Tag Archives: Rick Perry

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Immigration reform is essential

Vice President Joe Biden is mostly right when he declares that undocumented immigrants “are Americans already.”

He told the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that all they want to is to become integrated fully in American society. That’s why he supports immigration reform.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/201972-biden-illegal-immigrants-already-americans

I, too, want immigration reform.

I want it especially for a specific category of illegal immigrants: those who were brought to this country when they were children by parents who sneaked in under the radar — and who have grown up, come of age and established their lives as full-blown Americans.

Those are the innocent victims in this debate over how and whether to enact serious reform of our immigration policies.

The effort contains a lot of provisions. One of them is an idea supported, believe it or not, by the likes of Republicans George W. Bush and Rick Perry, two Texas governors who know up close how difficult it is for these quasi-Americans to live in the shadows.

Perry has been criticized unfairly by the tea party/nut-job wing of his party for recognizing that immigrants who are technically hear illegally have assimilated into American culture and deserve to live as Americans openly.

I remain hopeful that Congress eventually will do right by those who want to become Americans by giving them the so-called “pathway to citizenship” contained in the immigration overhaul that is awaiting full congressional approval.

Do I predict it will happen? Not on your life. Eternal optimist that I am, my hope does spring eternal.

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Kinky for ag commissioner?

37494-kinky_friedman-763418Mention the name “Kinky” in polite company anywhere in Texas and your audience likely will know precisely of whom you speak.

It would be Kinky Friedman, the humorist, singer, author, part-time farmer, gadfly — and a Democratic Party candidate for Texas agriculture commissioner.

In an earlier post on this blog, I dismissed Friedman as a serious agriculture commissioner candidate, citing what I believe to be his lack of actual farm-and-ranch experience. But as Ross Ramsey of the Texas Tribune points out in the link attached here, Kinky might have a shot a breaking the Republicans’ choke-hold on every statewide office in Texas.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/03/13/analysis-kink-democrats-chain/

How does he do that? He can parlay his overwhelming name identification, for starters.

Kinky is in a runoff to occur May 27 with Jim Hogan to be his party’s nominee. Republicans have a runoff too, featuring Sid Miller and Tommy Merritt. Of the two GOP candidates, the only one who’s solicited my vote this year has been Merritt, who’s been touting his belief in the Second Amendment and in the “sanctity of life.” Someone will have to explain to me how that matters with regard to the office he is seeking.

I digress. Back to Kinky.

He ran for governor eight years ago. He came to the newspaper where I worked as editorial page editor and had a sit-down interview with the editorial board. To be honest, he had us in stitches.

I enjoyed the meeting tremendously, particularly when I asked him what he considered to be a dumb question (I wish I could remember it) and he body-slammed me with a put-down. Hey, I’ve been slammed by the best — and Kinky Friedman might qualify as being among the best put-down artists in the business.

How should we rate Kinky’s chances this year? The odds are long, Ramsey writes. “The odds are against Friedman, but they were also against Rick Perry in 1990, when he won the same job against Jim Hightower,” according to Ramsey.

With most — if not all — of the attention focusing on gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis, Democrats might have a sleeper candidate in a guy who wants to be taken seriously while campaigning like someone who doesn’t take himself too seriously.

I’m hoping he wins the Democratic runoff. This campaign season is going to need some levity. If Texans can retain their sense of humor, that might be Kinky Friedman’s ticket to public office.

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Perry needs to define ‘great’

There was Texas Gov. Rick Perry at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

He was bellowing, gesturing, pointing his fingers, hollerin’ some Texas slang — and saying something about how the United States “could become great again.”

Hmmm. How does the governor define great?

* We’re still the pre-eminent military power on the planet.

* We’re still the world’s No. 1 economy.

* We continue to rack up more Nobel prizes than any other country on Earth.

* We remain the No. 1 destination for immigrants looking to carve out a better life for themselves and their families.

