IMHO....ANYTHING the Statesman is involved in of this nature should be held to the same suspcion level as a Jayson Blair story in the NYT.
I've dealt with them from a Public Affairs level and not only do they STRONGLY dislike the military, they tried to smear the state Adjutant General with a false story he used military aircraft for personal golf outings in other states, the story was debunked and MG James went on to become the Director of the Air National Guard.
Any "scoop" or "inside information" the Statesman ever claims to have is just so much BS! So if the said they had something on the Gov. 99% chance it WAS a smear.
Well, it wasn't just the American-Statesman (may they be covered up forever in pig dung) that supposedly had this story. Every 'Rat in Houston -- well, the active ones, anyway -- had the story, too, and they were passing it around at a political rally, which a 'Rat I know told me about, and I also saw posts about it on FR's Texas board.
Now, was it a roorback? After all, LBJ once smeared a man like that -- "I just want to hear him say it," said Landslide Lint'n. So we know the 'Rats are capable of that kind of thing. Was that the case here?
I don't know, but the story was that the American-Statesman had Perry dead cold, that he was caught out by state employees in the Capitol. Either it did happen, or it didn't happen, but the story was very specific and even named the other party. You can't just ignore stuff like this and just say, well, it's partisan and therefore it's all lies. If it were untrue, Gov. Perry should have sued the story's manufacturer for defamation of character -- but he didn't defend himself, instead he went to the American-Statesman and sued for peace. That alone sounds really bad, right there. He should have bid them defiance, if it were untrue, and fought to the last ditch for his reputation. He didn't do that.
If it was more than even a little bit true, Perry should have resigned instantly. If it were even partly true, he should never have stood for Lt. Governor in the first place. He had no business standing for office while holding himself out to be something he wasn't, and standing for office under circumstances that might later lead to his being personally compromised or blackmailed.
Which, considering that he had to go to the American-Statesman to get the story buried, may be exactly what happened: a bunch of wingo, liberal journoscum blackmailed a Governor of Texas and extracted a secret price for their complicity in keeping his secret -- which he shouldn't have had -- away from the public. From that point on, he's conspiring with Leftist scum against his own party and people.
This isn't a case of "What is the truth? said jesting Pilate/ And would not stay for an answer." This is a case of, Rick Perry clammed up about something we have a right to know about, and only the Leftist scum over at that Austin fish-wrapper know what really was said in their offices.