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Bush named as defendant in SCI suit L ast summer, a judge here ruled that George W. Bush did not have to testify in a whistle-blower lawsuit brought by a woman who regulated the state's funeral homes. But now that Bush is a defendant in that same lawsuit, he may have difficulty staying out of the courthouse. On Friday, attorneys representing former Texas Funeral Service Commission executive director Eliza May added Bush as a defendant in the lawsuit she filed 13 months ago. The lawsuit alleges that May was fired by the state in February 1999 because she "repeatedly and in good faith reported violations of the law" allegedly committed by funeral homes owned by Houston's Service Corporation International, the world's largest funeral company. The suit, which originally named the funeral agency, SCI and SCI CEO Robert Waltrip as defendants, was changed to include Bush because May's attorneys allege the governor has not been forthcoming about his knowledge of the matter. The amended lawsuit claims Bush "knowingly permitted his staff to intervene improperly" in the investigation of SCI by the state funeral agency. The suit also claims his actions are an abuse of power and were designed to "subvert the lawful conduct of public officials in the performance of their official duties." Some background: Although May's lawsuit deals with a number of legal issues, it is, at root, about alleged influence buying. The suit claims Bush and a handful of state legislators sprang to SCI's defense because the funeral company gave tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to the politicians. The suit makes much of the connections between Bush and Waltrip, who has known the Bushes for three decades. SCI's political action committee gave Bush $35,000 for his 1998 campaign and Waltrip gave Bush $10,000 for his 1994 race. Waltrip also serves as a trustee for former President George Bush's presidential library and SCI gave more than $100,000 toward the construction of the library. Given those connections, the lawsuit claims that any suggestion that Bush would not have intervened on Waltrip's behalf is "highly unlikely on its face." While Waltrip's connections to Bush are many, May's attorneys will also face charges that the suit is politically driven. One of May's lawyers, Charles Herring Jr., is the former chairman of the Travis County Democratic Party. May has been active in Democratic politics on the city and state level for more than a decade. From 1994 to 1996 she served on the state Democratic Executive Committee and from 1996 to 1998 she was treasurer for the Texas Democratic Party. Last August, Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, a Republican and a close Bush ally, argued that May's deposition was being "sought purely for purposes of harassment." Bush has repeatedly called May's lawsuit "frivolous." During a press conference last summer, he said, "This is a frivolous lawsuit; this is politics." May's lawyers have already failed once in their efforts to force Bush to testify. Last July, the lawyers subpoenaed Bush. In early August, Bush issued an affidavit that said he had no "personal knowledge" of the issues surrounding the investigation into SCI and that he had no "conversations with SCI officials, agents or representatives" about the state's investigation. Shortly after the affidavit was issued, May's attorneys filed a motion in Travis County District Court claiming Bush was in contempt of court because his claim that he had "no conversations" was contradicted by SCI's own lobbyist, Johnnie B. Rogers. The longtime Austin lobbyist told reporters that he was in the office of Joe Allbaugh, Bush's chief of staff (and current campaign manager) on April 15, 1998, when Bush stopped by for a brief chat with Rogers and Waltrip, who had gone to Allbaugh's office to complain about May's investigation. Bush's claim of "no conversation" was also later contradicted by Bush himself in a press conference, and by Bush's press secretary, Linda Edwards, who acknowledged that the governor had an "exchange" with Waltrip during his April 15 visit to the governor's office. On Aug. 31, Travis County District Court Judge John Dietz, a Democrat, ruled that May's attorneys had not presented enough evidence to compel Bush to testify in the case. He did not rule on the motion to have Bush held in contempt. In his ruling, Dietz said May's attorneys did not show Bush has "unique and superior knowledge" of the facts in May's lawsuit. Texas case law requires that before plaintiffs are allowed to depose heads of corporations and other entities -- including, presumably, governors -- they must show that person has information not available from others. But now that Bush is an actual defendant, he may not be able to fend off efforts to get his testimony. A likely scenario: Cornyn will try to delay any testimony by Bush for as long as possible. Even if a district court judge rules against Bush, Cornyn could appeal the ruling all the way to the Texas Supreme Court, where all nine justices are Republicans. But by the time it gets there, Nov. 7 will probably have come and gone. The Bush campaign press office refused to comment on the lawsuit and referred calls to Michael Jones, Bush's press spokesman in the Texas capital. Jones said his office had not received a copy of the lawsuit, but said the "groundless suit involves the same old claims already rejected by the court last year when an earlier unjustified deposition was sought. As it pertains to the governor, this feeble claim has no merit."
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