* Our Constitution continues to be the model for newly created countries seeking to craft a framework for their own governments.

* The United States has recovered from the Great Recession while other developed nations continue to languish.

* We’re about to become the world’s No. 1 producer of oil.

* We’ve cut our oil imports to historic lows.

And the Texas governor rails about our country losing its greatness?

Are we perfect? No. Perfection is unattainable, but it’s always worth seeking.

Still, Gov. Perry needs to clean those new eyeglasses he’s wearing.

From my perch, I have concluded that we still are the greatest country on Earth.

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Why vote for Merritt?

Tommy Merritt is facing a runoff for the Republican Party nomination for Texas agriculture commissioner; he’s facing Sid Miller on May 27.

Here’s the question: What has Merritt done to earn the job?

I am asking because in recent days I’ve gotten some campaign fliers at my house promoting Merritt’s candidacy to replace Todd Staples, who lost his bid to become the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor. The fliers, I hasten to add, have said nothing about what Merritt would do to promote Texas agriculture.

Instead, they talk about his commitment to the Second Amendment (the one that guarantees gun ownership), his belief that life begins at conception, his lengthy marriage, his “strong conservative values,” and some other stuff that has nothing to do with agriculture policy.

So, back to the question: Why does this guy deserve to be agriculture commissioner?

He’s not alone in promoting values and principles that have little or nothing to do with the nuts-and-bolts policy issues relating to his office.

Do you remember Jim Hightower, the goofy Democrat who held the office until losing in 1990 to Republican Rick Perry? He touted farmers’ markets as his answer to bolstering agriculture. I can’t remember what Perry bragged about. Republican Susan Combs argued for value-added product sales of commodities.

Now, we have Merritt — a former legislator — vowing to protect unborn children and fighting for Texans to keep their guns.

I haven’t gotten anything from Sid Miller in my mailbox. Maybe something will arrive in time for the runoff. If it does, it hope it says something — anything — about agriculture.

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Texas gay-marriage ban struck down

Was there ever any doubt that the federal judiciary would catch up with Texas’s ban on same-sex marriage?

It did so in equally conservative states such as Oklahoma and Utah. Now it has happened in Texas.

The sea change is now lapping at our front door.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-judge-strikes-down-texas-gay-marriage-ban-n39466

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia struck down the same-sex marriage ban — which voters approved by an overwhelming majority in a 2005 election to amend the Texas Constitution. Garcia ruled in favor of a gay couple that wanted to be married in Texas, but couldn’t given the state’s prohibition.

The ruling has been put on hold pending a sure-fire appeal by the state. Gov. Rick Perry vows to fight the ruling, as will Attorney General Greg Abbott (who wants to be the next governor).

It seems increasingly inevitable that the federal courts are going to uphold citizens’ rights, under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, to “equal protection of the laws.” By “equal,” gay-rights advocates and their political allies argue persuasively that bans on gay citizens’ right to marry the person they love deprives them of the rights of full citizenship granted to them by the Constitution.

Governors such as Perry, however, argue that the 10th Amendment carries greater weight, that the states have the constitutional right to enact their own laws that aren’t in direct conflict with federal law.

Let’s have this debate.

Setting aside my own personal qualms about redefining the term marriage — which my American Heritage Dictionary says is “The legal union of a man and a woman as husband and wife” — I totally understand why this issue is turning the nation upside-down.

Judges are looking at this issue from a constitutional standpoint and determining that the Constitution is unambiguous about who gets all the rights of citizenship. There cannot be a separate standard for people of certain sexual orientations. In a way that I am still trying to understand more clearly in my head and my heart, I get how the judges are ruling on this matter.

What’s more, the radio talk-show blowhards and others on the right and far right should not even try to suggest that we elect the federal judiciary, or that we put term limits on these individuals, or that we somehow water down the power of presidents to appoint these jurists. The system works just fine the way it’s set up. Leave it alone and debate these issues on their merits.

