Houston Democrats

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: Mike Lavigne

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 512-478-9800

Soechting: Perry Warns Moderates to Support Vouchers or Face Vetoes

(AUSTIN) -- Democrats and moderate Republicans opposed to siphoning tax dollars out of public schools to fund a private-school voucher scheme pushed by Gov. Rick Perry's top campaign contributors came under increasing pressure to vote for a last-minute voucher effort this weekend. A failure to do so risked gubernatorial vetoes of their own legislation, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting said today.

"Phone calls from key Perry staffers carried a clear message: 'Vote for vouchers or face vetoes,'" Soechting said. "It looks like Jim Leininger and the other private-school voucher advocates who have bankrolled Perry's political career are tired of waiting for their payoff."

With just one week left in a regular legislative session advertised as being all about public education, Perry's pressure shows that his true agenda is a narrow appeal to a relative handful of suburban anti-public schools activists, Soechting said. A voucher bill is expected to be debated today.

Leininger, the reclusive San Antonio businessman who has long been a major backer of both national voucher initiatives and Perry's political campaigns, met with a succession of lawmakers in a conference room near the Governor's office, according to press reports.

Also in the meetings was Bill Cerverha, a former lawmaker under criminal investigation for his role in 2002 as treasurer of Tom DeLay's discredited Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee. He is also the defendant in a pending civil lawsuit stemming from the same illegal use of corporate funds in political campaigns that year.

Neither Leininger nor Cerverha is registered as a lobbyist this session, though Leininger accompanied Perry on a secret trip to the Bahamas in February 2004. When reporters learned about the island jaunt, Perry's staff helpfully explained that it was to "discuss public education."

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