“Why don’t the state’s business leaders stand up to Perry?”
This was the headline of Patricia Kilday Hart’s strong column in the Houston Chronicle last week. It asks a good question. Her focus is on the Greater Houston Partnership. I asked a similar question a couple of years ago–why isn’t the business community more involved in state government?–and was subsequently invited to speak to the GHP.
I told them that on the previous day, 200 people from Lubbock were walking the halls of the Capitol extension, urging members to support Texas Tech’s campaign to become the next state’s next tier one university. My question to the GHP was, where were you? Why weren’t you in Austin supporting your hometown university? One person thanked me afterward. It was Renu Khator, the chancellor and president of the University of Houston.
I think the answer to Hart’s question is that there are no business leaders in this state. Ken Lay was the last one (as painful as it is for me to write that), and his business turned out to be a house of cards. The reason that today’s business leaders aren’t leaders is that Houston and Dallas have become outposts of Wall Street. The local banks are run by people who are sent to Texas, stay for five years, and recycle themselves somewhere else. They have no long-term stake in the success of their temporary place of residence, much less Texas; they only care about what they can contribute to their institution’s bottom line while they are here. The Greater Houston Partnership is a shell of what it used to be. George R. Brown would weep at its lack of influence. Bob Lanier must be appalled. It is just another Perry echo chamber. It is inconceivable that CEO Jeff Moseley would challenge Perry’s budget plans. If he dared to try, I suspect he would be out of a job.
Hart exposes just how weak (and meek) the Greater Houston Partnership is. She points out that the partnership adopts resolution after resolution supporting sound state policies–including “create new revenue streams to address the state budget shortfall.” But it’s just window dressing. The minute Rick Perry says “sign my budget compact,” there is Moseley rushing to Perry’s side with the pen, giving him cover for fiscal policies that he knows are ruinous for the future of this state. Not educating kids. Not providing for water. Uttering prepackaged statements like, “The pro-business policies and accountable and responsible budgets adopted by Governor Perry and legislators have given Texas an enormous advantage when competing for high-paying jobs, and helped Houston prosper to become the top region for corporate relocations in the U.S. in two of the last five years, including in 2011, and these principles will keep us on that path blah blah blah.” Two of the last five years? Shouldn’t Houston do better than that?
As Hart writes, “The folks at the Greater Houston Partnership are well aware of the many ways the Texas Legislature – and our statewide elected officeholders – have failed to invest in the crucial infrastructure required for our exploding population.” Her column is a variation of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Everybody knows the emperor is naked, but no one will step forward and say so. Why don’t the state’s business leaders stand up to Rick Perry? Because there are none.
Tagged: Greater Houston Partnership, rick perry
Distinguished Gentleman says:
These business leaders should be front and center in support of term limits on a bafoon such as Rick Perry. A Governor of low-grade, he has relegated Texas to a future of uneducated young people and, consequently, third-world living conditions for all but the very top 1% that we hear so much about. No one should ever be permitted to hang onto the Governor’s chair for greater than an absolute maximum of 12 years. I long for the old days when we would have a fresh Governor every 4 years. It made them work hard while in office to get as much of their agenda processed as was possible.
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Blue Dogs Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:40 am
Dinstinguished, why in the hell are you ranting about term limits ?
It’s called an ELECTION.
Los Angeles had Tom Bradley as mayor for 20 years, Atlanta had Maynard Jackson as mayor for 3 non-consecutive terms, New Orleans had Morrison for I don’t know how long.
Perry is NOT running again because of the following:
1. 35 percent job approval rating due to his horrible presidential campaign.
2. Folks seeing blood in the water (Abbott jockeying for Perry’s job and the Governor’s Mansion).
3. Other down-ballot statewide GoPers moving up the ladder.
4. The Legislature ignoring Perry.
We also had Nelson Rockefeller, a Republican as NY State’s governor for 4 1/2 terms.
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Jed Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:47 am
i’d rather have perry than abbott.
for the same four reasons.
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Distinguished Gentleman Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:50 am
Blue balls, the Uber Goober WILL run again for Governor in 2014 and he WILL get re-elected.
Why? Because nobody of substance will run against him. Kay Bailey Hutchison destroyed her chances in 2010 when she ran the most milk-toast and self-destructive statewide campaign that I have ever seen.
A Democrat? Nope. Not gonna happen. The ONLY way to oust Perry is in the GOP Primary and no, Greg Abbott will NOT run against Perry in 2014.
