The campaign manager for Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who is running against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the GOP primary, fired off a sarcastic letter today to the Texas Ethics Commission asking the standards for defining an in-kind contribution.
On a blog post, the Perry campaign says it is “working with the Texas Ethics Commission to determine the appropriate reporting” of a what it calls “a video highlighting the Senator’s disastrous announcement tour last week” that it posted on its website.
The letter reads as follows:
August 26, 2009
Mr. David A. Reisman
Executive Director
Texas Ethics Commission
201 East 14th Street, 10th Floor
Austin, TX 78701
Dear Mr. Reisman:
Recently, the Kay Bailey Hutchison campaign distributed a video throughout the internet. This video amounts to a highlight reel of her disastrous announcement tour. We feel that it is beneficial to our campaign and have posted it on a website paid for by Texans for Rick Perry (www.washingtonkay.com). Because we have posted this video, paid for by Texans for Kay Bailey Hutchison, I write you for clarification of the reporting rules for in-kind contributions to our campaign and to determine if this video qualifies as an in-kind contribution that should be reported as such. I am not certain of a dollar amount for the video but would be willing to report it as “priceless.”
I write this letter in an abundance of caution as we have been unable to find a precedent for such political activity and how to list it on our ethics report.
Thank you for your time and consideration on this issue.
Sincerely,
Rob Johnson
Campaign Manager
