By Bud Kennedy
bud@star-telegram.com
This session of the Texas Legislature is not only about making law.
It's also about making careers.
With an extra $8.8 billion to spend and elections in 2014, Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst want to win their way back into Texans' hearts.
Just to remind everyone that Perry might repeat his presidential run in 2016, former campaign trail compadre Rick Santorum even showed up on opening day Tuesday to glad-hand the Legislature and take home a Texas A&M sweater vest.
State Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, said with a laugh that Santorum was here because of "ABC -- Always Be Campaigning."
But if this session is going to be make-or-break for Perry and Dewhurst, King said, both seem ready to deal.
"I'm hearing things from both of them that are some great, 'Texas big' ideas," King said.
He also mentioned House Speaker Joe Straus' get-down-to-work agenda, laid out for House members Tuesday after a feeble Tea Party challenge to the speaker fizzled with no challenger or vote.
"I want Texas to get back to doing big things, to dealing with education, to funding a water plan, to have a better way to fund transportation," King said.
"What I'm hearing from everybody at the top is that this is the session for Texas to get things done."
Across the House floor, freshman state Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth, said her first impression of the House was simply that "so much needs to be done."
Collier, a lawyer succeeding new U.S. Rep Marc Veasey as the representative for downtown and much of east and southeast Fort Worth, campaigned on doing more for education and healthcare but said she has been learning about other needs.
"Water -- I know we have to put more money into water projects," she said.
"That can't wait. But public education is failing our children without the funding we need."
This was Collier's first day in the Legislature, but not her first playing before an Austin crowd.
Two years ago, she sat behind her husband, Gary "Big C" Collier, when he coached the Arlington Heights Yellow Jackets to the state basketball semifinals. Now coaching at Lewisville, he helped her hang TVs in the office and stayed to see her sworn in, then headed home for a game.
"I've always been the one in the supporting role, getting players what we need," she said.
Forgive her if she's new to the game.
Bud Kennedy's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538.Twitter: @budkennedy
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