Rick Perry was the governor of Texas, one of the largest states in the country, for 15 years. He ran for president twice and, for brief periods, was considered to have a legitimate shot at winning the Republican nomination. But his 2016 campaign never really took off with voters, and he dropped out of the race before the calendar year of 2016 actually even began. Now he is working as a lobbyist for a Fort Lauderdale, Florida–based “dental benefits administrator.”
Yes, Rick Perry is finally living the dream. Politico Florida has the goods on Perry’s Tuesday meeting with Florida Gov. Rick Scott:
Perry met with the Florida governor in his Capitol office to lobby him on a dental issue near and dear to MCNA Dental, a Fort Lauderdale-based company. … The meeting was set up by lobbying powerhouse Southern Strategy Group, a firm that represents MCNA Dental.
Now, I’ve done some research on the issue that Perry and Scott apparently discussed, and here’s a fact about it: It’s boring and you would not be interested if I wrote about it. Here’s another fact: 14 MCNA employees donated (“donated”) the maximum allowable amount to Rick Perry’s 2016 presidential campaign. From the Texas Tribune:
MCNA Dental — which has contracts with the Texas, Florida and Louisiana Medicaid programs, according to its website — was the top donor to Perry’s presidential bid, which ended in September, donating $37,800 directly to his campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org. MCNA Dental also gave $20,000 to Texans for Rick Perry, Perry’s state political action committee, in 2010, according to state records.
And that’s how your dental public policy sausage gets made. Mmm … public policy sausage!
