State loan program that Perry touted had to be bailed out

Rick Perry’s Record On Jobs
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2011/10/rick_perrys_record_on_jobs.php?ref=fpblg

The Austin American-Statesman reports on a state program to fund agribusiness startups that Rick Perry oversaw back when we was Texas’ commissioner of agriculture in the ’90s:

(snip)
The kicker is this: In 2009, the Texas legislature passed — and Perry signed — a bill to pay off the $14.7 million in bad loans the state had guaranteed in the poorly managed program.

State loan program that Perry touted had to be bailed out
http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/state-loan-program-that-perry-touted-had-to-1928962.html

Gov. Rick Perry has anchored his presidential campaign to his claims of creating jobs.

With no business record of his own, Perry must contrast his ability to create jobs with public money against the records of two front-runners, Mitt Romney and Herman Cain, who tout credentials as private employers.

His GOP opponents already have sniped at his gubernatorial record, saying Perry inflates his job-creation numbers and takes credit for a business climate he inherited. Perry's efforts to create jobs and spur agribusinesses as the state's agriculture commissioner during the 1990s might provide even more fodder for the opposition.

Over his eight years as Texas' farmer-in-chief, Perry oversaw a loan guarantee program with so many defaults that the state had to stop guaranteeing bank loans to startups in agribusiness and eventually bailed out the program with taxpayer money.