Perry's Pattern of Corruption Touches Houston

Press Release

Example of Thrombovision shows insider dealing, Perry takes care of friends

Bill White today hammered Perry on the public corruption scandal, revealing a new timeline detailing investments, grants and contributions associated with one company, Thrombovision, that received $1.5 million in taxpayer dollars.

"Perry has a pattern of corruption and few places have been left untouched by it. Businesses want a level playing field where there are no questions about political influence, but Texans won't get that under 25 year professional politician Rick Perry and his political machine," said White. "Instead, the capitol is open for business if you're a Perry campaign donor."

To view a timeline detailing political contributions and insider deals associated with Thrombovision, visit: http://www.scribd.com/doc/39184408/ThromboVision-Timeline-With-Contributions

Perry gave $1.5 million to Thrombovision, a company associated with Charles Tate, a donor who has given Perry $424,070 and also voted to grant Thrombovision those taxpayer dollars. Some of Tate's campaign contributions come right after "favorable" actions by Perry.

Perry also gave $750,000 to OrthoAccel, another company tied to Tate.

Perry has handed over $50 million in taxpayer dollars out this way - to companies associated with big donors.

* Perry used the Emerging Technology Fund to abuse taxpayers by funneling $16 million in taxpayer dollars to companies tied to his top campaign donors.

* Perry used the Texas Enterprise Fund to abuse taxpayers by handing out $36 million in taxpayer dollars to companies tied to his top campaign donors.

* Perry abused Teacher Retirement System, and $6 million in fees in went to donor-controlled funds.

"The only way to end Perry's corruption is to elect a new governor," said White.

A week ago yesterday, White called on Perry to do three simple things:

* Make his campaign fundraisers available for press interviews to answer questions about donors whose companies got taxpayer handouts. Campaign fundraisers keep extensive records of what conversations were had and when.

* Answer for whether ethics and conflict of interest policies were clear from the outset or Perry allowed for gray areas where political influence crept in. White asked Perry to release information about the ethics reviews for each person that had a role in awarding grants.

* Release immediately the performance measures for public dollars indicating expected returns of investment and how performance compared. If the principal purpose was for public business, then there should be recent analysis of the progress on jobs and return on investment of each company. If written reports of this nature do not exist, then obviously the fund was used to for political purposes.

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