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State rep asks Perry to pay back state for travel expenses
Postcards from the Lege blog 1/23/12
State rep asks Perry to pay back state for travel expenses
State Rep. Jessica Farrar asked Gov. Rick Perry today to pay the state back for the travel expenses he incurred during his presidential run.
Although his campaign pays for Perry’s travel, the state has picked up the tab for the travels of Perry’s security detail.
Farrar, D-Houston, sent a letter requesting that Perry write a check to the Texas Comptroller’s Office for $2,692,376, plus any other expenses related to his out-of-state campaign activity. Here’s the letter.
“As a fiscal conservative, I believe government is supposed to be a wise steward of tax dollars,” Farrar said in her letter. “I believe that if the government must spend money, it should be for essential public services, like education, infrastructure, health services for the young and elderly, and disaster relief. I believe that unnecessary government spending is not just morally wrong, it is criminal.”
State rep asks Perry to pay back state for travel expenses
State Rep. Jessica Farrar asked Gov. Rick Perry today to pay the state back for the travel expenses he incurred during his presidential run.
Although his campaign pays for Perry’s travel, the state has picked up the tab for the travels of Perry’s security detail.
Farrar, D-Houston, sent a letter requesting that Perry write a check to the Texas Comptroller’s Office for $2,692,376, plus any other expenses related to his out-of-state campaign activity. Here’s the letter.
“As a fiscal conservative, I believe government is supposed to be a wise steward of tax dollars,” Farrar said in her letter. “I believe that if the government must spend money, it should be for essential public services, like education, infrastructure, health services for the young and elderly, and disaster relief. I believe that unnecessary government spending is not just morally wrong, it is criminal.”
Way to go Representative Farrar! That's speaking out for the people of Texas!
Rep. Farrar!
9 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Texas Tribune 1/23/12
Perry Won't Refund Security Costs For Presidential Bid
Texas Democrats calling on Gov. Rick Perry to repay the taxpayer-funded security costs associated with his run for president shouldn't hold their breath. A Perry spokeswoman said Monday that it wasn't the governor's decision to have a security detail out on the campaign trail — it was the Department of Public Safety's. And she said "not a dime" of Perry's own travel expenses were paid by taxpayers.
"The Department of Public Safety has a policy of providing security for governors and their families everywhere they travel, as they have back several administrations," Perry spokeswoman Lucy Nashed said. "These policies are determined by DPS and not the governor’s office. It’s unfortunate that we live in a day and age where security is an issue."
(snip)
"One way to protect taxpayers' money is by not spending it unnecessarily," Farrar wrote. "But, if someone discovers tax dollars have been spent unnecessarily, it should be reimbursed either to general revenue or directly to taxpayers."
Perry's entire campaign has been a huge waste of money. Both Texas taxpayer money and money that stupid republicans sent him as donations as well.
Public dollars are never wasted on anything the repukes want - like photo voter ID. That's all justified in their little heads as necessary for the public good. Public in their minds means for them only.
But anyone who tries to really do something for the public good i.e. increase education funding or raise teacher's salaries and benefits to keep them in the profession - why that's evil socialism.
I got a link from a friend this weekend - a good column about how corporations took control of religion for their message. This works especially well with southern republicans like Perry and his flock.
Campaign Stops blog NYTimes 1/17/12
For God So Loved the 1 Percent …
IN recent weeks Mitt Romney has become the poster child for unchecked capitalism, a role he seems to embrace with relish. Concerns about economic equality, he told Matt Lauer of NBC, were really about class warfare.
“When you have a president encouraging the idea of dividing America based on the 99 percent versus 1 percent,” he said, “you have opened up a whole new wave of approach in this country which is entirely inconsistent with the concept of one nation under God.”
Mr. Romney was on to something, though perhaps not what he intended.
The concept of “one nation under God” has a noble lineage, originating in Abraham Lincoln’s hope at Gettysburg that “this nation, under God, shall not perish from the earth.” After Lincoln, however, the phrase disappeared from political discourse for decades. But it re-emerged in the mid-20th century, under a much different guise: corporate leaders and conservative clergymen deployed it to discredit Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.
During the Great Depression, the prestige of big business sank along with stock prices. Corporate leaders worked frantically to restore their public image and simultaneously roll back the “creeping socialism” of the welfare state. Notably, the American Liberty League, financed by corporations like DuPont and General Motors, made an aggressive case for capitalism. Most, however, dismissed its efforts as self-interested propaganda. (A Democratic Party official joked that the organization should have been called “the American Cellophane League” because “first, it’s a DuPont product and, second, you can see right through it.”)
For God So Loved the 1 Percent …
IN recent weeks Mitt Romney has become the poster child for unchecked capitalism, a role he seems to embrace with relish. Concerns about economic equality, he told Matt Lauer of NBC, were really about class warfare.
“When you have a president encouraging the idea of dividing America based on the 99 percent versus 1 percent,” he said, “you have opened up a whole new wave of approach in this country which is entirely inconsistent with the concept of one nation under God.”
Mr. Romney was on to something, though perhaps not what he intended.
The concept of “one nation under God” has a noble lineage, originating in Abraham Lincoln’s hope at Gettysburg that “this nation, under God, shall not perish from the earth.” After Lincoln, however, the phrase disappeared from political discourse for decades. But it re-emerged in the mid-20th century, under a much different guise: corporate leaders and conservative clergymen deployed it to discredit Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.
During the Great Depression, the prestige of big business sank along with stock prices. Corporate leaders worked frantically to restore their public image and simultaneously roll back the “creeping socialism” of the welfare state. Notably, the American Liberty League, financed by corporations like DuPont and General Motors, made an aggressive case for capitalism. Most, however, dismissed its efforts as self-interested propaganda. (A Democratic Party official joked that the organization should have been called “the American Cellophane League” because “first, it’s a DuPont product and, second, you can see right through it.”)
This little expensive adventure by the head idiot of our state certainly exposed the financial risk to taxpayers. I agree that we need to change the laws to make the campaigns responsible for security costs associated with protecting a sitting governor.
Total waste of money! 
SA Express News 1/26/12
Bills for Perry's security detail mounting
(snip)
“Gov. Perry is the governor of Texas 24/7, and the Department of Public Safety has a policy of providing security for governors and their families everywhere they travel, as they have back several administrations,” Havens said Thursday
Cal Jillson, professor of political science at Southern Methodist University, said Perry certainly could influence DPS policy.
Jillson said it would be reasonable for Perry to reimburse taxpayers from his campaign funds for security costs associated with his presidential run. He also noted that Perry's mantra has included an emphasis on smaller government.
“If you are for small government and low taxes and personal responsibility, you might not want to go so far as driving your own car,” Jillson said. “But if you stand for small government, and low taxes and personal responsibility, and then you have the manicured estate and the darkened SUV with the security detail, some of these things seem to be at odds with each other.”
