The Evening Brief: Texas Headlines for Jan. 25, 2013
Culled
• 'Bring it on,' Rick Perry says to Democrats who think they can create 'Battleground Texas' (Houston Chronicle): "After waiting maybe a nano-second, Texas Republicans are striking back against Democratic claims that the Lone Star State will turn blue in our lifetimes. And they aren’t holding back. 'They can bring it on,' Gov. Rick Perry spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told Breitbart News, 'they will be hard-pressed to make much progress with the proven success conservative policies have had in our state.'"
• White House, senators starting push on immigration (The Associated Press): "The White House and a bipartisan group of senators ...
Comments (38)
Ronnie Odom via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Thanks for that last raise under the Bush administration, and really we appreciate Dewhurst effort to trainm us as combat soldiers at the states expense.
Already had it back in 67. Can I get some coins toward my retirement check?
Karen Spivey-Cummings via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Proven success? What success? Lots of minimum wage jobs with no benefits; tons of Texans with NO health insurance? Increased poverty and hunger in children. Dumbing down of our children by teaching religious bs in public schools?
Phil Pepin via Texas Tribune on Facebook
From the guy that suddenly turned Republican when Texas was becoming majority Republican. The guy who gives lip service to standing up to the Federal Government but has done nothing to actually lead Texas in the fight to preserve state sovereignty. As long as the GOP makes heroes out of frauds like Perry the GOP will continue to become the Whig party of the 21st century.
Miga Avalos via Texas Tribune on Facebook
oh boy this i want to see! where's the popcorn??
Lee Ferguson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Clearly he is delusional. And remember, the first part of "success" is SUCK.
Cal Morton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I didn't realize conservatives policies were responsible for creating the swamps, that were subsequently covered by sediment and over millions of years converted to hydro-carbons... that's sort of counter to their other claim... that man has only walked the earth for about 2,000 years. Hmmm
Robert Moorhead via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Sounds like we might have some folks who'd like to bring it on... let's do it!
Kelley Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
http://swampland.time.com/2013/01/25/bobby-jindal-weve-got-to-stop-being-the-stupid-party/
Robert Moorhead via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Not while we the Rickster...
Bambi Clark via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Perry = More stupid from the GOP
Steve Munday via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Political parties aside, will Texas become more liberal or not?
Mary Nethery via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I got three words for ya Guv "OOPS, oops and OOPS"....it will be your epitath bud.
Terri Pooley via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Not to mention gerrymandering.
Kelly Haynes via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I'm totally bringing it on, Gov!
Taylor J. Harris via Texas Tribune on Facebook
^^^ Liberal circle jerk. Sad, but funny.
Justin Williams via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Someone with common sense and a fighting sprit please run against Rick Perry.
Sparkling Sunshine via Texas Tribune on Facebook
He is ...... Yawn.....boring
Kristi Thibaut via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I'm not sure Perry realizes all the majot counties in Texas are either blue or purple.But rememberhe lies n Perryland.
Kristi Thibaut via Texas Tribune on Facebook
He lives n Perryland...sorry my keys r sticking. lol
Kelley Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Kristi Thibaut for Houston City Council At-Large Pos. 2. you were right. he lies.
Greg Ellis via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Sadly, success leads to complacency, which leads to apathy, which allows the liberals to sneak into office. Texas has always been conservative, championing self reliance, personal responsibility and limited government. For the first 150 years those conservatives were Democrat. Once the liberals took over the party the conservatives became Republicans and they took over the state. Without continued vigilance the liberals could return.
Mary Morrison via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I'm not sure just what success he's talking about, maybe being the most successful embarrassment?
Stanley Moore via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Actually Greg--Texas turned Republikkkan after the Civil Rights act was passed and segregation ended. All the bigots ran over to the Republikkkan party.
