Head of Emerging Technology Fund profited off of private deals

The Dallas Morning News investigated Alan Kirchhoff, the former director of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's prized economic development program, the Emerging Technology Fund. The story traced the rapid rise of Kirchhoff and his friendship with a powerful member of the tech fund's advisory committee, William E. Morrow. The News obtained a Texas Ranger investigation that found that Kirchhoff's secret side deals with Morrow had transformed Kirchhoff into a millionaire. The newspaper's investigation revealed a portrait of Kirchhoff as someone with a string of minor white-collar jobs and business failures whose resume contained omissions, distortions, and the claim of two college degrees when, in fact, he earned only one.