Local

Republican Joan Huffman's campaign for the state Senate District 17 runoff seems to have broken the law against campaigning on property where voting is taking place, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman told the newspaper that Huffman hosted a barbeque lunch for voters on Thursday inside the Tracey Gee Community Center in west Houston. Early voting in the runoff, which runs through Friday, was taking place in another room in the same building.

The crime is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500. State law dictates that it is illegal to campaign "within 100 feet of an outside door through which a voter may enter the building in which a polling place is located."

State Rep. Edmund Kuempel, who officially declared his candidacy for speaker Thursday morning, laid out why he is running for the chamber's top job. The Seguin Republican stressed the need for a speaker who brings both parties together and lets members have a voice in the process.   

Kuempel told PolitickerTX.com he's running to "bring back the continuity and the bipartisanship that we seemed to have lost the last couple of weeks and the last session back to the Texas House of Representatives."

State Rep. Edmund Kuempel joined the race for speaker Thursday.  The Seguin Republican has filed his paperwork for a bid, according to the Quorum Report.  He is the seventh Republican and twelfth candidate to enter the race.

Kuempel had been considered a potential challenger to House Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland). 

Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk said late Wednesday that he had met with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, according to The Dallas Morning News.

"I'm happy where I am, but if the president needs me, it's something I have to seriously consider," Kirk told the newspaper.

Kirk, a Democrat, was in Washington from the weekend through Tuesday, but he didn't reveal details of the discussion with Obama's team. During the campaign, he was one of Obama's top allies in Texas, and he also completed surrogate work for the president-elect in several swing states, including North Carolina.

Numbers are out from the first day of early voting for the state Senate District 17 runoff, and they appear to point to a more competitive race between Republican Joan Huffman and Democrat Chris Bell.

Huffman captured only 26 percent of the vote in the Nov. 4 special election, compared to 38 percent for Bell, a former U.S. Representative. But since neither had a majority, state law dictated the Dec. 16 runoff, and Huffman remains optimistic based on the hope that she can consolidate Republican support in the Houston-area district. Four Republicans were on the Nov. 4 ballot, compared to only two Democrats.

Early voting, which began Monday and runs through Friday, brought 3,822 voters to the polls on Monday in the five district counties — obviously a far cry from the 223,295 total votes in the initial election. But on a percentage basis, Bell strongholds aren't voting as much, while Huffman's strongholds are becoming an increasingly larger proportion of the electorate.

Texas Democrats decided late Tuesday not to seek a restraining order against Dallas County election officials over votes they thought should have been counted in the House District 105 race, nor will they ask to have the election voided or for a new election, a Democratic Party attorney told The Dallas Morning News.

The reversal means Republican incumbent Linda Harper-Brown will retain her seat in the Irving-based district. She defeated Democrat Bob Romano by 19 votes among more than 40,000 votes cast, giving Republicans a 76-to-74 majority in the state House. Harper-Brown held her lead in a recount completed last Friday.

With a month to go until the Texas House convenes to elect a new speaker, a number of questions remain unanswered. Faced with a speaker's race unlike any they can remember, top House aides on both sides of the aisle are trying to determine the motivations behind why candidates are running and whether members who want a new speaker can coalesce around a single candidate in time.

While no one is certain when a consensus candidate might emerge, many aides anticipate it to happen shortly after Christmas. Otherwise, the clock may run out, and members who want a new speaker won't have enough time to organize effectively. Still, a number expect the process to play out on first day of session, where Republicans and Democrats are anticipating an opening day like none other

Republican Joan Huffman and Democrat Chris Bell chose not to have another traditional debate before next Tuesday's run-off election for the state Senate District 17 seat, but they did opt Tuesday to take on each other in a chat room on the Houston Chronicle's Web site.

As expected in the hotly-contested race, today's discussion became heated and personal, especially on the topic of immigration. Bell, a former U.S. representative, reiterated his stance that the federal government should take the lead on securing the border, claiming Texas has enough of its own challenges to face.

Texas' Congressional Democrats sent a letter last week to President-elect Barack Obama, his transition team and the Department of Defense, pushing for recently defeated state Rep. Juan Garcia (D-Corpus Christi) to become secretary of the Navy.

PolitickerTX.com reported Garcia as a candidate for the position three weeks ago, but little has been heard since. However, recent rumblings of discontent from Hispanic leaders over the lack of Latino representation in the Cabinet might boost Garcia's chances.

"We believe that he has the proven record of accomplishment as an Officer in the United States Navy, a corporate attorney, White House Fellow, and member of the Texas House of Representatives and respectfully challenge anyone to find a more qualified individual for this key position," the Democrats wrote in the letter.

State Rep. Byron Cook

State Rep. Byron Cook has filed paperwork to run for speaker. The Corsicana Republican is the sixth Republican and eleventh candidate to enter the race.  Cook filed paperwork to run for the chamber's highest office, according to Quorum Report. As of publication time, his speaker's report had not been added to the Texas Ethics Commission's website.

Cook had been an outspoken critic of House Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland) during last session. He called on Craddick to step down on May 21, 2007 on the House floor, just a few days before Craddick refused to acknowledge a motion for him to vacate the chair.

"Mr. Speaker, please consider stepping down. Don't put this body through 18 months of hell," Cook said. "Your re-election will only result in a bloody and brutal and, I believe, non-productive 81st session. Be a statesman."