Perry is no slam dunk candidate for Republicans to rally around, because while Perry brags about his state's new budget, the non-partisan Texas Legislative Study Group says Perry used accounting tricks to hide an $18.3 billion deficit - one that will hit schools and Medicaid recipients the hardest. In order to close the massive shortfall without any new taxes, Perry resorted to some serious Enron-style accounting. For instance, the state delayed a $2.3 billion payment to schools by one day, pushing the payment into the 2014 budget and off the books in the current one. The budget also predicts a flat increase in the number of school children in the state, even though Texas is one of the fastest growing states in the country. And even more audacious, legislators instructed the state's accountants to increase their projection of future property value increases, so as to predict a full $800 million in more property tax revenue.
Even Fox News wondered this Sunday why Perry isn't popular in Texas. As the mainstream media gathers answers to that question, the Perry myth is starting to crumble. And that's truly a slam dunk for Democrats, Texans and Americans everywhere.