This means that we will be stuck with this clown for yet another term as Governor.
Your examples of Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New Orleans, etc., only serve to bolster my argument that we need term limits. Most people would agree that 12 years is quite adequate for one person to hold one particular office. If he or she is so gosh darn great, then he or she may run for some OTHER elective office and continue to serve the public albeit in a somewhat different capacity.
In some states–while not quite constituting term limits–there are provisions that an official must “sit out” for a while before seeking to return to that one specific elective post. Even THAT would be a huge improvement over the complete lack of restrictions that we have now in Texas.
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Bodhisattva Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
I think it’s Morial, not Morrison.
And of Blue Dogs’s four reasons for Perry not to come back, only #2 — Abbott’s ambition — will make any difference.
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Blue Dogs Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 8:51 am
If the governor of TX were to pass away, the LG would serve out the remainder of his or her term, and win 3 full four-year terms on their own.
Distinguished Gentleman Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 9:52 am
While I am certainly not impressed with the current Lieutenant Governor, Blue Dogs, I would certainly prefer him over the current Governor.
jolie in austin says:
what exactly is the hold perry has on everyone? does he threaten them with financial ruin? does he send them to secret extermination camps out in west texas? or has his henchmen beat them up or push them out of airplanes 5000 feet above lake travis, a la peron in the 1950s?
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paulburka Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 6:01 pm
Perry doesn’t have a hold on everyone. He gets little to no respect from the public. But he is willing to do outrageous things, like his budget compact, and if someone is willing to act like a complete jerk, there is little one can do to stop him.
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jolie in austin says:
we need term limits.
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Blue Dogs Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:40 am
Jolie, that will NEVER, NEVER happen due to some folks having too many egos.
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Dr. Bill Harford says:
Perry must throw some great parties for the state’s business “leaders.” I’m thinking “Eyes Wide Shut” parties. So he entertains them and then he has something on them, too, leading to a great source of campaign finance. Whatcha think?
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Arturo says:
Now there is a solid analysis of Paul’s comments.
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WUSRPH says:
What has this to do with anything? I guess it was your thought for the day…
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Peggy Venable says:
Paul, it appears the Houston business leaders have their hands full just trying to take care of their own local government officials and the City’s monstrous deficit spending and debt. Houston officials have continued to pass budgets that exceed revenue by almost $100 million a year. The City is drowning in debt – $12.8 Billion in principal and $9.7 Billion in interest to total a whopping $22.5 billion total in Houston City debt alone. Houston is a growing city and needs infrastructure. But this spending and debt does not include unfunded government pension liabilities or other post-employment benefits. We cannot spend our way into prosperity. I think Houston business leaders – if involved – are suggesting that government not spend more, but spend less. That may not be what you want to hear.
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paulburka Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Nobody thinks that the state’s policy, or the city of Houston’s, is to spend our way into prosperity. But at some point cities have to invest in roads, in water projects, in public safety, in amenities like parks and greenbelts, if they are going to be places where people want to live. The failure of state leaders to invest in water projects, for example, will surely be judged harshly by those who inherit the state from us.
Houston has been profligate with its pensions, and the Legislature has been complicit. This is going to have to be addressed, and the price tag is going to be high. But the fundamental problem remains the same: the public wants the services, and they don’t want to pay for them. So cities go into debt, and the cycle starts anew.
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Tellnitlikeitis says:
Peggy..your parents and your grandparents invested in you and in your future.
Today’s crowd would have gone nutz had it been around when Eisenhower launched the interstate highway system.
They would have screamed bloody murder.
Our parents and our grandparents invested in us. They build a modern transportation system to move people and goods.
Texas has run out of money to build new roads. Education is a disaster – and what have you done to secure water for your children and their grandchildren?
Pray for rain?
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I'm Pavlov. Ring a Bell? Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 7:42 pm
“Education is a disaster…”? If that statement has any truth to it, it certainly isn’t because we don’t spend enough. We already spend $10 k+ per child per year. Clearly the resources are there
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Anonymooose Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Sorry, but $10K/child/year is a pittance.
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Torino Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:30 pm
St Mark’s, Kinkaid etc all cost multiples of $10K. Either they waste huge amounts of money or maybe it just costs a lot to give a kid a good education.
Jed Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:49 am
it’s also false.
Tellinlikeitis Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 9:02 pm
Pavlov….
We have more than one million additional children from low income families than we did a decade ago.
These youngsters (for the most part) don’t have the vocabularies as kiddos from middle and upper income families.
In short, they arrive in kindergarten and first grade way behind their peers.
