Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Dewhurst sells apartment to Karl Rove's wife


" While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage."
2 Peter 2:19

This is bizarre:
Dewhurst has listed unit 1003, his two-bedroom condo in the Westgate Tower, for more than $1 million. Two high-dollar independent lobbyists — Mindy Ellmer and Sabrina Brown — have joined with Karen Johnson Rove, the wife of political strategist Karl Rove, to purchase the Dewhurst property. Closing is expected next month.

The Westgate offers an ideal address for people who work in state politics, since it is steps from the west entrance of the Capitol. Apparently, some people think it might make a nice spot for wining and dining legislators, too.

Talk of the lobbyists’ plans to use the condo for parties for their clients prompted a letter from Connie Heyer, a lawyer for the condo owners association.

“The board understands that the purpose of the purchase would be to provide a venue for lobby entertaining,” Heyer wrote. “The residents have long expressed the desire to enforce and maintain the residential nature of the residential portion of the building.”

....

The lieutenant governor’s history of making real estate deals with lobbyists extends back to at least 2003, when he sold an Austin mansion to Texas lobbyist and former senator Dan Shelley. Dewhurst told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram at the time that he took a net loss when he sold the property for $1.95 million — $1 million more than he paid for it five years earlier. Dewhurst said he had invested “several hundred thousand” dollars in the house.

Another Dewhurst property also was recently on the market.

The campaign committee of the lieutenant governor took possession of a white-columned estate in Austin’s tony Old Enfield neighborhood earlier this year when Dewhurst reached an agreement with Kenneth “Buddy” Barfield, who the lieutenant governor claimed stole money from his unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2012. The two sides reportedly agreed that Barfield would sign over the property to repay some of the money.
 Read the whole thing here.

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Update: It gets better. Apparently, Mindy Ellmer is Charlie Geren's girlfriend.  Also, she's a taxpayer funded lobbyist whose clients include the Tarrant Regional Water District.

Learn more about the Tarrant Regional Water District here.

1 comment:

  1. Hilariously, the only time I have ever been to the Westgate Tower was for a FUNDRAISER, I think, for Jack Stick!

    ReplyDelete

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