While still proclaiming it is "independent," the new powerhouse super PAC called "Make Us Great Again" has launched a website filled with photos of Rick Perry and campaign bullet points about the governor’s record creating jobs and lowering taxes in Texas.

"Rick Perry Can Make America Great Again," reads the headline on the group’s home page.

The pro-Perry message isn’t a surprise: The group was co-founded by Austin super lobbyist Mike Toomey, who was Perry’s chief of staff and shares ownership of a New Hampshire island with David Carney, Perry’s campaign strategist.

But it marks one more step removing the illusion of "independence" surrounding super PACs, which are proliferating this year because of their ability to collect unlimited amounts of money from corporations and wealthy donors. (Backers of Rep. Michele Bachmann's candidacy announced Wednesday that they have formed a new super PAC, Citizens for a Working America, to promote her candidacy.)

When it filed legal papers with the Federal Election Commission two weeks ago, the organizers of Make Us Great Again made no mention of Perry. Like the legal filings of other super PACs, they declared they were an "independent" political committee that would not make contributions "direct" or "via coordinated communications" to any particular federal candidates. They also checked off a box saying they would back or oppose "more than one federal candidate." Read more reporting by Michael Isikoff in 'The Isikoff Files'

But the names of no other candidates other than Rick Perry appear on the website of Make Us Great Again. The name "Perry" appears 15 times, along with this message: "We’ve weathered Obama’s storm long enough. New jobs start with new conservative leadership. Rick Perry for president."

"We're a completely separate entity," Jason Miller, a spokesman for Make Us Great Again, when asked about the super PAC's connections to Perry's presidential campaign. The group was formed by "supporters" who "want to see Rick Perry president" but who are not coordinating their activities with the candidate, he said. Perry also "at present" has no plans to speak at any of the group's fundraising events, he added.

Going a step further
In leaving no doubt about its goals, the pro-Perry Make Us Great Again appears to be going a step further than the super PACs backing the other leading president candidates.

"Restore Our Future," the super PAC founded by three former political aides to Mitt Romney, has no photos of the former Massachusetts governor on its website, even though the group’s organizers have explicitly said their goal is to elect Romney president
Source:msnbc