$1.7M for George Strait, six-figure bonuses: Lawsuit reveals Gov. Greg Abbott's inaugural spending
AUSTIN — To celebrate Gov. Greg Abbott’s re-election last year, his inaugural committee paid a whopping $1.7 million to hire country crooner George Strait and his band. A coterie of top political aides and staff got more than $1 million, some of it paid out in six-figure bonuses. And a handful of lucky charities received $800,000 in unspent money.
Left out of that tally: the $116,000 taxpayers spent to keep all those inaugural expenditures secret.
Abbott and the 2019 Texas Inaugural Committee spent months fighting the disclosure of documents detailing how they spent a record-setting $5.3 million that event organizers raised mostly from corporations and wealthy donors.
But The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news organization, sued the committee under the Texas Public Information Act and earlier this year successfully obtained the bank statements and spending ledger in an out-of-court settlement.
Read more: https://www.lmtonline.com/news/investigations/article/1-7M-for-George-Strait-six-figure-bonuses-15809635.php
(Laredo Morning Times)