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www.TheMeck.comFriday, August 26, 2011
Hurricane Irene could impact Braves-Mets series | ajc.com - David O'Brien
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www.TheMeck.comDespite His Current Vehemence on Taxes, Perry Has a More Nuanced Record - NYTimes.com - Jay Root
excerpt ..
- To hear him tell it on the presidential campaign trail, Gov. Rick Perry has never met a tax increase he liked.
But at home, over a political career that reaches back to the oil price shocks of the 1980s, Mr. Perry has embraced billions of dollars worth of them — including a $528 million tax increase approved in 1990, after he defected to the Republican Party.
The biggest tax increases came early in his career, before anyone used the phrase "Tea Party" to describe a potent political movement. But a few weeks ago, Mr. Perry also signed into law an online sales tax measure that the state says will raise $60 million over the next five years.
Grover Norquist's influential organization, Americans for Tax Reform, calls the measure a dreaded "new tax." Mr. Perry opposed it as a stand-alone measure, but this summer it was tucked into a must-pass bill during a legislative session that otherwise saw deep budget cuts.
The past votes and more recent tax legislation are sure to get a new look from opponents as Mr. Perry, now a Republican front-runner, promotes his tax-cuttin', budget-slashin' ways as an antidote to the ailing economy and a president he attacks as recklessly profligate.
"To the extent that he tries to oversell this in a campaign, people are going to pick at it," said Jim Henson, a political scientist at the University of Texas. "The question is, will his opponents be able to outmaneuver him to create a high level of dissonance between his record and what he says."
Read more http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/us/26tttaxes.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print
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www.TheMeck.comGov. Rick Perry's Cash Machine - NYTimes.com - Editorial
excerpt ..
- The exchange of campaign contributions for government contracts, favors or positions is all too common in Washington and around the country. It has been developed to an especially high art — or more to the point, a low art — by Gov. Rick Perry in Texas. For a presidential contender who insists that big government is the country's biggest problem, it is particularly cynical.
There are nearly 600 boards, commissions, authorities and departments in Texas, many of which are of little use to the public and should have long been shut down or consolidated. They are of great use to the governor, who more than any predecessor has created thousands of potential appointments for beneficent backers and several pro-business funds that have been generous to allies.
Since 2001, more than a fifth of the $83 million that Mr. Perry has raised for his gubernatorial campaigns has come from people he appointed to state boards and commissions, according to a study by Texans for Public Justice, a watchdog group. Just 150 individuals and couples gave him $37 million of that total, and nearly half received substantial tax breaks, business contracts or appointments from Mr. Perry, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Mr. Perry insists on unquestioned political loyalty in exchange for his patronage, no matter how inappropriate or out of place.
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