Miers had stormy tenure at Texas Lottery

The News Observer ^ | October 3, 2005 | LIZ AUSTIN

[DallasMike]

Miers had stormy tenure at Texas Lottery

By LIZ AUSTIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Harriet Miers proved to be a tough, no-nonsense administrator during her five years heading the Texas Lottery Commission, firing two executive directors to stamp out scandal but leaving unexpectedly amid lagging sales and player interest. One of those firings stirred up questions about whether political influence helped George W. Bush avoid active duty in Vietnam.

President Bush tapped Miers on Monday for the Supreme Court, a nomination that prompted closer scrutiny of Miers' years in Texas as a private attorney, a member of the Dallas City Council and chairwoman of the three-member commission that oversees the state's lottery operations.

"Although she's a small-framed woman, we all believed she came through the Marines and maybe ate nails for breakfast because she's one tough cookie," said Horace Taylor, a former lottery employee who worked for Miers.

Then-Gov. George W. Bush appointed Miers to a six-year-term on the commission shortly after he was elected governor in 1994. After she'd been on the job 18 months, news surfaced that the lottery director's boyfriend had been employed as a consultant for GTECH, the lottery's main contractor.

The Miers-led commission fired the director, Nora Linares, in January 1997, maintaining she couldn't be an effective leader because she'd been so damaged by the scandal. Linares filed suit against the commission but later dropped that lawsuit and instead sued GTECH. An agreement ending the dispute with the commission exonerated Linares.

But Linares' attorney, Charles Soechting, complained that Miers took an unnecessarily hard-nose approach to his client, refusing to let her exit gracefully by resigning.

...

[Right Wing Assault]

One of those firings stirred up questions about whether political influence helped George W. Bush avoid active duty in Vietnam.

A bird landed in a tree today, stirring up questions about George W. Bush avoiding active duty in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Democrats are keeping an eye on a honeybee approaching a flower.

[DallasMike]

That would be the same Charles Soechting who is currently the Texas DNC Chairman.

Good find!