one of merck's chief lobbyists was mike toomey.as michele bachmann pointed out, before finding employment with work, toomey served as the chief of staff for governor perry. nbc news' michael issicoff shows toomey's office had repeated contacts with perry's aides during the drafting of perry's executive order. today toomey runs. make us great again. a super pac, a super, super pac, that pledged to spend $55 million to support perry's bid for president. with friends at giant worldwide companies like merck, 55 million shouldn't be a problem. joining me now, james moore, who is co-author of "the new york times" bestseller "bush's brain" and has been covering texas politics since 1975. his forthcoming book is, well, i'm just going to do the subtitle of the book which is "why rick perry will make america miss george w. bush." because the actual title of the book is a questionable use of spanish that may not pass msnbc standards. thank you very, very much for joining us tonight. we will get the title of your book on our website. i just ha

or that she was, or that merck should not, should have had no trucking with merck?he took the winds out of the attack. >> but he has been hurt. >> he has been tort. >> the pharmaceutical companies are supposeding to to doctors and say this is what i have available. they do that routinely. try to sell the doctors on the merits of their heavily -- research. >>> >> if perry was convinced by this lobbyist who happened to be his chief of staff it still was the right decision. >> he said he would have done it differently. >> you can see from the >>> issue t work. and they never did. >> question. did the white house vet the loan for solyndra? is this a serious political black eye? james? >> i think it is. remember, people they look back at that original $800 billion stimulus and it kind of looks like it didn't create very many jobs. people are like how did we spend that money and not create jobs? why? because it was going to companies like solyndra, which is on very shaky foot and go even with the half billion dollars it still went belly-up just as many people predicted by

one aide talked of meeting with our merck representative. with the vaccine costs about $300 per girl, the company stood to make millions in texas and billions nationwide and mounted an intense lobbying campaign across the country. today perry stuck to his defense that his decision was always about saving lives. >> i sat on the side of a bed of a young lady as she was dying from cervical cancer. it had an impact on me. i care about life. >> reporter: now this is a major issue for conservatives and it goes well beyond whether these young girls have to get this vaccine. perry's opponents say his executive order was abuse of power and smacks of cronyism. >> pelley: congresswoman bachmann was also caught in an h.p.v. vaccine controversy. she appeared on television and said after this week's debate a woman approached her in tears and said her daughter had been given the vaccine and "suffered mental retardation" as a result. dr. jon lapook is our medical correspondent, and, jon, is there any science that suggests h.p.v. vaccine can have that effect

merck had give him $28,000. he had a former aide who is now running the merck superpac. >> it does raise questions. it raises questions for a lot of politicians, not just rick perry, across the board. look at general electric's relationship with barack obama and campaign donation there. s what good for the goose is good for the gander. that being said, there was a good bit of time between some of the sizeable merck contributions and this happening in 2007. it wasn't just texas that did it. in georgia, they tried to do it. to michele bachmann's overarching point that people had this happen, she cannot identify because it's impossible to identify a single child in texas who had the hpv vax ooeb because of what rick perry did. they don't exist because it never went into effect. >> she was on the mark there because the "houston chronicle" and the "san antonio express news" have done a number of stories in the past six months talking about governor rick perry and his relationship with donors from the state. so also f

what this has done. >> and big money to merck. >> of course.could have made hundreds of millions if not billions from this. but what -- i think what this really has done is open the door to the crony capitalism charge that has sort of plagued perry for the last several cycles in his gubernatorial campaigns. and to an extent there's always been this pay to play culture in texas. >> southern governors in general. this tripped up bill clinton back in the day. >> of course. and you know, the question always is, how far does it go? and with perry, the allegations are and there's plenty of examples of it taking it -- of him taking it to the outer limits. you look at the contributions to perry's gubernatorial campaign where there are no limits in texas. 2.5 million from bob perry, that huge texas land builder. herald simmons opens -- runs a nuclear waste dump in west texas. $1.1 million. what does he get? state approval from perry. so there's example after example where this has come up and you are going to see as the campaign unfolds each of these is

merck had give him $28,000. he had a former aide who is now running the merck superpac. >> it does raise questions. it raises questions for a lot of politicians, not just rick perry, across the board. look at general electric's relationship with barack obama and campaign donation there. s what good for the goose is good for the gander. that being said, there was a good bit of time between some of the sizeable merck contributions and this happening in 2007. it wasn't just texas that did it. in georgia, they tried to do it. to michele bachmann's overarching point that people had this happen, she cannot identify because it's impossible to identify a single child in texas who had the hpv vax ooeb because of what rick perry did. they don't exist because it never went into effect. >> she was on the mark there because the "houston chronicle" and the "san antonio express news" have done a number of stories in the past six months talking about governor rick perry and his relationship with donors from the state. so also f

