Strayhorn To Audit Payments To Abramoff-Tied Lobby Firm
Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn announced yesterday that she will audit payments made by the state’s Washington, D.C. office to a private lobbyist tied to Jack Abramoff in order to see if the funds were misused for political purposes.
This follows revalations by the Houston Chronicle that Cassidy & Associates, the state’s lobbying firm, spent $7,600 last year to host a fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay’s Americans for a Republican Majority PAC.
Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, responding to a report in the Houston Chronicle, said Thursday that she will audit payments made by the state’s Washington office to a private lobbyist to see if the money was misused for political purposes. The lobby firm’s lead lobbyist, Todd Boulanger, has close ties to DeLay and his aides.
The Houston Chronicle Notes:
Texas House Democratic Chairman Jim Dunnam said Thursday that Cassidy’s vice chairman, Gregg Hartley, formally signed the firm’s contract with the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations on the same day the firm paid for the ARMPAC fundraiser. Hartley made a personal donation of $5,000 to ARMPAC later in the month.
“The same guy, on the same day, nearly simultaneously signs a state lobby contract worth $15,000 a month and hosts a fundraiser for Mr. DeLay,” Dunnam said. “And they want Texas taxpayers to believe these two events have nothing to do with one another? Even my third-grader can connect the dots on this thing.”
Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, who oversees the State-Federal office, said Cassidy & Associates originally was hired on Dec. 21, 2004, but because of an error the contract had to be re-executed on March 2, 2005, the day of the fundraiser.
Cassidy spokeswoman Aimee N. Steel said the signing of the amended contract and the ARMPAC fundraiser were coincidental. She said the fundraiser at Charlie Palmers Restaurant in Washington had been planned more than six months in advance.
“It is more than just a stretch to suggest there is a connection between the amended contract’s signing date and the ARMPAC event,” Steel said.
She said the state’s $15,000 payment was not made to the firm until nine days after the fundraiser.
Dunnam has accused OSFR’s private lobbyists of converting their taxpayer payments into campaign donations for Republicans.
Strayhorn, whose office issues all state checks based on warrants from state agencies, said she will audit the payments to Cassidy & Associates for any signs of political misuse of state funds.
Strayhorn, a longtime Republican, is running as an independent candidate for governor, challenging Perry’s re-election.
Written by Vince Leibowitz
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