Rick Perry Continues Ethical Failings, Playing Defense

by: Michael Hurta

Tue Jul 06, 2010 at 01:22 PM CDT

From the press release:

Last Friday, Texas Democratic Party Executive Director Ruben Hernandez filed two complaints with the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) regarding Rick Perry's failure to properly report required information on his personal financial statements in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Perry failed to report the identity of the person who had an interest and to whom he paid notes on a house he bought in College Station, Texas in April, 2007. Perry also failed to report rental income on the house on his 2007 and 2008 PFS.

"For three years, the Governor failed to report over $200,000 in debt he owed on a house in College Station, as well as over $11,000 in rental income he received from the property," Hernandez explained, noting that Perry's reporting failure involved the same house he tried to claim as his residential homestead on January 1, 2008, while he was living in a taxpayer funded rental mansion west of Austin before the Governor's Mansion caught fire, according to Associated Press reports from August 12 and 13, 2009. The Texas Constitution requires the Governor to live in Austin.

"While Rick Perry was living in a taxpayer-funded rental mansion, he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar when he claimed a residential homestead exemption on a College Station house where he never lived," Hernandez said, "and for three years,  the Governor didn't report his debt on that same house, as required by law."

Meanwhile, Perry's campaign is failing to put in any attack on Bill White, and he remains in defense. Last week, he was forced into responding himself, and his arrogance shined.  That arrogance continues to manifest in the campaign's response today, because they tried to go back to the same old failed attacks about Bill White's tax returns.

Texans are seeing the difference. Rick Perry has true ethical violations while Bill White is just doing what he knows best to help Texas.