May 21, 2015      11:51 AM
HC: Higher Ed critic Sandefer helped bankroll American Phoenix Foundation operations
Sandefer says he wants his money back from the group that claims to have secretly taped lawmakers
Here's
the latest from David Rauf and Lauren McGaughey
writing
for the Houston Chronicle:
“A
private foundation led by billionaire oilman and higher education critic Jeff Sandefer
has given $200,000 in recent years to help bankroll a conservative nonprofit
now at the center of a scheme to secretly film lawmakers and lobbyists, tax
filings show.
Tax
records for Sandefer's Ed Foundation, a philanthropic
tax-exempt organization that spreads cash to dozens of causes, provide the
first connection to a funding source for the group that over the last six
months has strapped hidden cameras onto a band of operatives to track the
state's political elite.
Reached
for comment Thursday, Sandefer said he was not aware
of the group's plan to secretly film lawmakers and was unhappy with his
investment after he received no feedback on how the group was using his money.
‘I
was unaware that they were planning to film politicians. Our intent was that
they were going to train journalists," Sandefer
said. "We were unhappy with a lack of progress in training journalists and
asked for the money back. And we did not receive any money back.’”
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