as for merck's take on this, no response from them either. joining me now is andrew weed, justice and roland martin, a texas native. andrew, you've been covering governor perry for many years in texas. how close are these two? >> well, i think for all practical purposes, mike toomey and governor perry are attached at the hip. they've worked together for 25 years. they were roommates when they both served in the texas house together when mr. toomey worked as a chief of staff for the governor. and he had a nickname and that nickname was governor toomey. there's a sense here in austin that mr. toomey, very bright and hard working, is the power behind the throne of governor perry. >> roland, you're saying this sort of -- we're seeing underbelly of politics playing out here? >> absolutely. i hate to suggest that this is what we're used to but that's a fact. i think the voters are saying, my goodness, we're used to this revolving door, whether it's in texas, illinois, or washington, d.c., where people that work for politicians go to corporate ameri

. >> the company was merck and a $5,000 contribution i received from them.ught for $5,000, i'm offended. >> perry's right. he can't be bought for $5,000. it takes at least a couple hundred thousand. during the six years as perry served as chairman of the chief fundraiser for the association, merck donated $377,500 to the rga. republican governors association. the drug company donated another $28,500 to texas republican gubernatorial campaigns. and to top it off, perry's former chief of staff was merck's chief lobbyist in texas when rick perry signed the controversial executive order requiring girls to get the merck-made hpv vaccine. funny connection there, isn't it? rick perry is so deep into the pocket of merck he can't even see his way out. so for him to act offended by accusations that he can be bought is texas sized "psycho talk." >>> senator bernie sanders says poverty in america is a death sentence. that's being counterpunched. he joins me next. >>> and in my "playbook" the battle lines have been drawn between, actually drawn in the fight over ohio's s

how much money did merck give him? >> merck gave $28,500 to his gubernatorial campaigns, but another $377,000 to the republican governor's association during the time perry was chairman and finance chair. >> all right, you've got him. you've got him. >> there was a lot more money than that $5,000. >> so i can't be bought for 5, but they gave me $28,500 and $337,000. so why would he be so maladroit saying he couldn't be bought for 5, and he was given 28,500 on top of that amount and 337,000 when he was head of the republican governors from the same company? >> in preparation for the second debate, they went over this. what they expected was romney's going to come at him on social security. bachmann and maybe santorum will come at him first on immigration. then with respect to this merck deal, they thought that what bachmann was going to do was talk as this christian conservative, saying a bad thing because it's about sex and it violates these parental rights and this responsibility, and so forth. they did not expect bac

as for merck's take on this, no response from them either. joining me now is andrew weed, justice and roland martin, a texas native. andrew, you've been covering governor perry for many years in texas. how close are these two? >> well, i think for all practical purposes, mike toomey and governor perry are attached at the hip. they've worked together for 25 years. they were roommates when they both served in the texas house together when mr. toomey worked as a chief of staff for the governor. and he had a nickname and that nickname was governor toomey. there's a sense here in austin that mr. toomey, very bright and hard working, is the power behind the throne of governor perry. >> roland, you're saying this sort of -- we're seeing underbelly of politics playing out here? >> absolutely. i hate to suggest that this is what we're used to but that's a fact. i think the voters are saying, my goodness, we're used to this revolving door, whether it's in texas, illinois, or washington, d.c., where people that work for politicians go to corporate ameri

saying that i can be budget for $5,000, i'm offended. >> but there is more than $5,000 connecting mercknd the governor. when we look at what is donated factored into the figure, it rocked into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. wayne slater is a write for fore ""dallas morning news"" and who is mark tomey, and what is this debate? >> well, the governor was trying to reflect the most casual of relationships, but the lobbyist for merck who successfully lobbied for the governor to move in the direction of a mandate is someone who served in the legislature in 1980s with rick perry as a young legislator, and they were members on something on the budget committee known as the pit bull. they were the tough guys who wanted to work with trying to keep the spending down as best they could, but more important than that, tomey was one of the most successful lobbyists in decades. he helped rick perry on real estate matters that helped rick perry become a millionaire and returned to the chief of staff and helped lobby in other interests, and he also helped lobby with the guru where they both co-ow

