But because he has been in office more than a decade, he has had greater opportunity than any of his predecessors to stock the government with loyalists -- he has appointed roughly 4,000 people to state posts -- while enacting policies that have benefited allies and contributors.
And Mr. Perry has been much more aggressive than any past governor in soliciting money from them. According to a study last year by Texans for Public Justice, a watchdog organization, Mr. Perry has raised at least $17 million from more than 900 appointees or their spouses, roughly one dollar out of every five that he has raised as governor.
Let us be clear: Under the actual law established in McCormick, that an "explicit agreement" must be present to constitute bribery, Perry probably has broken no laws. But Siegelman did not break any laws either--and he already has spent time in federal prison and could be headed back there.
Why is one legal standard applied to Rick Perry and another to Don Siegelman? For that matter, why is one legal standard applied to George W. Bush (and an almost endless list of other GOP governors) and another to Don Siegelman?
Those questions are at the very heart of the political-prosecution era that the Bush DOJ ushered into our political environment.
A Perry spokesman responded to The Times article by saying the interactions with donors did not constitute bribery:
Mark Miner, a spokesman for Mr. Perry, said there was no connection between Mr. McHale's contributions and the grant to G-Con. He said that the purpose of the state money was to create jobs and that it was appropriate for Mr. Perry to appoint people who support his vision and policies to state oversight posts.
Under the real law, established in McCormick, Miner probably is correct. But under the law used in Siegelman, which the Eleventh Circuit has unlawfully upheld, a jury could "infer" that Perry was being bribed.
Given that Elena Kagan argued the Siegelman case was correctly decided, we have this obvious question: Why is the Obama DOJ not going after Rick Perry?
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