And I had to find out that my own Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace was considering a write-in campaign from the editor of a state-monthly magazine.

Yes, Paul Burka with Texas Monthly called me 30 minutes after we went to press and asked me what I thought about Wallace running a write-in campaign. I was embarrassed to tell Burka that I knew nothing about my own mayor and former good friend David Wallace running a write-in campaign.

If I had not been so hacked off about the source of my information, I might have told him that I thought it was a quixotic effort but would give him very good name ID for a run two years from now.

In the meantime, after DeLay’s cowardly cop out, the state Republican Party issued a statement that it would get behind one candidate of its choosing to support as a write in.

Wallace, who is nimble on his feet if nothing else, didn’t wait for the state Republicans and didn’t promise to drop out if he wasn’t the state designee.

That’s just as well since I doubt if the state party would endorse him to run. Instead, it appears they want someone from anyplace but Fort Bend, and Dave’s actions didn’t endear him to any state Republican officials or even Republican from any of the other three counties in CD 22.

Except for hurting my feelings, I thought it was smart of Wallace to jump out there. He got the bump from the first buzz before any other candidates and he was the logical candidate in the first place.

Meanwhile.....However, none of this amounts to a hill of beans about winning a write-in campaign. I doubt if anyone, even David Wallace, could win a write-in against the charming, experienced and moderate Nick Lampson.

I met with Lampson this week and so far, I like him. He is reasonable and is planning on running an issue-based campaign like homeland security, border safety, energy, budget.

Lampson is related to about half the people in Stafford so he’s a home town boy. His wife is a special education teacher. He is a former county elected official (Tax Assessor) and a former congressman who was gerrymandered out of his Democratic district. He is a moderate who had previously been endorsed by some very conservative groups (like, the NRA), and he has THREE MILLION DOLLARS in his campaign war chest.

I like Dave Wallace, but I believe it’s time to get on the Lampson train. I know that even now it could be categorized as the “late train,” but.....Yeah, he’s going to be our next congressman, so get over it.

I just can’t give it up.....According to his friends, Tom DeLay has blamed his wife and God on his decision to quit his congressional seat. He’s told some that his wife just couldn’t stand the headlines and it was beginning to affect his health. If you remember, Tom also blamed his wife when he wrote hot checks to the House bank many years ago.

Then he’s told others that God told him to quit. When someone tells you God told them to do something, we usually let them get by with it. After all, who can argue with God. Unless they claim God told them to kill someone. Then we usually think they are crazy. I’ll bet God didn’t tell him to lie about his residency.

I almost can’t believe it.......Our county fathers must be pretty confident in their jobs because the commissioners are about to vote themselves a HUGE salary increase (see front page story by Cheryl Skinner) for not only themselves, but all of the other elected jobs in Fort Bend. (I casually wondered why I haven’t heard from Dianne Wilson in weeks. Dianne and I are not intimates, but we usually talk at least once a month. Not so this summer. Of course, I have been moving.

One thing I’m glad to see is that the commissioners didn’t just vote themselves a huge increase and forget all the other elected officials, particularly the ladies. I think the ladies broke them of that habit by suing them several years ago claiming discrimination. The commissioners caved the day before they were due to take depositions. They knew the ladies were sorely underpaid compared to the commissioners and wisely decided to do the right thing.

Judge Hebert says he wants to see salaries high enough to get good candidates to run for county jobs. An admirable quality, but with the power of incumbency, this ain’t gonna happen for a while.