From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rick Perry |
 |
| Rick Perry in June 2011. |
| 47th Governor of Texas |
| Incumbent |
| Assumed office December 21, 2000 |
| Lieutenant |
Bill Ratliff (2000-03) David Dewhurst (since 2003) |
| Preceded by |
George W. Bush |
| 39th Lieutenant Governor of Texas |
| In office January 19, 1999 – December 21, 2000 |
| Governor |
George W. Bush |
| Preceded by |
Bob Bullock |
| Succeeded by |
Bill Ratliff |
| 9th Commissioner of Agriculture of Texas |
| In office January 15, 1991 – January 19, 1999 |
| Governor |
Ann Richards George W. Bush |
| Preceded by |
Jim Hightower |
| Succeeded by |
Susan Combs |
| Member of the House of Representatives of Texas from District 64 |
| In office 1985–1991 |
| Preceded by |
Joe Hanna |
| Succeeded by |
John Cook |
| Personal details |
| Born |
James Richard Perry March 4, 1950 (age 61) Paint Creek, Texas |
| Political party |
Republican Party (since 1989) Democratic Party (until 1989) |
| Spouse(s) |
Anita Thigpen |
| Children |
Griffin Sydney |
| Residence |
West Austin, Texas (Temporary residence since 2007, during repairs to the Texas Governor’s Mansion)[1] |
| Alma mater |
Texas A&M University |
| Profession |
Military Officer, Farmer,Politician |
| Religion |
Christian (evangelical)[2] |
| Signature |
 |
| Website |
www.governor.state.tx.us |
| Military service |
| Service/branch |
United States Air Force |
| Years of service |
1972–1977 |
| Rank |
Captain |
James Richard ”Rick“ Perry (born March 4, 1950) is the 47th and currentGovernor of Texas. A Republican, Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1998 and assumed the governorship in December 2000 when then-governor George W. Bush resigned to become President of the United States. Perry was elected to full gubernatorial terms in 2002, 2006 and 2010. With a tenure in office to date of 10 years, 261 days, Perry is the longest continuously serving current U.S. governor, and the second longest serving current U.S. governor after Terry Branstad of Iowa. Perry served as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association in 2008 (succeeding Sonny Perdue of Georgia) and again in 2011.[3] Perry is the longest-serving governor in Texas state history. As a result, he is the only governor in modern Texas history to have appointed at least one person to every eligible state office, board, or commission position (as well as to several elected offices to which the governor can appoint someone to fill an unexpired term, such as six of the nine current members of the Texas Supreme Court). Perry won the Texas 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary election, defeatingU.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and former Wharton County Republican Party Chairwoman and businesswoman Debra Medina.[4] In the 2010 Texas gubernatorial election, Perry won a third term by defeating former Houston mayorBill White and Kathie Glass.[5] On August 13, 2011, Perry announced in South Carolina that he was running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election.[6]
Early life, education, and early career
A fifth-generation Texan, Perry was born in Paint Creek, about 60 miles (97 km) north of Abilene in West Texas, to ranchersJoseph Ray Perry and the former Amelia June Holt. Perry has a surname of English origin.[7] His father, a Democrat, was a long-time Haskell County commissioner and school board member. Perry has said that his interest in politics probably began in November 1961, when his father took him to the funeral of U.S. Representative Sam Rayburn (D-TX),[8] who during his long public career served as speaker of the Texas House for a short time at the age of 29 and then later for 17 years as theSpeaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Perry was in the Boy Scouts (BSA) and earned the rank of Eagle Scout; his son, Griffin, would later become an Eagle Scout as well. [9][10] The BSA has honored Perry with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.[11] Perry graduated from Paint Creek High School in 1968. He then attended Texas A&M University, where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets, a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, was elected senior class social secretary, and was also elected as one of A&M’s five yell leaders (a popular Texas A&M tradition analogous to male cheerleaders).[12][13] Perry graduated in 1972 earning a bachelor’s degree in animal science. Perry said that the Corps of Cadets gave him the discipline to complete his animal sciences degree and earn a commission in the Air Force. In a 1989 interview he said that “I was probably a bit of a free spirit, not particularly structured real well for life outside of a military regime, I would have not lasted at Texas Tech or the University of Texas. I would have hit the fraternity scene and lasted about one semester.”