I wrote about this new PAC, formed by TLR’s Dick Weekley and Leo Linbeck III along with Harlan Crow, on the weekend. In that post, I said: It would really be nice if the founders, who contributed $50,000 each, have realized that Republican primary voters, thanks to Rick Perry, are about to send a bunch of Republican freshmen to Austin who are more interested in nullification and the Tenth Amendment than in governing the state, and their real purpose is to try to move the Republican party back toward the center. But I’m not betting on it. Indeed. The PAC’s major effort appears to be aimed at defeating Todd Smith in his race for reelection. Smith is in a fight for survival against Jeff Cason. Citizen Leader PAC contributed $21,858.81 on Cason’s behalf for what amounts to a complete prepackaged campaign: $3,800.00 to Baselice and Associates for polling $3,989.68 for printing and postage $3,989.70 for printing and postage $2,025.00 for Internet services $2,511.88 for voter data $2.066.90 for teleservices $3,475.65 for teleservices Citizen Leader PAC aspires to be the new bullies on the block, the enforcer of conservative orthodoxy in a Republican primary race. The advantage of the new PAC is that it allows Weekley/Linbeck/Crow to engage in gutter politics without getting TLR’s skirts dirty. This is going to have an impact beyond the primary. Republicans who pine for a Craddick restoration believe that if conservatives can pick up eight seats, either from Democrats or from Republican moderates, they have a shot at returning to power. Smith is one of Straus’s committee chairs. Straus regards the Todd Smith race as one of his top priorities. He provided TLR with a friendly committee and an even friendlier chairman (the other Todd) last session. This did not dissuade Weekley from getting involved in a Republican primary race against a Straus chairman. Meet the new Leininger.