Rick Perry was the forty-seventh governor of Texas, becoming the nation’s longest-serving governor in a run that started when he stepped up to succeed newly elected president George W. Bush on December 21, 2000. Perry won his first full term on November 2, 2002, in an election that ushered in a new era of Republican dominance in Texas leadership. He won two more elections and was sworn in for an unprecedented fourth time on January 18, 2011. Perry, a graduate of Texas A&M University, is the first Aggie to be governor. A fifth-generation Texan, he is married to Anita Perry. They have two children, Griffin and Sydney.
For most of history, Texas has been considered a “weak governor” state. That changed under Perry’s leadership. “His long tenure in office . . . has enabled him to establish what amounts to a cabinet style of government,” giving him vastly more power than any of his predecessors, senior executive editor Paul Burka wrote in 2009.
Perry was born on March 4, 1950, and was raised by Ray and Amelia Perry in a modest frame house with no indoor plumbing in the tiny, unincorporated town of Paint Creek. His father worked their 10,000-acre cotton farm and was a county commissioner for 28 years; his mother was a bookkeeper at a nearby gin. (His mother sewed his underwear through college, he told editor Jake Silverstein in 2011.) He enrolled at Texas A&M, and was elected by the student body to be a yell leader, joining an elite group of five guys who lead football cheers. After graduation in 1972, he enlisted in the military. He flew transport planes for the Air Force, and when his tour ended in 1977, he returned to Paint Creek to take over the family ranch operation.
Perry entered a local state representative race as a Democrat in 1984 and won handily–the first of ten straight political victories, proving that he was a “great campaigner,” as we called him in 2011. During a certain point in his career, Perry came to realize that a conservative D like himself had little opportunity to win statewide office. This dovetailed nicely with Senator Phil Gramm aggressive efforts to woo converts to the Republican party, and in the fall of 1989, Perry announced he was going to switch parties.
In 2011 during a RedState rally in South Carolina, Perry announced his intention to run for the office of President of the United States of America. He dropped out 159 days later, ending what was widely considered to be a poorly run campaign, and endorsed Newt Gingrich. Texas Monthlynamed Perry the 2012 Bum Steer of the Year, a decision that was finalized, “in a matter of seconds. Fifty-three of them, to be exact: the time it took the governor to go from trying in vain to name the third agency of government he would shutter as president to giving up and muttering—in a phrase that will surely go down . . . as [his campaign’s] perfect epitaph—’Oops.'”
Rick Perry and the House appear to be on a collision course. The chatter is increasing around the Capitol that if the Transparency Committee continues on its course to impeach Wallace Hall, the governor will call the Legislature into a series of special sessions this summer, presumably on transportation.I don’t
Special prosecutor Michael McCrum is "very troubled" about the way the Governor made good on his promise to pull funding for the unit if its head, embattled Travis County district attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, failed to resign her position.
Public Policy Polling’s most recent survey shows that Rick Perry has virtually no support for president among Texans. Indeed, he is so poorly regarded that he would lose a head-to-head matchup with Hillary Clinton.The days when Perry was actually relevant are long gone. No one pays any attention
Yesterday Rick Perry called the Affordable Care Act, “a criminal act.” This is an example of why Perry will never be president. He has a mean streak a mile wide. Readers will recall that he attacked the Fed’s Bernanke in a menacing manner during a stump speech leading
The probability of getting the feds to agree to a block grant—with all of the exceptions Texas is seeking—is about the same as shooting a unicorn on a hunting trip.
The abortion debate continued to play out in Texas over the last few days as Governor Rick Perry, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, and Senator Ted Cruz addressed the National Right to Life Convention in Grapevine.
Perry told Bloomberg News that he would announce his decision about whether he would seek a full fourth term as governor by July 1. Why is he holding off on his reelect announcement?
This morning I wrote about the prospects for a budget deal, the topic du jour that is uppermost in everyone’s mind. The post contained, among other comments, this line: “House Democrats complained that Senate budget chief Tommy Williams had ‘misled’ them.” That is what I was told by
As we tweeted last night as events were rapidly developing, the hopes for a budget deal that would send everyone home happy appeared to evaporate yesterday. House Democrats complained that Senate budget chief Tommy Williams had “misled” them. Dewhurst showed up in the House chamber and disappeared into the back
Gov. Rick Perry said Monday that spending more state money on inspections would not have prevented the deadly explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. plant that was last investigated by Texas environmental regulators in 2006. Excuse me for asking, but … how would Perry know? You
At a press conference on Monday, Governor Perry called for $1.6 billion in business tax cuts–including 5 percent off the margins tax–in an attempt to make good on his promise for “tax relief” this session. What does this prove? That Perry never seems to run out of bad ideas.In fact,
I seldom find myself in agreement with the tea party, but they are dead right in their skepticism of debt. This is why you can make the argument that Rick Perry is not a true conservative. He won’t raise taxes, but he doesn’t mind going deep into debt–and retiring debt
At last, Rick Perry has decided to back more spending on transportation. His plan, which was developed by a group of trade associations (Realtors, Texas Association of Business, Texas Oil and Gas Association, and Texas Motor Transport Association) and announced today at a meeting of the Texas Lyceum, calls for
Wayne Slater has a piece in the Morning News today that touts Rick Perry’s viability for a political comeback. His thesis is that Americans love a good comeback story, and he cites the examples of former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford and former New York congressman Anthony Weiner.
