When Gov. Rick Perry announced last summer that he wouldn’t run for re-election, he said he was committed to spending his last 18 months in office working to create more jobs and opportunity in Texas. It’s a pledge he has taken seriously, traveling to places like California, New York and Israel in the last year to promote the “Texas Miracle” and recruit companies to bring jobs to the state.
Supporting Perry’s travels is TexasOne, a quasi-governmental agency that has become the governor’s chief marketing tool to tout the state’s “wide open for business” model and that funds his regular promotional trips. (Click here to see an interactive list detailing each of the major contributors to TexasOne and Perry’s campaigns.)
TexasOne is controversial in part because of how it’s funded: Many of the same corporations and donors that have contributed millions of dollars combined to the governor’s campaigns also donate to TexasOne, which helps woo corporations to bring jobs to Texas.
Prolific Donors Are Behind Perry's Marketing Tool | The Texas Tribune.