Perry-Gate: THE FILE! Illustrated Edition.

              Who Is Rick Perry?



THE RECORD: An organized list of links to various controversies, accusations, hypocrisies, and investigations concerning Rick Perry.

If you have links to important Perry stories, please post them in a reply to this message and I will add in the appropriate section (adding some as appropriate) and regularly update the entire in DU. I will give you credit and extend the list daily during the week.

This section is intended to be a helpful place to find facts about Perry's actions (and a few of his statement) which indicate his potential immorality. This categorized list is intended to be good place to begin investigations or to find items to use in discussions with Independents and Republicans.



ORDER OF SECTIONS:

1. In General: Keeping Track of Perry
2. Perry on Social Security and Medicare
3. Perry's 2004 refusal to halt the Texas execution of innocent man and coverup
4. Perry awarded his political donors huge contracts
5. Perry's Ties To Merek, makers of the HPV vaccine he promoted in TX
6. Perry on TX secession (April 15, 2009)
7. Perry's so-called "Jobs Miracle"
8. Perry's mentor, Phil Gramm, Exxon, financial collapse, etc.
9. Perry's relationship to Rove
10. Perry's TX/Confederate licence plate conundrum and potential controversy
11. Perry's hypocrisy concerning federal aid for TX
12. Perry's a $10,000/month rental house paid for by TX taxpayers, the $600,000 total
13. Perry's ties to religious extremists
14. Perry's sexual hypocrisy
15. Perry's acceptance of gifts as governor of Texas
16. Investigation of Mike Toomey, Perry's Chief of Staff, in 2004
17. Lobbying in TX for social services privatization
18. Perry's position switch on gambling after junket
19. Perry disavows elements of his book
20. Perry pushes insurance scheme to profit from Texas State teachers' deaths


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1. In General: Keeping Track of Perry:

DU's Ashling sent this fine overview link. A beautiful resource compiled by Katherine Haenschen as "Everything Everyone Thinks You Need to Know About Rick Perry" for The Burnt Orange Report, almost any investigation of Perry would do well to start here or consult this useful site early in the process.:
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/11296/everything-everyone-thinks-you-need-to-know-about-rick-perry
The article with multiple hot links contains several sections: Perry Media Archives, Perry-Specific Micro Sites, Perry Important Reads, Perry Facts (in an easy-to-consult list form), and Perry's Major Speeches. A treasure trove! The archives section (archives of TX newspapers, weeklies, and monthlies on Perry) is invaluable for finding items on Perry's reactionary statements, misdeeds and potential misdeeds.











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2. Rick Perry on Social Security and Medicare:

From a Newsweek interview:
PERRY: I don’t think our founding fathers when they were putting the term “general welfare” in there were thinking about a federally operated program of pensions nor a federally operated program of health care. What they clearly said was that those were issues that the states need to address. Not the federal government. I stand very clear on that. From my perspective, the states could substantially better operate those programs if that’s what those states decided to do.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/12/rick-perry-exclusive-newsweek-interview-calls-for-dismantling-social-security-and-medicare.html

CNN interview of Perry by Parker Spitzer (Nov. 4, 2010):
http://inthearena.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/04/perry-let-states-decide-social-security/

Perry hedges on Social Security (Aug. 15, 2011):
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61403.html

Time's appraisal Aug. 15, 2011:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2088599,00.html

When Perry disavows his position on the unconstitutionality of the social safety net as espoused in his 2010 book Fed Up!, it indicates his realization of the lack of tenability of his positions. DU's ProSense sent this:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/08/22/300479/rick-perry-disavows-fed-up/

Perry is unrelenting in his treatment of Social Security. One day it's a "Ponzi scheme," the next it's a "Monstrous Lie!":
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/28/rick-perry-social-security_n_939492.html









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3. Perry's 2004 refusal to halt the Texas execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was known at the time to be an innocent man, and the subsequent cover up:

Quick summary:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2011/08/16/rick-perry-cameron-todd-willingham-and-the-death-penalty

The original New Yorker article (Sept. 7, 2009):
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann?currentPage=all

Salon's summary:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/06/25/cameron_todd_willingham_rick_perry

CNN on cover-up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpSn6rh4USE

Huffington Post's presentation:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/new-film-at-silverdocs-ex_b_883674.html

CNN's (unacknowledged) 10.14.09 use of the report from The Houston Chronicle with many fine links to the controversy:
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/9462/

