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To celebrate Gov. Greg Abbott’s reelection 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.
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Gov. Greg Abbott arrives with his wife Cecilia and daughter Audrey at the oath of office ceremony on Inauguration Day at the Capitol on Tuesday Jan. 15, 2019.Jay Janner, MBR / TNSShow MoreShow Less
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Susan Patrick shows her boots as Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick ccelebrate at the Texas Inaugural Ball at the Palmer Event in Austin on January 15, 2019.Tom Reel, Staff / Staff photographerShow MoreShow Less
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Barbecue is served up at the Inaugural Family after the Inauguration Ceremony in Austin, on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019.Bob Owen, STAFF-photographer / San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
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Another tray of barbecue arrives at the Inaugural Family Barbecue on the South Grounds of the Texas Capitol after the Inauguration Ceremony in Austin, on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019.Bob Owen, STAFF-photographer / San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
$1.7M for George Strait, six-figure bonuses: Months later, a lawsuit forced Texas to release details on inaugural spending
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AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) To celebrate Gov. Greg Abbott s reelection 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.
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Gov. Greg Abbott arrives with his wife Cecilia and daughter Audrey at the oath of office ceremony on Inauguration Day at the Capitol on Tuesday Jan. 15, 2019.Jay Janner, MBR / TNSShow MoreShow Less
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Susan Patrick shows her boots as Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick ccelebrate at the Texas Inaugural Ball at the Palmer Event in Austin on January 15, 2019.Tom Reel, Staff / Staff photographerShow MoreShow Less
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Barbecue is served up at the Inaugural Family after the Inauguration Ceremony in Austin, on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019.Bob Owen, STAFF-photographer / San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
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Another tray of barbecue arrives at the Inaugural Family Barbecue on the South Grounds of the Texas Capitol after the Inauguration Ceremony in Austin, on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019.Bob Owen, STAFF-photographer / San Antonio Express-NewsShow MoreShow Less
Founder/CEO, Messina Touring Group
in terms of its scale and impact, how would you describe 2020 and the current crisis, its impact on your business, and the biggest challenge or challenges our industry faces? Louis Messina: 2020 started off great. Then March came and then, what was that Mellencamp song? “When the walls come tumbling down.” It was a disaster. The live business came to a halt. No one has been working since March. That goes from employees in my office to artists that I work for. Artists at least, have the luxury of creating art. People with no talent, like myself, we do nothing. I create stars. But when the stars can t be on the road… The only upside of this thing, there was a time where I m going, I ve been doing this for 48 years, maybe it s time to start slowing down and having that retirement talk with myself. Maybe I should pass the torch. But one thing that has come out of this is that retirement is nowhere in sight these days. That s the upsid