Perry underestimated donations from Merck more than fivefold in debate

UPDATED 3:49 p.m. ET

Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry reacts after a Republican presidential debate Monday, Sept. 12, 2011, in Tampa, Fla.

/ Mike Carlson

Texas Gov. Rick Perry received more than $28,000 from the pharmaceutical company that makes a vaccine used in the battle against cervical cancer, significantly more than the $5,000 he acknowledged in Monday night's Republican debate in Florida.

During the debate, Perry found himself under heavy attack for an executive order he issued in 2007 mandating that schoolgirls receive a vaccine against human papillomavirus, or HPV, the virus responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. Fellow candidate Michele Bachmann charged that Perry had received thousands of dollars in contributions from Merck Pharmaceuticals to mandate the use of a vaccine that only Merck produced.

Perry responded, "The company was Merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them. I raise about $30 million. And if you're saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I'm offended."

The governor was right that he is known for being a prolific fundraiser (though he operates in a state with no contribution limits). But the claim that he had only received $5,000 from Merck is misleading when considering the sum of his donations from the company.

According to records from the Texas Ethics Commission compiled by the Institute on Money in State Politics, Perry received a total of $28,500 in contributions from Merck's political action committee between 2002 and 2010. In 2006, the year before his executive order, he received $6,000, and in his most recent gubernatorial fundraising year, he received $5,000 -- the closest numbers to the $5,000 he mentioned in the debate.

The institute first compiled a report on Merck's contributions to Perry in February 2007, by which time Perry had already received $21,000 from the company. The largest donation was in 2004, between two election cycles, when Merck donated $10,000 to Perry's political action committee.

Money is not his only tie to the pharmaceutical company. Perry's former chief of staff, Mike Toomey, served as one of the Merck's three lobbyists in Texas, at the time Perry signed the executive order. In the mid-2000s, Merck was lobbying for several states to pass laws mandating the use of Gardasil vaccine for girls over the age of 10. Between 2000 and 2006, the company spent $158,143 on its lobbying campaign in Texas, the fifth largest amount spent in a state, according to the institute.

Perry's campaign declined to discuss the discrepancy in the numbers. Instead, spokesman Mark Miner said, "Life was the governor's factor in this issue" and stressed that the executive order was never implemented. The Legislature voted to overturn the order, and Perry has argued that he was motivated by his desire to prevent cancer deaths.

[hhandyman]

Rick done rolled one time too many he may beat the pants off of Romney but he's no better than barney the purple puppet on pbs . His is message just as simplistic looking for ears that believe his words just shy of scripture.

[EffortPA]

According to Rick Perry:

Evolution is a theory that's out there. It's got some gaps in it.
Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and a monstrous lie to younger generations.
Climate change is a hoax by scientists looking to keep the money rolling in.

If you think our economy is bad right now, elect a guy with a 2.***** and it won't be long before you find out that things can actually get much, much worse.

[sharong59]

I want to see Tricky Ricky's birth certificate!! I think he's really an illegal adopted by the Perry family! He looks Mexican and seems to have a love affair with Mexico (open trade agreement between them and Texas! No "made in China stuff there!)and doesn't seem to want to deport them all like Arizona! He lies about so many things I would question that too!

[euge005]

Well he is a repug and a Texan, translated that means liar. Small wonder he is allegedly shooting up ion the GOP polls, they like that sort of moral failure.

[marisadane]

America knew it was a lie aa soon as it crossed his crooked lips. This is pure insanity thinking any of these jokers can fix anything or do anything productive, look at their record. They've had the biggest Bush tax cuts for a whole decade, so where are the jobs? If there are none while theyve had the last decade to hoard money, then raise their friggen taxes NOw.

[OnTheCrown]

So clearly he wasn't insulted to be bought for 28K.

[mountainstates1]

Perry is also a closet-case gay man, so he apparently lies about a lot of things...

[ammo17]

if anyone in this country still belives anything that comes out of a politicians mouth,male or female,democrat or republican we still have that bridge in brooklyn for sale.lobbyist and money rule our country,the politicans just ned us at election time.but the way this country is going,i can see us being a monarchy.with the king and queen in the whitehouse,the prince and princess in the senate and the dukes and duchesses in the congress.they already are trying to destroy our CONSTITUTION.

[Zann-Zel]

We all know he made money off of it - politicians don't do anything without the promise of making money!

I suppose Perry never got a second opinion on the vacine - he would have found out it only prevents 2 viruses that can cause cervical cancer when there are hundreds of viruses that can cause cervical cancer! It would have given girls a false sense of security - they wouldn't have gone to get their exams and some would have died because it wasn't caught in time.

[tsigili]

The media is soooooo misleading. The amount claimed by perry was for the year the vaccine incident occurred. The media is totaling all of the years Perry has been governor, with some of the largest amounts in the years BEFORE the vaccine was developed.

Come on media.......own up......you aren't reporting truthfully!

[dzaffina]

thats true, the media is not telling you about the pac formed by merics lobbiest and perry's former chief of staff, that will contribute 55 million dollars to perry. now thats not an insult.

[euge005]

And this petty mapount is chump change comared to what Ric Scott stole through his medical company. People do not pay a 1.8 Billion $ fine for a 2B thieft, more likely 20B.