Who's the top Texas Democrat, Part II

It used to be that the Travis County district attorney, in charge of investigating official wrongdoing and corruption in the state capital, struck fear in the hearts of Texas lawmakers.

Former House Speaker Gib Lewis, D-Fort Worth, once warned incoming legislators that the DA “was the most powerful official they’d deal with because he could end their careers’’ the Austin American Statesman reported. 

But now that HE is about to become a SHE -- i.e., now that current DA Ronnie Earle will soon be replaced by his longtime First Assistant DA Rosemary Lehmberg -- the power is apparently going to seep out of that office like air from a blown-out tire.

Or at least that's the way Texas Monthly Editor Evan Smith seems to view it.

In 2005, Texas Monthly named Earle (that's him in the picture!) the second-most powerful Texan, behind Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick. Since Earle is a Democrat, that made him the most powerful member of a party that, let’s face it, has seen better days in Texas. Now, three years later, Smith writes that Earle’s successor-elect would be lucky to call herself the most powerful Democrat in Travis County, much less the state of Texas.

My phone isn’t exactly ringing off the hook with powerful Texas Democrats wondering why I didn’t mention them, but did I overlook someone? If it ain’t Ronnie Earle-and-soon-to-be-Rosemary-Lehmberg, who could it be?

Please send your nominations for “Most Powerful Democrat in Texas” to my email address (click below), and tell me why your pick has some serious stroke. 

-- Jay Root