Texas Governor Rick Perry received at least $23,500 in campaign contributions from drug-maker Merck & Co., including $5,000 in 2006, the year before he ordered girls throughout the state to take a new Merck vaccine.
The total is greater than the $5,000 that Perry, seeking the Republican presidential nomination, acknowledged receiving from the company during a debate last night in Florida.
The drug-maker also has donated about $500,000 to the Republican Governors Association, a group which Perry chaired twice and has been among his most generous campaign donors.