02.11.11
The Perry re-disillusionment
As happened after the election in 2006, Texans are again figuring out who they really re-re-elected governor in 2010. It appears in the “Texas Century” open for business doesn’t actually mean what we thought it did. Take it away McBlogger, Amazon leaving Texas because of Perry and Combs.
Citing an ‘unfavorable regulatory climate’, Amazon.com announced today that it will be closing it’s fulfillment center in Irving scrapping plans for additional centers in Texas which would have brought tens of millions in capital investment and more than 1,000 jobs to the state. Combs has demanded they pay $269 million in sales taxes but has not, to date, provided anything to Amazon to justify that amount.
Perry is, of course, doing absolutely nothing about it since he’s in DC right now. Last week when we lost power, he was in California. Why the hell is the Governor of Texas everywhere BUT Texas? He’s all the time talking about all these businesses moving to Texas but NONE of us have seen them. Meanwhile, we’re hearing about companies leaving Texas because our Comptroller is a moron (not to mention others, like Countrywide, which Governor Perry GAVE taxpayer dollars that they didn’t return when they reneged on their agreement). How much longer until we start hearing about companies not moving here because of our lack of investment in public infrastructure? Or Education?
All good questions. Some in his own party are starting to see the light on just how “insane” his stance is on the budget, GOP Finance member: ‘It’s insane not to use the Rainy Day Fund’.
Count Sen. Kevin Eltife as one Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee who thinks it’s crazy to solve the state’s huge budget shortfall with nothing but cuts to programs and services.
“We have to find more revenue,” the former Tyler mayor and senator of seven years said this morning during a committee hearing. “It’s insane not use the Rainy Day Fund. We also have to find additional revenue.”
Republican leaders have been adamant about not raising additional revenue, and Gov. Rick Perry insisted again in his state of the State address this week that “we must protect the Rainy Day Fund.”
[…]
“We have an investment in public education, higher education and health and human services,” Eltife said. “We have got to find the revenue to make these cuts less of a burden on Texans.
“There’s no other way to do this. We can dance around it all we want and talk about – oh, is it revenue, is it a tax, is it this, is it that? We have to find additional revenue,” he said. “We have to share the pain with cuts and revenue and the Rainy Day Fun. And any other idea in this building is crazy to me.”
That’s about right, (see post below). Reality has come crashing home to the traditional media also. They let Perry off the hook in 2010, and they’re starting, however grudgingly, to push back, Perry’s sound bites mask serious state budget woes. In essence it points out what Jason Embry said in the Statesman yesterday, Proposals show fat-trimming alone won’t balance the budget.
Perry proposed some cost-saving government reforms, but they are rather minor. He called for the suspension of operations at four small state agencies — the Texas Historical Commission, the Commission on the Arts, the Board of Professional Geoscientists and the Board of Professional Land Surveying — and he called for the consolidation of some other agencies. He also called for the sale of a prison in Sugar Land, a new surcharge for the spouses of state employees who use state health insurance and enhanced efforts to collect state debts.
Taken together, all of those moves would save or produce about $268 million, and that’s no small feat. But the proposed budget contains $80 billion in state revenue, and the state is about $27 billion short of the money it needs to continue to provide current services and keep up with enrollment growth in those programs. So $268 million hardly gets you there.
That’s right. Our governor has gone out on a limb and outlined a whopping 1% worth of cuts. Another problem is the shenanigans Perry and his GOP cohorts are up to with their “emergency” issues. Yesterday the Texas Senate waved through a so-called bill “eminent domain” bill, that is supposed to strengthen property owner’s rights, but only benefits special interest.
Opponents insist the bill, designated as emergency legislation by Gov. Rick Perry, benefits utility companies, the oil and gas industry and other special interests, including private toll road investors still eager to build a Trans-Texas Corridor.
“After four previous attempts to protect Texas landowners from eminent domain for private gain, lawmakers either can’t get it right or won’t get it right,” said Terri Hall, founder of a grass-roots group called Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, or TURF. “Texans deserve to be told the truth and to be given true protection from eminent domain for private gain, not have their lawmakers tell them they have it when they don’t.”
Hall and other critics hope to slow down the fast-track legislation in the House, where it also will receive scrutiny from a Houston state representative who hopes to resolve a long-running eminent-domain dispute between the Texas Medical Center and surrounding neighborhoods.
So what are we left with. A good company that was going to bring many new jobs to the state has been run off by Gov. Perry and Comptroller Combs. Perry is being called crazy, and his economic plan, insane by a member of his own party. The press is finally, starting to hold the governor accountable, albeit way too late. And he and his fellow Republicans continue to fast-track legislation, that hurts regular Texans - in this case rural property owners - and benefits his corporate cronies.
This should not surprise Texans, and surely doesn’t surprise anyone who has been paying attention. The wealthy Republicans who run our state see the budget situation not as a crisis, but an opportunity. They will try to use it at every opportunity to enrich their friends at the expense of everyone else in this state. We, the people of Texas, are the only one’s who can stop them. Be sure and let them know what you think they should be doing.