Spending on Perry's Austin Mansion Hits $800,000
Editor's note: This story is the second of a two-part series about the Texas governor's living accommodations. On Monday, the Tribune looked at the renovation of the fire-damaged historic Governor's Mansion.
When Rick Perry recently attacked entrenched politicians for abusing their public positions and living large at taxpayers' expense, critics were quick to turn the tables on the governor.
They said Perry, first elected to state office in 1984, has done some lavish living himself — particularly at his rental mansion in West Austin.
The Texas Tribune has added up the state-paid expenses to lease and maintain Perry ...
Comments (14)
David Spratt
If it was a problem then they should have hired more illegals to speed up fixing the Original Gov. Mansion , plenty of them wandering around. A clothes rack, some drapes , give me a break . People that have a I Phone that still works go out and buy another one every time they come out and then buy groceries with the Lone Star card. He is the Gov. and not a manager at Taco Bell. There is a lot of actual WASTE out there to root out. How much are we spending providing services for all these Illegals and their Anchor babies hanging out ? If things are so bad for the Citizens of Texas , how are they getting by? Anchor Babies are worth their weight in benefits !!
Rev. KT
Kinda like the pay raise he wasn't gonna take... until he did. If we're paying for his room, and campaign contributions are paying for his board... what's his salary going to?
Yep, it's all "small government" with the current flush of "conservatives" until it comes down to their pocketbooks, or gov't intrusion into OUR lives ("Patriot" Act).
David Spratt
He is a lot cheaper to keep up than our current president. Wonder if he and Michelle will take one jet or separate jets to Hawaii for their Christmas vacation?
“Everyone must sacrifice for the greater good… Everyone must have some skin in the game.”
This was Obmas statement the week before he went to Marthas Vinyard . Technically he is reported to have paid the $50,000 per week rental on the meager digs he went to , but he and Michelle flew on separate jets an hr apart and the cost to the taxpayers was in the millions.
Thanks for the sacrifice Mr. President.
Ross Smith via Texas Tribune on Facebook
And all Mr Perry had to say was "Pretty please? May I have a luxury McMansion for Christmas?"
David Spratt
Not a big Perry fan , but seems kinda like watching the right hand taking pennies out of the jar while the left hand is stealing $ out of your pocket. Probaly about 2/3 of all politicians are just outright crooks and the other 1/3 may be decent people in the process of being corrupted by the system. Out of a 172 billion $ budget this is a problem? More attention is placed on petty things to divert attention from the bigger issues. Perry is not the greatest but we could have a lot worse. I pay $1300 a month mortgage , considering who he is and all the security needs and such this does not seem excessive.
T D
David Spratt responds to this story three times, attempting to focus our attention on (1) illegal aliens; (2) President Obama; (3) other politicians.
I read this story as being about Rick Perry.
Rev. KT
@ T.D.
It's typical apologist behavior.
"It's okay because the other side is bad too!!!!"
If that's your yardstick, you're missing the point...
I don't work & pay taxes so I can vote for the guy who is the LESSER criminal.
David Spratt
I work and pay taxes , so I am not one of the 47% in the country that do not pay any Federal taxes. Illegals are sucking up 10 times that per day in all types of health care and food provided courtesy of their Anchor spawn or simply incompetent social workers that do not care if they cannot provide proof , and just claim they are hungry. As well as somewhere around 25,000 of them languishing in prison at all our expense. But I guess nitpicking over $350 per day or so is easier than addressing the tens of thousands Per day This one single problem costs us all. Yes by all means keep counting your pennies while the real $ go totally unnoticed by you.
Dot Pate
LOL ! Yes, unfortunate.
KS Kaplan
Texas is the 13th largest economy (GDP) in the world, and Texas is the #1 exporting state in the USA.
When uber-billionaire Michael Bloomberg was elected as Mayor of New York City in 2001, I think he personally paid for the restoration of the historic Mayor's residence, Gracie Mansion, to use for official events, while continuing to live in his private townhouse.
Mayor Bloomberg's term is up in 2013, and we know he would like a new challenge.
So, why not let Bloomberg run for governor of Texas, stimulate the Texas media with a few hundred million dollars in political advertising, and have him pay for his own housing?
