The state comptroller halted payments to Cassidy & Associates, a firm hired by the state that has ties to Tom DeLay, reports the Houston Chronicle [1]. Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayton began an audit of the firm after the paper reported that the firm, which employs Todd Boulanger, a former partner of disgraced lobbyist Abramoff, paid $7,600 for a reception for Tom DeLay’s ARMPAC within days of receiving its first payment of $15,000 from the state.