The Harriet Miers Story: DeLay, TRMPAC, Texas Lottery Scandal and Cleansing Bush

[Guest guest]

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 02:56:09 -0700

The Harriet Miers Story: DeLay, TRMPAC, Texas Lottery Scandal

and Cleansing Bush's Guard Records

S

 

 

 

 

http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/05/10/ana05030.html

 

October 3, 2005

 

The Harriet Miers Story: DeLay, TRMPAC, Texas Lottery Scandal and

Cleansing Bush's Guard Records

 

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

 

Collected by BuzzFlash Reader Jerry D. Turner:

 

Harriet Miers headed the law firm Locke, Liddell & Sapp which has been

linked to TRMPAC and questionable donations related to Tom DeLay.

 

* * *

 

Indictment Heat Hits the Lobby

 

Tremors from the criminal investigation into Texans for a

Republican Majority (TRM) PAC are reaching some top corporate

lobbyists—a crowd that is to Tom DeLay's power what hair follicles

were to Samson's fabled strength.

 

[click for larger image]

 

The Texas Observer, 10/22/2004

http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1781

 

 

* * *

 

DeLay: More Cash—And More Questions

 

Among the contributions at issue: ... $2,500 that same year from

Locke Liddell & Sapp, the Texas law firm formerly headed by Harriet

Miers (who was recently named White House counsel), which was then

representing Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

 

Newsweek, Dec. 13, 2004

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6652757/site/newsweek

 

* * *

 

The Rise of the Machine

How a small group of politicians and corporations bought

themselves a legislature

 

A year after the release of the scorecard, with the election less

than a month away, Baxter sent out mail pieces in the district

attacking Kitchen's record on state spending. Kitchen, in order to

counter what she describes as misleading information, left recorded

phone messages for voters. The very next day, a TAB phone bank also

left messages directing voters to call it to learn " the truth about

Ann Kitchen's spending taxes. " On another occasion, Baxter sent a

positive mailing outlining his stance on education. By the next day,

voters received a mailer from the TAB attacking Kitchen's position on

education.

 

Kitchen believes these two incidents demonstrate that the TAB at

some level coordinated its advocacy campaign with Baxter, which would

be illegal. " On the face of it, that all required coordination of

message and timing, " she says.

 

. . .

 

These two incidents were both submitted by Kitchen to the grand

jury in the form of an affidavit. The former representative is also a

party to one of three civil suits against the TAB and TRM for their

conduct during the election. It's litigation, Andy Taylor, the TAB's

lawyer never misses a chance to characterize as " losing-candidate

lawsuits. "

 

Taylor is a prime example of the incestuous nature of the TAB/TRM

effort. It extends to family members of those involved and goes all

the way to the White House through Karl Rove. In 2001, Taylor worked

for then-Attorney General and Rove protege John Cornyn in the

Republican redistricting effort. He then left to join the law firm of

Locke Liddell and Sapp that represents Texans for Lawsuit Reform. Soon

after, Cornyn hired Taylor to do the same redistricting work he did as

a state employee, this time paying Locke Liddell and Sapp $804,478.

Now Taylor is the chief lawyer and spokesman for the TAB. He also

represents TRM in the civil lawsuits. This summer, Taylor is again the

state's outside counsel on congressional redistricting.

 

The Texas Observer, 8/29/2003

http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleFileName=030829_f1.htm

 

* * *

 

And, look who has donated to DeLay's Legal Expense Fund (Locke,

Liddell & Sapp)!

 

From OpenSecrets.org:

http://www.opensecrets.org/alerts/v6/delay.asp

 

[click for larger image]

 

* * *

 

Miers is linked to a Bush's Guard Records/Texas Lottery/GTech Scandal:

 

Democrats Oppose Gonzales

 

Alberto Gonzales was recommended to Bush as counsel in the Texas

Governorship by Harriet Miers, who has replaced Gonzales as White

House counsel. Referred to by Bush as a " pit bull in size 6 shoes'',

Miers is a former President of Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell and

former chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission. Locke, Purnell,

Rain & Harrell have given at least $65,000 to Bush campaigns and are

major backers of tort reform. One case involved a unique law - passed

under former Gov. George Bush - that blocked Texas consumers from

recovering $6 billion in overcharges on car loans and allowed dealers

to keep kickbacks secret. Two consumer groups have called on the Texas

Legislature to repeal it. Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell were

defendants of the litigation, which included auto dealers in Texas.

Miers was also Chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission and

responsible for a chain of events involving GTech, which ran the Texas

Lottery, former Lt. Governor Ben Barnes, and accusations of kick-backs

and illegal contracts. Yes, that Ben Barnes, who says he helped George

Bush get into the National Guard. His original deposition on that

subject was given in 1999, during this Texas Lottery Commission

investigation, and has been permanently sealed.

 

LightUpTheDarkness.com, February 1, 2005

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink & id=306

 

* * *

 

Profiles of Overnight Guests

 

Miers is a Dallas-based lawyer and chairwoman of the Texas Lottery

Commission. The former president of the State Bar of Texas and Dallas

City Council member has done legal work for Bush and his political

committee. As chair of the lottery commission, Miers came under fire

when former commission executive director Lawrence Littwin sued the

state's lottery operator, GTECH, for allegedly pressuring Miers to

fire Littwin. Littwin and his attorneys have suggested throughout the

proceedings that GTECH was allowed to keep its state lottery contract

in exchange for former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes' silence. Barnes, a

former GTECH lobbyist, stated under oath that he helped George W. Bush

enlist in the Texas Air National Guard as an alternative to going to

Vietnam 31 years ago.

 

The Center for Public Integrity

http://www.publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=231

 

* * *

 

Was Harriet Miers the one who scoured and scrubbed the President's

National Guard record?

 

Bush Aides Possibly Altered

National Guard Records

To Conceal Grounding and Missed Duty

 

They paid " hard-nosed Dallas lawyer named Harriet Miers " $19,000

to review the records. According to Newsweek, one result of her work

was to deflect charges that former Texas House Speaker Ben Barnes

helped Bush get into the Texas Air National Guard despite low

qualifications and a long waiting list. Barnes was later forced to

testify under oath that he helped Bush.

 

Democrats.com, November 4, 2000

http://archive.democrats.com/display.cfm?id=171

 

* * *

 

BuzzFlash Addendum: The Associated Press also reports that Harriet

Miers contributed " $5,000 to the Bush-Cheney Recount Fund in the

post-election struggle that finally sealed his victory over Al Gore. "

(Miers ties to Bush include personal lawyer: Supreme Court nominee

described as very loyal to the president -- AP/MSNBC)

 

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS