Texas Scorecard by Michael Quinn Sullivan October 15, 2019
Hearing Bonnen’s Deceit
Texas House speaker offered official action in exchange for targeting his Republican foes.
When House Speaker Dennis Bonnen invited me to his office, I didn’t know he would immerse me in a quid pro quo scandal that threatens to “destroy†(in the words of Texas’ lieutenant governor) the Republican Party in Texas. I was suspicious of Bonnen’s actions during his several months as speaker; so much so that I decided as CEO of Empower Texans to protect myself, my family, my organization, and staff by recording the meeting.
With the approval of my legal team – and despite my personal qualms – I am today releasing the full, uncensored and unredacted 64 minutes of audio from the meeting. This comes at the widely reported insistence of Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and RPT Chairman James Dickey. You will also find a timeline of the events leading up to and following the meeting, timestamps for specific points in the meeting, and a certified transcript of the audio.
To be clear: neither Abbott, Patrick, nor Dickey took the opportunity to first hear the audio in private as had been offered to all Republican officials since early August.
From What Did I Want To Be Protected?
I recorded the meeting not to capture the “locker room†talk or gossip that is typical of meetings in the Austin swamp, but to ensure Bonnen could not lie about the meeting or distort its purpose in the future. I had in mind the lies he told (publicly and without any consequence so far) about Chris McNutt of Texas Gun Rights, and I have heard stories of him doing the same to others, so I wasn’t going to let him do it to me.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/blog/hearing-bonnens-deceit/