[13] Perry was a prankster in college: he once placed live chickens in the closet of an upperclassman during Christmas break and used M-80 firecrackers to prank students using the toilet.[13] In the early 1970s, Perry interned during several summers with the Southwestern Company, as a door-to-door book salesman. “I count my time working for Dortch Oldham [President of the Southwestern Company] as one of the most important formative experiences of my life,” Perry said in 2010. “There is nothing that tests your commitment to a goal like getting a few doors closed in your face.” He said that “Mr. Oldham taught legions of young people to communicate quickly, clearly and with passion, a lesson that has served me well in my life since then.”[14] Upon graduation, Perry was commissioned in the Air Force, completed pilot training, and flew C-130 tactical airlift in the United States, the Middle East, and Europe until 1977. He left the Air Force with the rank of captain, returned to Texas, and went into business farming cotton with his father.[15]
Early political career
Texas Legislature
In 1984, Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat from district 64, which included his home county of Haskell. He served on the House Appropriations and Calendars committees during his three two-year terms in office. He befriended fellow freshman state representative Lena Guerrero of Austin, a staunch liberal Democrat who endorsed Perry’s reelection bid in 2006 on personal, rather than philosophical, grounds. Perry was part of the “Pit Bulls”, a group of Appropriations members who sat on the lower dais in the committee room (or “pit”) who pushed for austere state budgets during the 1980s.[16] At one point, The Dallas Morning News named him one of the ten most effective members of the legislature.[17] In 1987, Perry voted for a $5.7 billion tax increase proposed by Republican governor Bill Clements.[18] Perry supported Al Gorein the 1988 Democratic presidential primaries and chaired the Gore campaign in Texas.[19][20] In 1989, Perry announced that he was switching parties, becoming a Republican.[21]
Agriculture Commissioner
In 1990, as a newly minted Republican, Perry challenged Jim Hightower, the incumbent Democratic Agriculture Commissioner. Hightower had worked on behalf of Jesse Jackson for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, while Perry had supported U.S. Senator Al Gore of Tennessee. During 1990, Hightower’s office was embroiled in a FBI investigation into corruption and bribery. Three aides were convicted in 1993 of using public funds for political fundraising, although Hightower himself was not found to be involved in the wrongdoings.[22] Perry narrowly defeated Hightower in November 1990. In that election, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Clayton Williams, lost to Democrat Ann Richards.[23] As Agriculture Commissioner, Perry was responsible for promoting the sale of Texas farm produce to other states and foreign nations, and for supervising the calibration of weights and measures, such as gasoline pumps and grocery store scales.[24] In 1993, Perry, while serving as Texas agriculture commissioner, expressed support for the Clinton health care reform proposal, describing it as “most commendable.” The health care plan was ultimately unsuccessful due to Republican congressional opposition.[25][26][27][28][29] In 2005, after being questioned on the issue by a potential opponent in the Republican governor primary, Perry said that he expressed his support only in order to get Clinton to pay more attention to rural health care.[30] In 1994, Perry was reelected Agriculture Commissioner by a large margin, getting 2,546,287 votes (62 percent) to Democrat Marvin Gregory’s 1,479,692 (36 percent). Libertarian Clyde L. Garland received the remaining 85,836 votes (2 percent).[31]Gregory, a chicken farmer from Sulphur Springs, Texas, was on the Texas Agricultural Finance Authority with Perry in the early nineties, as a Republican. He became a Democrat before running against Perry in 1994.[32]
Lieutenant Governor
In 1998, Perry chose not to seek a third term as Agriculture Commissioner, running instead for Lieutenant Governor to succeed the retiring Democrat Bob Bullock. During this election, Rick Perry had a notable falling out with his previous top political strategist Karl Rove, which began the much-reported rivalry between the Bush and Perry camps.[33] Perry polled 1,858,837 votes (50.04 percent) to the 1,790,106 (48.19 percent) cast for Democrat John Sharp of Victoria, who had relinquished the Comptroller’s position after two terms to seek the lieutenant governorship. Libertarian Anthony Garcia polled another 65,150 votes (1.75 percent).[31] Perry thus became the state’s first Republican lieutenant governor since Reconstruction, taking office on January 19, 1999, until he assumed the governorship on December 21, 2000 following the resignation of then-Governor George W. Bush.