It costs more to educate low income students. High quality Pre K helps….of course, state leaders cut pre k last year.
Many of these kids, assuming we don’t catch them up, will drop out of school by the 9th or 10th grades.
A good many of them end up in prison – where you will be spending close to $50,000 a year.
It’s your choice: Pay now – or pay a helluva lot more later.
Your call.
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Robert Morrow Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 10:06 am
You sound like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton with a bullhorn “No justice, no peace! No justice, no peace! No justice, no peace!’
Just because someone is undereducated does not mean someone has to be a criminal. Ever heard of manual labor?
Robert says:
Most business leaders are like most conservatives, they don’t want to mess with gov’t unless they have to. People on the Left, like Burka, see gov’t as the source of all that is and should be and thus think all should be constantly roaming the Austin halls.
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paulburka Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 6:04 pm
I think this is half-true. Most business leaders don’t want to get their hands dirty with government. I don’t regard government as the source of all that is, or should be, but I think it ought to do something for the people every once in a while.
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Anonymous says:
Every right-wing movement in this country can be traced back to Houston. And it appears lately, every right-wing association or entity can be traced back to Leo Linbeck III. He is out of control and will ultimately be the end of TLR–he seems to have a greater connection with Tim Dunn than the business community at large. He is the best thing thats happened to The Texas Trial Lawyers Association in a long time.
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paulburka says:
Linbeck III is the flavor of the month. Next month it will be something else.
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Anonymous says:
The economy has changed so much in 50 years. Business is now less social. Lines of credit are extended to businesses without the owner meeting the banker. Goods are sold cross country via the world wide web. Those personal relationships aren’t as necessary as they were before. Its just a part of this new world, and its not going to change any time soon because technology continues forward.
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Julie says:
Burka,
By failing to speak up, the business community will end up with a poorly educated workforce from which they will have trouble picking qualified workers.
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Anonymous says:
Business leaders stand up to Perry? Heck, they OWN him. Ever heard of Harold Simmons, Bob Perry, et al.?
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paulburka Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:38 pm
I do not regard Harold Simmons or Bob Perry as business leaders. They are crony capitalists.
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Anonymous Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 8:54 am
ha ha. Therein lies the problem with Patti’s story and this post. I like Patti’s instincts, but she’s usually a few degrees off when it comes to her aim when she pulls the trigger. You can not like the way Simmons and Perry lead their businesses – and even call them crony capitalists – but you can’t say they aren’t Texas “business leaders.” They’re at the top of the game under the system they’ve created and the voters keep re-electing.
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Cow Droppings Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 9:30 am
you can criticize Bob Perry all you like for his political activism, but you will be hard-pressed to find one instance where he has called an elected leader and actually asked him for something. I’m sure Paul will counter with the structuring of the residential construction commission. But I have never heard any evidence that he even weighed in there.
Bob Perry is legendary among statewides for giving because he cares, and then not asking for a darn thing. And that is the opposite of a crony capitalist.
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Peter Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 10:07 am
That is plain bullshit. Even if it’s true that Bob Perry doesn’t pick up the phone to ask for something, which I doubt, it doesn’t matter a whit.
He’s got Bill Miller and Buddy Jones and Dick Trabulsi and Mike Toomey and whoever the hell else to make those calls for him. And he’s got Rick Perry and every other officeholder he’s given $30 million to over the last decade anticipating his needs and his desires. Don’t tell me of his caring and his generosity. He cares about his business and he’s generous to politicians who can help his business.
Col. Mike Kirby Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 10:13 am
Yep, never asks for a thing. What a nobleman. Of course in cow droppings world, up is down and black is white.
Thanks to Perry’s political influence, the plight of Texas homeowners has gradually worsened since 1989 when RCLA (Residential Construction Liability Act) was passed to replace much of DTPA (Deceptive Trade Practices Act). RCLA, part of the Tort Reform movement, gave builders a “right to repair,” limited their liability from lawsuits, and banned class actions.
Later, in 2003, Perry created the TRCC (Texas Residential Construction Commission), showing that “In Texas you can buy your own state agency and then regulate yourself,”
Anonymous Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
You have never worked in a legislative office then.
paulburka Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 2:27 pm
I agree with you about Perry doing a lot of things on his own, but please don’t try to convince me that the Texas Residential Construction Commission was the result of a virgin birth.
