Governor made hay with horse-racing lobby (Rick Perry)

[Judi Lynn]

July 22, 2004, 12:58AM
Governor made hay with horse-racing lobby
Donations before gambling debate totaled $232,800

By ZANTO PEABODY
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle


Gov. Rick Perry raked in nearly a quarter-million dollars from horse-breeding and racing interests in a single day in February, just two months before a special session on school finance during which a Perry-backed proposal to allow gambling at racetracks was debated.

The $232,800 in donations rolled in on Feb. 11, a couple of months after Perry's office acknowledged that Chief of Staff Mike Toomey had begun talks with certain groups about a proposal to allow video lottery terminals at racetracks and Indian reservations to help raise education funds.
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Robert Black, a Perry spokesman, said the donations were typical of the governor's fund-raising efforts.

Already, Perry's campaign has collected $5.1 million for the 2006 race.
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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2694830
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[ClintonTyree]

1. This gambling............

issue is a crock of crap anyway. They always promise that the money raised will go to education, what they don't say is that they'll trim funs already allocated for education and supplement them with the gambling funds. If all of the money spent on Lotteries and gaming were to go directly to education, we'd have the best schools and the smartest kids on the planet. They pull the old switcheroo and only give a predetermined amount of money to education anyway. Gaming is just another tax that they fleece the stupid with.