Justice says help needed for his legal bills even as firm's appeal neared
Justice Hecht solicited donors in February to pay the cost of defending himself against charges of violating judicial ethics. The state's judicial-conduct panel admonished Justice Hecht last year for using his office to promote the failed nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court. The sanction was subsequently overturned, but Justice Hecht owed $340,000 to his lawyers. Hillco PAC, an Austin-based committee whose primary funder is Mr. Perry, donated $16,000 to the justice. And the contribution came days before the Texas Supreme Court heard an appeal by Perry Homes seeking to overturn a string of unfavorable rulings.

Hecht Should Recuse Himself from Perry Homes Case and Reveal the Full List of Donors to His Legal Defense
The Dallas Morning News reported this morning that Hillco PAC, which has received more than $1 million from Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, gave Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht $16,000 in the days after Hecht solicited contributions to cover his legal expenses....“Justice Hecht should come clean once and for all by revealing the names of everyone who is picking up the tab for his legal bills,” said Winslow.  “At the very least, this calls Justice Hecht’s impartiality into question.  He should recuse himself from any case involving individuals who have contributed to his personal legal defense.”

Supreme Court's appeal decision raises quid pro quo charges
The Texas Supreme Court is in the midst of a campaign-contributions controversy after it chose to hear an appeal brought by one of its most generous benefactors. Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, one of the country's best-known donors to Republican causes, recently appealed an arbitration decision against his company, Perry Homes, to the Texas Supreme Court. The court began hearing the appeal last week. According to Texans for Public Justice (TPJ), a non-partisan watchdog group, Perry was also one of the justices' most generous donors last cycle. Altogether he gave the nine Texas Supreme Court (TSC) justices $94,750 for their election campaigns as an individual donor.

Bob Perry Needs a Hug
Perhaps nowhere was Perry’s Texas clout more apparent than in the 2003 creation of the Texas Residential Construction Commission (TRCC). An offshoot of the tort reform movement,.. In practice the TRCC became a captive agency to the industry it was supposed to regulate, and the law forced consumers to go through a lengthy complaint process only to find that at the end, the TRCC had no power to compel builders to do anything. This outcome was, of course, entirely favorable to the homebuilding industry, and in fact, it turned out that the person who’d written most of the bill that had created the commission was Perry Homes’ corporate counsel John Krugh, who was later appointed by Governor Perry to the newly created TRCC...Many people came to believe that, in effect, Bob Perry had been given his own state agency. Says Janet Ahmad, of Homeowners for Better Building, a watchdog group and consistent Perry critic: “Perry was the kingpin and the brains behind the TRCC. He was always behind the scenes.”

Swift Boat Money Man Raising $ for Romney
Bob Perry a Texas homebuilder and one of the primary funders of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, has signed on to raise money for the presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.). An invite to a Dallas fundraiser for Romney on March 26 includes Perry's name as a member of the governor's "Texas Leadership Team." Perry's decision to side with Romney is meaningful on several different levels.

What Bob Perry's Politicking Says About Campaign Finance Rules In America
But, Ahmed says she thinks the busloads of elderly lobbyist were in fact brought in, fed breakfast as well as slanted information, educated, by Pro court reform coaches connected to the Texas homebuilder industry about the so-called frivolous lawsuits, in what Ahmed believes was a clear case of smoke and mirrors politics meant to promote tort reform specifically favorable to home builders and developers. Ahmed says the Austin tort reform blitz was organized by the group Texas For Lawsuit Reform (TLR), run by Richard Weekly. Richard Weekly is the brother of another Texas homebuilder/developer, David Weekly. Ahmed and others have also said that the Texas Tort reform efforts were bankrolled by Developer Perry and Weekly's generous financial support for homebuilder friendly legislative, gubernatorial and judicial candidates.

Texas faces obvious problems that the 80th Lege should fix. It probably won't
On the frigid day in Texas that Rick Perry was sworn in for the term that will make him our longest-serving governor, one in five Texas children did not have health insurance...Tom Craddick won his third term as House speaker after fighting back an insurgent challenge to his leadership fueled in part by growing disgust over the undue influence of rich campaign contributors, whose largesse has been rewarded with limits on lawsuits and protections for homebuilders. The flow of money continues to course unchecked through Texas politics...Most recently, in the 2005-2006 election cycle, Leininger gave more than $5 million to Texas candidates. He’s not the only one. Republican home builder Bob Perry—the biggest political donor in the state and nation—gave $6.7 million to Texas candidates and political action committees, according to campaign watchdog Texans for Public Justice.

Letters: From dream home to nightmare
 Law should force builders to be responsible "Couple's dream home a 10-year legal nightmare – Builder fights claim of faulty house in court to which he's donated," Sunday news story. Original Article: Dream home becomes legal nightmare

Dream home becomes legal nightmare
A tortuous legal battle has carried the retirement-age couple through the courts, to arbitration and now through the courts again – all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. The Culls have won every round, but their home has not been fixed, legal costs have soared and the couple has postponed retirement plans. ..Particularly this builder: Mr. Perry is the nation's most generous individual political donor. He has been a leading advocate of laws to limit court awards against businesses and a financial benefactor to politicians and judges. And he has funded Republican candidates up and down the ballot in Texas, including more than $340,000 to the nine justices that will hear the Culls' case.