Robert Morrow says:
A lot of these so-called “fiscal conservatives” who crow all the time ALSO support debt-soaked toll roads, CDAs, public private partnerships, Texas Enterprise Fund, Emerging Technology Fund, the Lance Armstrong $3 billion cancer bonds, subsidies to Red McCombs and Formula One Racing…
It just goes to show you how fraudulent the Texas Republican party and its leaders are. Complaining about food stamps, yet dishing out crony capitalism like there is no tomorrow.
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Anonymous Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Robert – do you have a job? I mean you spend an awful lot of time lurking on this blog posting. Who is paying you? You cannot be very productive.
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Robert Morrow Reply:
April 27th, 2012 at 12:04 pm
The better question is who pays you. What is your name and occupation…
let me guess … some crony capitalist.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
Adjust dollars for inflation and the Texas budget is 6% lower than 2000. No wonder liberals are so pissed at Guv Perry.
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Julie Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:31 pm
In that same 10 years, Texas public schools added almost a million additional students. School districts can’t maintain an adequate educational system with explosive student growth coupled with a decline in spending on education when adjusted for inflation.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 5:19 am
@Julie the republican
more bad new for dems
“The report attributes the changes to several factors, including the weakened economy
The report attributes the changes to several factors, including the weakened Obama economy”
Mexico’s economy is better than the US economy under Obama.
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Anonymous Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 7:43 am
Whatt report?
Alan says:
Paul’s point about there being no more business leaders rings very true. Most of the people who run Houston’s companies are transplants from elsewhere and won’t be here long. They don’t have to think about where Texas will be in five years when they’ll be living in Chicago or Atlanta or Hong Kong.
In an earlier time, they would have been expected to become part of the city’s civic and social fabric. They would have box seats at the opera, be a trustee at the art museum, and put on tuxes and gowns to raise money for every disease and disadvantaged group someone could think of an excuse to throw a party for.
Whether they’re happy with the way things are going or not is beside the point. They just don’t care that much and don’t have much of a reason to.
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Anonymous Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 8:31 pm
can’t have a party anymore cause everyone goes home with a dwi. Real nice police state the Republicans have fashioned.
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Gatorade says:
Christus Santa Rosa is consolidating its operations. It considered Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston. Houston is where the great majority of its employees and operations currently reside. Houston didn’t even make a pitch. Christus is going to Dallas.
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paulburka Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:41 pm
The not-so-Greater Houston Partnership was also asleep at the switch for the disaster (for Houston) that was the Continental merger with United.
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anon says:
Paul, I can name one businessman who will to rise to the challenge, his name is Charles Butt. He understands what an uneducated Texas means to this state.
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Sequim Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Note that HEB is privately held — no worries about pleasing Wall St with quarterly earnings.
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Simon Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Then his time has come.
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Anonymous says:
With the exception of Butt and a very few like him, Texas’ business “leaders” are sheep. ZERO courage. Why stand for the future of the state when your company’s tax status hangs in the balance? Until business starts looking at the next quarter century instead of the next quarter, they will remain a BIG part of the problem not the coveted knight on the white stallion.
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Cow Droppings Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 9:32 am
interpreted another way, unless Texas business leaders take a moderate or liberal approach and support your ideological goals, they must be demonized as sheep, even if they have proven themselves in the business arena to be highly successful, and in many cases true risk-takers.
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paulburka Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 9:45 am
I’ll settle for moderate. Haven’t seen that approach for 12 years.
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texun says:
The simple truth of it is that there is no Texas business community. There are self-advancing sectors and aggressively political corporations, but there is no community. AT & T is Perry’s corporate sugar daddy, having little in common with the mid and small-sized businesses that employ more Texans. Perry takes the easy shots, as he did with his veto power, freeing Amazon.com from collecting sales taxes and advancing its monopoly against Barnes and Noble and independent book dealers.
There is no business community, only segments that are doing the classic “I’m all right jack” routine, ignoring the welfare of the country and the legitimate common interests of business people in Texas.
Of course, then, there is the Texas Democratic Party, one of the most inept and venial operations in the country. Permanently out to lunch and paid to stay there. If the Republicans had been able to create their opposition, they couldn’t have done better for themselves.
Yes, Perry is running Texas into the ground and some prominent business leaders know that, but against the financial power of AT & T and other massive global corporations Texas businessmen don’t count for squat any longer.
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Orale! says:
Kaboom! Tier 1 vs. Affordable college education? Hmm.
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JohnK says:
Paul
you are forgetting that Moseley is Perry’s boy who even touts on his bio his time working for Perry “Moseley was also instrumental in overseeing the $295 million Texas Enterprise Fund,” You think he would ever say no to Perry?
