Texas Democrats say GOP Gov. Rick Perry's former chief of staff paid for an unsuccessful effort to get the Green Party on the ballot in Texas in a scheme to divert votes from Democratic challenger Bill White.

According to court testimony Thursday morning, Mike Toomey, a lobbyist and former chief of staff to Gov. Rick Perry, personally paid for an aborted effort to qualify the Green Party of Texas for the ballot.

The Texas Democratic Party has filed suit to block the Greens from certifying their candidates for the November ballot. They subpoenaed Garrett Mize, who led the failed petition effort beginning last fall. He testified, saying, Toomey paid him $2,000 a month for about six months with a personal check.

Another subsequent petition gathering campaign, paid for by an out-of-state corporation called Take Initiative America, did get the requisite signatures to get the party on the ballot. It is unclear where the money for that $500,000 effort came from.

But the Democrats contend that the in-kind contribution from Take Initiative America is an illegal corporate contribution that should preclude the Greens from qualifying for the ballot.

Mize was approached to run the effort by a family friend, Stuart Moss, who at the time worked for a Republican political consulting and public relations firm run by former Perry communications director Eric Bearse. Bearse said Moss no longer works for him.

"Mike Toomey's involvement in this deal is a watershed today," Chad Dunn, a lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party, told the Chronicle. "Rick Perry needs to answer questions about what he knew and when he knew it."

The Perry campaign denied it was involved in the petition drive. "Our campaign had nothing to do with the Green Party," spokesman Mark Miner told the newspaper.

Mike Toomey has loomed large in state government for 20 years. He has been called imposing and immovable and cold. Toomey was a Republican legislator then as the Capitol's premier business lobbyist, and now as chief to staff to his long-time friend Governor Rick Perry.

The intense 53-year-old Houston lawyer has promoted a steadfast conservative agenda with little tolerance for--his adversaries.

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The following by Katy Bacon

Texans see time and time again that career politician Rick Perry takes care of his friends, and they take care of him. This is especially true when it comes to Mike Toomey.

In light of the ongoing investigation into the illegal ballot scam and Thursday's explosive news that Rick Perry's close confidant and former chief of staff Mike Toomey is deeply involved, I wanted to flag two things for you.

First, over the weekend, Bill White called this a "sign of desperation." Rick Perry, always in it for himself, must be afraid of a fair fight. Perry and his consultants and cronies will stop at nothing to perpetuate his political career, and now it appears they were even willing to break the law.

A Perry spokesman said Toomey is not connected to the campaign, a laughable notion considering Toomey is a life-long friend of Perry's and one of his closest political advisors.

Second, remember when Rick Perry created a political firestorm by mandating that Texas schoolgirls get an HPV vaccine? Former Republican Party Chair Cathie Adams said at the time: "Follow the money. It leads to Merck."

That's right, it led straight to Merck, the company that manufactured the vaccine, stood to gain millions from Rick Perry's decision, and employed none other than Mike Toomey as their lead lobbyist in Texas.

On the ballot scam, the questions Perry needs to answer now are: what did he know, and when did he know it?