Smoking Gun: Perry Chief of Staff Funded Green Party Initiative

Lobbyist and former chief of staff to Governor Rick Perry, Mike Toomey, has been named by his former employee, Garrett Mize, as the guy who funded his signature-gathering campaign, funded to the tune of $2000 per month, to get the Green Party gubernatorial nominee on the ballot in November.

This is a separate action to the out-of-state operation that got Take Initiative America to gather 91,000 signatures to qualify the Green Party for the November ballot.

The action failed largely because Mize started to have misgivings about his task, a job funded by Republican interests. That is, the Karl Rovian “Sleaze factor” was exceeded.

This testimony is the smoking gun that allows the Texas Democratic Party to demonstrate the intent of Republicans. An intent to get a liberal third candidate on the ballot in order to split a Democratic vote.

Green Party voters are least likely to vote for Rick Perry.

In truth, I don’t see that Green Party voters would have a choice between Bill White and Rick Perry, but absent the choice for their own candidate, I do see how a Green could be persuaded to opt against the candidate whose politics are least like theirs.

This Republican plot is sleaze at its worst. Happily, funding of the project may just be illegal despite anything that Green Party officials try to do to negate that.

Green voters need to pay heed to that. How much can the Green Party claim that it travels on the high road when they accept base and disingenuous help from sleazy Republicans?

UPDATE: The story is here. Texas District Judge John Dietz has decided in favor of the Texas Democratic Party, that the Green Party accepted an illegal corporate donation in order to qualify its candidates on the November general election ballot, and issued an injunction to that effect. An appeal is expected. I would expect this to go all the way to the Republican-packed Supreme Court where it will surely be quashed.

UPDATE #2: I hate being correct.