Rick Perry's California connections

The Texas governor and soon-to-be presidential candidate (he's supposed to announce over the weekend) has been quite successful in collecting campaign cash from groups of conservative Californians - as well as several major corporations based in the state. Among the largest donors going back to when he first ran in 2000: Dawn Arnall, wife of billionaire banker Roland Arnall, Richard Hall, a Tustin developer, Alex Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers, and Elliott Broidy, the Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty to charges that he bribed NY pension officials. Among the corporate names (including PACs and employee funds), as compiled by California Watch:

--Fluor Corporation
--Northrop Grumman
--Parsons Corp.
--PG&E Corporation
--Hewlett Packard
--Sempra Energy
--ChevronTexaco
--Medco Health
--Genentech
--Natl Semiconductor
--Wellpoint Health Networks
--Pacificare
--Advanced Micro Devices
--Symantec

Something to keep in mind: Many of these donations go back several years to when Perry was running for state office - and before he became so closely tied to religious conservatives. Also, it would not be unusual for energy companies like Chevron and Sempra to want to stay friendly with Texas politicians. When it comes to campaign contributions, corporations tend to play the field. We'll see what the list looks like once he starts running for president.