Posted on 07/17/2011 2:28:19 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Gov. Rick Perry's political stock has soared in recent months as he has traveled the country touting a decade of fiscal restraint in Texas under his leadership. Last month, Perry made Texas history by signing a two-year state budget that cuts overall spending for the first time in over 40 years.
Perry has long promoted the state's fiscal record as a model for the country and a key to why Texas has weathered the recession better than most other states. He has opposed new taxes and been vehemently anti-Washington, and his message is drawing interest among Republican primary voters nationwide.
Yet before the latest one, the Texas budget had consistently grown during Perry's time as governor, with total spending rising faster than inflation and population growth, state data show.
....Fed largely by state taxes and fees, general revenue has typically made up roughly half the Texas budget. It's the part of the budget that lawmakers spend most of their time arguing over during legislative sessions. Much of the rest of the budget is tied by provisions in federal law and the Texas Constitution.
When general revenue spending is examined by itself, the trends match better with the fiscal conservative image that Perry promotes. Though general revenue spending has grown with nearly every budget since Perry took office, it actually fell over the last decade an average of 0.6 percent every two years once those numbers are adjusted for inflation and the state's booming population growth. It rose during Bush's tenure.
"Obviously fiscal restraint is always something the governor has made a priority...He's the only Texas governor since World War II that has cut general revenue spending."
That distinction is one that Perry has touted repeatedly in recent years, from campaign commercials to the biography on the governor's office website..........
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
One could argue, as some have with Pawlenty, that maybe Perry offloaded some spending to cities and counties.
I am not a Perry supporter, but he looks good on this one, because:
1. The population of Texas has grown substantially during the period in question.
2. Texas also absorbed the brunt of refugees from hurricane Katrina. Another state (Illinois, Connecticut, New York, California) would not have had the means to do so. This did mean some significant expenditures. Some stayed, and that means a further increase in population.
3. Obama has done whatever he can to minimize Texas’ receipts (including denying a slam-dunk FEMA case) for the last two years.
Skeletons to the degree Former Al Gore democrat Perry carries are unacceptable.
Period.
I disagree.
I’m not exactly sold on Trans-Texas Rick, but stuff he did in the late 1980s while still a conservative Democrat (you know, like Ronald Reagan, Phil Gramm, and pretty much any Southern politician prior to 1990 were...) doesn’t really tell me much.
Perry may be just like the other Texas rino who Obama replaced.
Honestly, what I find much more unacceptable is Sarah Palin helping an abject RINO like McCain win the primary in 2010over a solid conservative like J.D. Hayworth, when whoever the GOP nominated would have basically had a gimme in the general election.
That's awful close to being a complete deal-killer for me.
Sarah’s support McCain was a bummer, but she really had no choice on that. I kninda liked Al Gore back in the day, but he gone off the progressive cliff. Trying to tag Perry with Al Gore just won’t work.
Hi TQC.
Thanks for making your comments.
Sarah Palin DID have a choice, and it’s just wrong to say otherwise. No one held a gun on her or her family. She could have finished her term as governor.
Yeah!!!! And how did you forget mean ol rick makin 3 year old little girls take that poison GUARDISIL?
PDS coyote ..... Yep Yep Yep
No, I actually voted for that other rino for governor because even with his faults, I never questioned his conservativeness as governor. I never voted for perry because as soon as he took office, he was too progressive for me.
It's real nice to read all these perry accolades, but it isn't what we felt when things went down. Yes, he occasionally found the nut the blind squirrel was looking for. That's why he was always considered the lesser of two evils when election time came around - just as he would be against the kenyan.
After reading the glossy picture of him presented in all this daily perry spam, I guess the opinion formed of perry by event after event over all these years must be wrong.
Approximately 80% of the Texas State Budget is spent in two areas: Education and Health Human Resources. A lot of those dollars are mandated in some form or another with little discretion in how they are used.
The following is a good review of the budget issued by Sen. Dan Patrick.
http://franklincountytexasgop.blogspot.com/2011/03/senator-dan-patrick-explains-texas.html
Please tell me who I should consider as the BEST GOP Primary candidate to face off against Obama?
Even after that explanation I am still confused, CW. Can you explain it to me like I’m a 4 year old?
Even after that explanation I am still confused, CW. Can you explain it to me like I’m a 4 year old?
Thank you deport.
I read it all and have archived the link.
Very understandable information and numbers.
Let me tell you Perry's formula:
Don't spend all the money.
Have a fair and predictable tax and regulatory policy.
Have a legal system that does not allow for over suing and make it so that loser pays.
******
AND as Perry and Haley put it in their OpEd Break the spend-and-borrow cycle - Thursday, July 14, 2011 - “As governors of states whose residents, like all Americans, are desperate for the restoration of fiscal responsibility in Washington, we are proud to have signed the Cut, Cap and Balance Pledge amid the debate over once again raising the federal debt ceiling.
We oppose an increase in the federal debt limit unless three common-sense conditions are met: substantial cuts in spending; enforceable spending caps to put the country on a path to a balanced budget; and congressional passage of a balanced-budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That amendment should include a requirement for a congressional supermajority to approve any raises in taxes."
The legislature controls state spending. That legislature is increasingly conservative and Perry benefits from that.
Who I do or do not support has nothing to do with the fact that since becoming governor, perry has repeatedly talked conservative and acted progressive. perry talks even more conservative around election time and even though the "good ole boys" play it up, folks see through it. Up until the last election perry had not even won the governorship with a majority, only a plurality. Had the dims ran someone against perry that wasn't a crackpot, they probably would have taken the governorship back. The things that you dismiss, after the fact, were big things to Texans when they went down and what you are doing is trying to rewrite the history that we lived through. I know what I and others thought of these things as they went down. Your articles and "facts" won't change that.
But, since I'm not ashamed to say who I like:
Right now, even with her affinity towards rinos like mccain, perry, and fiorina, Palin is my first choice. I like Bachmann too, but Palin looks more Reaganesque and is winning the media battle.(indeed, she is having her way with the msm)
When Palin picks perry as a running mate (and she will), I will move my support to the person I find to be the best candidate at the time, be they Republican or third party.
As I said before, a Palin ticket will carry Texas, but when she picks perry to be vp, she will do it without my support (and I do support the candidate of my choice with money and actions).
This is a good article about how the schools don't like the "cuts" (not the INCREASE they expected, so it's called a cut) and will sue, again. Ah, yes the courts. The Left's way to over rule the voters and their representatives in order to grow government.
When you know how the msm writes, and you know how to read between the lines, how to pop in those needed words the msm omits, this article says a lot. Schools poised to sue over funding 'mess' -- Courts are the only option after massive cuts by Legislature, educators say"
I gather you let her know that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.