Poultry Magnate Paid For Governor’s Airfare To News Conference To Promote Ethanol Waiver His Company Wanted
By Vince Leibowitz on Jul 16, 2008 in Uncategorized ![[Post to Twitter]](/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
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After donating $100,000 to the Republican Governor’s Association to secure a request from Texas Governor Rick Perry to federal authorities seeking a waiver from federal ethanol mandates, poultry magnate Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim also paid more than $9,000 for airfare to fly Perry to a press conference to promote the waiver request.
The travel expenditure for the June 24 press conference in Washington, D.C. came to light Tuesday thanks to Perry’s required semi-annual filings with the Texas Ethics Commission. Pilgrim paid for Perry and three aides to attend the news conference.
Of course, Perry’s spokesperson has a dodge for this one:
Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said the governor’s travel is usually paid for through his campaign account.
“The vast majority of all the governor’s travels are paid for by either the campaign or though in-kind contributions from supporters,” Castle said. “It’s been that way for 71/2 years, nothing different here. And it is reported on our ethics report.”
Pilgrim also donated $25,000 to Perry’s political committee about a month after the waiver request was made.
“The fact is Texans who support the governor do so because he leads with solid, conservative principles,” Castle said. “The (ethanol) mandate is devastating our livestock industry and unnecessarily burdening consumers. Asking for this waiver was the right move for Texas.”
No, actually, people don’t donate to his campaign because he does the right thing for Texas. People donate to his campaigns because Perry does the right thing for his donors. He puts them on boards and commissions, mandates that their vaccines be used on schoolchildren across the state, requests waivers and signs bills for them.
The Perry Administration is the worst example of pay-to-play culture in the office of chief executive since Governor Miriam Amanda “Ma” Ferguson was accused of selling pardons from the governor’s office.
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[...] at Capitol Annex notes that poultry kingpin Bo Pilgrim paid to jet around Texas Governor Rick Perry’s staff to promote the… with a $100,000 contribution to the Republican Governor’s [...]
[...] at Capitol Annex notes that poultry kingpin Bo Pilgrim paid to jet around Texas Governor Rick Perry’s staff to promote the… with a $100,000 contribution to the Republican Governor’s [...]
[...] at Capitol Annex notes that poultry kingpin Bo Pilgrim paid to jet around Texas Governor Rick Perry’s staff to promote the… with a $100,000 contribution to the Republican Governor’s [...]
[...] at Capitol Annex notes that poultry kingpin Bo Pilgrim paid to jet around Texas Governor Rick Perry’s staff to promote the… with a $100,000 contribution to the Republican Governor’s [...]