Florida Latin Connection

The Center for Public Integrity

Tim Pawlenty may not have great name recognition but he does have one very important thing for a presidential candidate: a hand in the pocket of Texas billionaire Bob J. Perry.

Perry, a homebuilding tycoon with a $600 million fortune, is a high roller among Republican donors.

• On Sept. 23, 2010 Perry and his wife gave $60,000 to Freedom First, Pawlenty’s state-based political action committees in New Hampshire and Iowa.
• Perry has given nearly $38 million to candidates and political groups outside Texas since 2000, according to records analyzed by The Texas Tribune.
• In that same time frame, Perry has contributed $28 million to more than 400 candidates and political committees in his home state.
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Perry also has a reputation for financing negative ads. He made national headlines in 2004 with his mega contributions to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which ran a controversial ad campaign that questioned Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s service in Vietnam. Perry contributed $4.45 million to underwrite the attack ads that helped sink Kerry’s presidential bid.

Less well-known is a similar attack ad campaign that Perry bankrolled in Minnesota in 2006, when Pawlenty was in danger of losing his office as Minnesota governor.

Pawlenty’s challenger, Mike Hatch, maintained a small but consistent lead over the incumbent governor going into the final weeks of the race. Pawlenty “needed a Hail Mary,” said Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party and Hatch’s campaign manager in 2006..

Perry tossed the pass Pawlenty was looking for — a $500,000 check that directly funded a flood of attack ads against Hatch in the final days before the election. Pawlenty won by a mere 21,108 votes, just under 1 percent.

“It clearly had a huge impact in that election,” Martin said. “If it wasn’t for Bob Perry, Tim Pawlenty’s political career would be over — before it started.” Read More:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-center-for-public-integrity/tim-pawlentys-ties-to-swi_b_887575.html

HuffPost/ 06/30/2011

Tim Pawlenty’s ties to “Swift Boat” Bob Perry

Florida Latin Connection/ Arnoldo Varona, Editor

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