Did Perry contributor earmark contribution?

[highplainsdem]

Source: Houston Chronicle

In the final weeks of the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, Perry campaign gurus got nervous about their position in an unpredictable field. After all, the governor faced not just a Democrat - Houston attorney Chris Bell - but independent candidates Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn. Humorist Friedman gave Perry a huge gift by siphoning votes from Bell.

But Perry campaign consultant Dave Carney decided to deliver a knockout punch to the Democrat - and he did, with a tough television ad slamming Bell for accepting $1 million in contributions from Houston trial lawyer John O'Quinn.

-snip-

"On Oct. 4, 2006, Dierdre Delisi and Dave Carney met with Mitt Romney, who was then chairman of the RGA. During that meeting, Gov. Romney stated that, on behalf of the RGA, he was about to accept a $1 million contribution from an individual Texan contributor. Gov. Romney did not identify who the individual was, and TRP had no knowledge prior to that time that any individual was planning to contribute $1 million to the RGA. Following the meeting with Gov. Romney, Ms. Delisi contacted Bob Perry's attorney Buddy Jones to ask whether Mr. Perry had contributed this money to the RGA. Mr. Jones ultimately confirmed that Mr. Perry had indeed made the contribution, and Ms. Delisi asked Mr. Jones to encourage the RGA to make some contributions in Texas since the RGA had raised such significant funds in Texas."

-snip-

Why launder money when Texas allows contributions of any size? Given the theme of the television assault against Bell, accepting a direct $1 million contribution from Bob Perry would have seemed a little hypocritical. Not to mention, Gov. Perry already had ignited a firestorm of protest in 2005 when he appointed Perry Homes' general counsel to the ill-conceived and (mercifully) short-lived Texas Residential Construction Commission.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Did-Perry-contributor-earmark-contribution-2154312.php

---

Although Texas allows campaign contributions of any size, the article says Craig Harman of Public Citizen told the reporter that earmarking that contribution would violate both state and federal laws against laundering money.

That $1 million was in addition to the $2.5 million that it was already known Houston homebuilder Bob Perry had given to Rick Perry.

More on Bob Perry's political influence here:

http://www.homeownersoftexas.org/Bob_Perry.html

[No Elephants]

1. Romney and Perry, sitting in a tree. C*H*E*A*T*I*N*G.

Good story. A two-fer.

But, since only Republicans can say for sure what happened, the truth will probably never see the light of day.

[McCamy Taylor]

2. Don Siegelman is in jail for this.

[Democat]

3. Would be funny if Perry were indicted before the election

He may regret jumping into a national election. Outside of Texas, he doesn't control the judges and prosecutors.

[Ilsa]

4. Minimally, one of the referenced stories related to this, the failed

Texas Residential Construction Commission, should indicate that that tRick Perry doesn't believe in consumer protections. He appointed building industry-friendly commissioners to deprive consumers of a fair voice in resolving their complaints about new homes. They tried that binding arbitration trick to soak complainants for fees and deprieve them of financial justice. The commission was so bad, so useless, that the Republican legislature had get rid of it.

Here is a link to a report about the TRCC: http://www.hadd.com/documents/leveling.pdf