The thing you need to know about the guy behind the “three million illegal votes” claim

He’s a known liar and grifter.

When President-elect Donald Trump tweeted Sunday — without evidence — that “millions” of people voted illegally in the race for the White House, he invited a wrath of condemnation for again stoking doubts about the U.S. election system.

But in Texas, he found at least one fan: Gregg Phillips, a former Health and Human Services Commission executive who appears to be the source of the unsubstantiated claim. In the days following the election, the self-styled voter integrity activist said on Twitter that he has discovered that more than 3 million people who voted were not citizens — a claim which was later highlighted by InfoWars, a conspiracy theory website run by fellow Texan and Trump ally Alex Jones.

Phillips, who described himself on social media as founder of VoteStand, an election fraud reporting app, has declined to provide proof to the media, saying he will instead “release all methodologies, data and analysis directly to the public.” He does not appear to have given any indication when that will happen, and efforts to reach him early Monday were unsuccessful.

While Phillips is re-emerging in the news following Trump’s tweet Sunday, Texans may be more familiar with his tenure as an executive deputy commissioner at the state’s Health and Human Services Commission. According to his LinkedIn profile, he held the position from March 2003 to August 2004, playing a big role in shaping the 2003 bill to privatize large parts of the state’s social safety net.

By 2005, Phillips was beset with allegations of cronyism stemming from contracts signed at both HHSC as well as the Texas Workforce Commission. At the time, a Houston Chronicle investigation found he helped craft the privatization legislation in a way in which he personally profited along with a private consultant.

After leaving HHSC, Phillips went on to run AutoGov, a health care analytics firm where he still works. In 2015, AutoGov was mentioned in reports questioning the state’s $20 million Medicaid fraud tracking software deal with Austin-based 21CT, which was not competitively bid. Jack Stick, the former top HHSC lawyer at the center of the scandal that led to a string of resignations and prompted multiple investigations, briefly worked for AutoGov.

Politifact has already debunked this, not that fact-checking has any meaning anymore. What I want to do here is give you a bit more information about Gregg Phillips, the main character of this story, as he has been mentioned a few times on thi blog in the past. The Trib story does a pretty good job of introducing him and his self-enriching character, so consider this to be some extra reading:

What they didn’t tell you
Let me be your sweetheart dealmaker
Chron investigates Gregg Phillips
Making money on both ends

There are more posts in my archives if you want to search for Gregg Phillips, but you get the idea. Forget about professional fact-checking sites and just ask yourself, is this the kind of person who is basically honest in his words and deeds, or is he not? Let that inform how you perceive anything else he has to say, and anything that others say based on what he said. The Chron has more.

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2 Responses to The thing you need to know about the guy behind the “three million illegal votes” claim

  1. Neither Here Nor There says:

    Liar and grifter, and I thought it must be Trump starting starting his own conspiracy theory.

    Never under estimate the stupidity or ignorance of the American public, they are very gullible as most have never learned to think logically. Trying to reason with them is near impossible. That is why the conspiracy theories work. It also means that conspiracy created from the left will also work on them.

    Trump, however, may be the one person that may keep Harris County blue and if worked right, Texas could go blue in 2020.

    The big question is the IF?

  2. brad m says:

    I am sure Phillips will release all the information when Trump releases his tax returns after the routine audit.

    Philips is a lying liar. And Trump is a….where to begin….so much to say.

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