Attorney In Rove Article Fired, Sues

Former Texas State Attorney Says She Was Dismissed For Comments Regarding Rove's Legal Voting Status

(CBS/AP)  A former attorney for the Texas Secretary of State has filed a lawsuit claiming she was fired for political reasons after she spoke to a newspaper about presidential adviser Karl Rove, according to a media report.

Elizabeth Reyes, who was dismissed in September 2005, filed the lawsuit in state district court. Reyes had spoken to the Washington Post about Rove's voting eligibility in Texas, questioning whether two small cottages he owns in the state qualified as a residence for purposes of registering to vote.

In the suit filed in state district court, Reyes says she was fired "because of the political embarrassment and pressure," The Dallas Morning News reported.

Roger Williams, who resigned as Secretary of State in June to head the state Republican Party's 2008 campaign effort, has confirmed that Rove called him after the article appeared, but he said the White House adviser did not ask that Reyes be fired.

In Texas, state employees can be fired at will. Her attorney claims the firing violated her constitutional right of free speech.

Williams has previously said Reyes was let go because she violated agency policy. He said she was not authorized to discuss controversial issues with the media.

Williams is a major Republican fundraiser and a longtime ally of Rove and President George W. Bush. He is thought to have political ambitions of his own, perhaps as a Republican candidate for governor in 2010.

The Post article, dated September 3, 2005, told of Rove's reimbursement of Washington, D.C. property taxes amounting to $3,400 because he took a homestead deduction on his D.C. property for which he wasn't eligible, being a registered voter in Texas. (For three years, from 2001 until the sale of his Austin home, Rove claimed homesteads in Texas and Washington, which the article noted was technically illegal.)

In the article, Reyes stated that ownership in and of itself doesn't make a residence, and that in Texas registering to vote where you do not reside can bring voter fraud charges. While she said that Rove's rental cottage in Kerr County "doesn't sound like a residence to me, because it's not a fixed place of habitation," she acknowledged that "questions of residency are ultimately for the court to decide."

Reyes said she was answering a hypothetical question and did not know she was talking with a reporter when she made the comments about Rove. She said his name never specifically came up.

The lawsuit seeks lost wages and unspecified punitive damages. In addition, Reyes asks that references to her termination be eliminated from her state employment file.

Rove announced last week that he would step down as Mr. Bush's adviser.

[ludvig1-2009]

Nixon pardoned Jimmy Hoffa. In 1972-73 time frame, my car broke down in Alexandria, Virginia, but I managed to borrow water and limp into a garage. In the garage was a Rolls Royce up on the rack. I told the guy, "Nice car you got." He said, "Thanks, want to go across the street and have a drink with me." Coming back across the street after he bought me a large soda with a $100 bill, I was told that he was the chauffer for the head lawyer for the Teamsters Union. I was impressed with the $100 bill as I was a newly hired Nuclear Engineer making $7200 a year starting salary. I told him I had an honorable withdrawl card from the Teamsters for summer work I did while going to college. He told me "You can take it from me, the arrangements have already been made, Jimmy Hoffa will be the next president of the Teamsters." I said to myself, "I guess that means that the stipulation on the pardon regarding Hoffa not conducting Union business for a specified time period, I believe 10 years must be going to be repealed." Then I move to California and see Hoffa on TV saying, "I know a lot, and if things don''t start happening, I''m going to start talking." The preceding is the honest truth. I''m not lying. The rest is history.

[citizenusa-2009]

T.U.R.D. Blossem isn''t worrying. After all, no one was held accountable for "outing" CIA Valarie Plame..and that''s treason! This Administration is corrupt and too powerful to believed!

[vincan-2009]

I would like to be able to post something on this site.

[racam_us]

What makes people think there is free speech in this country? It is one of the many things that Bush and his administration have taken from us.

[stephanienym]

This guy is the biggest criminal around, next to Bush and his other side kick, he is just bailing before the sh i t really hits the fan! What a complete bunch of bullies! God help America!

[lorinkundert]

"But the good news, only one more year!"

