Rick Perry's Top Ten State Agency Scandals: His Decade of Failure

by: Phillip Martin, Progress Texas

Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 10:00 AM CST

Ed. note: This is the third in a series of five morning stories about today's elections I'll be posting every hour (or so, as I realize now its a lot of text to put up every hour). The first one: "How Does Rick Perry Beat Bill White Without Moderates and Without Medina Conservatives?" The second one: "The Medina Conservatives: How Many Today and How Many Tomorrow?"

One important reason why Rick Perry won't be able to tack back to the middle and win independent voters is that Hutchison never put his record of failure under the microscope. Her attacks came late, didn't stick, and she was never a strong messenger. But as Emily Ramshaw at the Texas Tribune wrote, that doesn't mean those issues aren't there:

The attack ad could write itself: On Gov. Rick Perry’s watch, Texas weathered a sexual abuse scandal at the Texas Youth Commission, fight clubs at state institutions for the disabled and deaths of kids monitored by Child Protective Services.

But three of the biggest messes of Perry’s 10-year tenure — two of which spurred U.S. Justice Department investigations — have been noticeably absent on the campaign trail. While U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Perry’s chief Republican primary opponent, has hit the airwaves on toll roads, immigration and education, she has largely steered clear of these high-profile social services debacles.  

While Kay Bailey Hutchison may have dropped the ball, the Texas Democratic Party has not. Last fall, the state party put out a list of top ten state agency scandals under Perry's watch. The top three? Those same issues Ramshaw highlighted -- the TYC abuse scandal, fight clubs at state schools, and deaths at CPS.

Here's the TDP's list of the top ten state agency scandals -- something Perry will have to answer for in the next eight months:

Under one-party Republican rule, Texas state agencies are plagued by pay-to-play politics, mismanagement and corruption.

• #1: Texas Youth Commission Covers-up Systemic Child Abuse
• #2: Child Abuse, Neglect Continue Under Republican Rule
• #3: Scandal at Texas State Schools
• #4: A.G. Abbott Wasted Tax Dollars on Partisan Election Year “Voter Fraud” Witch Hunt
• #5: Perry’s Political Cover-up Continues at Forensic Science Commission
• #6: TEA and SBOE: Republicans Fail Texas Children
• #7: Texas Workforce Commission Burdens Texans with Debt, Delays Benefits
• #8: Perry’s HHSC: Bad For Texans’ Health
• #9: TxDOT’s One Billion Dollar Math Error Takes a Toll on Texas Taxpayers
• #10: PUC Allows Criminals to Manage Prepaid Electric Providers