I live in Houston and the GHP does nothing but host luncheons for the same 50 business leaders and write white papers that nobody reads. Just look at their employee’s CVs, not too impressive. Most of them went to Tier two or three schools themselves.
GHP has no real importance, they are mad that Parker is Mayor and could not even draft one mediocre candidate to run against her. But the main problem is the city is more Democrat and the GHP is hard right Republican.
They keep Jeff Smisek on the board of the GHP while he moved the company HQ from Houston to Chicago. How can Smisek say he cares about Houston?
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paulburka Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:33 pm
No, I didn’t forget. I was well aware of it.
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paulburka Reply:
April 23rd, 2012 at 10:43 pm
The above refers to the relationship between Perry and Moseley.
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Bodhisattva Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:04 am
My memory may be hazy, but wasn’t Moseley one of the cheerleaders for the Trans-Texas Corridor when he was Denton County Judge? I think he was on some “Make I-35 Into America’s Highway” task force as a precursor to the TTC as well. I agree with Patty’s op-ed, but would not personally expect much leadership from a business community that would hire Moseley in the first place.
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Scott says:
Great article. I am no longer a Texas resident, but can see from afar that Perry is undermining the very foundation of the Texas economy via gutting education and other infrastructure.
I will always have a fond place in my heart for Texas, but hell might have to freeze over before I’d return.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
some say there are no moderate democrats, I agree.
But are a plethora of bitter democrats. Talk about “sour grapes”.
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longleaf says:
“It just goes to show you how fraudulent the Texas Republican party and its leaders are.”
Robert, it’s just a brand name. It is not an ideology. The other major party’s brand failed in this state within only a couple of decades after LBJ signed all the civil rights legislation. All the significant movers and shakers of the state then began to switch parties to join the carpetbaggers such as GHW Bush who had moved here after World War II.
Texas throughout its history has been a natural one-party state except for the transition period in the 1980s and ’90s. When you have no political competition, you cannot expect there to be any result other than this. It is what it is. This is what the Texan “herd mentality” (which is more the reality in terms of politics than the mythic “rugged individualism” depicted in the movies) wants.
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Distinguished Gentleman Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:13 am
How right you are, longleaf.
That “herd mentality” of which you speak and the complete absence of the “rugged individualism” to which you refer, virtually guarantee that Perry will be re-elected as Governor in 2014, if he runs, and I am convinced that he WILL run.
Sometimes, the voters must be saved from themselves–and instituting term limits is the only way. They truly ARE stupid enough to rubber-stamp Rick Perry back into the Governor’s office in 2014.
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Blue Dogs Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:42 am
Distinguished, Perry will NOT run because folks want him to go away.
You need to move to Florida or Louisiana, where you will see folks in those 2 states find loopholes to run for their old seats again and again.
Edwin Edwards-a DEMOCRAT was governor 4 times despite the term limits there and he was corrupt.
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Distinguished Gentleman Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:56 am
Louisiana does NOT have term limits–rather, it has a “sitting out” provision in which an office-holder must “sit out” for a time before being allowed to seek re-election to that same particular and specific elective office that he or she has already held at some point.
While not quite rising to the level of true term limits, a “sitting out” provision is nevertheless preferable to the complete lack of restrictions that we presently have in the State of Texas.
And, yes, Rick Perry WILL run again in 2014 and, yes, the voters (sadly) WILL re-elect him.
Reagan Republican says:
At this point as Governor, Perry has personally appointed and reappointed every single office holder, regent, and appointed commissioner in Texas and is now beginning to appoint their relatives, former staffers and their children. Paul, has complained often about the insidious and heretofore unseen nature of this kind of power granted to our Chavez like” governor for life”. As a result of his appointment power, Perry has transformed an historically weak governor’s position into one which is extremely powerful and has a corrosive effect on business and institutions. Not only are businessmen, universities and Austin based associations afraid to stand up to him, they are afraid to even remain neutral. Look at the way they were all brought to heel in the last Governor’s race. Both Hutchison and Perry have strong records with most of the pro-business associations but rather than remain neutral, they were all forced by their Perry appointed regulators to pony up for Perry and they apparently held their noses and did so. We saw it again in the Presidential race when all those state regulated businesses in Texas coughed up big bucks quickly rather than risk the wrath of the Perry minions. And it will only get worse since so many more people today depend on Perry for their power, prestige and position. Now that he has made himself unemployable with his embarrassing presidential run, I’m pretty sure he’s sticking to his day job for awhile.