ed, do you think p perry's relationship with merck might hurry the campaign or no?ting. it it didn't hurt him in the last gubernatorial election here. rick perry defeated senator kay bailey hutchison believed at the time to be the most popular republican politician in the state. perry defeated her soundly in the primary and went on to win the general election as well. perry's folks have said for more than four years that that relationship between perry and his former chief of staff and him going on to work for merck had no bearing on his decision. they say everything was above board and have long denied that. hasn't affected him in this campaign or the last election here in texas. we'll see how this issue continues to kind of fester over here in the presidential election. >> yeah. something, ed, that the viewers couldn't see at home was really what happened after the debate where a lot of tea partiers jumped ship and now they're backing romney. you think we might expect to see more of that after the debate? >> that's one of the things we brought up with the dallas t

he's now an austin lobbyist who did work for merck for years.ow, the day after the cnn debate, michele bachmann made for headlines for this comment she made about the hpv vaccine on the "today" show. >> i had a mother last night come up to me here in tampa, florida, after the debate. she told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter. >> bachmann came under fire for that message. scientists and medical professionals have flat out debunked the notion that the hpv vaccine could cause mental retardation, to use her term. the minnesota congresswoman didn't apologize. instead she explained her controversial comment this way. >> i wasn't speaking as a doctor. i wasn't speaking as a scientist. i was merely passing on in an interview after the debate what i had been told. because again, the main point of my remarks was that crony capitalism and also the fact that there was an abuse of executive power. >> she was just passing it on. never mind the fact that it was complete misinform

he's now an austin lobbyist who did work for merck for years.e day after the cnn debate, michele bachmann made for headlines for this comment she made about the hpv vaccine on the "today" show. >> i had a mother last night come up to me here in tampa, florida, after the debate. she told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter. >> bachmann came under fire for that message. scientists and medical professionals have flat out debunked the notion that the hpv vaccine could cause mental retardation, to use her term. the minnesota congresswoman didn't apologize. instead she explained her controversial comment this way. >> i wasn't speaking as a doctor. i wasn't speaking as a scientist. i was merely passing on in an interview after the debate what i had been told. because again, the main point of my remarks was that crony capitalism and also the fact that there was an abuse of executive power. >> she was just passing it on. never mind the fact that it was complete misinformation.

he's now an austin lobbyist who did work for merck for years.ow, the day after the cnn debate, michele bachmann made for headlines for this comment she made about the hpv vaccine on the "today" show. >> i had a mother last night come up to me here in tampa, florida, after the debate. she told me that her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter. >> bachmann came under fire for that message. scientists and medical professionals have flat out debunked the notion that the hpv vaccine could cause mental retardation, to use her term. the minnesota congresswoman didn't apologize. instead she explained her controversial comment this way. >> i wasn't speaking as a doctor. i wasn't speaking as a scientist. i was merely passing on in an interview after the debate what i had been told. because again, the main point of my remarks was that crony capitalism and also the fact that there was an abuse of executive power. >> she was just passing it on. never mind the fact that it was complete misinform

second from the end we have the vice president of state government affairs policy at merck and co.. he manage responsibility for state government affairs in the washington office on federal health care policy. he is a member of merck's corporate responsibility council and the leader of activities in the area of public policy advocacy. on the far end, tony kavanagh, vice president of government affairs at american electric power. he works with senior executives and seven operating company presidents to coordinate and implement the company's legislative and regulatory agenda at the federal and state level. he has been active in electric utility since 1983. in the center a familiar face to everyone mr. wertheimer, founder of democracy 21. an organization that works to strengthen our democracy and report accountability and transparency measures. he spent four decades working on democracy in government and is recognized as a national leader on money and politics including campaign finance, ethics, lobbying and transparency. frank has turned up in many stories written by me and the new yo

. >> the company was merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that i had received from them. and if you're saying that i can be bought for 5,000, i'm offended. >> reporter: nbc's michael isikoff. >> actually, the drug company merck has contributed $28,500 to perry's gubernatorial campaigns. and it hired perry's former chief of staff mike toomey as its top lobbyist in austin. toomey is now running a massive super pac that is planning to spend $55 million to support perry's candidacy. >> reporter: for perry, the tea party has made him, boosting him to an early lead. in our latest poll, 56% of all republican primary voters support the tea party movement. brian williams asked the president about the tea party in an exclusive interview. >> is the tea party here to stay? >> you know, i think the strains that you're seeing in the tea party are a permanent part of the american political landscape. i do think that the extreme position that you hear that says government has no role to play in growing our economy, that the federal government has no function to play in building a strong

