Top Perry donor defects over attacks on Romney's record

A top fundraiser for Rick Perry is jumping ship and endorsing Mitt Romney. 

Barry Wynn, an investment fund executive and top Republican donor for the Texas governor, plans to endorse Mitt Romney. Wynn told The Associated Press that recent attacks by Perry on Romney's tenure as head of private-equity firm Bain Capital had soured him on Perry's candidacy.

Perry and Newt Gingrich have strongly attacked Romney's time as head of Bain Capital, asserting that Romney's claim that he created 100,000 jobs as head of Bain glosses over the fact that he also fired thousands of employees of companies that the firm purchased. Perry compared Romney's work at Bain to "vulture" capitalism.

Some conservatives say the attacks on Romney's record amount to an assault on capitalism and free enterprise.

"I've been fighting for this cause most of my life," Wynn said to the AP. "It's like fingernails on the chalkboard. It just kind of irritated you to hear those kind of attacks."

Wynn, a former South Carolina Republican Party chairman, is also one of three close supporters of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) who reportedly plans to endorse Romney on Thursday. According to CNN, the others are South Carolina businessman Peter Brown and attorney Kevin Hall.

Wynn's comments come the same day that a pro-Romney super-PAC, Restore Our Future, is accusing Gingrich of making the attacks out of desperation.

"Newt Gingrich's attacks are called foolish, out of bounds and disgusting," a voice in the ad says.

Gingrich has maintained that the attacks on Romney's work at Bain Capital are fair.

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