Posted on 09/13/2011 1:18:56 PM PDT by Rational Thought
Texas Gov. Rick Perry bristled at accusations during Monday’s GOP debate that he had done the bidding of a corporate donor by ordering schoolgirls to use a new vaccine.
“The company was Merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them,” Perry said. “I raised about $30 million.
(snip)
But campaign disclosure records portray a much deeper financial connection with Merck than Perry’s remarks would suggest.
Perry’s gubernatorial campaign, for example, received nearly $30,000 from the drugmaker since 2000, most of it prior to his decision in 2007 to order young girls to obtain Merck’s vaccine against the human papillomavirus, or HPV.
Merck has also given more than $355,000 in donations to the Republican Governors Association since 2006, which was the year that Perry began to play a prominent role in the Washington-based group, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
Perry served as chairman of the RGA in 2008 and again this year until he decided to run for president. The group also ranks among Perry’s biggest donors, giving the Texas governor’s campaign at least $4 million over the past five years, according to Texans for Public Justice.
(snip)
One of Perry’s closest confidantes, former chief of staff Mike Toomey, was working at the time as an Austin-based lobbyist for Merck, which was in the midst of a multimillion-dollar campaign to persuade states to make the vaccine mandatory.
Toomey, who has declined to respond to requests for comment, has since gone on to help found Make Us Great Again, a pro-Perry super PAC that can accept unlimited donations from corporations and wealthy donors. Media reports indicate that the group plans to raise as much as $55 million to help Perry win the GOP nomination
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Keep an eye on this list of TEF recipients. Many of the names will likely come up in similar conversations.
http://governor.state.tx.us/files/ecodev/TEF_Listing.pdf
Yawn.
Oh, the Post forgot to point out that several other manufacturers were near producing the vaccine besides Merck and that the Texas Legislature overturned the Executive Order before a single girl had received the vaccine.
Yawn.
Oh, the Post forgot to point out that several other manufacturers were near producing the vaccine besides Merck and that the Texas Legislature overturned the Executive Order before a single girl had received the vaccine.
Now don’t confuse people with additional information.
I’m so proud those mental giants at the WaPo had the ability to give us this vitally important information a vaccination program that didn’t happen in Texas and knew that we didn’t give a smelly Obama about those border agents killed by those illegal guns in Operation Corrupt Justice Department.
Oh not this krap of lies again...ROFL!!!! When are you people going to stop putting out this pack of krap lies from every commiecrat rag you can find???
AND here’s a question for you? If you think Sarah Palin is going to turn down a dime of ANYBODY’S money to get herself elected you are SORELY STUPID! Sarah’s going to be so wrapped up in oil and gas money, she’s going to smell like a gallon of gasoline!
Gonna have to start calling him Slick Rick.
I think it’s funny how you supporters of other candidates (mostly Palin) seem to think that if you run down Perry enough the Perry supporters will suddenly believe your candidate is worth our time. Your candidate isn’t.
Obama raised more money from George Kaiser and the officers of Solyndra.
Obama charges more for a picture with him than Perry got from Merck.
You're going to have to start calling him Mr. President.
IMHO, just the fact that Perry tried to do this via EO instead of passing legislation raises red flags for me.
And his climbing in bed with Mexicans and DREAMing isn’t doing him any favors either.
It’s not an emotional post...not at all. It’s (the article) focus is on Perry’s own (words) defense from last night, that he received only $5,000 from Merck.
It does appear to be slightly less than full disclosure.
Somebody(s) must be worried about Perry’s chances of winning the nomination and maybe the Presidency. I wonder who that is?
Perry is toxic. The Gardasil fiasco is bad enough.
But as Rush said today, Perry’s advocacy of in-state tuition for illegal aliens is much worse.
Perry supporters.
Earth to WaPo, here’s a hint for next week’s paper....
Obama
GE
Go for it, idiots!
FROM TEXANS FOR LAWSUIT REFORM.
Seems TPJ is a Personal injury Lawyer funded group. OOPS
TLR News › News
Texans for Public Justice Funded by Trial Lawyers
TLR Press Release, Nov. 2, 2006
Tax Return Reveals Funding Sources of So-called Watchdog Group
For Immediate Release:
(AUSTIN, TX) Texans for Public Justice calls itself a non-partisan watchdog group that focuses on political campaign contributions in Texas, but the only contributions publicly reported on their 2005 tax filing came from some of those big political campaign contributors they claim to be monitoring — personal injury trial lawyers.
TPJ has long refused to disclose their funders, but their 2005 tax report reveals that three high-profile personal injury trial lawyer firms “Baron & Budd and Silber Pearlman, LLP in Dallas and Williams Bailey, LLP in Houston — gave a total of $50,000 dollars to the organization last year, almost a third of the total organizational budget. TPJ did not report the source of the additional $107,000 in contributions they collected.
œThese big checks from personal injury trial lawyers are clearly the reason Craig McDonald told the Austin American-Statesman* recently that he was ˜not outraged™ about John O™Quinn™s million dollar contributions to the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, said TLR PAC Director Justin Unruh. œWe™ve assumed for years that TPJ is a front for the trial lawyers “ and these filings prove we™re right.
In addition to contributions to TPJ last year, Fred Baron has contributed $1,809,817 to campaigns and political action committees this election cycle. Texas Ethics Commission reports indicate John Eddie Williams and Williams Bailey, LLP have contributed at least $635,600 this election cycle and Silber Pearlman, LLP has contributed $55,275.
Texans for Public Justice is currently advocating a $100,000 cap on political contributions in Texas. In keeping with TPJ™s hypocritical stance, their proposal exempts law firms, including the personal injury trial lawyers that have contributed to TPJ.
Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the state™s largest civil justice reform organization, is a bipartisan, volunteer-led coalition with more than 15,000 supporters residing in more than 757 Texas communities and representing 1,253 different businesses, professions and trades.
* McDonald did not object to O™Quinn™s potential $5 million donation: œThe system in Texas is out of whack. The concentration of political money should alarm all Texans, including the ability of one donor to give $1 million or more to a single campaign. But I don’t begrudge Mr. O’Quinn from raising money to help the Democratic ticket. It is woefully underfunded compared to the special-interest money Gov. Perry has raised. . . . I’m not outraged.” Austin American-Statesman, October 10, 2006.
-
I doubt Perry was purchased by Merck. His accepting campaign donations is in line with current political practices-which I think should be reformed as it is unseemly. Unfortunately, in American politics as practiced today we must be guided by the “principle of relative filth.” Perry’s sin, if any, was very small.
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