Former Texas Railroad Commissioner and three-term state Rep. Lena Guerrero, D-Austin, died after a long fight with brain cancer. She was 50. Guerrero, a close ally of former Gov. Ann Richards and former House Speaker Pete Laney, turned to lobbying after she left office. Guerrero, the highest-ranking Hispanic woman in Texas at the time (and since), lost to Republican Barry Williamson after voters found she'd claimed a college degree she hadn't earned. She fought brain cancer for more than eight years, worked while she was under treatment, and even endorsed an old colleague — Democrat-turned-Republican Rick Perry — in his reelection bid last year. There's a spot for Guerrero in the Texas State Cemetery; she'll be buried there on Saturday, after a mass in Austin.
Badly Kept Secret: Deirdre Delisi of Austin and Bill Meadows of Fort Worth are soon to be named commissioners at the Texas Department of Transportation. Delisi was Gov. Rick Perry's chief of staff until last summer. Meadows is an exec with Wm. Rigg Co., a large insurance firm, and the vice chairman of the North Texas Tollway Authority, or NTTA.
Add state Reps. Yvonne Davis of Dallas and Rene Oliveira of Brownsville to the luminaries list at the state Democratic convention. They'll be honorary co-chairs, and party Chairman Boyd Richie is keeping the tennis ball balanced on the net: Davis backs Obama, and Oliveira backs Clinton.
H.B. "Trip" Doggett is the new COO at ERCOT (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, better known as the electric grid). Doggett has been a consultant to the agency, and landed the post after a nationwide search to replace Sam Jones, who retired.
Thompson & Knight added Ashley Phillips, an environmental lawyer, to their Austin shop. She's done time with the Environmental Protection Agency and with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
The governor's latest appointees include:
• Ben Gorzell Jr. and Carolyn Liner to the Texas Municipal Retirement System Board of Trustees. He's a CPA and the City of San Antonio's finance director; she's director of human resources for the City of San Marcos (and a re-appointee to the board).
• Thomas Leeper, a Huntsville city attorney, and retired attorney Raymond Carter Sanders of Austin to the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation Board. Leeper will be the presiding officer on that panel.
• Williamson County Commissioner Lisa Birkman of Round Rock and Georgetown banker Stanley Ray to the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority Board of Directors. Ray's an exec at the Farm Credit Bank of Texas.
• Tarrant County Commissioner Gary Fickes of Southlake, Tracye McDaniel of Houston, and Alejandro "Alex" Meade III of Brownsville to the Advisory Board of Economic Development Stakeholders. McDaniel is an exec with the Greater Houston Partnership and Meade is principal of P3 Economics, an eco devo consulting firm.
• Thomas Oliver of Baytown, J. Russell Shannon of Andrews, and David Young of Grand Prairie to the state's Aging and Disability Services Council. Oliver is a CPA, Shannon is president of the National Bank of Andrews, and Young is a healthcare consultant. Shannon's new to the board; the others are being reappointed.
Indicted: Former U.S. Rep., state senator and representative Craig Washington, on a charge of aggravated assault with a gun on New Year's Day. He's accused of firing at another man's car.
Deaths: Former state Rep. Russell Cummings, D-Houston, of cancer. Cummings, who served two terms in the 1960s and later worked for the state for 20 years, was 82... Kevin Housley, a Christoval Republican who lost a bid for the state Legislature in 2006 and who had worked for Tom Loeffler, Bill Clements and Dick Armey. He was 45... Homer Scace, former assistant director of the Legislative Budget Office. He was 85.