Strayhorn’s 529 Ads…We Had This Weeks Ago

I love checking my Bloglines subscriptions late at night or early in the morning and stumbling across a story that was first broken on the blogs…specifically, this blog.

Almost a month ago, after seeing a “Texas 529 College Savings Plan” commercial on TV, I mused why the hell Strayhorn was running the ads in the middle of an election cycle. At the time, I “presumed” that the ads were paid for with state funds. The Perry campaign is now complaining about that very same thing.

Evidently, however, the money managers for the plan are paying for the ads, though I still would think they’re getting state money somehow:

But Strayhorn’s aides say Enterprise Capital Management Inc., the money manager of the state’s so-called 529 college savings program, is contractually obligated to pay for ads and put forth $723,475 for a monthlong run of commercials from Sept. 4 to Oct. 1 in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin markets.

And, as I assumed, this isn’t the normal time for the ads to run:

Over the past few years, ads for the state-run college savings funds known collectively as the Texas Tomorrow Funds typically have aired in the spring, said Black of the Perry camp. But he said the ads suspiciously aired in late 2005 when Strayhorn was considering running in the Republican primary and again recently, just before the Nov. 7 election.

Sanders said the timing of the latest ads was intended to make the most of advertising dollars this time of year. The timing was approved by Strayhorn, but was recommended by the ad placement agency Bonner & Associates Inc., said another campaign spokesman, Will Holford.

Once again, we have Perry vs. Strayhorn…and that’s only a good thing for Chris Bell. As long as Perry and Strayhorn go back and forth over and over, voters will be getting tired of them both.

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