(Image source: Hot Air Pundit)

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

You're watching multisource politics video news analysis from Newsy
 

As Texas Governor-turned Republican presidential candidate, Rick Perry's had some ‘splaining to do to the base.

“Back in 2007, Perry issued an executive order that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus.” (KXAN)

No surprise -- an executive ordered mandate is a tough pill to swallow for the small-government voters Perry needs to win the nomination. Not to mention problematic for a candidate that’s called President Obama’s health insurance mandate unconstitutional.

But fellow contender Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann leveled a more serious charge that isn’t going away. Here she is Monday at the CNN Tea Party debate in Florida:

“We cannot forget that in the midst of this executive order there is a big drug company that made millions of dollars because of this mandate... The governor’s former chief of staff was the chief lobbyist for this drug company.”

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin joined the pile-on right after the debate.

“I knew even at that time, something was up with that issue. Now we are finding that yeah, something was up with that issue. It was an illustration or a bit of evidence of some crony capitalism.” (Fox News)

Ouch. Here’s the governor’s response.

“The company was Merck and it was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them. I raise about 30 million dollars and if you’re saying I can be bought by $5,000. I’m offended.”

It is true his former chief of staff Mike Toomey was a lobbyist for Merck -- and we should mention the executive order was never enforced -- since the Texas legislature overturned it after public outcry. (Texas Lobby Group)

And Perry DID say in that Florida debate that he’d do things differently if he could. But he says his passion for fighting cancer made it a good policy.

Still if Perry issued the exec order as a favor to a campaign contributor -- it could be potentially devastating to his campaign. So we checked the facts. First,  about that $5,000 he says he got.   The Texas Tribune dug up the numbers and says, "call that an understatement."

“In the past 10 years, he has received $29,500 from Merck PAC, the political action committee for Merck employees, nearly six times more than Perry acknowledged on stage.” 

But just because he low-balled the drug company’s contributions doesn’t mean he’s guilty. Still - the money picture is bigger than that. A Texans for Public Justice report found Merck gave a whopping $377,500 to the Republican Governor’s Association starting in 2006. Perry chaired the RGA in 2008 and again in 2011 -- until he announced his White House bid in August.

Following the money, Los Angeles Times points out the RGA has given Perry $4 million in the last five years and is his biggest single contributor.

The takeaway? This isn’t going away. The New Hampshire Union-Leader, home of the nation’s first primary by the way, has words for both Perry and Bachmann.

“Perry has some questions to answer. … [W]here does he draw the line on state vs. parental authority in this area? … Michele Bachmann characterized Perry as forcing ‘innocent children’ to get ‘government injections.’ … Nonsense. … The question is not whether a state should require vaccinations, as Bachmann seems to suggest, but where the line is drawn.”


Transcript by Newsy