Governor’s Son Hired By Firm Consulting On Lottery Sale

Griffin Perry, 23, son of Texas Governor Rick Perry, is now employed by one of two financial firms in talks with the governor’s office over the sale of the Texas Lottery.

Although USB, where the younger Perry has reportedly worked for about two weeks, and the governor’s office have denied that the two events are related, the connection was worthy of an exclusive for the Dallas Morning News’ Christy Hoppe.
While it is doubtful that the younger Perry, who earned an economics degree from Vanderbilt last May, is at all involved in the team working on the sale, it nonetheless raises questions for government watchdogs like Texans for Public Justice:

Craig McDonald, director of the group Texans for Public Justice, which pushes for campaign finance changes, said that the Griffin Perry hiring and its timing should raise some concern.

“Hiring the governor’s son seems to be a way to enamor yourself with the man at the top,” Mr. McDonald said.

He said he recognized that it’s not always easy to pick your way through opportunities when you’re related to the governor.

“But he doesn’t have to work for the firm that has a lot of potential business in front of his father,” Mr. McDonald said.

While McDonald is indeed correct, I’m unaware of any state laws that prohibit the younger Perry from working at a company doing business with the state.

Even so, this coupled with the fact that Phil Gramm’s involvement in the lottery sale proposal has added a toxic air to an already controversial affair, may serve to put the breaks on the deal.

In situations like this, especially given that Perry is already taking heat from his own base over his HPV vaccine order, the governor may find it necessary to “cut and run” from the lottery sale in order to get some of his other agenda items accomplished. Only time will tell on that, however.