During CNN’s Tea Party debate Bachmann called Perry out for his use of an executive order to force the Gardasil vaccination on 12 year-old girls living in Texas. She pointed out the fact that the executive order followed some rather expensive lobbying to which Perry claimed he only received a $5,000.00 campaign contribution and then feigned offense at the accusation that he could be bought so cheaply. As anybody with a brain was able to figure out Pertty wasn’t being honest:
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.
Although politicians pass laws putting apparent caps on the number of dollars that can be donated to their campaigns what they know is such laws only shift money around. If somebody wants to donate $300,000 to your campaign but can only legally donate $2,500 then that person will donate $2,500 to the campaign and $297,500 to some affiliated organization. It’s actually a great method for the two major parties to stay in power since most third parties lack any sizable affiliate organizations which can receive larger than legally allowed campaign contributions that will go to specific candidates.
So while Perry’s statement was technically correct it was a lie through omission as much of Merck’s money went to affiliate organizations that helped power Perry’s campaign. Finally I wish to close this post by leaving you with the following:
No that’s not a serious political criticism, the picture just makes me laugh.