Lege Team Shuffle

Where do former Bushies go (y'know, apart from before congressional committees)?

Seemingly to Speaker Joe Straus' re-election campaign, as Karen Hughes becomes his communications counselor. She'll be joined by Straus family friend/Austin lawyer/registered lobbyist Gordon Johnson as senior counselor for Texans for Joe Straus.

Hughes was last seen on the national stage doing what was generally regarded as a shockingly poor job as Bush's Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy where she attempted to turn the office's public diplomacy role into a PR machine for the Bush Doctrine. Since then, she's been working with Austin-based PR firm Burson-Marstaller, a company whose credentials include damage control for mercenary firm Blackwater after its hired guns killed 17 Iraqi civilians, a similar job for Union Carbide after the Bhopal Disaster, and a long history of reputation-buffing for nations with, ahem, dubious human rights records.

Elsewhere under the rotunda, Gov. Rick Perry has started building his own team, including a serious raid on Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's office. The lite guv's Chief of Staff and former campaign manager Rob Johnson joins Team Perry as campaign manager. He'll be backed up by former Republican Party of Texas Political Coordinator Kevin Lindley.

There's also a chunk of Perry's own staff (like his former campaign finance director Krystle Kirchmeyer Alvarado and his Director of Community Affairs Sarah Floerke), but also a bunch of Young Conservatives of Texas state board members come to the team. The highest appointee is David White, the former YCT State Chairman and Chief of Staff to Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center. White brings Christian's legislative director Jonathan McClellan with him.