The State of Texas vs. Rick Perry - A Discussion Thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The State of Texas vs. Rick Perry - A Discussion Thread

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

The right wing shill editorials almost write themselves.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 07:08

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 16:16

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

ReindeerF posted:

And it's surely true. I mean even if the guy who brought the indictment is a Pat Fitzgerald type, this all happened because of politics. In this specific case you can't remove any of the context because it's all relevant.

Here's a good rundown from before the indictment came down:

http://www.texasobserver.org/everything-wanted-know-rick-perrys-new-scandal/

And after:

http://www.texasobserver.org/rick-perry-indicted-two-counts/

For Texas stuff, the Observer is usually a good go-to source.

Well, it's the Observer's opinion that this came to a head because Perry was determined to take the chess piece and kill off political corruption investigations, not simply because democrats cooked up a baldfaced scheme to undo him.

This is a rather believable version of events, since Perry is identified by opponents as being really big on cronyism. Like, it's extremely his poo poo.

quote:

Perry's great triumph as governor has been the construction of an elaborate political machine, one that operates according to its own separate dynamic, using donations, appointments and favors as currency. In fact, Texas is run much like a Soviet protectorate, with a party boss (Perry) and a Politburo of superconnected advisers to the governor who shuffle back and forth between the public and private spheres (Perry's chief of staff, Mike "The Knife" Toomey, for instance, jumped from the governor's office to a job lobbying for Merck prior to the HPV vaccination order), all backed by a somewhat larger Central Committee of big financial donors who are the real "representative" power in the state, much more than the actual state legislature.

Who's on that Central Committee? It's not that hard to figure out. Texas has no limit on individual donations to political candidates, which means the governor's best friends don't have to hide behind soft money and other back-door channels. In Texas, you can pay your tribute right out in the open.

"The total of hard-money donations to Perry's three gubernatorial campaigns is $102 million," says McDonald, who tracks the state's pay-for-play system on behalf of Texans for Public Justice. "Half of that, $51 million plus, came from just 204 donors."

The system of uncapped donations means that Perry's superinsiders effectively operate as mobsters who hold a chit on the state's government. "These are obscenely huge amounts," says McDonald. "You can give a politician $100 or $1,000 because you like his ideology. But when you start giving him $250,000 or $500,000, you gotta think you are getting something in return."

So what did Harold Simmons get for his money? A lot.

For starters, a group of Perry appointees on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gave Simmons a license to build his hazardous nuke dump, even after the TCEQ's own team of scientists agreed that the project was too risky, given how dangerously close it lies to the Ogalalla aquifer, which provides drinking water for seven states.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/rick-perry-the-best-little-whore-in-texas-20111026

# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 09:10

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Most of why this has come up is because Perry publicly threatened to the veto in order to force her to resign. If the funding had mysteriously disappeared with no commentary from Perry, the case might be weaker.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2014 21:31

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

MrBims posted:

She had a .23 BAC. You're, uh, kinda not 100% accountable for everything you say while under the influence of mind-altering drugs.

.23 BAC, how is she not dead?

# ¿ Aug 17, 2014 06:37

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The State of Texas vs. Rick Perry - A Discussion Thread