What you first must know is that Karl used to run a successful fundraising, mailing list sales and political services company called Karl Rove & Co. Rove did work for many candidates, national, state and local, ranging from Congress to various state supreme court candidates. When George Bush tapped Rove in 1999 to work on the Presidential, Bush wanted his undivided attention, and reportedly required Rove to sell his company, reportedly at a financial loss to Rove. Keep in mind, if Bush were to win, Karl Rove & Co would be in for some big dollars:
The relationships get pretty incestuous, as the money has moved first from the Bush campaign to what had been Karl Rove & Co., the direct-mail and consulting service owned by Rove. Rove has worked as a political adviser to Bush for years, and in the spring his boss asked him to sell his profitable business if he wanted to continue working on the presidential campaign.
Rove wasn't too eager to sell his company, at least according to his sister, who spoke to Dallas Observer reporter Miriam Rozen for a profile of Rove in May of this year. Rove's sister suggested that her brother's hasty sale of his business might have cost him some money. But Rove told Michael Holmes of the Associated Press he was selling because Bush "didn't want my focus diluted."
Texas Observer Article on Rove
In fact, during Bush's re-election run for governor, Karl Rove & Co (the company) was receiving nearly 1/5 of the re-election campaign's budget:
Since Bush payments to Rove's company constituted nearly one-fifth of his entire $14 million [governor's re-elect] campaign budget in the recent election, it's understandable that both men wanted to avoid any of the obvious "conflict of interest" questions that might be forthcoming from future big bucks contributors. Any possible concern they have could be based on what may be a trend in politics: the man running for office gets the bucks and passes on the cash to companies owned by members of the candidate's campaign team.
Bushwatch-Guru Gives Up Direct Mail Outfit
Austin Chonicle - the Man Behind the Bush
So, Karl is about to sell a company that could make him a mint after George W. Bush gets re-elected. Eager to miss out on all that cash, he does so. Is this logical? Not in my book. Who does he sell Karl Rove & Co to? He sells the company Todd Olsen, a registered lobbyist and someone who works for Rove and a guy named Ted Delisi. But what's unusual about this? Olsen is a political neophyte, with no experience other than with Rove. And Todd's lobbying clients net him only a cut of $60,000 a year. Is this the picture of a guy who can afford to buy and run such a profitable company? Doesn't seem that way to me. Delisi was no better - he was on the State of Texas payroll with Attorney General John Cornyn while also doing political consulting:
According to the November 5, 1999, Austin Chronicle, "Ted Delisi [then the press spokesman for Texas Attorney General] and Todd Olsen, a registered lobbyist, are fairly new to the political consulting game. In March, the two bought the political consulting portion of Karl Rove & Company, the consulting firm formerly owned by Karl Rove, the chief political strategist in George W. Bush's presidential campaign. Both are former employees of Rove. According to filings at the Texas Ethics Commission, Olsen lobbies for two clients, the Clean Power Campaign and the Texas Association of Paging Services. The combined income from those two clients is less than $60,000.
"However, Olsen and Delisi bought what appears to be a profitable business from Rove, who has worked as a political adviser to most of the statewide officials now in office. Mailing list services are used not only by politicians but by for-profit and nonprofit groups who are eager to have the names and addresses of people who are known for charitable giving. And Rove's lists were among the most sought-after in the direct mail business. As a direct mail guru, Rove raised tens of millions of dollars for Republican politicians in Texas and elsewhere. With such clients as U.S. Senators Phil Gramm, Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Kit Bond of Missouri, Rove could easily have continued operating his consulting business, and he apparently planned to do so. But Bush wanted all of Rove's attention. In March, Rove told Michael Holmes of the Associated Press that he was selling his business to Olsen and Delisi because Bush wanted him to do so. Rove said Bush asked him to sell because the candidate didn't 'want my focus diluted.
and
"While Delisi's work for the Bush campaign may not violate state ethics laws or Cornyn's policy, the amount of money involved in his consulting business is substantial enough to raise eyebrows.
