I’ve been through the first 500 names (of 2,280) on Rick Perry’s campaign finance filing. The list was filed in alphabetical order. Perry had many more small donors than Carole Strayhorn did, and, so far, no contributions that were even in the neighborhood of the $250,000 Strayhorn received from trial lawyers Walter Umphrey and John Eddie Williams. There were some odd numbers, too; I saw reports of one-cent and two-cent contributions. It’s going to take me a couple of days to go through the whole thing. Perry took in $4.7 million, and this list doesn’t even get close to $1 million. But here are the 22 contributors who gave at least $25,000 or were otherwise interesting enough to include on this list. Most of the large contributions were listed as being from Mr. and Mrs. Here I name only the Mister. Sometimes the occupation is not discernible from the information provided; I have tried to look up the contributor online and give more information. I apologize for any errors in advance.
*Phil Adams, insurance broker, Bryan, $25,000
*Hushang Arsay, executive, Houston, $25,000 (two contributions)
*Joseph Aragona, venture capitalist, Austin, $25,000
*Anne Armstrong, rancher, Kingsville, $5,000. (The proprietor of the recently famous Armstrong Ranch and the former Ambassador to the Court of St. James.)
*Truman Arnold, airplane servicing, Texarkana, $20,000. (An important power broker and fundraiser since the days when conservative Democrats were in control of Texas.)
*Moshe Azoulay, commercial real estate, Dallas, $25,000
*Lee Bass, Bass Brother, Fort Worth, $25,000
*Louis Beecherl, oilman, Dallas, $25,000. (Along with Bob Perry, James Leininger, and Dick Weekley, Beecherl is at the very top of the pyramid of influential Republicans.)
*Beirne, Maynard, and Parsons, litigation, Houston, $42,500 (two contributions)
*Dr. William Boothe, Dallas, physician, $25,000
*J Brown, beer distributor, Austin, $25,000
*J Brown, beer distributor, El Paso, $25,000
*Charles Butt, HEB, San Antonio, $25,000. Butt has become a major backer of pro-education candidates.
*Jack Cardwell, gas stations, El Paso, $25,000
*Don Carter, Personal Way Transportation, Addison, $25,000
*Drs. Choksii and Asii, physicians, The Woodlands, $70,030.49 (two contributions)
*William Clements, rancher and first Republican governor of Texas since Reconstruction, Dallas, $25,000
*Kenneth Cooper, physician, Dallas, $1,000. (Presumably the fitness guru.)
*James Dannenbaum, engineer, Houston, $25,000
*Michael Dell, three guesses and the first two don’t count, Austin, $5,000
*Dan Duncan, energy services, Houston, $25,000
*J Ellis, investments, Irving, $25,000
