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Long history between lawyer, State Board members
When State Board of Education Member David Bradley had a legal question about investing the Permanent School Fund, his first stop was not the lawyer hired by the board to answer such inquiries. It was Austin lawyer Kevin O’Hanlon.
A former general counsel for the Texas Education Agency, O’Hanlon was asked by Bradley to explore the idea of investing a small portion of the $22 billion public school endowment in charter school facilities, the Statesman reported Monday.
O’Hanlon has represented charter schools, including American YouthWorks in Austin, and his involvement in this issue stems from his strong personal and professional ties to several board members, including Bradley, Rene Nunez and Rick Agosto. All three serve on the Permanent School Fund committee.
On the charter school issue, O’Hanlon’s involvement started well over a year ago with a presentation promoting the idea to a State Board committee in July 2008, according to the meeting’s minutes.
At the same time, O’Hanlon was part of a team of lawyers bidding for a Permanent School Fund contract to pursue securities litigation, records show. A board rule prohibiting contact between board members and bidders would have been in effect since the bid was submitted in May. The prohibition continued through this August when the bid process was ended without a hiring decision.
Bradley said he asked O’Hanlon to make the presentation and did not discuss the securities litigation job.
The relationship with board members extends beyond State Board business.
O’Hanlon has has provided legal services to Bradley, R-Beaumont, Agosto, D-San Antonio and Mary Helen Berlanga, D-Corpus Christi, according to disclosure forms filed as part of the bid. Nunez, D-El Paso, has been a friend for a long time, O’Hanlon said.
His law firm also paid a $300 treasurer filing fee for Agosto in 2005 and O’Hanlon gave the candidate another $1,500 that same year, campaign finance records show.
Agosto said O’Hanlon’s firm represented his company, Aureus Partners, but no longer has a business relationship with him. They met when O’Hanlon was a lobbyist for Agosto’s employer, Fortis Investments, which was a money manager for the Permanent School Fund several years ago.
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