Rick Perry's Texas

From The Frum Forum:

What might you do with a pile of free taxpayer money and a ton of political influence? Perhaps you could get your hands on patents developed by the University of Texas.

(A) Perry contributor cashed in his chits for a $1.5m investment from the Texas ETF. Charles Tate is a major Perry donor who had managed to get himself put in charge of a board that “vetted” candidates for the ETF. He recommended the ETF give money to Thrombovision, and then invested in the company himself.

He and his partners accepted that state grant in 2007. The company failed to submit annual reports and finally sought bankruptcy protection in 2010. Since the taxpayers under Perry’s program are doling out grants instead of loans and taking no equity interest in the companies to which they give money, the state gets nothing from the bankrupt entity, unlike the Solyndra case. The folks who got the state grant just walk away. And Perry doesn’t have to give back the campaign contributions.

That’s how you do business in Rick Perry’s Texas.