Changes

{{Officeholder

{{Officeholder

|name=Rick Perry

|name=Rick Perry

|image=Rick Perry.jpg

|image=Rick Perry official portrait.jpg

|party=[[Republican]]

|party=[[Republican]]

|spouse=[[Anita Thigpen Perry]]

|spouse=[[Anita Thigpen Perry]]

==Career==

==Career==

A native of rural Haskell, Texas, north of Abilene, Perry obtained a degree in animal science from [[Texas A&M University]] in College Station. He is a former Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives, having been first elected in 1984. He switched to Republican affiliation in 1989. The next year, he was elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner, having narrowly unseated the two-term populist Democrat Jim Hightower, a vocal supporter of [[Jesse Jackson]] in Texas. Perry won his first full term as governor in 2002, when he defeated the wealthy Laredo businessman A. R. "Tony" Sanchez by a three-to-two margin. He was reelected to another full term in 2006 with only 39 percent of the vote because the other 61 percent of the ballots was split among four rival general election candidates, including a former Repubican state comptroller, Carole Strayhorn of [[Austin, Texas|Austin]], who ran as an independent.   

A native of rural Haskell, Texas, north of Abilene, Perry obtained a degree in animal science from [[Texas A&M University]] in College Station. He is a former Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives, having been first elected in 1984. He switched to Republican affiliation in 1989. The next year, he was elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner, having narrowly unseated the two-term populist Democrat Jim Hightower, a vocal supporter of [[Jesse Jackson]] in Texas. Perry won his first full term as governor in 2002, when he defeated the wealthy Laredo businessman A. R. "Tony" Sanchez by a three-to-two margin. He was reelected to another full term in 2006 with only 39 percent of the vote because the other 61 percent of the ballots were split among four rival general election candidates, including a former Republican state comptroller, Carole Strayhorn of [[Austin, Texas|Austin]], who ran as an independent.   

Perry's brother-in-law, the brother of [[Anita Thigpen Perry]], is Joseph E. Thigpen (born ca. 1946), a former district attorney and county attorney in West Texas. In 1994, Perry, reelected as the agriculture commissioner, asked incoming Republican Governor [[George W. Bush]] to name Joseph Thigpen to a vacancy on the state appeals court in Eastland County, Texas. Acting on a check into Thigpen's record by political advisor [[Karl Rove]], Bush declined to appoint Thigpen to the bench. As a county attorney, Thigpen had been criticized for not being available when the commissioner's court needed his counsel. In 1998, Rick Perry became lieutenant governor in the second George W. Bush gubernatorial term. The Thigpen appointment controversy has been mentioned as a possible cause of a potential breach between Governors Bush and Perry.<ref>Will Weissert, "Perry-Bush camps still feel old dispute", ''Laredo Morning Times'', September 19, 2011, p. 8A</ref>

Perry's brother-in-law, the brother of [[Anita Thigpen Perry]], is Joseph E. Thigpen (born ca. 1946), a former district attorney and county attorney in West Texas. In 1994, Perry, reelected as the agriculture commissioner, asked incoming Republican Governor [[George W. Bush]] to name Joseph Thigpen to a vacancy on the state appeals court in Eastland County, Texas. Acting on a check into Thigpen's record by political advisor [[Karl Rove]], Bush declined to appoint Thigpen to the bench. As a county attorney, Thigpen had been criticized for not being available when the commissioner's court needed his counsel. In 1998, Rick Perry became lieutenant governor in the second George W. Bush gubernatorial term. The Thigpen appointment controversy has been mentioned as a possible cause of a potential breach between Governors Bush and Perry.<ref>Will Weissert, "Perry-Bush camps still feel old dispute", ''Laredo Morning Times'', September 19, 2011, p. 8A</ref>

In 2007, Perry attempted to mandate by executive order a requirement that the [[HPV vaccine]] be administered to young girls as a condition of entering school.  Defiant, Perry then felt he had no choice but to sign a bill overriding his mandate because it had been passed by a huge majority in both houses of the legislature.

In 2007, Perry attempted to mandate by executive order a requirement that the [[HPV vaccine]] be administered to young girls as a condition of entering school.  Defiant, Perry then felt he had no choice but to sign a bill overriding his mandate because it had been passed by a huge majority in both houses of the legislature.

He was criticized by the ''Dallas Morning News'' for traveling to Turkey in early June 2007 to give a speech to a "secret forum" on the topic of [[federalism]], a topic on which Perry has little established expertise.<ref>http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-perry_31tex.ART.State.Edition1.43b926a.html</ref>

He was criticized by the ''Dallas Morning News'' for traveling to Turkey in early June 2007 to give a speech to a "secret forum" on the topic of [[federalism]], a topic on which Perry has little-established expertise.<ref>http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-perry_31tex.ART.State.Edition1.43b926a.html</ref>

On June 15, 2007, Perry vetoed nearly fifty bills in one day. He also asked that legislators to pass more conservative bills, especially restricting freedom of movement for radical homosexual activists, in order to prevent harm to young people from their vile liberal propaganda.<ref>http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/138969.html here</ref>

On June 15, 2007, Perry vetoed nearly fifty bills in one day. He also asked that legislators pass more conservative bills, especially restricting freedom of movement for radical homosexual activists, in order to prevent harm to young people from their vile liberal propaganda.<ref>http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/138969.html here</ref>

The vetoed House Bill 2006 would have added protections to property owners facing eminent domain proceedings.

The vetoed House Bill 2006 would have added protections to property owners facing eminent domain proceedings.