TX Governor gets free medical tests from donors

[johncoby2]

Texas Governor Rick Perry has got to be one greedy rotten bastard to deny CHIP to the poorest of the poor while getting free medical testing from his donors for him and his wife!

http://muse-musings.blogspot.com/2009/07/giving-governor-perry-20000-boot.html

In all, Perry probably pocketed over $130,000 in gifts including boots, Spurs tickets, lodging and transportation for his family, hunting trips (without Dick Cheney), football tickets, and while he denies CHIP coverage for the poorest of the poor children in his state, he and his lovely wife Anita are getting free medical tests from Dr. Kenneth Cooper. Sweet!

[maglatinavi]

1. Perry

What do you expect from a repuglan governor Further more, specially in Texas? Can the greedy bast**d's decision be overturned??? What does Huthinson would say?

[Eric J in MN]

2. Politicians shouldn't be allowed to accept tickets to sporting events...

...except ones they order themselves with their own money.

[Aragorn]

3. OK it's wrong

but come on! Only $1000 for a football helmet signed by Emmitt Smith? And $1000 for Aggie tickets?

And I never but boots unless they're on sale, personally.

[Ilsa]

4. Heh heh, yeah but it is Ken Cooper! A friend of mine

Suffered a massive heart attack less than a year after Cooper and his clinic gave him a clean bill of health. My friend took his clinic medical records to another cardiologist who told him that early intervention was clearly warranted based on the tests they had done (EEG, stress test, etc). Maybe my friend wasn't important enough for Cooper to get it right.

[tammywammy]

5. I just read this article

Perry savors perks of being governor
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
Houston Chronicle

AUSTIN — On the dollars of taxpayers and wealthy donors, Gov. Rick Perry — reared amid the cotton fields of West Texas — gets to live the life of the rich and famous, traveling the world meeting captains of industry, sports stars and royalty.

The taxpayers shell out $108,000 a year to rent him an estate west of Austin and spend $168,000 more on chefs, stewards and housekeepers for the Perrys’ creature comforts.

Fort Worth piano maestro Van Cliburn once played at the Governor’s Mansion for first lady Anita Perry’s birthday. Dallas aerobics guru Dr. Kenneth Cooper once gave the governor free medical tests. Expensive gifts to Perry have included 16 pairs of custom-made boots, a pair of spurs, hunting trips, sports tickets and a football helmet signed by former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith.

The perks of being governor are not unusual across the nation, and in many states, governors like Perry are also de facto head of state business recruitment.

Wealthy donors and corporate-funded foundations, for example, have flown him to the Bahamas for scuba diving, to Paris, Rome and Dubai for business promotion and to San Diego for the one-time Texas A&M yell leader to attend an Aggies Muster for expatriate A&M graduates.

-snip-

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1506690.html