FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Smoking gun memo shows Perry donors, appointees
funneled teacher money to Perry donors
AUSTIN — A smoking gun memo surfaced today showing how Rick Perry has abused the Teacher Retirement System to raise political contributions.
"Perry and his people have milked our teachers’ retirement for campaign cash. What was leaked today shows the use of political pressure to reward Rick Perry’s friends. This is wrong. Perry’s used state government as a political machine. Our teachers’ retirement fund should not be for sale to help a political campaign. Today Perry needs to come clean about the role his office and his campaign had in this by releasing all relevant documents and emails," said Bill White.
Perry appointed to the Board friends and donors who steered hundreds of millions of teacher dollars – and millions in fees – to firms run by Perry donors.
The explosive memo details how managers of the fund let political and personal agendas run roughshod over the recommendations of professional staff and financial analysts.
According to the memo, one leader of the fund stated on numerous occasions that "upsetting a board member or a friend of the fund over the investment of a few hundred million dollars doesn’t make sense."
One person objecting to the politically driven approach of the Board members was told, "This is the way business is done."
"The damage to our reputational equity and creation of a culture where Board members feel empowered to finance their personal agendas with teacher/retiree/taxpayer $$$ don’t seem to concern him. I dread the next legislative session and the possibility of being asked to provide justification," read one email associated with the memo.
This all took place under the leadership of Rick Perry’s current Campaign Finance Co-Chair and major campaign donor James Lee. Perry appointed Lee to the TRS Board in 2006 and appointed him Board Chair in February 2008. Then, in January 2009, before Lee’s Senate confirmation hearing, Lee resigned abruptly as it became known that he had a six-figure gambling debt to a Las Vegas casino.
Lee pressed to invest teachers’ dollars in assets that are difficult to value and in ways that required hundreds of millions of dollars in fees, millions which ended up in funds run by Perry donors.
To read the smoking gun TRS memo, click here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/39669397/TRS-Whistleblower-Memo-From-Green-to-Wright
To read a document that includes a diagram explaining the scandal, key quotes and a list of the people involved, click here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/39682227/Massive-TRS-Corruption-Scandal
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Contact:
Katy Bacon
press@billwhitefortexas.com
713.501.3991