Greg Ellis via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Actually Stanley, more Republicans than Democrats voted for the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act. In the 1960's LBJ (a Democrat) had to strong arm his own party to get enough votes to pass his civil rights bills--and without the overwhelming support of the Republicans the bills would not have passed. Democrats passed the Jim Crow laws. Democrats passed the Poll taxes. And Democrats passed and defended segregation laws. Republicans fought them all. The truly conservative Democrats (like Ronald Reagan and Rick Perry) fled to the Republican party when it became clear the Democrat Party was only interested in pushing a big-government, anti-freedom agenda and was willing to bankrupt the nation to do so.
Justin Williams via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Greg Ellis you are telling half of the story. You fail to mention or should I say,you try to side blind us,with the fact that most of those conservatives democrats became Republicans and those Republicans became democrats.
Christine Lund via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Success? We have the some of the worst healthcare in the nation. Our prisons suck. Underfunded everything. Schools are sub-par. We spend more on telling everyone what a great place it is but until you have to work and live here, you don't know about the homeless, the hungry, the lack of work, the lack of transporation, the high cost of utilities. gas and insurance. And the yearly rake of hurricanes and storms. SUCCESS?
Nora Dearing via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Republicans have their own interests in mind. That's why I'm a Democrat. It's more than just about me, me, me.
Dale Curry
@Greg Ellis - Good try sport, however it is a fact the Segregationist did leave the Democratic Party after passage of the Voting Rights Act flocking to the GOP. Futhermore, it was our own LBJ who acted by forcing thepassage of the Voting Rights Act as well as signing it as President. LBJ did this knowing full well the cost to the party, acknowledging that it would deeply cost the Democrats in the South. Frankly, today's Republican Party is nothing more than regurgitated Dixiecrats. Futhermore, your party does not get to spend two years bashing immigrants and other 47percenters and then after the election, wrap yourselves in the cloak of liberty. No, I do not remember the republicans marching to Selma. As to Rick Perry's embracing the principles of equality, did he start that at his hunting ranch, what was tha name of that ranch again? Was it "Niggerhead"? From my perspective, the GOP knows this or they would noy have remained silent in the face of a large seg So much for your argument about how the republicans and Rick are anything other than the bigots they pander too.
Now as to your slander and distortions that the GOP is the fiscally responsible party in Washington. Such absurd statements ignores the fact 1) Clinton left us a surplus, 2). It was Bush/Cheney's fiscal irreponsibility and "deficits don't matter" philosophy that drove us into trillion dollar deficits 3). Two wars-prescription drug coverage-massive tax cuts for the wealthy while paying for all with a Bank of China card is not only fiscally irresponsible but has left our nation vulnerable and our economy in taters. Then after the American public sent the GOP packing in '06 and '08; realizing the party faced a generation in the wilderness they spend the next 4 years obstructing the President's efforts to clean up your mess. When the President and Boehner put the Grand Bargain on the table the tparty nearly lynch Boehner for even considering a deal. Then they torch our AAA bond rating. acting like spoiled petulant children.
So as to your contentions about the GOP and Democrats, Voltare words resonates, "Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities, has the power to make you commit atrocities. "
But thanks for the fairy tale, now will you tell us the ones about weapons of mass destruction or death panels? Or the ones about where the President was born or his faith?
Dale Curry
@Governor Rick Perry - Don't worry Governor, as Democrats we do not need your 'encouragement'! You can rest assured we are coming, and the very fact that you felt the need to bluster tells us clearly the level of Anxiety the very idea is causing you,!
