Merck contributed a grand total of $6,000 to Perry’s reelection campaign. While it is unseemly in its timing, $6,000 is barely enough money to get noticed, much less to buy the support of a governor, least of all a “high roller” like Perry’s critics claim he is. That Merck contribution amounted to .00025 of the $24 million dollar campaign funds that he received that year.
There are still some who are convinced that Merck contributed more than a paltry $6,000 to Perry. They are simply wrong. Merck gave two checks, one for $1,000 and another for $5,000 to Perry in the 2006 election timeframe (in 2008, they contributed a whopping $2,500). Here is a source to view all of Perry’s contributions: ProPublica. In fact, Merck has only contributed $23,500 to Perry over a 1998-2010 span, not exactly George Soros money. For comparison, from 2000-2006 Merck gave $2,460,000 to state politicians across 40 states.
Do you really think that campaign donations are the main avenue of funneling funds to politicians or friends of politicians? They’re not. If you wanted to profit someone for questionable services or favors, would you do it in a way that leaves a paper trail? This isn’t a slam only against Perry but an indictment of the entire culture of corruption that reigns supreme in our government today. We need this to stop, not make excuses for it.
So you think that $6K is the only way Merck could have paid back Rick Perry? You are hopelessly naive. Even if he never received another penny, his action was wrong and something which a true conservative would never have done. (Of course, no conservative would ever have supported Al Gore, or Rudy Giuliani, or....how many “wrong choices” does Slick Rick get to make before people wake up??)
Uou clearly missed my point.