Strayhorn Suspends Payments To Lobby Firms

Although it is a move that needed to be made, Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander Strayhorn no doubt will make ppolitical hay out of her decision today to indefinitely suspended all payments from the state to the Washington lobby shop Cassidy & Associates, which is being audited by her office.

From her press release:

“As the state’s chief fiscal officer I am committed to making sure tax dollars are spent wisely and in absolute accordance with the law,” Strayhorn said. “During the early stages of my expenditure audit of the contract with Cassidy & Associates enough questions have been raised and I have found sufficient reason to indefinitely stop all payments to the firm.

“Texas state law clearly prohibits tax dollars being spent to lobby the state legislature and prohibits spending for influencing elections or supporting candidates at the state or federal level. By any measure, using tax dollars to pay a private firm to lobby the federal government or members of Congress is a wholly inappropriate and unwise use of public money.”

Rehashing what we already know, the release notes that “during a three-month period in 2004, June through August, Cassidy & Associates was paid $302,363 by Gov. Rick Perry’s office. In Fiscal Year 2005, the firm was paid $34,299.06 by the Office of the Governor and $105,000 by the Office of State-Federal Relations. To date, in Fiscal Year 2006, Cassidy & Associates has been paid $52,511.92 by the Office of State-Federal Relations.

More from OTG:

“I have auditors on the ground in Washington, D.C. examining records relating to the contract with Cassidy & Associates,” Strayhorn said. “As I said when I initiated this audit in January, if I find that tax dollars were misused, I will take the necessary steps to make sure these dollars are returned to the state.”

I guess OTG isn’t getting enough signatures on her petition or something, or she was mad at being usurped by coverage of Chris Bell’s education plan the same day she mouthed on about hers, because there is no way this can be interpreted as anything but a political move on her part.

She could have suspended these payments months ago, or did it without issuing a press release. Another thing it seems like is that she is trying to “out ethics” Chris Bell and paint herself in the mode of the ethics reformer—a slippery slope she shouldn’t try to climb.
You can rest assured this will garner her some headlines in the dailies Thursday and that she’ll make use of it.

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