Pay to Play Perry?

In the recent GOP Presidential debate, Congresswoman Michelle Bachman insinuated that Texas Gov. Rick Perry pushed Gadrisil injections for 11 year old girls so hard because he was getting money from Merck.   Perry said he only got about $5,000 from them and that if she was suggesting he could be bought for that "he was offended."   I think I would be offended at the suggestion that I could be bought at all, but nevermind.

It turns out Perry's real benefits from Merck and subsidiares totals more like $400,000, most of it via the Republican Governor's Association which has funded Perry and in which he has played a prominent role.  No word on whether the Governor would be offended at the suggestion that he could be bought for that amount.

Like Arkansas, Texas has a fund of taxpayer money that the Governor can just give to businesses of his choice. Texas has two such funds.  In Perry's case, the businesses he choose to bless with taxpayer money often turned out to be businesses whose principals are large contributors to Rick Perry.   This graphic details one prominent example.