In the furious, never-ending effort by Texas politicians to distance themselves from the Beltway, few are more emphatic than Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson of Pasadena.

In his most recent race he ran a radio ad that not only featured a DC resident getting shot because of a lack of Second Amendment love, but he said this: "We know we can run our businesses and take care of our families if those folks in DC would just leave us alone."

Chief among those DC people he takes aim at: President Obama.

But now Patterson has signed up for the Obama Team, gladly taking a spot on a task force studying how best to clean up after the Gulf spill.

"This is business," Patterson spokesman Jim Suydam tells Hair Balls. He also reassures us Patterson "is not about to become a Bolshevik."

He had us worried for a while though. If Lenin or Mao were handing out appointments to this task force, would Patterson join up?

Suydam says his boss' appointment is natural, since Texas' Land Office "runs one of the top oil-spill response programs in the world."

Still, Texas Republicans, we'd keep a close eye on Patterson if we were you. Next thing you'd know he might come out against the ability to openly carry AK-47s to church or college, or some kind of wacky socialistic law like that.