AUSTIN - Todd Boulanger, who once worked closely with confessed influence peddler Jack Abramoff, now heads a group lobbying Congress for Texas under a $330,000 state contract.
Boulanger and his firm, Cassidy & Associates, were hired by the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations under a contract approved by Gov. Rick Perry, House Speaker Tom Craddick and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.
This is the second time the state has hired as a congressional lobbyist someone with connections to the lobbying controversies surrounding former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land.
The state's Washington office previously had hired former DeLay chief of staff Drew Maloney, the Houston Chronicle first reported last year. Maloney has not been connected to Abramoff's activities, but he was a key figure in 2002 fundraising that brought DeLay a reprimand from the House Ethics Committee.
"It's cronyism at its worst," said Texas House Democratic Caucus Chairman Jim Dunnam of Waco. "All these guys are connected to one another."
The combined Boulanger and Maloney lobby contracts will have cost Texas taxpayers $1.1 million by the time they expire on Aug. 31, 2007.
Boulanger declined comment, referring the Houston Chronicle to the Office of State-Federal Relations. The office's executive director, Ed Perez, referred questions to Perry's press office.
Contract cancellation urged
The Office of State-Federal Relations has existed since the 1960s, but had no outside lobbyists until Perry's administration began hiring them in 2003."What do we have 32 congressmen for? They are up there to advocate for the best interests of the state of Texas," Dunnam said. "The governor definitely ought to cancel that contract."
Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said Cassidy & Associates originally was hired in a competitive bidding process in January 2005 and then was rehired in a second bidding process in November. She said Boulanger may head the Texas team, but other lobbyists representing the state with the firm are Democrats.
Congressional records show Boulanger's Texas lobby team includes himself and four others — three Republicans and one Democrat.
Walt said both Boulanger's lobbying team and that of Maloney work in harmony with the Republican-dominated congressional delegation for the benefit of Texas. She said Boulanger's team has been helpful in getting funding into legislation to reimburse Texas for costs associated with Hurricane Katrina.
"If paying $500,000 to a firm ... gets Texas $50 million in aid in one bill, that's a good return on our money," Walt said.
Dunnam said even if a bidding process was used in the contracting, the ultimate decision on whom to hire was political. Dunnam said it would be in keeping with DeLay's "K Street Project," a Republican plan to hire only former GOP congressional aides as lobbyists.
Craddick has said Perry was the one who picked Maloney and that he opposes hiring state-paid lobbyists. Craddick spokeswoman Alexis DeLee said the speaker knew nothing about the hiring of Cassidy & Associates.
Dewhurst spokesman Mark Miner said the lieutenant governor's staff was informed of the Boulanger hiring but played no role in the choice.
Boulanger, a native of New Hampshire, has been tightly tied to Abramoff and DeLay's inner circle for years. DeLay's former chief of staff, Tony Rudy, introduced Boulanger to his wife, Jessica, who also worked on DeLay's staff. Jessica Boulanger now is the press secretary of Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, who is campaigning to replace DeLay as majority leader.
DeLay had to step down as majority leader in September when he was indicted on campaign finance-related charges in Texas, and he gave up his effort to regain the post after Abramoff pleaded guilty to ethics charges earlier this month.
Boulanger was a member of what was known as "Team Abramoff" while working at the law firm of Preston, Gates & Ellis, and he followed Abramoff when he moved to Greenberg Traurig LLP. Then in March 2004, they both moved to Cassidy & Associates.
Along with Abramoff, Boulanger was a registered lobbyist for Indian tribes in Mississippi, Michigan and Louisiana, as well as the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. The Mississippi and Louisiana tribes wanted to halt expansion of Indian gaming in Texas because it competed with their casinos.
Widening investigation
Abramoff and former DeLay spokesman Michael Scanlon have pleaded guilty to charges that they defrauded their Indian clients out of millions of dollars. They are now cooperating with federal investigators in a widening investigation of official corruption surrounding Congress.Boulanger has not been identified as a target of the investigation, but e-mails released by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in November show he was actively involved in raising money from tribal clients with the intent of influencing public officials.
In February 2002, Boulanger sent an e-mail to the Saginaw Chippewa tribal leader in Michigan soliciting money for the Council for Republican Environmental Advocacy, an organization once headed by Secretary of Interior Gale Norton. The group often set up dinners with Norton.
"A $50,000 contribution is required to be a trustee of the organization," Boulanger wrote. "Secretary Norton is very soon going to host another dinner of the trustees and we want to make sure that the Saginaw Chippewa's tribal leadership is included."
An e-mail exchange between Boulanger and Abramoff in 2003 displayed a freewheeling attitude between the lobbyists. Boulanger told Abramoff that a staff trip had gotten canceled because of weather and he was stuck in Las Vegas. He said he lost money on his wife's airplane ticket.
"I'm going to sink some of the costs to the firm ... screw them," Boulanger said, referring to Greenberg Traurig.
"Sock it to them," Abramoff said.
"Haahahhhaah. I love how we all act: Your team .. and the rest of greenberg. It's gotta (expletive) them off," Boulanger said.
Several e-mails show Boulanger likely was not aware of all of Abramoff's activities, but the e-mails also indicate a willingness by Boulanger to go along.
On June 20, 2002, Rudy, DeLay's former chief of staff, asked Boulanger to raise $25,000 from his Indian clients for Abramoff's Capital Athletic Foundation. Investigators now are trying to determine whether the foundation was used to pay for travel by congressional leaders.
"What is it?" Boulanger asked Rudy in an e-mail.
"It's something our friends are raising money for," Rudy replied.
"I'm sensing shadiness," Boulanger said. "I'll stop asking. I'll break it up over the various requests to a total of $25K."
"Your senses are good," Rudy replied. "If you have to say Leadership is asking, please do."
Abramoff later chastised Rudy for taking the request to Boulanger: "Tony, you should not have involved him ... Dammit. Now this is out."
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