Former Texas Republican State Chairman and ex-Reagan administration official Tom Pauken has released this statement on Karl Rove:

Karl Rove campaigned in 1980 against Ronald Reagan and for George Herbert Walker Bush in the Republican presidential primary in Texas. In the general election, I never heard at the time that Karl was running the Reagan campaign in our state. Karl was working for Gov. Clements, but the Reagan leaders in Texas were Ray Barnhart and Ernie Angelo. I knew most of the Reagan leaders around the state, and Karl was not part of that group and was viewed by the Reaganites as being part of the anti-Reagan faction in our state. I was in the Reagan administration on the President’s staff and Director of the Action agency. There were a number of Bush supporters who got appointments to various Commissions. I served as Associate Director of the White House Fellowship Program from 1970 to 1971. During the Reagan administration, I served on various White House Fellows selection panels during that period. Arlen Specter’s wife served on one of the panels with me. Being on a selection panel for that program is no evidence whatsoever that one was a Reagan Republican at the time.

Tom Pauken, former Reagan official and former Texas Republican State Chairman.

Again, the only reason this issue of Rove’s involvement in 1980 is relevant is Mr. Rove’s involvement with “Conservatives for Victory” — a group that many conservatives believe to be a stalking horse for GOP Establishment candidates.

In that context, Mr. Pauken’s statement speaks for itself.