Monday, October 15, 2007

Toby Huyssen Making News...Again!

The student that allegedly wrote the now infamous "paper tiger" e-mail, imploring ORU government students to get involved in County Commissioner Randi Miller's mayoral campaign is back in the news. Apparently, he is now living in Louisiana and is heading up an organization called the "Louisiana Action Council" which has a PAC called "Louisianans in Action."

In fact, Huyssen is listed as the Executive Director of the group. Not bad for a kid who was a college senior last year. Not bad for a kid who allegedly violated the trust of his professor by using his computer and his name to lure students to the Government Department's offices so that they could sign up to volunteer for Miller.

WBRZ News 2 reports in a story dated yesterday:

A New York businessman with a history of pushing his favored political issues in other states has quietly contributed thousands of dollars in this year’s Louisiana legislative races, much of it handed out by a group describing itself as a “grass-roots” organization that supports school choice.

Companies connected with real estate tycoon Howard Rich, a noted libertarian, have spread $60,000 among 21 candidates in recent months.

The checks are not made out in Rich’s name but rather come from eight different corporations, all with a listed address of 73 Spring St., New York, NY, that has been connected to Rich and his associates.

Most of the checks were distributed by the recently formed Louisiana Action Council or its political action committee, Louisianians in Action. Louisiana Action Council Executive Director Toby Huyssen declined to identify the source of the campaign finance contributions that his group distributed.

“I don’t know if he wants his name in the newspaper,” Huyssen said.

To explain who Huyssen is, WBRZ gives the following background:


Huyssen, the director, is a Louisiana native who attended Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla., from 2002 to 2006 and has a political résumé that includes work on Haley Barbour’s 2003 gubernatorial campaign in Mississippi and Bobby Jindal’s 2003 gubernatorial campaign in Louisiana, according to Huyssen’s biography on the group’s Web site.

Louisiana Action Council has quickly established itself. The group’s associated political action committee has received $8,150 in contributions — $150 from Huyssen, $4,000 from Louisiana Action Council and $4,000 from the Louisiana Committee for a Republican Majority — and has spent about $6,600, mainly on phone-banking.

I will have to keep an eye on this developing story in Louisiana to determine what it's all about. However, it is interesting the Huyssen has hit a news story at the same time that his name is being bandied about in Tulsa as the purported author of an e-mail that many believe was written by ORU professor Tim Brooker. Brooker is of course one the three professors suing ORU and Richard Roberts.

I also wonder if the Louisiana reporters know of Huyssen's involvement in the ORU scandal.

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