This is a surprise - State Rep. Fred Hill, who a few months ago had announced his candidacy for House Speaker, has decided to retire instead. This is bad news on a couple of levels: Hill had developed into a strong critic of Speaker Craddick, going so far as to make the infamous motion to vacate that Craddick refused to recognize. His district is 60-40 GOP at the county candidate level, making it unlikely to flip to the Democrats, which leaves the possibility of a Craddick ally taking his place. Ironic, since it was Hill who observed that freshman are Craddick's oxygen. Hill was also a strong voice against appraisal caps, which earned him Dan Patrick's undying enmity. There's potentially a lot to lose with his retirement. At least he thinks Craddick is going down anyway, and he's got a couple of replacement candidates in mind, so maybe it won't matter. Be that as it may, best wishes to Fred Hill in the next stage of his life. BOR has more.