Ultimately business leaders don’t stand up to Perry because they consider him largely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. They love the lack of regulation, low taxes and pro-business atmosphere at every level in Texas but most of all appreciate the fact that pretty much everything can be resolved for a reasonable price if you just hire the right people and pay. Even when you factor in the tribute money you are required to pay the king and all his many courtiers, the price of doing business in Texas is far cheaper than elsewhere.
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Bodhisattva Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:12 am
We should not forget that the Texas Legislature was a willing partner in the diminution of its powers and influence over the last decade. They gave away their own power and weakened the role of the supposedly-independent boards and commissions the Governor appoints (with Senate confirmation).
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Mr. Golf says:
The real business leaders in this State, and elsewhere, are in the local chambers of commerce working everyday to better their respective companies and local governments where they can see results from their activity. They don’t see state or federal government officials as anything but politicians owned by the crony capitalists that dole out campaign contributions & regurgitate the Republican or Democratic Party lines on various issues of the day. However, even though they want solutions they don’t want even minor higher taxes or fees because of fear that the money will go to Austin or D.C. and lost within the political culture of politicians. Unfortunately, TAB with Bill Hammond doesn’t really represent these local business leaders. TAB supports what their large business donors want done or not done.
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Patriotone says:
In less than a generation Texas is going to be an ethnically Hispanic state. That presents no particular problem and is similar to other immigration patterns through history, unless we fail to educate that population. We are failing. Miserably. There are more Hispanics in Harris County than the entire valley. The dropout rate is of crisis proportions. Texas should be working on this issue like the Manhattan Project and with the exception of underpaid and overworked teachers, and yes administrators, nothing much is being done. The percent the State pays for higher education has dropped dramatically and student loan debt nationwide now exceeds a trillion dollars. The state’s deficit financing has led to an explosion in public debt, all sacrificed to the Golden Calf of “lower taxes.” Rick Perry will long be remembered in a worse light than Santa Anna. He has certainly done more to harm this state.
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Cow Droppings says:
let’s not be confused by the nature of Ms. Hart’s gripe, or Mr. Burka’s: it is purely ideological. Patti’s headline just assumes business leaders should be mad at Perry. Never even open to the idea they may like how Perry governs. Paul thinks there are no business leaders unless they challenge the governor. The underlying ideological bias is they think Texas leaders should spend a lot more money.
Paul claims to have no ideology…that there are ideological issues and governing issues. But this is a clever ruse. Every issue has an ideological bent. To claim otherwise is subterfuge intended to prevent commenters from getting at whether Paul has an ideology. He hates to admit it, even though his space has become a rather predictable space for criticizing Perry non-stop and conservatives in general. His other ruse is to say there is no Democratic Party, hence no one to criticize. Another clever gambit to avoid responsibility for a left-leaning blog.
Then there is the Ratliff defense: I have liked a couple Republicans in my day, so I must be non-partisan. This is a third clever technique to hide his clear ideological bias.
As to the subject of this post, I will concede metropolitan business leaders want greater investment in transportation and water. But there is no common agreement among even business leaders about how to fund these investments. And I think you forget Perry’s willingness to lay his neck on the line on both water and transportation, from the TTC to building more reservoirs. And don’t be so sure he won’t have some ideas related to water financing in the future. It’s something he cares about as a small town guy.
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Robert Morrow Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 10:03 am
TTC and the way it was to be “financed” through heavily leveraged toll road monopolies was all about the leaders in state government wanting to ignore financial realities.
Whenever things get complicated, things get bad.
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Cow Droppings Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:41 am
for funding roads you have debt, taxes and tolls. Those are the three options. The benefit of tolls is they are a user fee based on actual use of a road, whereas gas tax hits you the same even where roads aren’t being built. And 25% comes off the top for education. In addition, private equity gets the roads built much sooner because you don’t have to wait each year for the next installment of a few hundred million or billions under pay as you go. With construction inflation typically rising higher than normal inflation, there is an argument this is cheaper.
And yes, when you do private equity, someone in the private sector makes money. Oh the horrors. But you know what? Roads get built too.
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Robert Morrow Reply:
April 27th, 2012 at 12:17 pm
I challenge your assumption that Texas needs the roads. What it needs to do is actually have spending priorities that include building roads on a “pay as you go basis.”
But the people and the Legislature decided in the 1990′s that was simply not important to them and they spent it on everything else.