meanwhile, perry claimed he got $5,000 from merck.resented their 2006 contributions. in all, perry has pocketed about $30,000 from merck. the maker of the hpv vaccine. merck has reportedly given more than $380,000 to the republican governor's association since 2006. that's the year that perry stepped up his role in that group. one watchdog group estimates the rga has given perry's campaign more than $4 million over the last 5 years. a perry spokesman insists the vaccine decision was based only on women's health concerns. quote, what drove the governor on this issue was protecting life and nothing else, unquote. oh, and it's also worth noting that perry's ties to merck don't end with that $5,000. his former chief of staff was a lobbyist for merck before and after he worked for governor perry. open your windows. you can smell this. here's the question -- rick perry says he can't be bought for $5,000. how much will this comment haunt him? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile, post the comment on my blog or go to our post on "the situation room"'s

she accused the governor of taking money from the drug company merck in exchange for an executive order. bachmann later said a woman told her her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result of the injection. perry called that claim baseless. >> i sat on the side of the bed of a young lady as she was dying from cervical cancer. it had an impact on her. i care about life. >> reporter: cbs news learned that merck gave nearly $30,000 to perry's campaign not the $5,000 he claimed on monday night. now, the texas legislature reversed that order and at a fund-raiser this week, perry said he handled the issue wrong. betty? >> tara mergener in washington, thank you. >>> in washington today, speaker of the house john boehner gives his own speech on creating jobs. it comes on the heels of president obama's $447 billion proposal. boehner says he doesn't think the president's plan will help the economy the way it should. >>> in washington last night, the president pushed his proposal at the congressional hispanic caucus institute awards dinner. his plan to raise taxes on the wealthy has republic

. >> the company was merck and it was a $5,000 contribution that i had received for them. i raise about $30 million and if you're saying that i can be budget bought for 5,000, i'm offended. >> his response was i'm offended if you think i can be bought by $5,000. he needs to come out and say it. he needs to try to explain relationships and talk about government and fund raising and his role as governor. >> some of the republicans we talked to today said that while perry wasn't perfect, the biggest problem he's creating for himself could come in a general election taking positions that could be hard to defend in the event he gets the republican nomination. >> executions. it's a controversial issue because he's had a lot of them. it didn't come up, but that's potentially an issue. >> a huge issue because he's got a lot more executions coming up and he's already gone on the record and said, hey, i support the texas position. i support executions. we get it right in texas. a lot of liberals and people opposed to the death penalty are going to take issue with that, but this is a

the company was merck, and it was a $5,000 contribution that i had received from them. i raise about $30 million. and if you're saying that i can be bought for $5,000, i'm offended. >> reporter: and perry found himself on the wrong side of the tea party when he defended support for in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants. >> a policy that got boos from the crowd. >> that is not the american way. >> reporter: well, in the end, perry was hit hard but stayed on his feet, which is why he will continue on. as the front-runner in the race, tomorrow he heads to virginia, not a very important state to republican primary voters, but the trick for the rest of the field, convince governor perry this race is not over yet. >> they're all experienced in some fashion. have all been on the public stage before and all in good fighting form last night. in the moment you're talking about when everybody piled on rick perry, it started to show a little bit. he looked a little frustrated. a little like, what's going on here. they were all jumping on him at the same time. >> r

top aides is a lobbyist for merck. >> is the worry about perry that -- because these are hits from the right. the argument about the h.p.v. is that this is an overreach by the government. he was also hit on immigration. and he was too lenient. is he vulnerable from the right or is it a larger problem about his potential electable in the general election? >> i think think rivals are trying to figure that out. they're coming at him from the left if you will on social security. saying he's too far out there. his -- radical and out of the mainstream. romney has gone so far as to say this will ruin the party if he's the nominee. with these positions on social security. i think they're sort of trying the kitchen sink. they're just throwing everything at him and seeing what might work and not work. they're feeling their way. we're going to see. we have another debate in orlando on thursday. there can be some other forums there. connected with that. i bet you're going to see them keep coming at him. because they have not knocked him off his pedestal yet. >> what has he done so far? has he push

