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For eleven-and-one-half years Rick Perry has been the Governor of Texas. As the Lt. Governor under George Bush, he took over as Governor when Bush was elected President. Thus when he ran for Governor in 2002, and 2010 he was the incumbent Republican. Texas is one of the "most Republican states in the United States," with Republicans controlling all statewide offices, both houses of the state legislature, and Republicans have a majority in the Texas congressional delegation.
A. Perry Does Not Work Full Time
Section 658.002 of the Texas Constitution requires that all salaried employees of the state "shall work not less than 40 hours a week." Rick Perry is a salaried employee and makes an annual gross salary of $150,000.00. Thus the Texas Constitution expressly required Rick Perry to work no less than 40 hours per week. However it is undisputed that Rick Perry is not, and has not, worked full time for the State of Texas for more than one year. As documented by Perry's own calendar, during the year after he was re-elected in 2010, he has worked less than half-time, from the period of Nov. 1, 2010, through Oct. 21, 2011. In particular Perry's own calendar revealed:
1. Of the 355 days Governor Perry was employed by the State he only worked a total of 164 days for "State Scheduled Business". Thus, for 191 days out of 355 days, Governor Perry had no "State Scheduled Business." That means he worked less than 50% of the days in the 12 months before November 1, 2011, or just 46% of the days.
2. Perry did not declare his candidacy until August 13th, 2011, and even before that he failed to work 144 days out of approximately 9 ½ months, or 285 days. That means that he worked less than half time as Governor of Texas, even before he declared himself a candidate for President.
3. Of the days that he did perform some type of state business, he failed to work a significant number of hours during a normal work day. Examples were provided.
Additional records have been received from the Governor's office. They cover the last four months, from the period of November 1, 2011 through February 29, 2012. These records show that during this period he did not do ANY state business for 96 of those 121 days. Of the 25 days that he reports some "state business" he rarely worked a full day. For example,
1. Three of these 25 days when he reported State Business, 2-17,18, 19, were devoted exclusively to "hunting." It is not clear from those records if he was hunting at his "Niggerhead Lodge."
2. There is no record of how many hours during these days were actually spent hunting, as opposed to drinking, eating, or having sex.
For at least 10 other days he worked less than half time during each day:
3. On 12-25 he worked from 11:00 - 2:30.
4. On 12-22 he worked from 7:00 - 7:45.
5. On Thursday Jan. 19th, Perry announced he was dropping out of the GOP primary race.
6. On 1-23 he worked from 10:00-12:30, with 30 minutes before and after this state business when he was driven by his state paid chauffeur.
7. On 1-24 he worked from 1:15- 4:15.
8. On 2-2 he worked from 12:40- 3:00.
9. On 2-6 he worked from 8:30- 12:45.
10. On 2-7 he worked from 1:50- 4:45.
11. On 2-13 he worked from 1:15- 3:40.
12. On 2-25 he took one call at 4:45.
13. On 2-27 his only state "business" was his attendance at a funeral from 4:45 to 6:30
Thus for half of the 25 days that Rick Perry did some state business he averaged 2.5 hours per day. In conclusion even before and after declaring his intention to seek the GOP nomination for President Rick Perry worked LESS THAN HALF TIME!
B. Rick Perry Currently Receives Retirement Benefits from Texas.
Perry receives monthly retirement benefits NOW of $7698 per month, which brings his total annual salary, paid for by the State of Texas, to more than $240,000.00.
C. Rick Perry Promised that if Elected Governor in 2010 that he would NOT run for President in the 2012 race.
D. Rick Perry Lied.
On August 13, 2011, less than one year after the 2010 election, Rick Perry declared he would seek the Republican nomination for President.
E. Rick Perry's Expenses on the Campaign Trail Cost Texas Taxpayers Over $3,600,000.00
Rick Perry spent 160 days running for President. During that time Texas taxpayers were charged for travel expenses of Rick Perry, for he and his staff, and for his security detail, including overtime. Those costs have been documented to be $3,600,000.00, and there may be more charges to come.
F. When the Governor is Out of State, Texas is Required to Pay For a Substitute Governor.
During the time Rick Perry was campaigning outside the state of Texas, the state was required to pay more than $32,000 for the Lieutenant Governor or the Senate pro-tem to do the Governor's job. In addition to the salaries paid by Texas to David Dewhurst for his regular salary, the Lt. Governor was paid an additional $29,589 due to Perry's absence, and Mike Jackson, the Senate pro-tem received $2,876.
G. Taxpayers Have Been Charged For Triple Costs For Perry's Accommodations
In late 2007 Rick Perry moved into a lavish rental mansion in West Austin while repairs were to be made to the Governor's mansion. In June of 2008 the Governor's mansion burned, and required Rick Perry to extend his stay in the rental mansion. Costs for the rental property have been estimated to be $800,000.00. Knowing that the mansion has five bedrooms, seven baths, three dining rooms, a gourmet kitchen, and pecan wood floors, such a heafty price tag might be expected. Given the location of the mansion on 3.3 acres of land, who would question the expense?
Costs for the actual renovation of the Governor's mansion are being paid for by U.S. taxpayers through the use of federal stimulus money of $11,000,000.00 and by Texas taxpayers through taxpayer dollars of $10,000,000.00. Thus while Rick Perry was on the campaign trail, Texas taxpayers were paying for his hotels, his rental mansion, and the Governor's mansion.
H. Perry Re-built His Fire-Ravaged Home at a Cost of $40,000,000.00, while Texas Burned due to Budget Cuts of Less Than That Amount.
While Rick Perry found $40,000,000.00 to rebuild his mansion that burned, Perry cut 75% of the budget for volunteer firefighters or $34,000.000.00. Obviously his priority was rebuilding his own home rather than protecting the lives and property of the Texas taxpayers. Volunteer firefighters make up 80% of the state's firefighters. Even though the unprecedented drought was recognized as early as July of 2009, Rick Perry endangered the people and property of the state by cutting funding for volunteer firefighters. Over the last year, while Perry was off campaigning, Texas burned. Over 21,000 wildfires burned 3.6 million acres. More than 1500 buildings burned while Perry was doing the very thing he promised NOT to do if reelected Governor. Just one of these fires burning out of control, while he was on the campaign trail was 14 miles wide. Instead of determining where he could find the funds necessary to support firefighters in the state, Rick Perry was giving away money to his political donors, and rebuilding his mansion.
As a taxpayer in Texas, I'm fed up with Rick Perry. He is already suggesting he "absolutely" might run for President in 2016. If Rick Perry runs for President, or even Governor again, you can absolutely know that his opponents will simply capitalize on his record.
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