Blastoderm55
02-14-2007, 11:15 AM
AUSTIN — Just days after insisting his friendship with a former U.S. senator had nothing to do with his proposal to sell off the Texas Lottery, Gov. Rick Perry faced renewed conflict-of-interest questions Tuesday, this time regarding his son.
Perry's office confirmed that his son, Griffin Perry, 23, had secured a job at UBS, the investment-banking company the governor has consulted on the lottery proposal.
The UBS vice chairman is former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, whose political action committee once gave Perry $610,000.
A spokesman for Perry disputed any suggestion that the employment of Griffin Perry had any influence on the governor's discussions with UBS.
"The two are in no way connected," spokesman Robert Black said. "Trying to connect them is a myth."
As for Gramm, Black said Perry had never even spoken to him about the lottery proposal.
Griffin Perry, a graduate of Vanderbilt University who studied economics, had been "subject to the same application process as anyone else" when he was hired, UBS spokeswoman Karina Byrne said.
She said he had been offered a job in mid- to late January to work in the Dallas office in the firm's wealth-management division, a unit not involved in the discussions surrounding the proposed lottery sale, Byrne added. He starts Thursday.
UBS, one of two companies the governor's office has consulted, would stand to take in millions of dollars in fees if it eventually brokers a deal to sell the state lottery to a private company, which Gov. Perry has estimated could bring in between $14 billion and $20 billion.
Robert Rodriguez, president of Southwestern Capital Markets, an investment firm in San Antonio, estimated that a company could easily earn $100 million for brokering the sale of the country's third-largest lottery.
"That's a lot of money," Rodriguez said.
Perry pushed the lottery sale last week in his State of the State address. His aides said the sale would generate roughly $300 million more from investments each year than the state now collects in ticket sales.
Under the proposal, money from the sale would be invested and the proceeds would fund three trusts: one for public education, a second for cancer research and a third for health care for as many as 600,000 low-income, uninsured Texans.
Perry's proposal stunned many lawmakers still fuming over his executive order four days earlier requiring 11- and 12-year old girls be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease that causes cervical cancer.
That order quickly prompted calls from reporters seeking to know if Perry had been influenced by his former chief of staff, Mike Toomey, who is a registered lobbyist for Merck, the drug company that makes the vaccine. Perry's office said he wasn't.
The governor's handlers have been unable to silence the skeptics.
"It could be a coincidence, but it doesn't look good," said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, an Austin-based group that tracks money in Texas politics.
The governor's connection to people working at UBS "raises the question: Is this good public policy or is this just a business deal?" he said of the lottery proposal.
Perry's office had to concede one more connection Tuesday. Phil Wilson, Perry's deputy chief of staff, was once employed by Gramm when he was a senator.
Perry's office confirmed that his son, Griffin Perry, 23, had secured a job at UBS, the investment-banking company the governor has consulted on the lottery proposal.
The UBS vice chairman is former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm, whose political action committee once gave Perry $610,000.
A spokesman for Perry disputed any suggestion that the employment of Griffin Perry had any influence on the governor's discussions with UBS.
"The two are in no way connected," spokesman Robert Black said. "Trying to connect them is a myth."
As for Gramm, Black said Perry had never even spoken to him about the lottery proposal.
Griffin Perry, a graduate of Vanderbilt University who studied economics, had been "subject to the same application process as anyone else" when he was hired, UBS spokeswoman Karina Byrne said.
She said he had been offered a job in mid- to late January to work in the Dallas office in the firm's wealth-management division, a unit not involved in the discussions surrounding the proposed lottery sale, Byrne added. He starts Thursday.
UBS, one of two companies the governor's office has consulted, would stand to take in millions of dollars in fees if it eventually brokers a deal to sell the state lottery to a private company, which Gov. Perry has estimated could bring in between $14 billion and $20 billion.
Robert Rodriguez, president of Southwestern Capital Markets, an investment firm in San Antonio, estimated that a company could easily earn $100 million for brokering the sale of the country's third-largest lottery.
"That's a lot of money," Rodriguez said.
Perry pushed the lottery sale last week in his State of the State address. His aides said the sale would generate roughly $300 million more from investments each year than the state now collects in ticket sales.
Under the proposal, money from the sale would be invested and the proceeds would fund three trusts: one for public education, a second for cancer research and a third for health care for as many as 600,000 low-income, uninsured Texans.
Perry's proposal stunned many lawmakers still fuming over his executive order four days earlier requiring 11- and 12-year old girls be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted disease that causes cervical cancer.
That order quickly prompted calls from reporters seeking to know if Perry had been influenced by his former chief of staff, Mike Toomey, who is a registered lobbyist for Merck, the drug company that makes the vaccine. Perry's office said he wasn't.
The governor's handlers have been unable to silence the skeptics.
"It could be a coincidence, but it doesn't look good," said Craig McDonald, director of Texans for Public Justice, an Austin-based group that tracks money in Texas politics.
The governor's connection to people working at UBS "raises the question: Is this good public policy or is this just a business deal?" he said of the lottery proposal.
Perry's office had to concede one more connection Tuesday. Phil Wilson, Perry's deputy chief of staff, was once employed by Gramm when he was a senator.