Governor of Texas
Rick Perry touring Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls, Texas, on August 28, 2004
Perry assumed the office of Governor late in 2000 when George W. Bush resigned as governor of Texas to prepare for his presidential inauguration. Perry became the first Texas A&M graduate to serve as governor.[9] Perry is a member of the Republican Governors Association, the National Governors Association, the Western Governors Association, and the Southern Governors Association. Perry is currently serving as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association; he previously served as its Chairman in 2008.[3] Early in his term as governor, Perry convinced the state Legislature to increase health funding by $6 billion.[citation needed] Some of these programs have since faced funding reductions, and Perry has refused to resume funding to previous levels because of the additional financial burden he says it would place on the state, even though Federal Matching Funds for Healthcare above and beyond the amount dedicated by the legislature are available.[citation needed] He also increased school funding prior to the 2002 election and created new scholarship programs, including $300 million for the Texas GRANT Scholarship Program.[34] Perry has advocated an emphasis on accountability, raising expectations, and funding programs that work in order to improve the quality of Texas schools.[9] Perry’s campaigns for lieutenant governor and governor focused on a tough stance on crime. In June 2002, he vetoed a ban on the execution of mentally retarded inmates. He has also supported block grants for crime programs.[35] Perry has also supported tort reform to limit malpractice lawsuits against doctors, and as lieutenant governor he had tried and failed to limit class action awards and allowing plaintiffs to allocate liability awards among several defendants. In 2003, Perry sponsored a controversial state constitutional amendment to cap medical malpractice awards,[36] which was narrowly approved by voters. According to a tort reform advocate, this legislation has resulted in a 21.3 percent decrease in malpractice insurance rates. According to the Texas Medical Board, there has also been a significant increase in the number of doctors seeking to practice in the state.[37] Perry has drawn attention for his criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of the recession, and for turning down approximately $555 million in stimulus money for unemployment insurance. Perry was lauded by the Texas Public Policy Foundation[38] for this decision and his justification—that the funds and the mandatory changes to state law would have placed an enduring tax burden on employers. In September 2009, Perry declared that Texas was recession-proof: “As a matter of fact … someone had put a report out that the first state that’s coming out of the recession is going to be the state of Texas … I said, ‘We’re in one?’”[39] Paul Burka, senior executive editor of Texas Monthly, criticized Perry’s remarks, saying “You cannot be callous and cavalier when people are losing their jobs and their homes.”[40] The Los Angeles Times reported on August 16, 2011, that Perry received $37 million over 10 years from just 150 donors, which adds up to over a third of the $102 million he had raised as governor through December 2010, according to the groupTexans for Public Justice. Almost half of those donors received big contracts, tax breaks or appointments during Perry’s tenure.[41]
Elections
2002
Perry won the office in his own right in the 2002 gubernatorial election when he defeated Laredo businessman Tony Sanchez, polling 2,632,591 votes (57.80 percent) to Sanchez’s 1,819,798 (39.96 percent). Four minor party candidates shared 2.21 percent of the vote.[31]
2006
The 2006 gubernatorial election proved to be a stiffer challenge for Perry than his 2002 campaign. Though he easily defeated token opposition in the primary election, Perry faced three major opponents: former Democratic Congressman Chris Bell, as well as two major independent candidates – outgoing Republican state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn ) and well-known Texas country music singer Kinky Friedman. Perry won the race in a plurality, polling 1,714,618 votes (39 percent) to Bell’s 1,309,774 (29.8 percent), Strayhorn’s 789,432 (18 percent), Friedman’s 553,327 (12.6 percent), with a Libertarian candidate and a write-in independent garnering another 27,444 votes (0.6 percent). Perry became only the third governor in state history to have been elected by a plurality of less than 40 percent of votes cast (the 1853 and 1861 races also featured plurality winners carrying under 40 percent).[citation needed] Late in the 2006 campaign, the Republican Governors Association received one million dollars from Houston businessmanBob Perry (no relation), and the association thereafter contributed the same amount to Rick Perry. Bell brought suit, contending that the Bob Perry donations had been improperly channeled through the association to conceal their source. In 2010, the Rick Perry campaign paid Bell $426,000 to settle the suit.[42][43]