Then our politicians decided we can have “something for nothing” and that tolls and huge amounts of debt “really are not taxes.”
The Texas Lottery was supposed to pay for education. Boy that looks hilarious in hindsight. Then education raided the gas tax. Ditto the dept of public safety.
So there is nothing left for roads, EXCEPT for hare brained toll road schemes put in by Perry, Toomey, Krusee and the lobby when nobody is looking.
It is ok if roads *aren’t built* or aren’t built sooner, because highly leveraged toll roads are an expression of Texas society wanting something that it can’t have.
Texans want to have their cake and eat it, too. Impossible. A statesman politician would go to the people and ask them to change their priorities, meaning less education, less healthcare and more roads.
Or a statesman politician would risk his political career by raising the gas tax if that were absolutely necessary and build roads “pay as you go.”
Texans and their non-statesman politicians just don’t want to face up to making choices on a limited budget.
So we get cratering projects like SH 130 where one can literally land a plane on the road during rush hour. with the debt service clock still sticking on that vastly underused project.
It is underused because the debt/leverage/fees make the toll roads too high for the consumer.
Anonymous Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:05 am
I love when Cow Droppings AKA Perry’s Press Shop weighs in.
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Cow Droppings Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:42 am
yeah, as if there is not enough perspective on here for the sycophants who criticize him on a routine basis. Give me a break.
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Anonymous Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 12:01 pm
For your information, I post here occasionally and am not a sycophant. I am just extremely tired of Rick Perry. Would he just please ride off into the sunset already?
paulburka Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
I disagree with “every issue is an ideological issue” per Cow Droppings. Do you think Bullock thought that way about things like water? The alternative to “every issue is ideological” is that every issue is a policy puzzle, and those who are interested in governing try to solve the pizzle.
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AreYouKiddingMe says:
Even if your 10K per student is accurate (which I don’t believe) we spend about 40K on PRISONERS!!! Now, you tell me which one is “worth” more…
Spend the 40K on students and I bet you won’t have as many prisoners. Why don’t we try that approach for a while. And, take away the HBO, college degrees, 3 square meals, air conditioning, etc from prisons and make it a place people HATE to be. Maybe that would change some actions…
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Jim Sirbasku says:
Since when is Rick Perry a small town guy? He wears skintight bicycle pants and subscribes to Food + Wine Magazine. He has perfectly coiffed hair, and his Euro suits have prominent shoulder pads. He is, in every imaginable way, a metrosexual urban-dweller, not a “small town guy.”
And when it comes to Rick Perry having “some ideas” regarding water financing, let’s hope not. Let’s hope that people with legitimate pedigrees have some rational ideas, not Rick Purrah and his D in Meats.
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donuthin says:
We have become a society most interested in instant gratification and big business is no exception. They are perfectly willing to sacrifice the future for the present which means they will support Perry because he is against supporting future infrastructure needs unless some of his buds are the contractors who will get the job, donate money to his campaign and talk about what a goober he is when among themselves.
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Anonymous Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:33 am
Truth. And that is the answer to Patti Hart’s question.
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Anonymous Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 5:58 pm
The truth gets lost in all of the crap.
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Cow Droppings Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:38 am
the problem is no can truthfully say he didn’t support infrastructure needs, and specifically an ambitious plan to finance them. You can hate on tolls like Robert Morrow does, but you can’t say he didn’t identify a funding mechanism for transportation. It’s just not true and a thousand headlines criticizing his funding plan prove otherwise.
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Jed Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 11:53 am
supporting infrastructure needs means more than trying to cover the state in concrete.
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Anonymous Reply:
April 24th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Hmmm, well I’m not going to get in to that argument but we can truthfully say that he has not been a good governor, that he has no legacy, and that he and his staff embarrassed the state with his joke of a presidential campaign. I think everyone here would agree with that. George W. Bush, now that was a good governor.
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Robert Morrow Reply:
April 27th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
I have not identified a funding mechanism for building roads.
I have identified the fact that Texans and their politicians want to have their cake and eat it, too.
Let’s deal with that.
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Blue Dogs says:
Burka, I see the hostility towards Perry has been brewing since 2006 or maybe 2003 when he wasted his political capital after trouncing Sanchez.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
I didn’t this much hate when LBJ and the Hobby’s were milking the taxpayer….oh wait thems was dems.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
I just realized why I can’t be a democrat….
at first I thought, “well I just can’t be that unhappy” but then I realized it’s just penis envy.
Democrats has a severe case of penis envy, thats all it takes to be a democrat nowadaze.