Sourcewatch on Olsen and Delisi
Flash Forward - The Houses and Questionable Money
Karl and his wife Darby used to own a Bed and Breakfast in Ingram, TX called the River Oaks Lodge. In 2003, Dan Froomkin reported that Rove sold the B&B for somewhere between $250,000 and $750,000 profit [property currently assessed at $249,000] according to Rove's SF-278 financial disclosure statement filed with the US Office of Government Ethics, the office that handles ethics filings for the White House. [Since Rove is a senior appointed official, he must, by law, make these filings to show he has no conflicts of interest.]
The big news: Senior Adviser Karl Rove sold his bed and breakfast business, the River Oaks Lodge Bed and Breakfast in Ingram, Tex., for somewhere between $500,000 and a million dollars.
Froomkin - Bush's Unsupported Assertion
Well, the River Oaks Lodge in Kerr County, at 1120 Hwy 39 is today worth $221,069 market value. In 2003, it would have been worth $202,927 market value. See the assessment here:
TXCountyData.com (Kerr County). It is owned by Estadio Partners LLC.
Karl, why did you receive between $500,000 and $1,000,000 for a property that was only worth, market value, $202,927? Understanding Estadio Partners LLC might get us there.
About Estadio Partners, LLC
Business records search show that Estadio Partners is possibly owned but certainly in the care of Todd T. Olsen, Robert Thomas and Mark Olsen - and its business office is registered at 53 Guada Coma, New Branfels, TX. That address is the home of Mark and Connie Olsen. What's more important to note though is that the guy that bought Karl Rove's company in Austin also now seems to be getting into the B&B business, and overpaying for it. Does that strike you as odd? It did me. Must be Todd's brother. And who is Robert Thomas? He is an old friend of Rove's too, who owns a printing company in Austin that has become the near exclusive printer of the RNC and Republican campaigns:
From Thomas Graphics, Inc's "History" page:
And while Thomas Graphics continues to grow and add new clients, they still retain the loyalty of their longtime customers, which in turn, can reap impressive dividends. As a matter of fact, one of Bob's first sales, political print work for Rove & Co., a consulting firm, eventually led to printing for
the election campaign of President George W. Bush.
Thomas Graphics Inc History with Rove
Follow the Money
Todd Olsen, the guy who bought Karl Rove & Co now runs the business as
Olsen-Shuvalov and
Praxis List Company.
Olsen-Shuvalov (and its predecessor Olsen-Delisi), Praxis and Thomas Graphics took in millions of dollars from the RNC, Bush-Cheney 04 and other Republican organizations in 2004:
Here's an example of Olsen-Shuvalov's near $8 million take (the successor firm to Karl Rove & Co)
Opensecrets.org search (scroll down).
And look at what Thomas Graphics Inc got
Opensecrets.org search (scroll down).
You can also search the FEC database for the Bush-Cheney campaign expenditures and for those of other Republican candidates. Olsen and Thomas' companies received a lot of money
Karl's Temptation
So if you're Karl Rove and you've helped George W. Bush win the Presidency with an empire you built, will you settle for the $161,000 annual government salary? Or will you be pissed off that the company that you built is now raking in the dough now that George Bush is in office and Republicans are in power?
That's the question. Karl, according to US Government Ethics, should have no financial connection or interest in Olsen-Delisi, a company that receives vast sums of political money. Political money that, arguably, Karl Rove as key political strategist at the White House may have a hand in directing. Surely you might want some kickbacks from the empire that you're built while you're serving time in the government sector, eh, Karl?
Was the fact that two main beneficiaries of Republican money's largesse (Olsen and Thomas) all of a sudden decided to buy a B&B in rural Texas, particularly one that was owned by Karl Rove... And overpay for it by a lot? Very suspicious.
Is it a coincedence that Karl owns three homes - one in DC (Assessor link) valued at $1.5 million, a vacation home in Rosemary Beach, FL (Walton County)(Assessor Link) worth over $1 million and a cottage in Ingram, TX worth $57,258 (Assessor link)(which, coincedentally Rove believes is his home for voting purposes (link).
These are all questions that beg answers.
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