Swift Boater Keeping Blunt-Connected Committee Afloat

Randy Turner flagged an interesting pair of hefty campaign donations yesterday:

Texas home builder Robert Perry, who bankrolled the Swift Veterans for Truth campaign that gunned down John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign, is meddling in Missouri politics again.

A 48-hour report filed today [link] with the Missouri Ethics Commission, shows Perry and his wife Doylene donated $100,000 to the Seventh District Congressional District Committee.

On March 3, 2008, the Perry contributed $100,000 to the Missouri Republican Party which funneled the money through various district committees and eventually into the successful re-election campaign of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, and the unsuccessful campaign of attorney general candidate Michael Gibbons.

As Turner also notes, Perry is a prolific Republican donor, both nationally and in Missouri. He previously donated a whopping $4,450,000 of his personal fortune to the Swift Boat Campaign and $350,000 to Matt Blunt's campaign committee in 2007.

The 7th District Congressional Republican Committee has been a fundraising arm of the Missouri Republican Party for the past few cycles, with significant sums passing through its books to benefit Roy Blunt, Matt Blunt, Peter Kinder and others.

• In 2006, for example, Blunt transferred $100,000 to the 7th District Congressional Republican Committee while he was engaged in a three-way race to permanently replace Tom DeLay as Majority Leader. [National Journal's CongressDaily, April 17, 2006]
   
• The Committee has received generous contributions from Altria while Blunt's wife, Abigail, was the companies top lobbyist. In 2004, the company gave an impressive $100,000 to the Committee, while also maxing out with a $24,200 contribution to Matt Blunt's campaign. [Gannett News Service, October 29, 2004]
   
• In 2000, Friends of Roy Blunt gave $50,000 to the 7th District Congressional Republican Committee, which in turn transferred $40,000 to Missourians for Matt Blunt eight days later. By the end of the cycle, the Committee had given far more to Blunt's campaign. [Post-Dispatch, August 21, 2000]
   
• Roy Blunt and the 7th District Congressional Committee have also shared consultants.  Last cycle, for instance, the only political clients advertised by the web development firm, Alien Media, in Politics Magazine's annual consultant scorecard were self-described "wins" for Roy Blunt and the 7th District Congressional Republican Committee.  [Politics Magazine, December 1, 2008]

That said, it's not clear yet what will happen with this $100,000, or why a Texas businessman is so interested in what's happening this cycle in Missouri. When the Swift Boaters come to town, you never know.

Image credit: Austin American-Statesman