AUSTIN - A small group of super-rich political contributors, giving at least $25,000 a year, will put at least $10 million into Republican Gov. Rick Perry's re-election treasury as part of a fundraising corps the campaign calls the Century Council.
Some Century Council members have lucrative contracts to help build Perry's multibillion-dollar toll-road project.
The state has deposited millions in investment funds operated by three other top-tier givers. Sixteen donors are Perry appointees to coveted boards, including the Parks and Wildlife Commission and state university regent boards.
The number of super-donors dwarfs anything Perry's three most recent predecessors had, according to a computer-generated review of contribution records.
Perry has attracted twice as many $25,000 contributions as fellow Republican George W. Bush did in 1994 or 1998. Perry has more than five times as many as Democrat Ann Richards had in her 1990 campaign and Republican Bill Clements had in 1986, according to the records
Advocates of campaign finance reform say the big money is designed to buy access.
"The kinds of people who step up to the plate to give this kind of money tend to be people who want something from government," said Andrew Wheat of Texans for Public Justice, a nonprofit group that tracks campaign contributions.
Texas law does not limit the size of campaign contributions
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