DU's lumberjack_jeff sent this Salon link on how Perry used the execution politically, which imlies an innocent man died to further a corrupt politician's career:
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/08/03/perry_willingham_survey

In general, Perry holds record on executions, our Killing Most Governor (DU's ProSense sent tne latter link):
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/23/perry-holds-record-on-executions-report/
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/08/22/300479/rick-perry-disavows-fed-up/



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4. Perry awarded his political donors huge contracts:


LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-0816-perry-donors-20110816,0,7718310.story

The Young Turks's Cent Uygur on the Los Angeles Times article above:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x610048

Wall Street Journal on Perry's "Crony Capitalism" (Aug. 13, 2011):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576428262897285614.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet

DU's renate sent this fine link to an 8.21.11 story in The New York Times (through the MSNBC site) on the issue of Perry rewarding his political donors:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44217977/ns/politics-the_new_york_times/#.TlKJhGHbidA

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5. Perry's Ties To Merek, makers of the HPV vaccine he promoted in TX:

Washington Post: (Feb. 21, 2007)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022102025.html

Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576428262897285614.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet




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6. Perry on TX secession: (April 15, 2009)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/gov-rick-perry-texas-coul_n_187490.html



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7. Perry's so-called "Jobs Miracle":

Houston Chronicle blog (July 21, 2011):
http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2011/07/ten-reasons-why-the-texas-economy-is-growing-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-rick-perry/

Daily Kos summary:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/16/1007494/-Rick-Perrys-Texas-miracle-is-built-on-minimum-wage-jobs



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8. Perry's mentor, Phil Gramm, Exxon, financial collapse, etc. (a ripe area for investigation):

Thom Hartmann on YouTube:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x609867

Unrelated, but the recent (8.25) story indicates Gramm's role in Perry's plan to gain profits from a teacher life insurance scheme:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/25/rick-perry-texas-life-insurance-scheme_n_935666.html



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9. Perry's relationship to Rove:

Today's Washington Post contains a decent little summary of their presuptive history:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/does-rick-perry-have-a-karl-rove-problem/2011/08/16/gIQACSXGKJ_blog.html



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10. Perry's TX/Confederate licence plate conundrum and potential controversy :

Reuter's summary:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/16/us-plates-perry-texas-idUSTRE77F70P20110816?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FPoliticsNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Politics+News%29



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11. Perry's hypocrisy concerning federal aid for TX:

Yahoo posts a Time story:
http://news.yahoo.com/rick-perry-aggressively-pursued-federal-aid-now-decries-095000694.html

Huffington Post's Paul Blumenthal even details how Perry sought earmarks (which he decries today) and actively lobbied, through K Street, for federal funds for TX (8.17.11):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/17/rick-perrys-k-street-proj_n_929584.html



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12. Perry's a $10,000/month rental house paid for by TX taxpayers, the $600,000 total:

DU's Ilsa sent a link to a Huffington Post item on Perry's expensive public housing running over $600,000 to date: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry has spent almost $600,000 in public money during the past two years to live in a sprawling rental home in the hills above the capital. . . ." :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/rick-perry-rental-mansion_n_578311.html





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13. Perry's ties to religious extremists:

DU's Ilsa also sent links to Democracy Now's item on Perry's religious connections. The video, an interview with Texas Observer's Forrest Wilder, is everything you would expect from Democracy Now. The information is primarily on the New Apostolic Reformation's brand of radical evangelical Christianity with a very odd series of narrative beliefs (Christian takeovers, divine intervention through contemporary prophets and apostles, bringing Jews to Jesus to facilitate Christ's return, the End Times, etc.) Disturbing!
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/12/as_texas_gov_rick_perry_enters

The piece by Forrest Wilder (seen in the video above) in The Texas Observer (Aug. 3, 2011), "Rick Perry's Army of God," provides a more detailed picture (and disturbing: ceremonies with branding irons, Texas as the "Prophet State," Biblical government, etc.) of Perry's presumptive religious beliefs:
http://www.texasobserver.org/cover-story/rick-perrys-army-of-god

Michelle Goldberg's piece for The Daily Beast, "A Christian Plot for Domiation?" lumps Perry and Bachmann's beliefs in a fairly quick, general summary:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/14/dominionism-michele-bachmann-and-rick-perry-s-dangerous-religious-bond.html

