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“Can you give me any idea how well Perry is thought of?”

I would have to say reasonably well, with an asterisk next to it.

The Governor of Texas is kind of a unique job. The legislature only meets every other year, and the governor has relatively small amounts of power. In my opinion, when the decisions have been his to make, Perry has made the correct calls. By that I means conservative. That thing with the vaccine was kind of bungled.

The biggest complaint I've heard from many conservatives down here is that he's kind of a Punxsutawney Phil. When it's time for election he's out there, saying and doing all the right things. After he's elected he kind of disappears into his stump until it's time to wake up again. I'm not sure I really hold with that because the Governor of Texas really has limited power, so I'm not sure there is a lot he could do if he wanted to.

Perry has had a pretty sympathetic legislature to work with all the time he's been Governor. I really don't know how he'll perform when he has to get in there an mud wrestle with those scumbags in Congress. (At one time I thought maybe 2012 would give us a solidly conservative congress, and maybe it will. For some reason I'm starting to have my doubts).

Perry's a kind of a Punxsutawney Phil. When it's time for election he's out there, saying and doing all the right things. After he's elected, he kind of disappears into his stump until it's time to wake up again.

When he does that disappearing act, big-hearted Rick gets down to the real business of governance----enriching himself.

When Senor Ricardo released his "holdings" the other day, he sure left OUT a LOT----like for instance, that one of his multi-million dollar "political committees" paid for family trips all over the world. And what about his wife's "holdings?" She also worked for Texas government----for a non-profit that received "grants" from her husband, the Governor's, office. Just a coincidence, I'm sure (/snix).

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So how many political/personal slush funds does Senor Ricky have? This is what we know to date----could be many many more.

<><> “Texans for Rick Perry” committee is a $102 million slush fund he uses at will. Some PAC mega-donors paid in $100,000 each in order to influence Perry's official actions. Gov Perry paid for posh family trips to the Bahamas, Amsterdam, Madrid out of campaign contributions from his “Texans for Rick Perry” committee.

<><> Perry's "Make Us Great Again PAC" raised millions to flood Iowa, and other early voting states, with ads promoting their boy.

<><> At the time he was saying he WAS NOT running for president last year, Ricky's Super-Pac raised $55 million for a presidential race---in $2500 max per person/ $5000 max per corporate PAC contributions. Perry organizers would not say what the Perry presidential groups has raised to date.

<><> Perry bragged at the Tea Party debate that he raised $33 million for reelection that year and that he was "offended" at the inference that he could be "bought" with Gardisil mfg Merck's $5000 campaign donation.

<><> The $295 million Texas Enterprise Fund doles out millions of tax dollars to Perry supporters who then kick-backed to his campaign coffers. TESF also gave $20 million to Countrywide Mtge---the crooks at the heart of the US financial meltdown---- Ricky said the $20 million was to (cough) "create jobs."

<><> Perry raised funds for the Republican Governors' Association, and, in turn, Perry's 2006 campaign received two $500,000 checks from the RGA that he did not disclose as election law requires.

<><> His wife Anita Perry's $60,000-a-year salary at the Austin "nonprofit" "Texas Association Against Sexual Assault" comes indirectly from Gov. Perry's political donors, state contractors and companies that do business with the state or have issues before the Legislature. Of 37 major donors during Anita Perry's tenure as fundraiser, ONLY three have NO ties to the governor or state business. Anita Perry is paid from the "nonprofit" money pool that includes political contributions. TAAS also receives grants from state agencies AND the governor's office. Donating to the TAASA seems to be another way Perry dreamed up for those with an interest in state government to influence Perry. State grants to the "non-profit" could be easily laundered especially w/ Mrs P at the helm.

<><> One report called “The Governor’s Gusher,” documents 100 wealthy donors who “have sought corporate welfare, relaxed regulatory rules or other government favors” in exchange for their political largess in Texas gubernatorial races. A disturbing number of these profiteers made a fortune off government handouts or by bending or breaking regulatory rules.

<><> The $200 million Texas Emergency Technology Fund was created at Perry's behest in 2005 to act as a kind of public-sector venture capital firm, largely to provide funding for tech start-ups in Texas. Since then, the fund has committed nearly $200 million tax dollars to fund 133 companies. Mr. Perry told a group of CEOs in May that the fund's "strategic investments are what's helping us keep groundbreaking innovations in the state." A select few including Perry enjoy ultimate decision-making power over the fund's investments. Dallas Morning News found that some $16 million from the tech fund went to firms in which major Perry contributors were either investors or officers, and $27 million from the fund went to companies founded or advised by six advisory board members. The tangle of interests surrounding the fund has raised eyebrows throughout the state, especially among conservatives who think the fund is a misplaced use of taxpayer dollars to start with.

<><> Perry also has a pot of "inaugural committee" monies (bet that comes in handy).

<><> And so on and so forth, ad infinitum, ad nauseaum.

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Ricky's come a long, long way. It was only yesterday, farm boy Rick sold Bibles door-to-door to get money to buy a car. Perry's hopes to become a veterinarian were dashed when he flunked animal science in college. Then Ricky got into $$$Texa$ politic$-----and hi$ money worrie$ vani$hed. Now he travels to campaign stops in a sleek corporate jet, and has hundreds of millions of dollars at his disposal........over and above the paltry amount in his blind trust that he "allowed" voters to see.