From Texas Standard: As a country, we've been looking towards November elections and which candidates will be moving into office, but we haven't been paying much attention to the other end of the story: What do you do when you get out of office?
Former Governor Rick Perry dropped out of the race in September, since then he's been in need of a new job. Maybe he'll write a book, like so many other former political figures have done, or become a political pundit?
There are no pages on the presses yet. Instead the former governor has signed on with a company called GovWhiz. The mysterious company has an office here in Austin, and it's been raising some eyebrows. The Austin American-Statesman's David McSwane has been following the story.
GovWhiz "seemingly overnight" has connections to the former governor and two of his top aides, McSwane says.
"The former governor is a big player," he says. "For a relatively unknown company to be able to set up a meeting through the governor with the Commission is definitely interesting."
McSwane says they've asked the company what their business is, but the CEO has dodged those questions, repeatedly saying the company is in "deep stealth mode."
"Best we can gather based on their communications with other agencies, this company is really interested in developing web applications for government agencies," McSwane says.
He says Texas 211, a program that connects veterans with services, is one of the products they may be working on. Their spokesperson confirmed that the company has been working with the Texas Lottery Commission, but there's certainly more to learn.
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