Rick Perry
James Richard "Rick" Perry (b. 1950) has served as the Republican Governor of Texas since December 2000, when he succeeded then-Governor George W. Bush and was elected to full four-year terms in 2002 and 2006. He easily won an unprecedented third term in November 2010, after defeating by a wide margin the RINO Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the GOP primary in March.
| Rick Perry | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Governor of Texas From: December 21, 2000-Present | |||
| Predecessor | George W. Bush | ||
| Successor | Incumbent (no successor) | ||
| Information | |||
| Party | Republican | ||
| Spouse(s) | Anita Thigpen Perry | ||
| Religion | Methodist | ||
In August 2011, Perry entered the 2012 race for President. His key positions include rejection of the theory of man-made global warming, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-life with exceptions.
Career
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.
Controversies
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. He also asked that legislators quit wasting their time and start passing more conservative bills, especially restricting freedom of movement for radical homosexual activists, in order to prevent harm to young people from their vile propaganda.[2].
House Bill 2006 would have added protections to property owners facing eminent domain proceedings and it was vetoed.
In 2009, Perry drew fire for numerous statements that suggested Texas' legal right to secede from the union if it wanted to, a long-discredited legal interpretation which was the main argument of the terrorist Republic of Texas movement.[3] While such statements were viewed with favor by the Texas Republican party and helped him win the 2010 gubernatorial election, it is unclear whether they will come back to haunt his 2012 election prospects.
His prayer rally scheduled for August 5, 2011 has been strongly attacked by the left as a violation of the so called "separation of church and state," which is actually a liberal misreading of the constitution[4] True, however, is that Perry's tithing and charitable giving combined make up a paltry 0.5% of his salary, as investigative reporting by the Houston Chronicle has shown.[5] His office's response to this story was "he refuses to talk about his faith."
Recently, Rick Perry has promoted evolution as a valid scientific theory, while claiming that teaching creationism in the classroom amounts to "religious indoctrination".[6]
References
- â http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-perry_31tex.ART.State.Edition1.43b926a.html
- â http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/138969.html here
- â "Governor says Texas is one state that could leave union, though he's not pushing it"
- â "How to respond to Rick Perry's 'Response'"
- â "Perry puts faith on display but offers little for collection plate"
- â http://gawker.com/5832243/rick-perry-gives-up-the-ghost-on-the-intelligent-design-lie