Turkey Federation Commends Rick Perry
May 7, 2008 by Vince Leibowitz · Leave a Comment
It would literally be impossible to make this up:
The National Turkey Federation commends Texas Governor Rick Perry for petitioning EPA to cut the Renewable Fuels Standard in half, citing the standard’s impact on food prices and the cost of poultry and livestock production.
The Turkey Federation commends a great, big, 39-percent turkey.
Perry Taps Texas Cash For Republican Governor’s Association
April 17, 2008 by Vince Leibowitz · Comments Off
Texas Governor Rick Perry is tapping some serious Texas cash for the Republican Governor’s Association. In fact, 25 percent of the $7.1 million the group has raised since January has come from Texas.
Bob Perry, of course, has given a quarter million bucks. Not surprisingly, Trans-Texas Corridor interests have also given big bucks:
Perry’s Pick For Workforce Commission Draws Fire Of Labor Leaders
March 13, 2008 by Vince Leibowitz · Leave a Comment
Texas Governor Rick Perry’s appointment of former state GOP chairman Tom Pauken to the “public” seat on the Texas Workforce Commission has drawn the fire of state labor leaders, as expected:
Texas AFL-CIO president Becky Moeller blasted the appointment, saying that Mr. Pauken is too much of a conservative “ideologue” to help workers needing fair treatment to get top-notch training or recover from layoffs.
“Tom Pauken has a long record of advocacy for right-wing views and even battled George W. Bush and John Cornyn because he thought they were too liberal. This does not bode well for working people who need a Workforce Commission that will seriously consider all sides of workplace issues,” Ms. Moeller said.
While there is a position for a Commissioner representing labor, I really can’t think of a more controversial appointment Perry could have made, simply because of Pauken’s role as head of the Republican Party of Texas. Here is what Pauken says about it:
Mr. Pauken said such concerns are “ludicrous” because he has a long history of working well with labor concerns, dating back to his White House days.
Sadly, it is hard to call Pauken’s claim that the concerns are “ludicrous” when he’s on the record making statements like this:
Governor Perry’s New Alcoholic Beverage Commissioner Doesn’t Drink, Seems To Misunderstand TABC’s Function
March 13, 2008 by Vince Leibowitz · Leave a Comment
Normally, we at Capitol Annex don’t pay too much attention to Governor Rick Perry’s appointments to the nine hundred thousand boards and commission that help run the state of Texas–unless someone is being appointed as Chair.
However, this story about a new appointee to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is just too interesting to pass up. Check this out:
Steven Weinberg said he was surprised when a member of Gov. Rick Perry’s staff called to say the governor was offering him a spot on the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
“I told them that I, personally, don’t drink,” said Weinberg, 65, a semiretired surgeon and attorney who lives in Colleyville. “They said that was good, because I’d come to the issues with an open mind.”
What? This is almost unbelievable. It’s not a problem that Dr. Weinberg doesn’t drink, really. But, it is a problem that he seemed surprised the Governor was offering him a spot on the TABC. On the governor’s appointment application, there are spots to list what positions a person would be interested in. We would presume that, had Dr. Weinberg indicated an interest in the position, he wouldn’t have been surprised by his appointment to the post.
Equality Texas: Rick Perry Is Obsessed & Preoccupied With Sex
February 28, 2008 by Vince Leibowitz · Leave a Comment
We missed this last week due to time constraints, but wanted to make sure we posted it, because it makes some great points about Rick Perry’s book on the Scouting movement. It’s destined to become a classic press statement. It’s from Equality Texas:
In an interview with Deborah Solomon in Sunday’s The New York Times Magazine, Texas Governor Rick Perry continued his preoccupation with sex, asserting that allowing gays in the Boy Scouts of America would subject boys to “a crash course in sexual orientation”. When asked why he supports efforts to keep gays out of the Scouts, Perry said, “I am pretty clear about this one. Scouting ought to be about building character, not about sex. Period. Precious few parents enroll their boys in the Scouts to get a crash course in sexual orientation.” When asked whether he believed that gay youth might also be interested in the character-building aspects of scouting, Perry replied, “The argument that gets made is that homosexuality is about sex.”
Statement of Paul Scott, Executive Director of Equality Texas:
Rick Perry’s Rambling Mess: Criticizing Hillary Clinton, Calls Boyd Ritchie A ‘Good Fella,” & More!!
February 1, 2008 by Vince Leibowitz · Leave a Comment
If you are in the mood to watch a train wreck on a Friday morning, look no further than this YouTube video of Rick Perry before the press this week. I don’t know if the man needs more caffeine, less caffeine, has just become less smrt while in office, or what. Either way, watch the video, and check out our favorite statements below.