So now the fight has come to Texas. The state is going to take this matter to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Stay tuned. This fight is going to get very interesting.

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Academic credentials needed for chancellor?

Paul Burka poses an interesting question about someone who appears to be in line to become the next chancellor of the University of Texas System.

Does he have the proper academic credentials for the job?

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/next-ut-chancellor

Burka is talking about former legislator-turned-lobbyist Kyle Janek, who appears to be Gov. Rick Perry’s top choice for the job of UT System chancellor. Burka writes on his blog that Janek doesn’t have “any academic credentials.”

The actual choice, of course, belongs to the UT regents. Perry, though, will apply pressure for the board to select Janek, who’s a good friend and close ally of the governor.

But I have to wonder about the “academic credentials” aspect of this appointment.

Burka doesn’t specify what kind of credentials are required. He believes John Sharp, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, has the academic credentials for his job. Does he? Sharp served in the Texas Senate, on the Texas Railroad Commission, as state comptroller and ran two unsuccessful campaigns for lieutenant governor.

How about Kent Hance, who’s leaving later this year as head of the Texas Tech University System. He served in the Legislature, in Congress, on the Railroad Commission and lost a Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate.

Do either of these men’s credentials stack up academically?

I agree that academic “cred” is important. One of the chancellor’s main tasks, however, is to raise money for the university. Sharp is good at it, as is Hance — and as was former state Sen. John Montford, who was one of Hance’s predecessors at Texas Tech.

The current UT chancellor, Francisco Cigarroa seems to be a prodigious fundraiser as well; he also is a medical doctor, which I believe qualifies him as having superb academic credentials.

Burka suggests that Janek’s legislative career was undistinguished.

If he doesn’t have the stroke within the Legislature to obtain more money for the massive university system, then perhaps that — not a lack of academic credentials — should be the measuring stick.

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That was some ‘apology,’ Ted

Ted “The Motor City Madman” Nugent issued the kind of so-called “apology” a lot of us figured he would.

Which is to say he didn’t apologize to the target of some amazingly hateful remarks.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/21/ted-nugent-apology_n_4832012.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013

Nugent had called President Obama a “subhuman mongrel.” Today he went on a radio talk show and said he was sorry for using that terminology on the president.

But he put it this way: “I do apologize — not necessarily to the president — but on behalf of much better men than myself,” Nugent said, calling the comments “streetfighter terminology.”

I’ve been spending a little bit of time trying to parse those remarks. It seems now that he’s saying “sorry” to others who have criticized the president, only using more dignified language than that which flies out Nugent’s mouth.

So, there you have it.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called on Nugent to apologize. Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, said he had “a problem” with Nugent’s remarks. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who has enlisted Nugent to appear with him in his campaign for governor, so far hasn’t said anything about the remarks Nugent made a month ago.

And they get a non-apologetic apology.

This is the kind of fare we can expect, apparently, from The Madman.

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Abbott invites ‘Madman’ onto campaign trail

Let’s call it “Greg and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.”

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the shoo-in Republican nominee for governor, has invited Ted “Motor City Madman” Nugent to campaign for him across the Lone Star State.

I hardly can wait to hear what’s going to fly out of Nugent’s mouth once he hits the ground and campaigns on behalf of Abbott.

Actually, yes I can.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/greg-abbott-ted-nugent-texas-103597.html?hp=l7

This is an astonishing development in the budding campaign to see determine who will succeed Rick Perry in the governor’s office, a post Perry has held longer than anyone in state history.

Nugent is known these days for far more than his legendary guitar licks. He’s become an avid spokesman for political causes, ranging from gun-owners’ rights to anti-gay policy. He also is prone to utter some remarkably hateful things about those with whom he disagrees. Consider these remarks, which he spewed out a month ago:

“I have obviously failed to galvanize and prod, if not shame enough Americans to be ever vigilant not to let a Chicago communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel like the ACORN community organizer gangster Barack Hussein Obama to weasel his way into the top office of authority in the United States of America.”

