Jay Root
is a native of Liberty. He never knew any reporters growing up, and he has never taken a journalism class in his life. But somehow he got hooked on the news business. It all started when Root walked into the offices of The Daily Texan, his college newspaper, during his last year at the University of Texas in 1987. He couldn't resist the draw: it was the biggest collection of misfits ever assembled. After graduating, he took a job at a Houston chemical company and soon realized it wasn't for him. Root applied for an unpaid internship at the Houston Post in 1990, and it turned into a full-time job that same year. He has been a reporter ever since. Root has covered natural disasters, live music and Texas politics — not necessarily in that order. He was Austin bureau chief of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for a dozen years, most of them good. He also covered politics and the Legislature for The Associated Press before joining the staff of the Tribune.Root is the author of “Oops! A Diary From The 2012 Campaign Trail,” an insider’s account of Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s dramatic collapse in the 2012 presidential race. The book was released in September, 2012.
jroot@texastribune.org
512-716-8643
Recent Contributions
Enlarge
photo by: Eric Thayer for The New York Times
Republican Presidential candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry attends a campaign event in Spencer, Iowa December 17, 2011.
Though Gov. Rick Perry's political fortunes on the presidential campaign trail have plummeted, the bills for his omnipresent security detail continue,
Full Story
Enlarge
photo by: Marjorie Kamys Cotera
Former gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina on Sept. 22, 2011, at a press conference on cronyism in Texas politics
An old Republican rival of Gov. Rick Perry is calling on state and federal officials to investigate whether he broke the law when he began collecting his lucrative pension without actually leaving his job.
Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Dec. 14, 2011
Gov. Rick Perry has sparked a wave of criticism, and some unanswered questions, after filing paperwork this week revealing that he is collecting both a salary and a pension from the state of Texas. Critics say there are rules designed to prevent such arrangements. Perry and his aides say its perfectly legal.
Full Story
Rick Perry has finally retired, but it's not what you think: The governor has officially retired as a state employee, but gets to keep working as Texas governor. The maneuver, perfectly legal according to his campaign, has dramatically boosted his take-home pay.
Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry survived his second straight debate without a major stumble and wants to be the "Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses." U.S. Rep. Ron Paul stole the show, but his isolationist foreign policy views may have alarmed some Republicans.
Full Story
Rick Perry's first stop for his presidential campaign bus tour in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Dec. 14, 2011.
Gov. Rick Perry launched his meandering, hopeful bus tour through first-test Iowa, pleading with voters to give him another chance ahead of the crucial Jan. 3 caucuses.
Full Story
Enlarge
graphic by: Todd Wiseman / Ryan Murphy
Voters in Iowa are running out of time for browsing the candidates as the Jan. 3 caucuses draw nearer. Gov. Rick Perry is hoping to give them another good look as he travels the state on an old-fashioned bus tour.
Full Story
Rick Perry addresses supporters at Cafe Diem in Ames, Iowa on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011. Perry has a Sharpie pen in his hand to illustrate his vow to veto government-expanding legislation.
Hoping to build momentum after a strong performance in his latest nationally televised debate, Gov. Rick Perry hit a Sunday morning TV show, spoke to two church congregations and staged a boisterous rally at a coffee shop in central Iowa.
Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry speaking at a Veterans for a Strong America event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Dec. 10, 2011.
While it might not have been enough to alter his position, days before heading out on his bus tour of Iowa, Rick Perry turned in one of the strongest debate performances of his campaign.
Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry talking to the media after the CNBC Republican presidential debate on Nov. 9, 2011.
Gov. Rick Perry did it again. In an interview with the Des Moines Register, the presidential candidate flubbed the name of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and forgot how many judges sit on the high court.
Full Story
In his latest ad, Rick Perry takes aim at GOP front-runners Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney on health reform and vows to repeal "Obamacare."
Full Story
Texas Governor at the Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire on October 11, 2011.
Gov. Rick Perry is promising to reinstate the ban on gays serving openly in the military if he’s elected president, but he’s not sure yet what to do with the ones who have already come out of the closet.
Full Story
Gov. Rick Perry, on Nov. 28, 2011, at the announcement of the Institute for Applied Cancer Science to be run at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Gov. Rick Perry is stoking the culture wars with an edgy new TV ad railing against policies that allow gays to serve openly in the military but keep overt religious displays out of public schools.
Full Story
Rick Perry sharpened his populist tirade against Wall Street financiers and Washington politicians Wednesday, saying Americans had been “snookered” by bogus investments and a string of taxpayer-financed bailouts.
Full Story
Rick Perry at a house party in New Hampshire on Sept. 3, 2011.
Rick Perry barnstormed New Hampshire and the talk radio circuit Tuesday to showcase his endorsement from immigration hardliner Joe Arpaio, but there were few visible signs that the Arizona sheriff’s blessing will revive the governor’s campaign.
Full Story