We can already see this video becoming the next great college drinking game at UT Austin. (Every time the governor calls R.G. Ratcliffe by name, FIVE SHOTS OF TEQUILA!) [Seriously, we not believe the esteemed Mr. Ratcliffe is the only reporter whose name the Governor knows and/or can remember! Poor Karen Brooks....]
Our favorite lines:
“The more time I spent with [Rudy] the more I admired….his assets.”
“We measure people every day.”
“We’ll just have a full-blown press conference, R.G. [Ratcliffe]!”
“I don’t recall a meeting with Mitt Romney last summer….I don’t recall a meeting with him other than….him coming by the mansion and having a discussion about RGA…obviously wasn’t a whole lot to recall from it.”
“This matrix may not be the best….”
“I’m still just as conservative as I was five years ago and as I will be five years in the future.”
“…that warms my conservative heart.”
“I…I…I love business principles in government.”
“That’s why I like to hear the words, ‘I’m gon’ stop the earmarks.’”
Rick Perry. George Bush. Pot, Meet Kettle.
December 26, 2007 by Vince Leibowitz · Leave a Comment
As we climb out from a mountain of wrapping paper, bows, and Christmas garland here at Capitol Annex, we’re picking up a few stories that made headlines while we were taking a bit of a much needed holiday break.
Our favorite concerns Texas’ own Dan Quayle–I mean, Rick Perry–who was out on the campaign trail for Mayor 9/11 just before the holiday. Check out Governor Perry’s latest quotable quote:
A recent indicator: Gov. Rick Perry, who ascended to Texas’ top spot when Bush left for the White House, declared on a campaign trip to Iowa for presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani, “George has never, ever been a fiscal conservative.”
This actually leaves us nearly speechless. But only nearly. Why?
It’s kind of like the proverbial pot calling the proverbial kettle black. Let’s face it: Rick Perry hasn’t exactly been much of a “Dollar Store Toilet Paper Budget” man himself. Fiscally conservative? Surely, the governor doesn’t really want to get in a “who is a bigger Fiscal Conservative” pissing match.
But, since it seems he does, we’ll refresh Lieutenant President QuaylePerry’s memory: Dude, you busted the constitutional spending cap. By $14 billion dollars. And called it tax relief!
Perry Continues To Push For Pension Divestment
November 20, 2007 by Vince Leibowitz · Leave a Comment
Texas Governor Rick Perry is continuing to push state pension funds to divest in companies that do direct business with Iran.
This continues to set off my alarm bells, particularly since it appears that Perry and the agencies in charge of these pension funds seem to rapidly be approaching standoff which could potentially lead to a special session:
If Jesus Was Chariman Of The Public Utility Commission Of Texas…
November 14, 2007 by Vince Leibowitz · Leave a Comment
Texas Governor Rick Perry today elevated investment banker Barry T. Smitherman to the position of Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, replacing Paul Hudson. Smitherman had previously been a PUC Commissioner and is, of course, a loyal financial contributor to Governor Rick Perry.
Smitherman, the author of the book If Jesus Were An Investment Banker
, has served on the PUC since 2004. Before that, he was a controversial investment banker.
Back in 2002, when he worked for Banc One, Smitherman attempted to get Banc One into a city bond deal that was essentially all but completed and, when his attempts failed, he tried to get Banc One into the bond package by intimidating various public officials:
Governor’s Office Still Gets It Wrong On E-Mail Retention
November 12, 2007 by Vince Leibowitz · Leave a Comment
During the first days of the Texas Youth Commission scandal, Texans became aware of the “seven day delete policy” imposed by Texas Governor Rick Perry’s office with regard to e-mail.
Now, after an enterprising open government advocate managed to throw a bounder in the path of this practice, resulting in it being stopped, we learn more about the workings of the Governor’s records retention policies with regard to email. It’s not good:
“That was disabled [Thursday],” Moody said. The governor’s office is “holding all e-mail correspondence and not wiping clean the server after seven days.” She said it’s typically up to each employee of the governor’s office to set aside and save e-mails that they believe should be preserved as public records. Otherwise, they get whacked automatically.
“We believe our staff is acting lawfully and in good faith,” Moody said. She said Perry’s office receives a “high volume” of e-mail and doesn’t have the server space to keep them indefinitely.
She also said the governor’s office believes that some government e-mail, such as informal exchanges between employees about going to have coffee or lunch, don’t have to be saved at all and can be deleted within minutes or hours after they’re created.
“They are transitory, we’re not required to [save them],” Moody said. “Basically, e-mails that have nothing to do with state business are eligible to be deleted at any time.”
There are a lot of problems with that statement. First, let’s take this part:
