Texas ? White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove personally called the Texas secretary of state about a newspaper story quoting a staff lawyer about whether Rove was eligible to vote in the state.

The lawyer was subsequently fired.

Secretary of State Roger Williams said that he decided to dismiss the lawyer after talking with Rove but that the White House adviser didn’t request that he do so.

“Absolutely not,” said Williams, a longtime supporter of President Bush and a major GOP fundraiser.

“Karl called me. He had read the article and wanted to know if it was our stance” that his voter registration status in Texas might be in jeopardy, he said. “I told him it wasn’t and that the person who gave that opinion was not authorized to do so.”

Elizabeth Reyes, 30, was terminated Sept. 6 after being quoted in The Washington Post three days earlier saying it was potential vote fraud to register in a place where you don’t actually live.