FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
NEW VIDEO: What do Rick Perry’s friends do for him?
Anything to keep him in power, that’s fine by him
HOUSTON — The Bill White for Texas campaign today released a web video highlighting the history of Rick Perry and Mike Toomey. Toomey, Perry’s close friend and former chief of staff, was implicated on Thursday in an illegal ballot scam involving $532,000 in corporate money funneled by GOP operatives into the Green Party.
In 2007, Toomey, a hired lobbyist for Merck, helped the drug company secure an executive order from Perry that mandated vaccines for middle school girls across Texas. The order created a public firestorm and was later reversed by the Texas Legislature.
The video is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzQMXcKtKK0.
"We already know that career politician Rick Perry takes care of his friends, and they take care of him. Now Perry’s inner circle goes as far as executing an illegal scam to try to sway this election, and Perry doesn’t say a word?" said Katy Bacon, campaign spokesperson. "He’s responsible for setting the standards of what’s acceptable and what’s not. Which of his staff and consultants knew about the scam? Why didn’t Perry do anything to stop it? Because Rick Perry is only in it for himself."
A University of Texas student testified that Toomey paid him $12,000 to organize a petition drive to get the Green Party on the November ballot.
A second Perry staffer, former communications director Eric Bearse, was implicated when one of his employees recruited the student for the Green Party effort.
The student was instructed not to reveal the sources backing his effort.