We all know about the sordid activities of the Alexander Strategy Group and its partners, Ed Buckham and Tony Rudy, but it now looks like Cassidy & Associates is really making a play for the attention of the Department of Justice.

Today's Houston Chronicle breaks a story with the headline, "Lobbyists' state paycheck flows to fundraiser."

Two weeks after the state made its first $15,000 monthly payment to a contract lobbyist in Washington, D.C., the lobbyist and his firm spent $7,600 to host a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority.

Texas Office of State-Federal Relations lobbyist Todd Boulanger and his firm, Cassidy & Associates, put on the fundraiser on March 2.

Cassidy Vice Chairman Gregg Hartley, registered as a member of Boulanger's Texas lobby team, later that month also made a direct contribution of $5,000 to the DeLay leadership political committee, according to Federal Election Commission records reviewed Wednesday by the Houston Chronicle.

Texas Democrats have called on Gov. Rick Perry to cancel the outside lobby contracts for Boulanger and former DeLay aide Drew Maloney's Federalist Group. The two contracts will have cost Texas taxpayers $1.1 million through 2007.

What the story does not point out is that Boulanger was one of Abramoff's most loyal lieutenants, first joining Abramoff at Preston Gates, following him to Greenberg Traurig, and then making the final trek to Cassidy with Abramoff--even after Abramoff had been publicly humiliated for bilking his tribal clients.  Boulanger is also married to Rep. Roy Blunt's spokeswoman, Jessica Boulanger.

Hartley, who hired both Boulanger and Abramoff at Cassidy, is the former Chief of Staff to Rep. Roy Blunt.  During Hartley's tenure as Blunt's Chief of Staff, he worked closely with Blunt's PAC and their consultants at the Alexander Strategy Group, where he apparently learned a lot from them about how to turn political power into lobbying contracts and campaign contributions.  The ties were so close, that in fact, Hartley's daughter once worked at Alexander Strategy.

You might also find it interesting to read about the one-month, $50,000 contract that Hartley received to lobby Blunt's son, the Governor of Misssouri last summer.

And, just like clockwork, Hartley, his firm, and their clients coughed up over 10% of the value of the contract in contributions on Governor Blunt's latest report.