Contents:

1. Summary
2. Introduction
3. Appointments By Office
4. Big-Donor Appointees
5. Employer Contributions
6. Perry Appointees Unknown to Perry's Campaign
7. Appointments By Region
8. Appointments By Gender

I. Summary

• Texas Governor Rick Perry tapped 1,027 appointees 1,123 times to serve on 235 state agencies, boards and commissions between December 5, 2002 and February 22, 2006 (some appointees were appointed multiple times).
• Between January 2000 and December 2005 Perry's campaign received a total of $3,870,324 from 330 of these appointees (32 percent) or their family members. Perry's appointees contributed an average of $3,769 apiece to the governor's campaign coffers.
• Appointees to education-related offices gave the governor the most money, averaging $10,616 per appointee. University regents topped this list, led by Texas Tech Regent Larry Anders. The $220,304 Anders gave Perry made him the governor's most-generous donor-appointee.
• Perry's campaign took in $3,103,928 more during the same period from sources affiliated with his appointees' employers. Perry Homes attorney John Krugh—whom the governor appointed to the Residential Construction Commission—led this group. Krugh's boss, Bob Perry, gave the governor (no relation) $690,000.
• Despite a Texas law requiring candidates to use their "best efforts" to disclose the employers and occupations of large donors, Perry's campaign repeatedly failed to make these discloses for large donors whom Perry already had appointed to state offices.
• Texas most populated regions accounted for the greatest shares of Perry's appointees. The governor selected the most appointees from the Prairies & Lakes and Gulf Coast regions, which encompass Texas' biggest cities.
• Governor Perry tapped women for 38 percent of his appointments. Equality-minded women may have to dig deeper. The average female appointee gave Perry $1,762 compared to the male average of $4,476.

II. Introduction

Texas Governor Rick Perry tapped 1,027 appointees 1,123 times to serve on 235 state agencies, boards and commissions between December 5, 2002 and February 22, 2006 (some appointees were appointed multiple times). Between January 2000 and December 2005 Perry's campaign received a total of $3,870,324 from 330 of these appointees (32 percent) or their family members. In this way the Perry campaign raked in an average of $3,769 per gubernatorial appointee. During the same period the governor's campaign took in another $3,103,928 from sources affiliated with the employers of these appointees.

The timing of these contributions ran the gamut. Some contributions arrived in advance of the corresponding appointment, some arrived after the fact, while many other appointees contributed both before and after their appointments. Despite a 2003 state law that requires Texas candidates to use their "best efforts" to disclose the employer and occupation of donors of $500 or more, the Perry campaign repeatedly failed to disclose the employers of large donors whom the governor already had appointed to state offices (this is discussed more below).

Texas governors have a rich history of using their appointment powers as a patronage tool. Since this is the most comprehensive appointee-patronage study ever, there is no systematic way to compare Perry's patronage to that of his predecessors.¹ Anecdotal evidence suggests that the biggest patronage plums have been appointments to be Parks and Wildlife Commissioners and university regents. These appointments channel the twin Texas obsessions of hunting² and football.

III. Appointments By Office

Education - Average Price $10,616
Education appointees were Governor Perry's most-generous appointees, contributing an average of $10,616 apiece. Governor Perry's No. 1 donor-appointee was Texas Tech Regent Larry Anders, the head of Plano-based life insurer Summit Alliance Companies. Anders gave Perry $220,304, moving 61 percent of it prior to his 2005 appointment.

Six other Education appointees made six-figure contributions to Governor Perry: UT Regents Robert Rowling ($207,262) and James Huffines ($122,180); Texas Tech Regents J. Frank Miller ($175,000) and L.F. 'Rick' Francis ($107,500); Texas Board of Education Chair Geraldine "Tincy" Miller ($139,00); and A&M Regent Erle Nye ($131,000).

Humanities  - Average Price $8,316
While regent appointments can yield premium college football seating, there is no such explanation for the No. 2-ranked Humanities category, which yielded an average of $8,316 per appointee. Two high-roller appointees skewed these numbers. Governor Perry appointed Houston beer distributor magnate John Nau ($185,260) to the Historical Commission in 2003—one day after Nau gave Perry's campaign $12,500.

The other leading Humanities donor-appointee is Austin's Donna Stockton-Hicks ($163,160), whom the governor tapped for the Poet Laureate, State Musician and State Artists Committee. Stockton-Hicks owns a chichi, artsy interior design supply store. Husband R. Steven Hicks and brother-in-law Tom Hicks sold a radio company in 1999 for $16 billion.

Natural Resources - Average Price $6,410
Three Parks & Wildlife Commissioners dominate the No. 3 ranked Natural Resources sector: Heavy equipment dealer and San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt ($206,000); Houston developer Ned Holmes ($174,250); and Houston auto dealer T. Dan Friedkin ($151,000).

The governor appointed three five-figure donors to the Rock Crushers and Quarries Advisory Committee: McKinney gravel executive John Lattimore ($81,200); state Senator Troy Fraser ($10,581); and San Marcos irrigation products manufacturer John Richard Weisman ($10,000).

