Perry's Appointed Regents Are Big Donors
In an election season marked by fights over the connection between campaign contributions and political appointments, members of the state's boards of regents continue to dominate the landscape.
Over the past decade, the men and women chosen by Gov. Rick Perry to govern state universities have given his campaigns at least $5.8 million, according to an analysis by The Texas Tribune. About half of the governor’s appointed regents gave to his campaign; of those who gave, the average total given was about $64,000. The top giver, University of Texas System Regent Paul Foster, gave nearly $400 ...
Comments (6)
jdaemmr
Wow. Quite eye-opening. Good work.
Is there any way to answer the burning question, though, of whether Perry’s appointees’ donations are out of the ordinary? Ever since I’ve been paying attention (25 years), most regents have been extremely wealthy and powerfully well-connected people. So did Bush’s appointees, Richards’, Bill Clements’, Mark White’s, etc., do the same?
Matt Stiles
Thanks, jdaemmr. The problem with previous governors — who also took donations from their appointees, though likely not on this scale — is that they filed their campaign reports on paper. That makes it impossible to compare the donors with a list of appointees in a database manager.
Mary Lynn VanZandt Neill via Texas Tribune on Facebook
"and the beast goes on"...parody Sonny and Cher,why are we not shocked?
Eugene Sepulveda
I don't really get this story. Is it news to anyone? I thought every governor has always done this. I suppose the standards may be evolving but it is no news that this has happened. Now, Perry requiring $50k political contributions in order to support moving a particular bill forward, that's crooked, probably illegal. Why haven't we tracked this story. There are lots of examples
Matt Stiles
This might not be "news" in the traditional sense, in that people already know anecdotally about the issue. But regent contributions haven't been thoroughly documented before by a news organization (though Texans for Public Justice did a similar report earlier this year). Adding precise reporting to the political discussion, rather than anecdotal reporting, qualifies as "news" to the Tribune.
Eugene Sepulveda
fair enough Matt. You're right. thx