Who is Chris Perkins?

Two months ago, I made a couple of posts about a strange lawsuit filed by one Corwin Teltschik, former treasurer of ARMPAC, against ARMPAC's law firm, Williams & Jensen and other defendants.

Please read the previous posts to catch up on this case.

In short, the portion I found most interesting is that Mr. Teltschik claims that he didn't authorize "retroactive" "payroll" payments to be made to three individuals: Jim Ellis, Chris Perkins and Dani DeLay Ferro. "Retroactive" "payroll" payments sound awfully suspicious to me. Since I've been long critical of PACs and lobbyists involved in the employment of the relatives of officials, I focused on the payments to Dani DeLay Ferro. I still think those payments warrant further investigation, but I wanted to comment on the other two individuals who received retroactive payroll payments.

First, I'm sure many people recognize the name of Jim Ellis. Not only was Mr. Ellis the Executive Director of ARMPAC, he has also been indicted by Travis County DA Ronnie Earle in the TRMPAC case. But I've never heard of Chris Perkins prior to Mr. Teltschik's lawsuit.

Long ago, I criticized Tom DeLay for writing a self-serving letter to the editor of the Houston Chronicle. Mr. DeLay said that House Ethics Committee had never cited him for "having broken House rules". Of course, a simple reading of the Ethics Committee's findings shows that Mr. DeLay's statements weren't true:

As you are aware, the Committee has made a number of decisions regarding the allegations made in the complaint that was filed against you by Representative Bell on June 15, 2004. This letter implements determinations made by the Committee that you be admonished for your conduct in two respects:

your participation in and facilitation of an energy company golf fundraiser at The Homestead resort for your leadership PACs on June 2-3, 2002. Those actions were objectionable under House standards of conduct because, at a minimum, they created an appearance that donors were being provided special access to you regarding the then-pending energy legislation.

­ your intervention in a partisan conflict in the Texas House of Representatives using the resources of a Federal agency, the Federal Aviation Administration. This action raises serious concerns under House standards of conduct that preclude use of governmental resources for a political undertaking.

Emphasis Added

Why do I mention this again? Well, I find it interesting that Chris Perkins was integral to the facts of the Homestead fundraiser. Specifically, an email to Mr. Perkins was cited by the Ethics Committee when it determined that the Homestead fundraiser had crossed the line from a permissable fundraiser to one that was "objectionable under House standards of conduct":

As a general matter, fundraisers directed to a particular industry or to others sharing a particular federal interest are permissible, and at such events Members are free to talk about their record and positions on issues of interest to the attendees. In addition, of course, a Member has no control over what the donors at a fundraising event spontaneously say to or ask of the Member with regard to their legislative interests. Nevertheless, there are a number of considerations regarding this particular fundraiser that raise serious concerns under the standards of conduct discussed above.

In particular, there was the timing of the fundraiser, i.e., it took place just as the House-Senate conference on major energy legislation, H.R. 4, was about to get underway. Indeed, one of the communications between organizers of the fundraiser – an e-mail of May 30, 2002 from [energy lobbyist and former DeLay staffer] Mr. [Drew] Maloney to [ARMPAC staffer] Mr. [Chris] Perkins that notes the legislative interests of each of the attendees – includes a specific reference to the conference. (That e-mail is included in Attachment M.) In addition, there was the fact that Representative DeLay was in a position to significantly influence the conference, both as a member of the House leadership and, by action taken about a week and a half after the fundraiser, his appointment as one of the conferees.

Emphasis Added

I wonder if Mr. Perkins is cooperating with federal investigators.

Dani DeLay Ferro. Jim Ellis. Chris Perkins. All got "retroactive" "payroll" payments from ARMPAC. And all are connected to scandal. Coincidence?