| Governor Rick Perry will do anything in his power to distract the general public from the fact that his reign as Governor is a complete failure. Governor Perry is no longer serving as Governor -- he is running a permanent campaign for re-election and, eventually, for a place on the 2012 ticket. In the mean time, Texans continue to suffer under a man who is making George W. Bush look like George Washington. 
Here's just a small example of the real problems Perry is ignoring -- and how he's failing to lead on any of them: 1) Dallas-Fort Worth home foreclosures hit record highDallas Morning News)
Home foreclosure filings in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have risen to a record high, with more than 5,500 properties facing forced sale next month.
2) 47,000 additional jobs lost in March (BOR)
Gov. Perry continues to ignore the increasing job numbers. In fact, Perry has decided his office will discuss seceding rather than how to curb job loss or how to use federal money to solidify Texas' standing in the national and global markets.
3) Texas Senate defies Perry, votes to take stimulus money (Dallas Morning News, via KVUE) In a sharp rebuff of Gov. Rick Perry, the Senate on Thursday tentatively voted to accept $555 million in unemployment aid from the federal economic stimulus plan. Senators voted 22-9 in favor of a bill by Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, that would authorize state officials to receive the stimulus money to shore up Texas' trust fund for unemployed workers.
4) Texas House strips most of the Governor's budget (Houston Chronicle) The Texas House has voted to wipe out the governor's budget. In the second slap against Gov. Rick Perry by his own Legislature this week, the House agreed Friday to take more than $23 million out of Perry's office budget and would instead put it in mental health care services. He's left with about $900,000.
Even though most of that money for the Governor's office will be restored -- can there be a stronger statement of how little confidence the Senate and the House have in the Governor than their respective actions against him last week? And how did Perry respond to such leadership? By calling on TX to secede: With 31% of Texans saying Texas has a right to seceded and only 18% actually wanting to secede, Perry has clearly hung his re-election hopes squarely on the far right. Will this anti-American sentiment work? Sadly, it's too early to tell.
The secession discussion is Perry's latest attempt to make a clear and vocal distraction from the many ways in which he was a failure. Perry has a history of not working with legislators, and I fully expect him to continue to grandstand (as opposed to, you know, actually leading) by vetoing the budget this summer. It's up to Texas Democrats to be vocal. We have to talk to our neighbors, point out Perry's failures, and do all we can to stay informed so we have all the facts to organize in the coming months. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison will run a high-proifle campaign, but ultimately she will lose and we'll be running against Perry again in 2010. |
