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The funeral scandal time line
A chronology of the battle between the Texas Funeral Service Commission and Service Corporation International.
Compiled by Robert Bryce
[08/20/99]

Feingold's new gimmick
In his never-ending quest for campaign finance reform, Russ Feingold has been calling out monied special interests before important Senate votes.
By Jake Tapper
[08/19/99]

There's no place like home
Three Albanian-Americans who fought for the KLA struggle to find their place after the war.
By Elsa Davidson
[08/19/99]

Contempt charges sought against Bush
Did the Republican front-runner lie in his sworn affidavit? It all depends on what the meaning of a conversation is.
By Robert Bryce
[08/18/99]

The great Arkansas railway mystery
Twelve years ago, two teenagers were murdered on a rural railroad track. Right-wing conspiracy theorists who blamed then-Gov. Bill Clinton for the killings have now lost a $600,000 libel suit in the case.
By Suzi Parker
[08/18/99]

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Rogers may have a point. 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. From 1996 to 1998 she was the treasurer for the Texas Democratic Party. She has also served on the finance committee for the Travis County Democratic Party, was active in the South Austin Mexican-American Democrats, the Hispanic Women's Network and the Austin Women's Political Caucus and served as a volunteer on several city and county boards and commissions. In 1996, she even considered running for Austin's City Council.

Her political affiliations have raised some eyebrows and fueled speculation that May is simply trying to embarrass Bush, who has received $35,000 in campaign contributions from SCI's political action committee since 1996. Two years earlier, in Bush's first gubernatorial bid, Waltrip contributed $10,000 to Bush's campaign. In addition, Waltrip and President George Bush are close friends. SCI donated more than $100,000 toward the construction of the Bush presidential library and Waltrip serves on the library's board of trustees.

Did May let her political leanings interfere with her duties while she headed the TFSC? "No. Absolutely not," says TFSC Chairman Dick McNeil, who voted to dismiss May from her job as executive director. Former employees agree with McNeil's assessment. One former employee, who asked that her name not be used, remembered May as "stern and honest." She also said that May was determined to turn the TFSC around. She was "professional and determined," says the former employee. So why was May fired? "The commissioners had to find somebody to take the fall and it wasn't going to be them," she said.

Questions about May's political motives are likely to continue. On Wednesday, a Bush spokeswoman, Linda Edwards, called May's lawyers' request that Bush be cited with contempt of court "a publicity stunt and an example of the frivolous misuse of the civil justice system." And there are likely to be allegations that one of her lawyers, Charles Herring Jr., a former chairman of the Travis County Democratic Party, is pursuing Bush for political reasons. That will be hard to prove. Both Herring and May's other attorney, Derek Howard, are experienced in whistle-blower actions. In 1996, Herring won a $1 million jury verdict in a whistle-blower case against the University of Texas. Herring has also authored two textbooks on legal practices.

In 1994, Howard sued former Democratic Gov. Ann Richards and several other state officials in a wrongful termination case. (Howard lost.) He currently has another whistle-blower case pending in which he is also seeking Bush's testimony. Both lawyers insist they are following normal procedures in whistle-blower cases and that in May's case, the facts appear to lead straight to Bush's office. "To suggest that this is about politics is absolute bunk," said Howard.

Next page | Biography of a scandal-monger