2010
In April 2008, Perry announced his intent to run for re-election.[44] Perry defeated Senator Hutchison and Debra Medina in the March 2, 2010, primary election, becoming the Republican nominee. He faced Democratic nominee William Howard “Bill” White, the former mayor of Houston. During the general election campaign, Perry refused to debate White until White released his tax returns from 1995, his last year as deputy energy secretary in the Clinton administration. White released his tax returns for his six years as mayor of Houston. According to his spokesperson, White had taxes withheld from his $133,000 salary in 1995, the amount of which was offset by losses in the starting of an energy business.[45] On November 2, 2010, Perry handily won re-election to an unprecedented third four-year term in the general election. He carried 226 out of 254 counties and polled 2,733,784 votes (54.97 percent) to White’s 2,102,606 votes (42.28 percent). Perry made history by becoming the first Texas governor to be elected to three four-year terms and the fourth to serve three terms since Shivers, Price Daniel, and John Connally; his third term began on January 18, 2011.
Economy
Since the beginning of his presidential campaign, Perry has made what he calls the economic success of Texas the centerpiece of his campaign. According to Perry and his supporters, the state economy has improved as a result of his policy, including the lack of an income tax and predictable regulation.[46][47][48] Others, meanwhile, have questioned whether the Texan economy is truly as successful as Perry claims.[49][50][51] As of August 2011, Texas has an 8.2% unemployment rate.[52][53] In comparison, the national unemployment rate was 9.1% in August 2011.[54][55][56] 25 states have a lower unemployment rate than Texas, and 25 states (including the District of Columbia) have a higher unemployment rate, meaning that Texas has median unemployment among U.S. states.[57][58]Between June 2009 and August 2011, 237,000 jobs were created in Texas.[59][60] According to a March 28, 2011 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 9.54% of hourly-paid workers in Texas are paid at or below minimum wage. In comparison, the national percentage is 6.0%. Among the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, Texas has the highest percentage of workers paid at or below minimum wage; the state with the second-highest percentage is Mississippi, with 9.50%.[58][61][62][63] As of 2011, 26% of the Texan population does not have health insurance. In comparison, the statistic among the entire U.S. is 17%.[64][65][66] Paul Krugman, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, attributed Texas’ job growth to its growing population, which he said decreased wages and attracted businesses to the state. According to Krugman, the high population growth in the state was due to a high birth rate, immigration from Mexico, and internal migration of other Americans, due to the warm weather and low cost of living – especially the low housing prices from less restrictive zoning policies, which he described as the “one area where Texas does in fact do something right.”[51] Perry’s defenders responded by stating that the median hourly wage is 93% of the national average, and wages have increased at 3.4% in 2010[67] Several of the business leaders who moved to Texas have ascribed their decision partly to business-friendly policies (including the lack of income tax, low regulation, anti-union laws, and financial incentives), and partly to the convenient Texas geography in the middle of the country with transportation hubs, a large bilingual population, mild winters and abundant space.[68]
Fiscal policy
Perry, a proclaimed proponent of fiscal conservatism, has often campaigned on tax reform and job growth. Perry opposed creating a Texas state income tax and increasing sales tax rates, choosing instead to increase user fees and debt, adding $2 billion for road bonds,[69][70] borrowing from the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund[71] and adding surcharges to various traffic offenses, protected the state’s “Rainy Day fund”, balanced the state budget as required by state law, and was reelected on a platform to reduce property taxes that rose with the inflation of property values in the late 1990s and the 21st century.
