Texas Ethics Commission to Investigate Perry Bahamas trip
By Byron LaMasters
It's good to hear that the Texas ethics commission will be investigating Rick Perry's vacation to the Bahamas with Grover Norquist. The Houston Chronicle reports:
- The Texas Ethics Commission has told Gov. Rick Perry it will decide whether he illegally converted political money to personal use when he used campaign funds to pay for a trip to the Bahamas.
At issue is money Perry used to pay for himself, wife Anita and several top staffers to travel to the Bahamas in February with campaign donors and others, the Austin American-Statesman reported today.
[...]
Also along on the trip at their own expense were San Antonio businessman James Leininger, a supporter of private school vouchers, and his wife Cecilia; Houston beer distributor John Nau and his wife, Bobbi; Grover Norquist, a Washington-based anti-tax activist; and Brooke Rollins, a former Perry aide now director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and her husband.
The Leiningers have given Perry more than $75,000 in political contributions since 2000, and the Naus have given Perry more than $100,000.
[...]
Perry's group traveled by private plane to the Abaco Islands on Presidents Day weekend.
Judicial Watch, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, filed a complaint about the trip with the Texas Ethics Commission.
"Governor Perry's long weekend trip outside the U.S., with campaign contributors and state employees, amounts to a personal tropical island vacation, unrelated to any legitimate campaign event," Judicial Watch said in its complaint.
Violation of the law carries a minor civil penalty, a fine paid to the state in the amount of any improper expenditure.
Shortly after the trip, Perry said there had been "real, progressive conversation" on school finance during the trip.
Sounds shady to me. We'll see what happens.
Posted by Byron LaMasters at April 22, 2004 03:23 PM
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It's bizarro lingo--with them, it is lying, regressive secret meeting. What I want to know is, who lathered up Perry's back with cocoa butter? Was it Grover, that conservative studmuffin? And did he enjoy the daiqiris as he discussed how to take care of children who are in working poor families and below the poverty line? Did he go scuba diving while thinking about how he is going to make up for Robin Hood while cutting property taxes? Did he lay on a sandy beach, gazing at an azure sea while wondering how in the heck Texas schools can improve teacher motivation, maybe by treating them as the professionals they are? Will he take up Jim Dunnam on his offer for an all-expense-paid trip to the poorest school districts in Texas? More importanly, will anyone know if he even goes to the districts? Will anyone really care? Stay tuned, and we'll find out the conclusion to this saga in the next episode of Special Session!!! (Cheesy soap music....)