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Texian Politico says:
Burka,
You like covering the Williamson Co DA race. Check out this story. I doubt it has much impact on the race, but if the board had gone the other way you know Duty would be all over it like flies on doody.
http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/courts/entries/2012/04/24/board_dismisses_complaint_agai.html
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Anonymous says:
Republicans need a 1964 type election so that they can determine what kind of party they want to be going forward, and possibly force some of the theocrats out to form (so that they can form their own party). Pushing out the theocrats would bring back a lot of people who have moved over to the Democratic party in recent years.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
The first thing you learn in business is if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Texas ain’t broke and dems ain’t fixin it.
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Tom says:
Texas schools are broke. No matter how you do the math, more students and fewer state dollars adds up to broke.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 6:14 am
“Texas schools are broke”
put the blame where it belongs on unions and educrats.
Seriously you want a “businessman” to take over edu? You’ll see cuts to a sacred cow like you’ve never seen. The shrieks and whining will be ear splitting.
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paulburka Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 8:15 am
There are no teachers unions in Texas. Repeat after me. There are no teachers unions in Texas.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 8:41 am
oh wait they’re called associations….
http://teachersunionexposed.com/990/741316497-09.pdf
There also isn’t any voter fraud in Texas if you ax a democrat.
paulburka Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 8:59 am
There is certainly voter fraud in Texas, but most of it comes from mail-in ballots. Fraud involving misrepresentation of identity, which is the subject of Voter I.D. legislation, is extremely rare.
Max2Tucker says:
No Thank you! I’ve had enough of the Koch brothers and ALEC. Time to find some legitimate leaders in this state.
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Pat says:
Your comments about the financial communities in Dallas and Houston ring true. The big players in the investment banking world tend to have offices here because a handful of their big-revenue-generating MDs want to live here. The analysts and associates at the powerhouses are almost universally recruited from East Coast schools with reputations as breeding grounds for future Street men. To be sure, there are still a number of prestigious Texas funds–Lone Star and Quantum come to mind–but the trend is clear. All roads in finance lead to New York. The business community is just renting Texas.
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Sir Winston says:
I dislike Rick Perry personally. But under his tenure, Texas has created more jobs than the other 49 states combined. So my guess is the business community (read: job creators) is ecstatic about that. It is only some of the employees (read: job fillers) that are complaining. Ever heard of California Monthly magazine? Oklahoma Monthly? Me neither.
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Distinguished Gentleman Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 9:33 am
I would not give Rick Perry full credit. Much of the credit has to go to the overall Texas business climate which has existed in this state for decades, well before Rick Perry’s occupation of the Governor’s office.
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Class of 1976 says:
TEXAS Monthly began back in 1973, when there were precious few Republicans in government (and absolutely NONE of the fruitcakes that make up this current administration).
There WERE a lot of good businessmen, though…unlike the selfish, short-sighted hacks that support the current regime.
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Katniss Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 9:25 am
Print media is mortally wounded. Texas Monthly one day in the not too near future will exist, if at all, solely in non-print. It remains to be seen whether they’ll survive. I bet Burka’s Blog lasts longer than Texas Monthly’s print magazine.
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Tom says:
“Texas has created more jobs than the other 49 states combined.”
Thus, the Texas population continues to grow, bringing in more students to the public schools, while the state continues to decrease school funding.
And one of the reasons for the funding shortfall is the business community continues to get away with not paying their fair share.
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Harry Reply:
April 25th, 2012 at 9:28 am
Our public schools, and higher ed, pummel the other states in our region.
Are you saying we should be more like Louisiana? Arkansas? Mexico? New Mexico? Oklahoma? Kansas? Mississippi?
No thanks.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
I love the “share the wealth crowd” some call them Marxists.
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Blast from the Past says:
Paul,
In your 1983 review of Robert Caro’s “Path to Power,” you wrote about how the Northeast long viewed and treated Texas as a colony. The comments above argue that that is still the case. Do you think that is why business leaders don’t stand up to Perry – because they have no vested interest in the future of this state?
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paulburka says:
Yes, I think it is still true. We produce raw materials (beef, cotton, timber) and send them elsewhere to be turned into salable goods. Petroleum is the exception; we turn it into gasoline and export it to the rest of the country.
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Longhornfan says:
Last I heard, Texas has something like 25% of its population without helath insurance, running up the cost for those who are insured. Today, as I type, the unisured rate in Massachusetts is less than 5% and the world has not come to an end. Go figure….
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