Posted on 07/13/2002 1:09:01 AM PDT by GOPcapitalist
The full article is very lengthy, so in the interest of brevity I posted below the segment of the article (for full article see link above) specifying the positions he took against the Texas Republican Platform. There were a total of 46 planks in the survey. Perry disagreed with 50% of them. He partially agreed with 16 additional planks, and fully agreed with only 7 planks.
Where Perry, platform diverge
Highlights of Gov. Rick Perry's responses to questions about the Republican Party of Texas platform:
* The party opposes ballot initiatives and referendum votes as a bypass of "checks and balances." Perry said he "would be open to initiative and referendum with a high threshold for getting on the ballot."
* The party wants only registered voters to serve as jurors. Perry backs current law that allows all Texans except felons to serve on juries.
* Perry opposes the party's call to abolish "motor voter" laws that simplify voter registration and its call for re-registration of all voters every four years.
* Perry does not support his party's calls for life sentences without parole for habitual felony offenders and the extension of the capital punishment provision to allow the death penalty for rapists.
* Perry does not believe there is "sufficient citizen or legislator support" to abolish the Texas Lottery, as proposed in the party platform.
* Perry does not agree with his party's call for abolition of the Texas Education Agency's regulatory authority.
* Perry opposes his party's call for the "termination" of bilingual education programs in Texas.
* The Texas GOP platform calls for "a single standard for college admission for all students based on merit and ability, without regard to the school from which they graduated or class standing" -- as opposed to the top-10 percent law crafted to increase minority representation in state universities. Perry said he backs the law to "ensure that top-performing students from all parts of Texas have access to our state institutions of higher education."
* The party wants to scuttle programs that steer government contracts to minority-owned businesses. Perry said he supports the current system, which he says "encourages purchasing from Texas' historically underutilized and startup businesses."
* Perry shuns the state party's call for a radical overhaul of state and federal taxes, including a national sales tax to replace the federal income tax and other major levies.
* The platform says it "is in the best interest" of the United States to "rescind our membership" in the United Nations. Perry noted his disagreement with "many" U.N. policies but said it "is not currently in America's best interest to pull out."
* The platform said, "The current greatest threat to our individual liberties is overreaching government controls established under the guise of preventing terrorism." Said Perry: "I believe the Bush administration is properly balancing domestic security and individual liberties."
* Perry does not back his party's call for repeal of the minimum wage law.
Statewide Candidates for 2002 General Election
I = Incumbent
Governor REP - I
Rick PerryDEM -
Tony SanchezLIB -
Jeff DaiellGRN -
Rahul Mahajan
Just a guess but, me thinks the "any old average Bubba voter out in rural Texas" doesn't even know of or heard of what you speak.
I don't intend for candidates to espouse it all and agree that such a position would be unrealistic. However I do believe that they should agree with it more than they disagree with it. Perry just showed that was not the case with him. He disagreed with 23 out of 46 planks, partially agreed with 16, and fully agreed with only 7. That is appalling for a person running under the GOP banner.
After all, did not Phil Gramm get elected statewide for all those terms? He didn't have to support affirmative action to do it. So why should Perry?
Agreed completely. I was in my car on the way to Republican Party headquarters when the word came over the radio announcing he had just signed the thing. I pulled into the nearest gas station, ripped the Perry for Governor bumper sticker off my car, and deposited it into a nearby drainage gutter. When I got to the party headquarters the phones were going nuts...all from pissed off Republicans who had heard the news. They were vowing to never campaign for Perry again. That was over a year ago and to date, I have not met one Texas other than the NAACP crowd who would even willingly defend Perry's signature of that piece of garbage much less agree with it. And the NAACP crowd that did support it has thanked the governor ever since by trashing his name at every opportunity they can get.
Our primary is already decided and the INCOMPETANT state GOP leadership pretty much made sure to it that none of the top-of-the-ticket races were contested. In the big 4 slots (senator, governor, lt. gov., and attorney general) the candidates were already chosen. Though Perry is the only really bad one out of that crowd, only one out of the remaining three is something to be excited about as a conservative. That's Greg Abbott, the AG nominee.
After Perry signed Hate Crimes, there was an effort from some of us trying to recruit Kay Bailey Hutchison to challenge him. That alone speaks volumes about Perry's non-conservative credentials, as Hutchison herself isn't exactly a right winger. I probably would have supported her though had she done it as the way things stand now, anything except for somebody from the John McCain or Arlen Specter wing of the party would look conservative next to Perry.
That's a huge problem that will effect us negatively for the next four years thanks to Perry. Republicans control a huge number of precincts right now due to Bush's 98 landslide giving the GOP dibs of the election judge job. I'd be surprised if Perry tops about 54% statewide this November and he may not even make it above 50%. That'll throw a lot of our precincts to the Dems. They'll get to run the election job slot and we get stuck as alternates. And we all know what that means: 4 years of increased voter fraud by corrupt Democrat poll workers.
I agree completely. It is poor to say the least. The only two statewide non-judicial candidates I consider myself to firmly support and tend to agree with politically are Greg Abbott for AG and Jerry Patterson for Land Commissioner. Patterson especially - his politics are about the next best thing to Ron Paul. But the rest I'm either sick of or unenthusiastic about. Perry's an embarrassment. Dewhurst and Cornyn are ok, but nothing spectacular and definately not the best we have to offer. Rylander and Combs are ok, but they're northing more than incumbents seeking reelection this time around.
I'm also sick of a couple of our statewide court candidates. Tom Price is a squishy RINO and Tom Phillips could accurately be called the David Souter of the Texas Supreme Court. Others are better esp. Steven Wayne Smith who is very conservative, but he's an outsider to the party leadership. He successfully challenged an establishment backed RINO incumbent in the primary, and I fear the party leadership and esp. Perry are still mad at him over it.
Stay Safe !
That's because the empty suit Algore actually understands better than GWB that "inclusiveness" dilutes your agenda. It's pathetic that any Republican can be outfoxed by Algore.
Says who?
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