Corporations Pay $2M For Access To Governor

It's official now.   Rick Perry has been sworn in for his third term as governor of Texas.   This time the governor tells us that he scaled back his inauguration because of the continuing recession.   Although what the Republicans call "scaled-down", the rest of us would label as ridiculously expensive.   This inauguration only cost about $2 million.

Republicans are quick to point out that the $2 million did not come out of state funds -- it was donated to the governor by corporations -- each of which donated between $5,000 and $100,000.   But these donors didn't supply that money out of the goodness of their hearts (and if you believe they did, I have some nice ocean-front property here in Amarillo I'll sell you real cheap).   They were buying good will and access from the governor, and they've already received the first installment -- getting face-time with the governor prior to his ceremony.   You can bet they'll expect more when any bill comes up that affects them.

Frankly, I don't understand why so much money needs to be spent on the inauguration of any governor (or president for that matter).   All that's really needed is a public swearing-in ceremony (which without the balls, dinners, barbecues and other hoopla could be done for next to nothing).   Why must we sell governmental access to the corporations so the elected official can throw a huge party for his/her followers?   Is this really necessary, especially in the middle of a recession where millions of ordinary citizens are hurting (and that governor is fixing to preside over cuts to services that will make that even worse)?

The Dallas Morning News has done us all a favor by printing a list of the corporate donors who have now bought access to the governor's office -- access that no ordinary Texas will have.   Here is the list of the new owners of Texas government:

2011 PLEDGED LEVEL CONTRIBUTOR
in-kind Bronze The Finkelstein Family
in-kind Bronze McAllister & Company
$100,000 Platinum AT&T
$100,000 Platinum BJ McCombs
$100,000 Platinum Madeleine and T. Boone Pickens
$50,000 Gold Exxon
$50,000 Gold Farouk Systems
$50,000 Gold Mindy & Jeff Hildebrand
$50,000 Gold Mickey Long
$50,000 Gold Plains Exploration & Production 
$50,000 Gold NuStar/Bill Greehey
$25,000 Silver Altria
$25,000 Silver American Electric Power
$25,000 Silver Anheuser Busch
$25,000 Silver Barry and Lana Andrews
$25,000 Silver Centerpoint Energy, Inc.
$25,000 Silver Chesapeake Energy
$25,000 Silver Chevron
$25,000 Silver Dell 
$25,000 Silver Devon Energy
$25,000 Silver Energy Future Holdings
$25,000 Silver HCA
$25,000 Silver Hewlett Packard
$25,000 Silver Marathon Oil
$25,000 Silver The Gallagher Law Firm
$25,000 Silver Nabors 
$25,000 Silver Nextera
$25,000 Silver Novartis
$25,000 Silver NRG
$25,000 Silver Oncor
$25,000 Silver Ryan, LLC
$25,000 Silver Stan and Linda Harper/ Alan and Patti Harper
$25,000 Silver Time Warner Cable
$25,000 Silver Xcel Energy
$10,000 Bronze Aetna
$10,000 Bronze Amerigroup
$10,000 Bronze Andrews Kurth
$10,000 Bronze Bell Helicopter
$10,000 Bronze Bobby Stillwell
$10,000 Bronze Comerica
$10,000 Bronze Conoco Phillips
$10,000 Bronze Dick Scott
$10,000 Bronze MCNA Dental
$10,000 Bronze Fry's Electronics
$10,000 Bronze Sarah & George Seay
$10,000 Bronze Glenda and Sam Kane
$10,000 Bronze Gulf States Toyota
$10,000 Bronze HEB
$10,000 Bronze Honeywell
$10,000 Bronze Iris and Ardon Moore
$10,000 Bronze John & Bobbie Nau / Silver Eagle Distributors
$10,000 Bronze Kaplan Higher Education
$10,000 Bronze Kim and Chuck Watson
$10,000 Bronze Koch Industries
$10,000 Bronze Lockheed Martin
$10,000 Bronze Maxor
$10,000 Bronze Microsoft
$10,000 Bronze Natasha and Michael Bleyzer
$10,000 Bronze Oracle
$10,000 Bronze Alejandra & Paul Foster
$10,000 Bronze PNM Resources
$10,000 Bronze Property Casualty Insurance
$10,000 Bronze Raytheon
$10,000 Bronze Reed Elsevier
$10,000 Bronze Republic Beverage/Alan and Barbara Dreeben
$10,000 Bronze Spark Energy
$10,000 Bronze Tenaska
$10,000 Bronze Texas Civil Justice League
$10,000 Bronze Texas Credit Union League
$10,000 Bronze Texas Gaming Association
$10,000 Bronze Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Texas
$10,000 Bronze Travelers
$10,000 Bronze United Technologies
$10,000 Bronze UPS
$10,000 Bronze USAA
$10,000 Bronze Wholesale Beer Distributors
$10,000 Bronze Lilly
$10,000 Bronze Margaret and Jim Perkins
$5,000 Friend Ramona & Lee Bass
$5,000 Friend Nesa and Larry Anders
$5,000 Bronze Wind Energy Transmission Texas