The other top donors appointed to Natural Resources posts were: Clifton Thomas of the Guadalupe–Blanco River Authority ($126,000); Patrick Gordon ($13,750) of the Rio Grande Compact Commission; John Goodman ($12,500) of the Emissions Reduction Plan Advisory Board; and Ray Wilkerson ($10,500) of the Lower Colorado River Authority.

Insurance - Average Price $6,167
The top Insurance appointee is real estate broker Richard Smith ($86,000) of Bryan, whom Perry appointed to the Workers' Compensation Commission. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development fined Smith's company $19,200 several months after his 2003 appointment. HUD alleged that title companies supplied Smith's company with free virtual home tours in exchange for business referrals.

Finance - Average Price $3,940
The leading Finance appointee is Finance Commissioner Allan Polunsky ($150,000) of San Antonio law firm Polunsky & Beitel. Perry also appointed one of Polunsky's partners, Jesse Adams, to the Racing Commission.

Corrections - Average Price $2,673
Dallas attorney Christina Melton Crain is the top-giving Corrections appointee ($175,966). Perry appointed Crain to the Criminal Justice Board. Husband Nate Crain of Shop Online fortune previously chaired the Dallas County Republican Party.

V. Employer Contributions

In addition to the almost $3.9 million that the Perry campaign received from the families of gubernatorial appointees, the campaign collected another $3,103,928 from sources affiliated with the employers of Perry's appointees. This employer-related money (received between January 2000 and December 2005) includes contributions from other company employees, company-affiliated PACs and in some instances from the company itself.³

The appointee boasting the largest employer-related contributions is Perry Homes attorney John Krugh. Krugh's boss, Bob Perry, is Texas' No. 1 individual donor. Bob Perry gave $690,000 to Rick Perry (no relation) since 2000. Krugh helped draft 2003 legislation that created the Texas Residential Construction Commission. Governor Perry's appointees to this industry-friendly commission—including Krugh—all represent the building industry. Perry Homes' role in creating and running the commission prompted Democratic state Rep. Garnet Coleman to tell the Austin American-Statesman, "In Texas you can buy your own state agency, then regulate yourself."

Four other appointee companies are associated with more than $200,000 in gubernatorial contributions. Governor Perry appointed Whitney Wolf, a senior vice president at SBC (now AT&T) to the Skill Standards Board. SBC PACs and employees gave Perry $311,118.

Animal Health Commissioner Ralph Simmons is a production director at Pilgrim's Pride poultry. Dominated by donations by company founder Lonnie 'Bo' Pilgrim, Pilgrim's Pride contributed $281,692 to the governor.

A Perry Finance Commission pick is Dell Computer finance executive Kenneth Harris. Dell executives have given the governor $253,220.

Perry appointed Reliant Energy Executive Vice President Jerry Langdon to the Energy Planning Council. Reliant PACs and employees gave the governor's campaign $211,000.

VI. Perry Appointees Unknown To Perry's Campaign

A 2003 reform that Governor Perry signed into law requires Texas candidates to use their "best efforts" to disclose the occupation and employer of donors who contribute a total of $500 or more to a campaign in one reporting period. Candidates who fail to do so are required to document at least one written or verbal request to the donor for the missing information.

Perry's campaign repeatedly failed to disclose the employer of large donors whom Perry already had appointed to state offices. The campaign left the employer field blank, for example, in reporting $25,000 contributions from Perry-appointed A&M Regent Erle Nye and Finance Commissioner Allan Polunsky. The campaign failed to disclose this information even though the governor previously reported it in press releases about the corresponding appointments.

Similarly, the campaign reported that it had exhausted its "Best Efforts" attempting to identify the occupation and employer of $20,000 donor William F. Scott, whom the governor previously appointed to the Jefferson and Orange County Pilot Commission. At that time the governor had identified Scott as the Chair and CEO of the shipping company Trans-Global Solutions, Inc.

VII. Appointments By Region
 

Governor Perry's appointees were geographically concentrated; he picked more than half of them from the state's two most populous areas: the Metroplex's Prairies & Lakes region and Houston's Gulf Coast Region. Another 15 percent of Perry's appointees came from the Austin-dominated Hill Country. The Panhandle Plains and South Texas Plains each produced 10 percent of Perry's gubernatorial appointees. The sparsely populated Big Bend and Piney Woods regions produced the fewest appointees.

Generally, appointees from appointee-intensive regions contributed heavily to Perry's campaign. In an exception, the governor collected a generous average contribution of $4,032 from Big Bend appointees, whose region accounted for just 7 percent of all gubernatorial appointees.

VIII. Appointments By Gender
 

Governor Perry tapped women for 38 percent of his appointments. The governor collected $1,762 from his average female appointee, considerably less than the $4,476 that he received from the average male appointee. Male spouses also accounted for much of the money that Governor Perry received from the families of his most generous female appointees, a list led by Christina Melton Hicks, Donna Stockton-Hicks and Geraldine "Tincy" Miller.