I hope you''re right but you have to be asking if a group of officials who regularly disregard the Constitution and other laws are going to let something like term limits stop them. Under the Patriot Act it only takes a declaration of "State of Emergency" for the President to suspend the Constitution as well as posse comitatus.

[marcodele]

You just don''t mess with Tony Soprano. Just ask Valerie Phlame. These partisan thugs destroy people at will. But the good news, only one more year!

[qwaszx1-2009]

Just another unconscionable act and reaction by the Bush administration. Rove tried to steal tax money and instead of being embarrassed he goes after the state employee who exposed his fruad. Good thing he didn''t keep the $3,400 in his freezer.

[djconklin]

"Wow - people must really love Clinton, because any talk of dishonesty about Republicans always ends up with someone having to excuse or defend their actions by bringing up that loser Clinton."

It goes back to their "family values":

"two wrongs make a right"
"never give a sucker an even break"
always keep a good man down"
"never help the little people--they''ll expect it"
etc.

[rushlimpdrug]

what happened to this lady is called intimidation.
Intimidation of the masses.
The sad part is everyone falls for it.
"Hello, this is carl rove"
recepient answers -
-"yes master, whatever you want, take it, just don''t hurt my family, please"

I hope they start to treat this bastaard like scum wherever he is.
He should be one of the most hated persons in America for destroying all the good that this country once stood for.

mcapek wrote:

"Remeber how many pardons Clinton issued in the last days of his presidency?"

Wow - people must really love Clinton, because any talk of dishonesty about Republicans always ends up with someone having to excuse or defend their actions by bringing up that loser Clinton.

While Clinton pardoned quite a large number of people, the same could be said about every President.

Heck, Bush Snr pardoned known terrorists.

[tnichlsn]

Give Texas back to the Mexicans. In fact, pay them to take it off our hands... How is it that these evil, incompetent people gain political power there? Do people not read the papers and just vote republican or is it that the majority in the state prefer evil incompetents in charge? It''s so perfectly obvious to the rest of the country. I don''t understand...

[mcapek]

"Any current and former Bush Administration officials having stock in Halliburton or subsidiaries should be prosecuted for war profiteering". Although that may be your personal fantasy, the reality is that Bush can and would pardon his administration officials.
Remeber how many pardons Clinton issued in the last days of his presidency?

[jetranger7]

rove is a Fraudster and a Con-Artist !! He should be Arrested, and taken to a foreign country and held there Deep in the Gallows and never see Daylight Again !! Bye Rove, your History, you Crook !!!

[nggr]

like Cheney unless you fall down on your knees and worship them they''''ll scr*ew you over in a heartbeat.
Posted by SgtRDS at 02:24 PM : Aug 21, 200

it was funny when i saw that old man apologize to cheney for cheney shooting HIM in the face!

[nggr]

turdblossom.

why do they call him turdblossom?

[selenite1]

Rove should be indicted and imprisoned.

His wealth should be stripped and returned to the American taxpayer.

[nyckate]

Well, when you show the Bush Thugs up for what they are even if you do it unintentionally they''re going to come after you and shut you down - there''s nobody that Rove/Bush won''t go after - nobody.

[sgtrds]

When the piglet grunts, heads roll. To some people it''s only hardball politics, but to people with any shred of honor or decency, what the piglet does is disgusting. The best thing about him though is that he has exposed himself as a bald faced liar who is behind every major lie about every major democrat, that if there is a sudden "scandal" involving one of them no one believes it any longer because they just figure it''s another Rove slime job. After all this is the as*shole who spread the false rumors that John McCain had an illegitimate black child, just before the republican primaries that knocked McCain out of the running in 2000. Since he has shown that there is no level of filth he won''t sink to, it automatically makes a joke out of any alleged "scandal" that comes along. He''s put out so many lies and so much slime, that no rational people believes these "bombshells" or "October surprises" any longer. For that we can thank the piglet.

[sgtrds]

Rove is maggot puke, just like Cheney. He is the kind of stuff maggots vomit up and is so sickening that even they won''t try to get it back down. Also like Cheney unless you fall down on your knees and worship them they''ll scr*ew you over in a heartbeat. Deciding which is the worst pile of spoiled pig guts would be a close competition and the outcome would be any body''s guess.