Or perhaps Perry's conversion to evangelism was political as The New Republic's Tiffany Stanley suggests in her "Rick Perry's Conventionally Timed Conversion to Radical Evangelism" (Aug. 17, 2011). But, of course, a fraudulent believer might be more dangerous than a sincere one:
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/93781/rick-perry-religion-evolution







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14. Perry's sexual hypocrisy:

Sara Jones's reports on Perry's relationship to the porn industry for Politicususa:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/rick-perry-coverage-gets-sexy_n_930377.html

Huffington Post's report on Perry's potential contact with strippers (17 Aug. 2011):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/rick-perry-coverage-gets-sexy_n_930377.html


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15. Gifts Perry accepted as governor of Texas:

In "Rick Perry's gifts: Boots, trips, medical tests," Kenneth P. Vogel and Lucy McCalmont for Politico (8.18.11) report that the gifts Perry has accepted as governor exceed $22,000 in value. They also note the source of the gifts are heavy political donors, one who gave Perry's children jobs, children, etc. They name names.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61670.html


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16. Investigation of Mike Toomey, Perry's Chief of Staff, in 2004:

DU's starroute sent this fine link to a 2.24.04 investivation of "Perry's Karl Rove":
http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/003048.html
starroute sent another 2004 in which Toomey's name comes up prominently:
http://info.tpj.org/Lobby_Watch/10-12-04_TRMTXLobby.html

Again, staroute, on Toomey's steering the advertizing campaign for Texas Association of Business:
http://www.tpj.org/2004/05/austin-american-statesman-gop.html

Toomey hides out on private island to avoid subpoena concerning the Perry/Green Party scandal (thanks, starroute):
http://www.lonestarproject.net/Permalink/2010-07-09.html

And although Tomey is no longer Perrry's Chief of Staff, they are still extremely close (implying Perry has not disavowed Toomey's actions and points to possible illegal collusion with the super-Pac Toomey is running). Again, starroute:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/13/rick-perry-super-pacs-rai_n_925943.html


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17. Lobbying in TX for social services privatization:

DU's starroute sent this 2007 story on lobbying in TX for privatization welfare &c. whose supporters "grossly underestimated the costs--and wildly exaggerated the benefits":
http://info.tpj.org/watchyourassets/hhsc/privatization.pdf


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18. Perry's position switch on gambling after junket:

Again DU's starroute gives us a new area for investigation. It turns out "Perry generally opposed gambling before he returned from a 2004 Bahamas junket with GOP powerbrokers, including Abramoff-Reed croney Grover Norquist. Governer Perry then proposed using slot machines to finance Texas schools." (It's a short mention in the 5th paragraph on this page):
http://www.alternet.org/story/31875/?page=4

DU's starroute sends more on the Bahamas junket with Norquist (in second to last paragraph):
http://www.alternet.org/story/31875/?page=4

starroute won't let up. More on Bahamas junket and ethical questions concerning:
http://www.tpj.org/2004/04/aas-editorial-questioning-ethics-of.html

Yet more (thanks, starroute) on the trip focusing on the fact it was paid for by others:
http://blog.chron.com/texaspolitics/2009/07/perry-travel-paid-by-others/


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19. Perry disavows his 2010 book Fed Up!, which was published just last November:

DU's ProSense sent this story (8.23.11) in which Perry is shown to equivocate on stances he took in his book Fed Up! especially concerning the country's social safety net being unconstitutional:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/08/22/300479/rick-perry-disavows-fed-up/

Perry is criticized for reversing himself from his position (in Fed Up!) to repeal the 16th Amendment in favor of another system of taxation:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/perry-campaign-distances-him-from-books-call-for-repeal-of-16th-amendment/2011/03/03/gIQA9gkFZJ_blog.html


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20. Perry pushed an insurance scheme to profit from Texas State teachers' deaths:

From The Huffington Post 8.25.11, noting Phil Gramm's role as well as Perry's Insurance Commissioner and Budget Director:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/25/rick-perry-texas-life-insurance-scheme_n_935666.html

From The Huffington Post: Another Perry staffer "Ensnared in Teacher Death Bond Scheme":
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/26/rick-perry-staffer-insurance-scheme_n_938413.html

Cenk Uygur on The Young Turks provides a useful summary of the teacher-death insurance scam:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x612505

If nothing else, it proves there is a difference between Obama and Perry.

Best to focus on doing everything we can to defeat Perry.

Great bit of research.

Rec