Bush's Texas "Turd Blossom" @ Work !

Posted on Fri, Sep. 16, 2005

Lawyer's firing came after call from Rove
BY WAYNE SLATER
The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN, Texas - (KRT) - White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove personally called the Texas secretary of state about a newspaper story quoting a staff lawyer about whether Rove was eligible to vote in the state.
The lawyer was subsequently fired.
Secretary of State Roger Williams said that he decided to dismiss the lawyer after talking with Rove but that the White House adviser didn't request that he do so.
"Absolutely not," said Williams, a longtime supporter of President Bush and a major GOP fundraiser.
"Karl called me. He had read the article and wanted to know if it was our stance" that his voter registration status in Texas might be in jeopardy, he said. "I told him it wasn't and that the person who gave that opinion was not authorized to do so."
The call to Williams came at the height of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, the weekend after the storm struck. Rove was involved in the early White House response and subsequently has been a leader in the federal government's reconstruction effort.
Elizabeth Reyes, 30, was terminated Sept. 6 after being quoted in The Washington Post three days earlier saying it was potential vote fraud to register in a place where you don't actually live.
Reyes said that she was answering a hypothetical question, that she didn't know she was talking with a reporter and that Rove's name never came up. The Post acknowledged that Rove's name was not mentioned but said the reporter did identify herself as working for the newspaper.
Reyes said she was told she was being terminated for violating an agency policy against talking to the media.
Scott Haywood, a spokesman for the secretary of state, said employees may take "routine press calls" but must refer media inquires to the communications director if they involve "controversial matters" or an opinion or interpretation of agency policy.
Williams, asked about the reasons for Reyes' dismissal, said: "That's a personnel matter. I don't really want to discuss it."
In Texas, state employees can be terminated at will. Reyes told The Post she had asked for her job back.
Rove, the longtime Bush adviser who orchestrated his campaigns for governor and president, has sold his home in Austin and claims as his voting residence two cottages associated with a bed-and-breakfast in Kerr County. The arrangement is permitted under state law, Williams said.
White House spokeswoman Erin Healey said Friday that Rove called the Texas secretary of state seeking clarification on the state's voting requirements.
"Karl's a friend of mine, so when he read something in the paper, he called," Williams said. "Naturally, he had a way to get hold of me, as we're friends. He wanted to know if that's where we stood on the issue, and that was that."
Texas law provides that residents may continue to claim property in the state as a voting residence if their intent is to return. Rove owns a house in Washington and recently built a home in Florida.
The cottages in Texas were part of the River Oaks Lodge that Rove and his wife, Darby, once owned on the Guadalupe River near Ingram. They sold the lodge in 2003 but kept the two cottages, which the bed-and-breakfast rents to guests.
The cottages and one-third-acre lot are appraised at $57,258. According to the lodge's brochure, one cottage rents for $200 a night and the other for $120 a night.
Williams, a Weatherford, Texas, car dealer, raised at least $100,000 for Bush's 2000 presidential campaign and in 2004 was among the elite tier of Bush Rangers, who each raised at least $200,000 for the president's re-election.

© 2005, The Dallas Morning News.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
source: http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/nation/12667485.htm
------------------
ROVE AND FIRED STATE OFFICIAL

When will public wake up to hypocrisy?

Re: "Rove called Texas official – Bush aide talked to secretary of state before staff lawyer lost her job," Saturday news story.
So an attorney in the Texas secretary of state's office gives out public information about a state law to a reporter, and after a call from Karl Rove, the attorney is fired.
Meanwhile, high-ranking officials within the Bush administration – allegedly Karl Rove and Scooter Libby – give out classified information about a covert CIA agent to several reporters. More than two years later, nobody has lost his job, and the administration tries to sweep the story under the rug.
When will the American public wake up to the Bush administration's hypocrisy?
Andrew Lillie, Grapevine

One call does all: Now that's good service

I am glad to know that anyone can pick up the phone and reach Texas' secretary of state. No dealing with local officials, no being put on hold, no being directed elsewhere.
And if you are unhappy with someone in his office, you do not have to ask to have that person fired. He apparently will sense your dissatisfaction and just take care of it.

Jack C. Ramsey, Wichita Falls

Is your newspaper afraid of Rove, too?
Re: "Hits and Misses – Bully-style politics," Saturday Editorials.
"Why should someone lose her job over answering a question?" You can find the answer to that your on Saturday front page. Can't anyone at The Dallas Morning News spell "abuse of power"? The Bush administration reeks of it – in particular anything connected with Karl Rove.
What puzzles me is why you never take him on. I guess you're too afraid of him. You might even be right.
Jae Grenier, San Angelo

source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/DN-wedletters_0921edi.ART.State.Edition1.13a5b87e.html