Commentary: Corporate welfare and Rick Perry

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It may not be the First Rule of American Journalism, but it’s certainly in the top 10: The participation of a Texas politician in any race at all, whether it involves the presidency or even just jumping around in sacks, guarantees good times for reporters.

It’s a lesson I learned early in my career, when shortly after my arrival at an Austin newspaper, Gov. Dolph Briscoe appointed a dead man to a state commission. This wasn’t as big a story as you might think — Briscoe had already appointed three other dead guys to various jobs — but it was still lots of fun to cover.



Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/20/3841532/commentary-corporate-welfare-and.html#ixzz1VhBI64Pr

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1. And this guy is a republican too!

...“I am a pro-business governor,” he told Time magazine last week. “I will be a pro-business president.” What he means is that he’s pro-certain-businesses, the ones run by his friends.

As governor of Texas, Perry controls hundreds of millions of dollars in state handouts to corporations for “job creation and economic development.” Not surprisingly, it turns out that the funds are especially good at developing one particular sector of the Texas economy: Perry’s campaign funds.

The Texas Observer revealed earlier this year that of the 55 companies that have dipped into the $345 million Texas Enterprise Fund controlled by Perry, 20 have been have donated money either directly to Perry’s political campaign funds or to the Republican Governors Association, his Washington posse.