Guess Who Is Supporting Mindy Montford…Because Karl Rove Asked Them To!
By Vince Leibowitz on Mar 31, 2008 in 2008 Texas Elections ![[Post to Twitter]](/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
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[Our numerous sources in Austin have been pretty busy this week, and now we've got a new one who happened to be equipped with a camera and sent this to us since we've covered this race. Thanks to them for helping us snag this story!]
Amid the lush green grass of a beautiful sloping yard in the Pemberton area of Austin sits a rather innocuous sign announcing that home’s support for Mindy Montford for Travis County District Attorney.
That beautiful yard doesn’t belong to just anybody, though. It belongs to a longtime Austin lobbyist and Bush “Pioneer” who has told her neighbors that she’s voting for Mindy Montford because her friend, Karl Rove, asked her to.
The yard belongs to Karen Johnson. Johnson was recently asked by one of her neighbors why on earth she was supporting a Democrat, since Johnson is a Republican, intimate of Rove, and Austin lobbyist. “I never have before, but Karl Rove asked me to help her,” came Johnson’s reply, a source tells Capitol Annex.
Karen Johnson, a longtime lobbyist and Bush pioneer who lives in the Pemberton area of Austin, has a Mindy Montford yard sign in front of her house. Asked by a neighbor this weekend why she is supporting a Democrat, Ms. Johnson replied: “I never have before, but Karl Rove asked me to help her.”
A close personal friend of Rove’s, Johnson’s father just happens to head up the Associated General Contractors of Texas, the road builders Ms. Johnson, by the way, is an extremely close personal friend of Rove’s. Her father heads up Associated General Contractors of Texas.
Add to this the newest juicy story floating around Austin that former Bush legislative liaison and now chief of staff to Tom Craddick Terral Smith has reportedly lent his law office to a group of AT&T lobbyists including former GOP House member Buzz Robnett (R-Lubbock) to make calls to fellow lobbyists about the need to “unite behind Mindy.”
Because we know that the pro-Montford forces will be all over this, we want to point out that we acknowledge it is entirely possible that Mindy Montford has no idea all of this is going on around her. Regardless of whether Montford knows or not, however, it is a problem. Even if Mindy Montford never personally met with or spoke with or even heard of some of these people, there must be a reason they are supporting her. And, very likely, that reason isn’t that they are echoing Barack Obama’s call to change. They are doing it because they believe a Montford-run DA’s office will be more friendly to the business lobby and the Republicans in government. And, if they believe that, there must be a reason. Maybe it is a public statement Montford made. Maybe it is something someone close to Montford said. It doesn’t matter. Either way, it doesn’t take Ray Charles to see that Republicans, the lobby, and big business think that Mindy Montford is the goose that laid the golden egg and such a departure from the take-no-prisoners style of Ronnie Earle that they’re willing to go to extraordinary lengths to promote her candidacy.
It’s scary.
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I am a registered lobbyist. A few days ago I got a phone call at work asking me to support Montford. The call was from Jim Rudd, who I do not know personally. He is the former House Appropriations Chair and unsuccessful Speaker candidate against Pete Laney. Rudd is now a lobbyist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, oral surgeons, Wine Institute of California and the Colorado River Municipal Water District.
My sources keep telling me that Vince is being paid by the consultants to the campaign of Montford’s opponent to generate ludicrous stories here that they can then use on campaign materials.
And, Mr. Siegel, you might want to register with the Texas Ethics Commission because they have no record of a lobbyist named David Siegel: http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/tedd/loblst08_04.htm
Wow what a news flash….a former head of House Appropriations calling people to vote for the daughter of the former Chair of Senate Finance. Do you know how much time those guys had to spend together…next thing you know a legislator may call UT for Football tickets.
David,
I’m being paid by no one to write about this race. I don’t write about races I am paid to consult or work on. Believe me, there is no amount of money that anyone could pay me to work on this race to put up with all of the crap.
Second, David, why don’t you admit who you are working for? Your name shows up on Mindy Montford’s campaign finance reports as a consultant. Is she paying you to comment on this blog? Is that your job for the Montford campaign, commenting on Capitol Annex?
Hey Vince – why don’t I take a photo of your house and we’ll post it on the web?
David,
The phone call you received was part of a phone bank run by lobbyists out of Terral Smith’s (Craddick’s new COS) law office. Smith, of course, was GWB’s legislative liaison when GWB was governor. Before that, he held the seat Terry Keel once held in the Texas House. Keel’s sister-in-law is now running against Valinda Bolton, who holds the seat now.
Other lobbyists have reported getting calls on behalf of Montford from former House members Buzz Robnett (R-Lubbock) and Eddie Cavazos (D-Corpus Christi), who is now an AT&T Lobbyist.
Oh, by the way, for those who complained about by Reb Wayne post earlier, you might find the following contributions on Mindy’s most recent report interesting:
1.) Ralph Wayne, daddy of Reb Wayne, GOP consultant working for Dewhurst & Mindy Montford
2.) Phil Adams a longtime close friend of Governor Perry
3.) Hope Andrade, appointed to TxDOT by Perry
4.) Nancy Loeffler–wife of former Cong. Tom Loeffler–whois presently John McCain’s national finance chair.
5.) Bob Brown of El Paso a HUGE Craddick supporter.
6.) AT&T Lobbyist & former San Antonio State Rep Bill Seibert
7.) David Hartman, Austin-based GOP booster who founded the Lone Star Report.
8.) Kerry Carmack big-time GOP attorney in Austin who is close to GWB.
Vince, since you turned your comments off on the entry “Terry Keel Doth Protest Too Much?”, I’ll comment here.
Its about ACCOUNTABILITY – something you bloggers need to learn. Terry Keel is right to threaten legal action against those that spread lies about him, especially when they are being spread by a consultant and that information was used by Lehmberg’s campaign. Perhaps you all in the “Progressive Alliance” need to check your sources a bit more. An incident like this damages your credibility and the realiability of the information you post on your blogs. At least newspapers have editors that keep reporters in check. You all need to scrutinize your information a bit more if you want people to believe what you post.