed to do when in September 2007. The commission complains that she denied the final appeals of a condemned man because it was after her court's 5 p.m. closing time. She'll fight their complaint and her lawyer has asked the commission to pay his fees, since the judge isn't allowed to accept pro bono work and doesn't have the money to pay a high-priced lawyer.

Some appointments of note from your governor:

• Derrick Mitchell of Houston, an attorney with Bracewell and Giuliani, to another term on the State Securities Board.

• William White, vice president of Cash America International, as the chairman of the Finance Commission of Texas. And Perry added Darby Ray Byrd Sr. of Orange to that board. Byrd is retired president and CEO of Orange Savings Bank.

• David Cibrian, a partner at Strasburger and Price in San Antonio, Gary Janacek, CEO of Scott and White Employees Credit Union in Belton, and A. John Yoggerst, general partner at Texas Construction Alliance in San Antonio, to the state's Credit Union Commission. Janacek is the chairman and a reappointee.

• Cherie Townsend to another term as executive director of the Texas Youth Commission.

• Gen. Jose Mayorga to Adjutant General of Texas, the top spot in the state's military. He was previously commander of the 36th Infantry at Camp Mabry in Austin. He's joined by Brigadier Gen. Joyce Stevens of Tomball, who'll be Assistant Adjutant General for the Army; Col. John Nichols of Spring Branch, who'll have the same posting for Air; and Col. Jeffrey Lewis of Center Park, the new deputy to Stevens.

• C. Kent Conine of Dallas and Tom Gann of Lufkin to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Conine is a reappointee and will continue as chair of that board. Gann is president of Gann Medford Real Estate in Lufkin.

• Burnet County Judge Donna Klaeger of Horseshoe Bay to chair the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. And he reappointed Irene Armendariz of El Paso, Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter, and Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry to that board.

• Richard Rhodes of El Paso, Dora Ann Verde of San Antonio, and Welcome Wilson of Houston to the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corp. Rhodes is president of El Paso Community College; Verde is a CPA and director of internal audit with the San Antonio Water System; Wilson is president of GSL Welcome Group.