A former Texas Secretary of State staff attorney is has filed a lawsuit against ex-Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams and the state of Texas claiming she was fired as a result of embarrassing former presidential adviser Karl Rove.
Elizabeth Reyes was fired in September of 2005, after she was quoted in newspaper articles concerning whether or not Rove was eligible to vote in Texas.
Reyes alleges she was dismissed in September 2005 after Rove called Williams concerning her comments.
Via the Dallas Morning News:
In the suit filed in state district court, Ms. Reyes says she was fired "because of the political embarrassment and pressure" after she answered a reporter's questions about Mr. Rove's voting eligibility in Texas.
Mr. Williams, who resigned in June to head the state Republican Party's 2008 campaign effort, said Monday that he had not seen the lawsuit.
"I don't know what it says. So I can't say anything about it," he said.
Mr. Williams has previously said that Ms. Reyes was terminated because she violated agency policy. He said she was not authorized to discuss controversial issues with the media.
First and foremost, this is a free speech issue. Second, whether any person is an eligible, registered voter in Texas is public information. How can anyone's voter status be confidential information? All Reyes was answering were questions concerning whether two cottages owned by Rove in Kerville, Texas qualify as a "residence" for voter registration purposes in Texas. Reyes correctly explained that Texas law is very flexible on the issue of "residence."
The comments were quoted in the September 3, 2005 Washington Post in a story concerning Karl Rove having to pay back the city of Washington, D.C. for claiming an illegal property tax exemption. From the Post (sorry, no link):
Down in Texas, when you register to vote in a place where you don't actually live, the county prosecutor can come after you for voter fraud, said Elizabeth Reyes, an attorney with the elections division of the Texas Secretary of State. Rove's rental cottage "doesn't sound like a residence to me, because it's not a fixed place of habitation," she said. "If it's just property that they own, ownership doesn't make that a residence."
Still, under state law, the definition of a Texan is really pretty loose, Reyes said, even for voting purposes. So someone would have to file a complaint.
In the end, she said, "Questions of residency are ultimately for the court to decide."
Later, however, Reyes said she was answering a "hypothetical question" and that she was unaware she was talking to a reporter from the Washington Post.
Williams has previously confirmed that Rove called him after the article was printed, but claims Rove didn't ask for Reyes to be fired.