Lance Lowry via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The libertarians (Tea Party) and special interest have pushed the Republican Party too far to the right. Right now the Republican Party is self-destructing due to rightwing extremist and leaders lacking diplomacy. The R's would be smart to seek someone like Joe Straus as governor, than continue with leaders such as Perry or Abbott who will not take a stand to extremist and exercise diplomacy. Centrist leaders such as Joe Straus, Wendy Davis, and Jerry Patterson will be Texas top statewide leaders in the future. It will be interesting to see if CPRIT doesn't turn into the next Sharpstown Scandle. Abbott's sudden interest in taking on Perry might be the answer to that question.
elissa fuchs
My former states(New York and Connecticut) can't pay their bills because democrat (and fake conservatives) rolled over for the unions and now have billions in unfunded pension liabilities. What did New Yorkers get for rolling over? People fleeing to right to work states, the public school systems that spend billions are full of illiterate ignorant students.The infrastrucure is crumbling. Mortgages were given to people who had no money to ever pay them back so everyone's property values sunk.
Are Texans stupid enough to enact policies that destroyed the Northeast? If you think the Texas economy is bad now wait till Obamacare kicks in and will cause private sector jobs to cut full-time employees.
It's never wrong to do the right thing. Your not a racist if you refuse to back failed programs like Headstart, or don't believe in giving over 60% of your pay to the government.
I
elissa fuchs
Try paying $400/month for heat for a 3 bedroom condo in Hartford, Ct, with a $15,000 property tax bill, $1000 per vehicle car registration fee, 60 cent/gallon gasoline tax, potholes the size of the Grand Canyon etc.
If it's so bad down here why don't y'all try moving to Connecticut and try it out for awhile?
Annette Bryant
I am proud to be a Texan but I am so embarrassed to have Perry for Guv. One of these days I suspect he is going to point that finger into the wrong face and someone is going to brake it off. Hopefully it will be a death row inmate who has been exonerated from the filth of insanity, solitary, "dog vomit" for food, lack of medical, forced air from the outside causing prisoners to fall out from the heat and even die, freeze at night with no heat, etc., etc. Now that you are charging $100.00 to the inmates loved ones for medical to help out on the prison budget...how's that working out for ya? :)
Larry Hilliard via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The Republicans all thought Romney was going to become president too. How did that work out for them? Texas will turn blue.
Paul Hughes via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Not nearly Conservative enough. Keep moving right, and God speed!
Sergio Hernandez De Santos via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Not all republicans are bigots, but if you're a bigot you 're probably a republican
BM
Karen Spivey-Cummings via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Keep moving LEFT. The GOP is now the party of NUTS.
JC DemocratofTejas
What's with that finger rick. You are constantly and rudely shoving it at somebody. I respect your use of the English language though: "Bring it on"..."Move on down the road"...what an illustrious orator.
•
In 2011, Perry was fined $1,500 by the Ethics Commission for failing to properly disclose income from rental property in personal financial statements filed in 2008 and 2009. The Ethics Commission records two violations because the same omissions occurred in two separate years. The total undisclosed income from both reports was between $7,000 and $29,995. Perry corrected his filings and issued the following explanation: "We inadvertently omitted rental income and the mortgage information related to our house in College Station."
•
Perry owned a stake in MKS Natural Gas Company, a firm founded by the late Ric Williamson, Perry's former Transportation Commission Chairman, according to financial disclosures. The company, which controls about $3.4 million in mineral rights in the Barnett Shale region, according to the Daily Beast, is now owned by Williamson's widow, Mary Ann Williamson. She was appointed by Perry as chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission. Perry sold his interest in the company for an amount greater than $25,000, according to his 2011 personal financial statement.
•
Critics have said Perry presides over a "pay-to-play" culture, with lobbyists such as his longtime friend Mike Toomey getting preferential treatment. Toomey has profited from Perry’s power, winning $2 billion in state government contracts since 2008, a joint analysis by The Texas Tribune and The New York Times found. Toomey in turn has helped funnel donations into groups that have worked to bolster Perry's legislative majorities and his re-election efforts. Perry aides say political contributions play no role in his policy decisions.
•
Critics took issue with a real estate deal in which Perry acquired a lucrative piece of property with the help of Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay. Perry later sold the Horseshoe Bay property for a profit of $824,000.
Does this man look like a used car salesman?
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