Rick Perry: Using Taxpayer Funded Position For Personal & Party Gain
Vince Leibowitz | Jun 03, 2006 | Comments 1
If what R.G. Ratcliffe discusses on the Houston Chronicle’s Texas Politics Blog had happened at a Lion’s Club meeting, it would have been fine.
But, for the governor of Texas to use his office to to organize and hold a closed-door briefing (closed, mind you, to the general public and the media) by a state official at a political party convention is a gross abuse of power and taxpayer dollars:
Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign for re-election organized a special briefing at the Texas Republican Convention on border security issues by state Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw.
Sure, the campaign says they organized it. But do you think McCraw would do the same for Chris Bell—or, for that matter, Carole Strayhorn or Kinky Friedman? Hell, no. The fact is that Perry scored this because he is governor. Whether they say the campaign organized it, that his dog organized it, or that it was organized by a roving band of Scientologist Gypsies, the fact remains it was an abuse of power and an abuse of office.
Why this meeting was closed is irrelevant. The fact that the meeting was even held should be the issue. What’s next? Trotting out heads of the TEA, TCEQ and other state agencies down to the GOP convention so Perry’s right-wing supporters can tell them how to do their jobs.
This action is one step away from that. It should have never happened, and sets a bad precedent. It’s just another example of Perry’s corruption.
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Filed Under: 2006 Texas Elections • Texas Republicans
very very odd reasoning