TRAVIS DA: Sources Say Former Rove Henchman Working Dollars For Montford

[After our post earlier this week on Mindy Montford and lobby dollars in the Travis County DA's race, tips have been pouring into Capitol Annex concerning this race. We've spent the better part of this afternoon tracking down and verifying from multiple sources information from which the following post is compiled--VL]

Former Karl Rove lieutenant and henchman Adam Goldman is reportedly involved in the campaign of Mindy Montford, a Democratic candidate for Travis County District Attorney, sources tell Capitol Annex. Goldman, who is a managing director of Austin lobby shop Public Strategies, also as worked on the firm’s account with telecom giant AT&T and is reportedly handling AT&T’s efforts on behalf of Mindy Montford. Montford’s father, former State Senator John T. Montford, has served as Senior Vice President for Western Region Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for AT&T.

Austin sources tell Capitol Annex that the prevailing wisdom among capitol lobbyists is that electing Montford’s daughter to the job Ronnie Earle will vacate with his retirement will get telecom giant AT&T out of the cross fire of the DA’s office. AT&T has been implicated in the ongoing investigation by Earle’s office into illegal corporate contributions to political campaigns in Texas. The investigation, which has resulted in the indictment of the Texas Association of Business for taking illegal contributions from AT&T (among others), and former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, is still ongoing.

Goldman, of course, is far more than merely a lobbyists at Public Strategies. He is a former lieutenant to Presidential Adviser Karl Rove, and handled so-called “black ops” for Rove. Sources tell Capitol Annex that Goldman was hired at Public Strategies at the direct request of Karl Rove the day before Blaine Bull departed the firm.

Goldman is also the brother of Craig Goldman, who was recruited by allies of Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick (R-Midland) to run for Rep. Anna Mowery’s seat in House District 97 in Tarrant County, in a special election that was filled with dirty tricks by GOP candidates, including robo calls to Hispanics to misinform them that the election date had been changed from Tuesday to Saturday. After losing the first round of voting, Goldman then refused to endorse the Republican who made the runoff and eventually lost to Democrat Dan Barrett (D-Fort Worth).

The winner of the March 4 Democratic Primary for Travis County DA will take over from Earle in 2009, as no Republicans are seeking the seat.

Technorati Tags Adam Goldman, John Montford, Mindy Montford, Public Strategies, Ronnie Earle, Tom DeLay

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