Deep stealth: Rick Perry opening doors for firm seeking state business

Weeks after dropping out of the Republican race for president, former Gov. Rick Perry used his connections as the state’s longest serving governor to set up a sales meeting between a secretive Austin technology company and the top two officials at the Texas Lottery Commission, the American-Statesman has learned.

Perry on Monday introduced Executive Director Gary Grief and Chairman J. Winston Krause, a Perry appointee, to GovWhiz, a company that isn’t registered to do business in Texas despite having an office across from the Capitol and a website.

The former governor’s role with GovWhiz is unclear. Two of GovWhiz’s founders dodged the Statesman’s questions about the company and its relationship with Perry, but one said the former governor “has no financial interest.”

Perry has connections to at least four people in the company, including two lobbyists who were high ranking officials in his administration and two others with close ties to the governor’s alma mater, Texas A&M.

Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/deep-stealth-rick-perry-opening-doors-for-firm-see/nnyPb/?icmp=statesman_internallink_referralbox_free-to-premium-referral