Political People and their Moves

Gov. Rick Perry appointed:

Jeff Brown to the open spot on the Texas Supreme Court, elevating a justice from Houston’s 14th Court of Appeals to the state’s highest civil court. Brown will take Justice Nathan Hecht’s place on the high court. The governor promoted Hecht to chief justice after Wallace Jefferson announced plans to resign from the court at the end of the month. Brown is a former state district judge and a private practice attorney before that. He served as a law clerk at the Texas Supreme Court, working for Justices Jack Hightower and Greg Abbott. Both Hecht and Brown will be on the ballot in 2014.

• Devon Anderson of Bellaire as Harris County District Attorney until after next year's election, replacing her husband, Mike Anderson, who succombed to cancer last month. Anderson is a criminal defense attorney, a former district judge and a former assistant Harris County DA. 

• Kem Thompson Frost of Katy to chief justice on Houston’s 14th Court of Appeals, where she has served as a justice since 1999.

State Reps. Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, and Bill Callegari, R-Katy, won’t seek reelection in 2014, becoming the latest members of the current House to say they won’t be back. Ten of the dropouts are Republicans. Two — including Mark Strama, who resigned this summer and will be replaced in a special election in November — are Democrats. Republican Reps. Dan Branch of Dallas, Stefani Carter of Dallas, Brandon Creighton of Conroe, Harvey Hilderbran of Kerrville and Van Taylor of Plano are all seeking other offices. Others aren’t running for anything: John Davis, R-Houston; Craig Eiland, D-Galveston; Rob Orr, R-Burleson; and Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie.

Comptroller candidate Glenn Hegar picked up endorsements from five Republican Tarrant County state representatives: Giovanni Capriglione, Craig Goldman, Stephanie Klick, Matt Krause, and Bill Zedler.

Wayne Christian, running for railroad commissioner in a crowded GOP primary, won endorsements from Tim Lambert, a former national Republican committeeman and the current president of the Texas Home School Coalition, and from three leaders of Concerned Women for America: Michelle Smith, Carol Everett and Ann Hettinger.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was named honorary chairman of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas Education Foundation, that trade group’s philanthropic arm.

The Republican Party of Texas will conduct a 2016 presidential straw poll of paid attendees at its 2014 state convention. The same idea was considered and then abandoned by the party in 2011. Their list is interesting. In addition to the local kids who might be running for president — Ted Cruz and Rick Perry — the RPT is inviting Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, Steve King, Rand Paul, Mike Pence, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, and Scott Walker.