. >> the company was merck and it was a $5,000 contribution that i had received from them.you're saying that i can be bought for $5,000, i'm offended. >> does he have reason to be offended? was it $5,000, ed? >> well, this is interesting. merck donated $5,000 to rick perry's gubernatorial campaign in 2006, just that one year alone. in the last ten years since rick perry has been governor, merck has donated more than $28,000. $20,000 was done before this hpv vaccine executive order was

it found merck donated more than $377,000 to the rga. that's since 2006.he same period, the association has donated $4 million to rick perry's campaigns for governor. all perfectly legal, but a glimpse into how money runs through the political system. and now rick perry says he handled the hpv vaccine issue all wrong. >> but on that particular issue, i will tell you that i made a mistake by not going to the legislature first. at the end of the day, this was about trying to stop a cancer. >> reporter: governor perry as his aides long denied this decision had anything to do with the campaign donations or the fact that governor perry's former chief of staff worked for a lobbyist for the drug maker merck and it didn't seem to bother voters in 2010 when governor perry was re-elected. ed lavandera, cnn, dallas. >>> breaking silence for the first time, casey anthony's parents, since she was cleared of murder charges in july. appearing on the "dr. phil show." george admitting his daughter continue to lie after her daughter went missing. cindy telling dr. phil she

. >> what colmes is talking about, merck makes the vaccine and people who work for him work for merck. >> nobody holds a gun to their head and force them to do it. if you -- >> it was 8 against 1. >> i don't care if you are barack obama, hillary clinton, mit romney, you don't get in the name unless you have thick skin or you develop it really fast. if you can't stand the heat of a campaign you have no bisque president. come on! because you know what? rick pair is the shiny new toy so everyone wants to dig him up a little bit. it is great for him and great for the republican appeal. >> why is it great? he look dazed out there. >> it's great for rick perry because it's forcing him to think. it's forcing him to work through his positions and it's forcing him to be a better candidate. i'll tell you the proof that we see in this is mit romney. mit romney has been at this game for four years, okay? when he first started in this, he was stiff and you could make that argument still but he has become a much better candidate since the texas governor got in. >> crowley think it's good for perry

one slide on education and outreach, and the creation and expansion of the voluntary programs for merck -- more bird-safe practices. let's look at the context so that we can understand the principles for the ordinance. in reviewing the research, there are fewer risk factors. the greater the threat, a very common sense. bird behavior is consistent. whether the bird is in san francisco, or chicago, they will react the same. there have been nighttime strikes for tens of thousands of birds, this is the winter collision for this year. this applies to the buildings and the cars, with these collisions. the frequency of collisions, this has a lot of lush vegetation, and in the tall buildings, they are adjacent to the open spaces. with these guiding principles in mind, we went to the scientists to develop the local qualities. the draft ordinance has a few circumstances. where the buildings are located near the wide-open spaces. the second time -- second kind of control, there is a certain design elements that prevents special hazards in and of itself. there are some historic structures in small-

republican governors association took on fund-raising activities and became the head of the rga, the merck group has donated almost $380,000 to the rga and $4 million has been donated from the rga to governor rick perry's campaign. this is the kind of thing, all perfectly legal, i must be perfectly clear about this, but finance watchdogs, a group here in texas cled texans for public justice, it just infuriates them. they think there's more to this than meets the eye. >> if there's more to it, people will be scrubbing that record. my first campaign was governor dukakis. then clinton, then bush. when they step on to the stage, they think all of this has been litigated. maybe not. >>> that's all the time we have tonight. hope to see you right back here tomorrow. >>> tonight, she changed the world of music and she left it far too soon. amy winehouse. nobody knew her quite like her father mitch. >> my memories of her will never fade. she was my daughter. >> mitch winehouse, his daughter's extraordinary talent -- >> obviously will be her music. there will be some more, hopefully. >> her demons.

>> the company was merck and it was a $5,000 contribution that i received from them. i raise about $30 million and if you're saying that i can be bought for $5,000, i'm offended. >> well, i am offended for all the little girls and the parents that didn't have a choice. that's what i'm offended for. >> roland martin, obviously, that played very well to a conservative crowd. how do you think it played to maybe independents? >> look, here you have a governor who is saying, first of all, he's saying that if he had to do it again, he wouldn't do it. i think one of the mistakes he made was trying to keep coming back and defend it. once you've made clear, i would have gone to legislature. you leave it there. sometimes you have to take a hit when you know it's there. trying to explain it, it's not' riley good idea. but look, i still don't think, they can spend as much time as they want talking about this vaccine and this whole notion of a mandate. it's election when you appeal to independents, it will still come down to the issue of the economy. they spend so much time on the