Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry (b. 1950) has served as the Republican Governor of Texas from December 2000, when he succeeded then-Governor George W. Bush, to a term scheduled to last until 2010. A former Democratic state legislator who became a Republican in 1989, Perry was elected to a full term as governor in 2002, which he served, and then reelected to another full term in 2006 with only 39 percent of the vote. Previously he served as the agriculture commissioner (1991-1999), reflecting his background as a college graduate with a degree in animal science.
| Rick Perry | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Governor of Texas From: December 21, 2000- | |||
| Predecessor | George W. Bush | ||
| Successor | Incumbent (no successor) | ||
| Information | |||
| Party | Republican | ||
| Spouse(s) | Anita Thigpen Perry | ||
| Religion | Methodist | ||
He was much criticized concerning his attempt in early 2007 to mandate by executive order the HPV vaccine for 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, which is not even a topic on which Perry has any established expertise.[1]
On June 15, 2007, Perry vetoed nearly 50 bills in one day.[2].
House Bill 2006 would have added protections to property owners facing eminent domain proceedings and it was vetoed.