The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has launched another flurry of television advertisements attacking Democrat John Kerry, and Houston homebuilder Bob Perry is providing most of the money.
In a report available to the public on Monday, the organization disclosed that it spent $326,210 on ads aired earlier this month in New Mexico and Nevada — states considered key to winning the White House this year.
Of that amount, $250,000 was donated by Perry, a longtime support of President Bush and other Republican candidates.
Perry, 71, earlier this year gave the Swift Boat Veterans $100,000 in start-up money at the urging of Houston attorney John O'Neill, co-author of a book critical of Kerry's military record.
According to the group's most recent report to the Federal Election Commission, seven other Houston residents chipped in smaller donations totaling $8,500 to the 527 political organization, so-called because of its designation under the federal tax code.
The $250,000 donated by Perry on Sept. 13 is the latest in a string of large donations from major Texas businessmen. Texas oilmen and longtime Bush family supporters Boone Pickens and Albert Huddleston previously gave $500,000 and $100,000, respectively, to the "Swifties."
There are an awful lot of rich Bush family supporters in that list. And there's no coordination between the Swifties and the Bush campaign, right?
