May 9, 2006

Email Barrage in Veto Push Sparks Electronic
Duel Between Activists and Former Perry Aide

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

A Houston Republican activist who's been leading the grassroots charge against a new state business tax drew a stinging rebuke from Governor Rick Perry's former legislative director after listing his email address and others in a letter urging conservatives to press for a veto of House Bill 3.

As former Perry aide Dan Shelley suggested that Dr. Steven Hotze no longer had sway with the Legislature, the leader of the Conservative Republicans of Harris County speculated in an alert to supporters that the governor's office might have been blocking emails from them after being "overrun" with electronic messages protesting the business tax that lawmakers approved last week. Hotze, who was a key force in GOP takeovers from the courthouse to the statehouse, suggested that some emails to Perry calling for a veto might have been bouncing back with error messages because inboxes at the governor's office were full or because they'd been set up to flag keywords such as veto, taxes or HB 3 and block mail containing them.

Perry Press Secretary Kathy Walt said the suggestion that the governor's office might be freezing out certain emails was "absolutely untrue." Walt said that some Hotze supporters had been given an email address for Perry that doesn't exist, adding that the governor does not have a state email account. Emails sent to incorrect addresses or to accounts that are not active will automatically be returned to senders.

But Walt acknowledged that the governor's office had received an unspecified number of emails from forces aligned with Hotze. She said some of the emails used Hotze's exact words while others contained similar messages composed in the individual writers' own words. Some of the emails veered off into an array of other issues, Walt said. She said emails were coming in to various staff members and being forwarded to the division that handles constituent services.

In a weekend letter attempting to rally grassroots support for a business tax veto, Hotze had provided email addresses and phone numbers for several current and former Perry aides including Chief of Staff Deirdre Delisi, former top aide Mike Toomey, Campaign Manager Luis Saenz and Shelley. The activist leader also recommended that conservatives contact major Perry donors such as James Leininger and Bob Perry, who's no relation to the governor, in an attempt to enlist their assistance in the campaign for a veto.

Shelley - a former state House and Senate member who returned to the lobby after a stint as Perry's legislative liaison last year - told Hotze that he'd been upset initially that his email address had been given out by the activist and the group Citizens Lowering Our Unfair Texas. But Shelley played down the amount of communication that he'd received as a result of Hotze's push for a veto.

"At first I was upset you and CLOUT gave my email address out to your followers which generated about 54 emails not counting the three from you," Shelley said in an email to Hotze. "Then it made me realize how few people listen to you and CLOUT and how little clout you have in Austin. I will pass on to the members of the legislature they have little to worry about when in comes to your threats. Spend your property tax savings wisely."

Hotze responded to the barb in a letter explaining to Shelley that he was taking a stand based on conservative principles that helped Republicans become the majority party in Texas - and he stressed that he was attempting to help the governor as a longtime friend and supporter by urging him to kill the business tax before it was too late. Hotze said he was concerned that the governor was making a "serious miscalculation or misjudgment" with his support for HB 3.

"Whether or not you think I have any influence is of no consequence to me or to the issue," Hotze told Shelley. "Although we may disagree, Dan, I still consider you a friend."

But Hotze supporters did not hold back as they rallied to his defense in the wake of the message from Shelley. In a letter posted on the web site www.texansfornonewtaxes.org, Odessa Republican Bill Duff advised Shelley that Hotze has "legions of supporters" across Texas while describing the business tax plan "a legislative and political disaster" that had spawned a "rapidly spreading movement to dump" Perry.

"You guys are digging a Republican mass gave in this Taxation Special Session" Duff charged.

HB 3 would replace the state's franchise tax with a new business margins tax that more companies would pay on the basis of gross receipts instead of earned surplus and capital.