|
Pinkdome has covered this in great detail already, but I wanted to go ahead and fill in some background about the new executive director of the Texas Legislative Council.
Milton Rister was research director for Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, political director and executive director of the Republican Party of Texas, and executive director of the House Republican Caucus. According to a March 2, 2001 Texas Observer article:
[Karl] Rove, together with Milton Rister and other consultants, essentially privatized fundraising and candidate selection throughout the state, through the formation of PACs like 76 in 96 and 8 in 98, which targeted select House races in a bid to gain the majority and unseat Democratic speaker Pete Laney.
Rister was also among the folks that received subpoenas for his involvement with Tom Delay and TRMPAC, and was one of the Republicans that actually drew the Congressional Redistricting map, which is currently under review by the United States Supreme Court (more on that later).
Finally, Milton Rister owns "Keep Austin Strong," which has taken $15,000 from James Leininger's newly formed PAC, the Texas Republican Legislative Campaign Committee (TRLCC) which is targeting incumbent Republicans that did not vote in support of vouchers.
That's his background. Rister was confirmed by a 9-1 vote today. The one dissenting vote was Senator Wentworth. All the Democrats voted in favor, citing recent conversations with Milton Rister wherein he assured everyone he would be strictly non-partisan and cooperative.
|
