[gov_bean_ counter]

Do you recall if Governor Palin ever mentioned the campaign contribution? I thought I only heard the CoS reference.

Interesting back story from her on the national full court press Merck was engaged in to get this drug to state markets.

[Cboldt]

-- Do you recall if Governor Palin ever mentioned the campaign contribution? --

She didn't, but Greta Van Susteren did. Palin's remarks are more focused on Perry's chief of staff. Palin: The Problem With This Country Is People Are Afraid to Call Members of Their Own Party Out on 'Crony Capitalism' - Van Susteren Transcript - Sept 12, 2011

[cripplecreek]

Its kind of funny watching the Perrybots claim it didn’t happen but just in case it did, its OK.

Keep an eye on those TEF recipients.

http://governor.state.tx.us/files/ecodev/TEF_Listing.pdf

[BillM]

There is more to the story. Timing was everything in Texas. Merck had a competitor coming up close behind. They needed this big exclusive contract right then. The big question was how many Texas jobs were at stake if Merck didn't get that contract.
The lead researcher for Merck on Gardisil was against mandating innoculation. There were no long term studies. Fatalities from cervical cancer were 3,500 out of 170,000,000 females annually. Syphillis, HIV/AIDS and other STDS are vastly riskier. The most appropriate policy was abstinence and/or monogamy.