Bush got contractor donations after $13M Harvey contract

Employees of a disaster recovery accounting firm donated almost $30,000 to Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush’s re-election campaign days after his agency signed a nearly $13.5 million contract with the company to help manage the state’s Hurricane Harvey response.

Bush’s office is overseeing the housing rebuild post-Harvey and agreed to the contract in October with Horne LLP. Three days later, 34 Horne officials collectively donated $27,500.

The story was first reported by the Texas Tribune.

Land office spokeswoman Brittany Eck says Horne won the bid after scoring highest among four finalist firms according to metrics measuring experience, project cost and adherence to schedule, which the agency uses when choosing contractors.

Ash Wright, the Bush campaign’s political director, called the donations “the biggest non-story in the history of non-stories.”