That way, Texas can also reap the benefit of completely eradicating cigarette smoking while simultaneously changing the entire public school system to student-centered team learning where the teachers have to keep quiet.
No prediction what will happen to bar-be-que.
And, if this president thing does not work out for Governor Perry, send him and his family up to Gracie Mansion.
We sure could use their help, even though it is too late to save the old Yankee Stadium, destroyed and a new one built on confiscated neighborhood parks with more than a billion dollars of taxpayer-subsidized bonds, for a private corporation to have more luxury sky-boxes, fewer stadium seats at really high prices, and the home games broadcast on pay-cable. Just one of Mayor Bloomberg's legacies in concrete...
John Burton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Are they going to get fire insurance this time?
nick n
so I take it David Spratt is "The Comment Troll" for Texas Tribune, eh?
David Spratt, David Spratt, where you at, nobody wants to know.
What was that? A fart? No, that was David Spratt!! Complaining about Mex'cans oops I mean "illegals".
But David Spratt likes his asparagus, and his strawberries!!
David Spratt, David Spratt, where you at, nobody wants to know.
jpt51
Since public funds are involved and Gov. Perry prides himself on transparency (ha), taxpayers have a right to know who the landlord of this four livingroom house is and what political contributions they've made to our chief elected officer and his political party.
Mike Snyder
I wish before people began wailing about the illegal Mexican immigration they would sit down and really familiarize themselves with this country's foreign policies pertaining to out southern neighbor. Our interest in Mexico goes way back when manifest destiny was imperialism - and Polk - in his own words - said he "didn't want peace with Mexico he wanted a piece of Mexico." That's all water over the dam, but the mindset hasn't changed very much. When we needed cheap labor the bracero program enabled us to enjoy very cheap stoop laborers from across the border; when corporations became fed up with unions those maquiladoras were pretty attractive, at least until five-dollar-a-day wages paled compared to the slave labor available in China.
Then came NAFTA, a great program that fed corruption, pushed tens of millions of people into poverty, and enabled a handful of people on both sides of the Rio Grand to become extremely wealthy. It's too bad we didn't consider the plight of the voiceless, the people that lost everything they had so that the tortillas they eat are now made from genetically altered corn imported from Kansas and Saskatchewan. Our policies have been based on greed, a whole lot of taking and very little giving. We turn a blind eye to the corruption that has paralyzed Mexico's chance to achieve a true democracy. That's not a very smart way to treat your neighbor wherever you live.
So, while our secretary of state is off visiting Myanmar we continue to send millions and millions of dollars to fight a bloody war in Mexico, an unconscionable war that would never be permitted here. The poorly trained military engaging the "enemy" in public, in the streets in front of schools, hospitals and everywhere else without any regard for civilians. The death toll is now somewhere between 45,000 and 50,000 but the numbers are suspect because the government withholds information and nobody has any idea of how many people have simply disappeared. There have been thousands of human rights violations reported, few investigated, and a couple actually acknowledged. Why only a couple? Because the investigations are done - or not done - by the perpetrators, the military. This is all going on because the United States government refuses to destroy the lucrative marijuana black market by finding a way to decriminalize the stuff which nearly half of our population believes SHOULD be decriminalized.
By the way, maybe the Mexicans we should really be concerned about aren't the poorest (millions live in extreme poverty, a dollar a day which the World Bank apparently finds extreme; many more millions live on two dollars a day in a country with a minimum wage of about four dollars a day at today's exchange rate), but the wealthiest: Carlos Slim Helu, supposedly the world's wealthiest man, now owns a chunk of the New York Times. There is a lot of Mexican money being invested here. The way things are going they may own this country some day.
Meanwhile, Rick Perry's ostentatious display of the wealth of someone else isn't surprising. Like Mexican politicians, our politicos live pretty well, too. And they are not ashamed about leaving office somewhat wealthier than when they entered. But they represent our interests, right? Is that why so many become lobbyists?
Rick Perry has not displayed any concern about Texas kids without health insurance, he sleeps well with all of the executions because he KNOWS everyone had fair trials. He is not interested in poverty because like Mitt Romney he is interested in himself. What would he say about the poorer Texans that have no bread? Let 'em eat baby-back ribs.