Texas Governor Rick "Goodhair" Perry wants to be the Vice President someday. Observers wonder, is Perry hypocritical enough to be the Vice President?
Republican Gov. Rick Perry drew an ovation from lawmakers last Tuesday by calling for a law ending state investments in companies doing business in Sudan. The next day, he awarded a grant to a company that has come under fire for stock holdings in two companies that do business in the African nation.
Before the grant was awarded, Perry described divestment as an appropriate protest of the ethnic genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. He said in his State of the State speech: "The example we set in Texas can have international ramifications."
Perry spokesman Ted Royer said today that Perry's remarks and the grant award did not send mixed signals.
OK, so Perry has passed the hypocrite test. But is he crooked enough to be the VEEP? Dick Cheney has raised the bar to a staggering height, can Perry clear it?
UBS, one of two large financial firms consulting with the governor's office over the possible sale of the Texas lottery, hired Gov. Rick Perry's son [Griffin] to work in its Dallas office about two weeks ago.
[snip]
[T]he hiring comes amid concern that several of the governor's bold policy ideas stand to benefit his associates.
Critics of his decision to order vaccines for schoolgirls to help prevent cervical cancer noted that his former chief of staff, Mike Toomey, is registered to lobby for Merck, the only company that makes the vaccine.
Craig McDonald, director of the group Texans for Public Justice, which pushes for campaign finance changes, said the Griffin Perry hiring and its timing should raise questions.
Last week, Perry laid out his idea for selling the Texas lottery, saying that marketing a lottery concession to private interests could raise $14 billion. He proposed placing the proceeds in three separate trusts, with investment earnings funding public education, health insurance for low-income Texans and one of the largest cancer research projects in the nation.
The brokering of a $14 billion lottery concession could mean tens of millions to the chosen firm.
"Hiring the governor's son seems to be a way to enamor yourself with the man at the top," 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," McDonald said.
OK, I'm convinced.
Sorry you missed the big billboard I drove by on the way to work all during the recent gubernatorial election that declared the lottery made $8Bil for TX Schools in the last 8 years. Not sure whether using public funds for campaign purposes is worse than selling off the golden goose (or fleece).
Posted by: Ruth | February 14, 2007 at 11:48
I think it's time to start re-investigating those rumors about him being boyfriends with the Tx Secretary of State. Those were good times.
Posted by: virgotex | February 14, 2007 at 13:13