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writing for godot

Rick Perry the Money Maker

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Monday, 15 August 2011 14:54
While most of the press was busy making the announcement that Texas Governor Rick Perry was running for President, the Washington Post reported that Perry was doing the most important thing in American politics, drawing up plans for fundraising. The campaign has announced different levels of power and benefits for bundlers. "Patriots" (those collecting over half a million dollars) would receive a hospitality suite and VIP at the Republican National Convention and would become co-chairmans in Perry's national finance committee. "Entrepreneurs" (those who raise more than $250,000) would become members in Perry's national finance committee. "Explorers" (those raising $100,000) are invited to "special events" at the the National Convention, and "Pilots" ($50,000) can hold receptions in states. Perry plans to raise 10 million dollars within the next few weeks.

Before Rick Perry made it official he was running for president, he had been meeting behind closed doors with key donors (including a group of Wall Street executives). One of the major donors reportedly in these meetings was Harold Simmons, who has given 100,000 dollars to one of his PACs. Simmons also gave 250,000 to the Republican Governor's association, ran by Perry (The Republican Governor's association has raised over 22 million dollars so far this year). Typical big donors (like David Koch, and Bob Perry) have continued to give big sums to the association. Simmons has also appeared at Pawlenty fundraisers before Pawlenty withdrew.

Rick Perry has brought in more than $100 million in his decade as the governor of Texas, mostly from corporations and rich individuals. Texas does not have the contribution limit of $2,500 that federal candidates have. Perry had 204 donors who gave him more than $51 million, which is about half the total he received. In 2010, in his reelection campaign, he raised $39,328,540. George Ryan donated $450,000 to him. He runs a tax and accounting firm called Ryan and Co. Boone Pickens also donated $200,000, while AT&T gave him $166,000. He also got $155,000 from "Texans for Lawsuit Reform", which pushed Perry to pass Tort Reform, which limits the rights of those suing against corporations and individuals. Oil and gas was the biggest industry giving to Perry, at over 4 million dollars. He also got about two and a half million from hedge funds, and over a million and a half from lawyers and lobbyists. On the other hand, his challenger Bill White raised 26 million. For comparison, Governor Malloy of Connecticut won the governorship with less than 9 million dollars raised and Andrew Cuomo won the governorship of New York with 26 million dollars raised. Also helping Perry was independent spending, as the NRA spent half a million dollars for Perry.


Perry has seven Super-PACs (that can raise unlimited money from corporations) supporting him. These include Make Us Great Again, Jobs for Vets Fund, Veterans for Rick Perry (the last two were started by a former legislative director of Perry), and Americans for Rick Perry. Candidates are not supposed to be involved in Super-PACs according to FEC rules,but according to reports, it appears that Perry has been.


The Hill also reports that Perry is having no problem finding lobbyists to fundraise for him. Dirk Van Dongen is the president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors and plans to get behind Perry. Lobbyists for the financial service company USAA also state that they will fundraise for Perry. Dennis Stephens of K&L Gates is also jumping in, along with Energy Future Holdings Lobbyist David Lynch.





The Wall Street Journal headlines that Perry has a "Crony Capitalist" problem.

"All told, the Dallas Morning News has found that some $16 million from the tech fund has gone to firms in which major Perry contributors were either investors or officers, and $27 million from the fund has gone to companies founded or advised by six advisory board members."

Rick Perry once wrote a book called "Fed Up" in which he expressed frustration with how Washington worked. On the contrary, it appears Perry likes the way Washington works just fine.
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