Texas Fires Lawyer After Story on Rove

[papau]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/09/AR2005090901963_pf.html

Elizabeth Reyes, a staff attorney with the Texas secretary of state, said Friday that she was fired for violating press protocols when she spoke to a Washington Post reporter about tax deductions on Karl Rove's homes in the District of Columbia and in Texas

Texas Fires Lawyer After Story on Rove
Talking to Post Reporter Called Violation

By Michael E. Ruane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 10, 2005; A09



A staff attorney with the Texas secretary of state said yesterday that she was fired this week for violating press protocols when she spoke to a Washington Post reporter who was working on a story about presidential adviser Karl Rove.

Elizabeth Reyes, 30, of Austin said she was fired Tuesday after she was quoted in a Post story that ran Sept. 3 about tax deductions on Rove's homes in the District and in Texas.

Scott Haywood, a spokesman for Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, confirmed yesterday that Reyes is no longer employed, but he declined to provide details, saying it was a personnel matter. Haywood had said late last Saturday that Reyes "was not authorized to speak on behalf of the agency."

The Post's story reported that Rove inadvertently received a District homestead tax deduction on his Palisades home, even though he had not been eligible for the benefit for more than three years. Rove was eligible for the deduction when he bought the home in 2001, the story said, but a change in the tax law in 2002 made the deduction available only to District property owners who do not vote elsewhere. Rove is registered to vote in Texas.<snip>

[tanyev]

1. Bet she wouldn't have been fired for "violating press protocols"

if the story had been about a Democratic congressman.

[Frustratedlady]

2. Wasn't That Information A Matter of Public Record?

nt

[sinkingfeeling]

3. So old Karl has been 'double-dipping' on homestead tax deductions?

Who've thought!

[papau]

4. I would have made a few dollars if I had bet on the obvious - but

I am sorry to see someone get fired for revealing the obvious.

How many "homestead" deductions did Cheney take? How many did George H W Bush while claiming a hotel room in Texas as his residence? How many did Mitt Romney take?

If you are GOP, you cheat, you get away with it, and the media never remembers beyond the 15 minutes the orginal report is on the wire.