This, I submit, is the kind of rhetoric that awaits likely Democratic nominee Wendy Davis as she campaigns against Abbott.

Honestly, I do not mind hearing people speak out intelligently on issues even when they disagree with my own world view. I do mind the frothing nonsense that proponents too often bellow forth.

Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilbert Hinojosa said it well: “Texans deserve better than a statewide office holder and candidate running for governor who welcomes Ted Nugent and his repugnant comments. I can’t help but recall the old saying, tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are.”

Is this really you, Mr. Attorney General? Really?

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Pot laws to loosen in Texas? Not just yet

Rick Perry had marijuana law reformers’ hearts fluttering the other day.

The Texas governor endorsed the idea that states should set drug laws, which caused some folks in the reform movement thinking, as the Texas Tribune’s Julian Aguilar reports, that the theory of relative is a sham or that Pink Floyd’s estranged founder might rejoin the band.

Don’t count on a change of heart in Texas.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/02/16/few-see-immediate-changes-texas-pot-laws/

Frankly, though, it would be refreshing to see the state at least take a hard look at whether we’re punishing those who smoke grass a little too harshly.

Should we follow the lead of Washington and Colorado and legalize its sale and use? That idea, too, is worth considering.

Perry went on to endorse the drug court program used in many Texas counties, which includes Potter and Randall counties. Perry spokesman Rich Parsons said: “The governor does support the system of drug courts in Texas that have proven successful in diverting those who qualify away from incarceration and into rehabilitative programs that reduce recidivism and help people end their drug use.”

My own feelings about marijuana penalties have tempered quite a bit in recent times. I’m thinking it’s time to reconsider whether the strict laws — particularly the mandatory sentencing policies handed down by the federal government — do anything other than clog our lockups with offenders who’ve done else wrong.

Some folks think the tide is turning in favor of loosening these penalties. Perhaps it is.

I’ll need some more convincing that Texas at least is nearing the head of the curve, rather than lagging so far behind it.

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Perry-Christie animus is showing within GOP

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s big re-election victory last year was heralded by Texas Republicans.

A lot of Texans welcomed it. A lot didn’t.

One of those Texans who didn’t much care for Christie’s victory apparently was fellow GOP governor, Rick Perry.

Imagine that. My hunch is that Christie shouldn’t take it too personally. Perry doesn’t like a lot of politicians, particularly those who might steal his thunder.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/07/politics/christie-perry-2016/index.html?sr=sharebar_twitter

A lot has happened, of course, since Christie’s victory. His brand has been damaged by that bridge lane-closing controversy that’s getting bigger and more complicated every day.

Still, Perry and Christie are rivals for a possible GOP presidential nomination battle in 2016. Both are considered possible candidates. They’re both big hitters in the Republican Governors Association, at least for now. Perry is stepping down from his office next January to “pursue other interests,” such as exploring whether to run for president again.

Perry’s comments after Christie’s big win have been quite instructive. “He was a successful governor in New Jersey,” Perry told ABC’s “This Week.” “Now does that transcend to the country? We’ll see in later years and months to come. We’re all different states. Is a conservative in New Jersey a conservative in the rest of the country?”

Christie’s brand of conservatism surely doesn’t much look like it does here in Texas.

As CNN.com reported: “In Perry-world, Christie is seen as pompous and disrespectful, both to his fellow governors and the sense of collegial decorum that has ruled the governors association for years. To Christie and his allies on the committee, Perry is regarded as unserious, past his prime and too conservative for the national stage.”

I would add that the “pompous and disrespectful” label also could be hung on Perry as well, given his recent job-poaching forays into other states that didn’t go down well with his fellow governors.

Two big egos may be set to clash at some point as the next presidential campaign gets going. The boom will be heard all across the nation.