Tax policy
In 2002, although his Democratic opponent pledged to never raise taxes, Perry refused to make such a promise.[72] In 2009, however, Perry signed Grover Norquist‘s pledge to “oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes”. In early 2006, Perry signed legislation that delivered a $15.7 billion reduction in property taxes[73] while raising other taxes such as a state franchise tax. The tax was condemned as a “back door” state income tax by many organizations.[74] Perry claimed that the bill would save the average taxpayer $2,000 in property taxes. Critics contended that Perry inflated these numbers; the actual tax savings, some sources said, would average only $150 per family in the first year, and $1,350 over a three-year period.[75] In 2004, Perry proposed a number of tax increases to pay for public schools,[72] including a tax on strip clubs.[76] The “pole tax” idea went nowhere until 2007, when the Legislature approved a $5 per patron fee. The measure subsequently became tied up in litigation as the adult entertainment industry sued citing performers’ First Amendment rights.[77]
Industrial policy
In 2003, Perry signed legislation that created the Texas Enterprise Fund to enhance the development of the Texas economy. In 2004, he authorized the fund to grant $20 million to Countrywide Financial in return for a promise “to create 7,500 new jobs in the state by 2010.” Critics argue those jobs would have been created with or without tax payer money. The grant (all of which are approved by the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House) is one of the largest made from the fund in terms of the size and the number of jobs promised. In the fall of 2007, while slashing jobs and with its stock price plummeting, Countrywide assured Perry’s office that the company “believed” it would meet its 2010 commitment[78] only to be acquired in a fire sale two months later by Bank of America. Thanks to the “claw-back” provisions in the program, grantees return funds to the state for jobs not created. The Texas Enterprise Fund has given $435 million in grants to businesses since 2003. The Texas Emerging Technology Fund has given nearly $200 million to businesses since 2005. The New York Times reported that more than a quarter of the companies that have received grants from the enterprise fund in the most recent fiscal year, or their chief executives, made contributions to either Mr. Perry’s campaign dating back to 2001 or to the Republican Governors Association since 2008. For example, John McHale, Austin, Texas, gave millions of dollars to Democratic candidates and causes, but 2 years ago wrote a $50,000 check to Perry, then seeking a third term as governor, and in September 2010, wrote another $50,000 check. In May 2010 an economic development fund administered by the governor’s office gave $3 million to G-Con, a pharmaceutical start-up that Mr. McHale helped start. At least two other executives with connections to G-Con had also given Mr. Perry tens of thousands of dollars.[79] Perry has appointed at least four top donors or fund-raisers to the board of the Teacher Retirement System, a $110 billion pension fund. Perry’s trustees encouraged the fund to invest more money with hedge funds and private equity firms whose investors, officers, or partners were Perry donors.[79]
Staff expenses
In June 2010, Perry went on a 12-day trade mission to East Asia. The security detail for the trip cost $129,000 in state money. The Texas Government attempted to block the media’s scrutiny of the use of the funds as they contained information that could compromise the future security of the state’s senior executive. A member of White’s gubernatorial campaign stated that Perry should, “stop hiding the facts on fiscal issues like what he’s charging taxpayers for travel”. Perry’s campaign countered that the trip led to greater exposure for Texas business opportunities in Asia.[80][81] In all, Perry made 23 foreign trips from 2004 to 2010, including a vacation on Grand Cayman and an education policy retreat in The Bahamas. The state paid only 1% of the travel expenses for these excursions, but security details for all trips combined cost over $1 million in state money. Perry’s chief of staff remarked that the trips were “good business sense” as they enhanced the profile of Texan goods and services in foreign markets. White’s campaign, however, accused Perry of staging the trips for self-promotion.[82]
Social policy
Perry is pro-life and opposes government funding for elective abortions. In 2003, Perry signed the Prenatal Protection Act, which explicitly included fetuses in its definition of human life.[83] In 2005, Perry, a social conservative, signed a bill that limited late-term abortions and required girls under the age of 18 who procure abortions to notify their parents. Perry signed the bill in the gymnasium of Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Worth, an evangelical Christian school. In 2005, Gov. Perry signed a parental consent bill into law.[83] Perry has signed legislation prohibiting abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy, and has also signed into law a bill that required abortion providers to offer informational brochures to women considering abortion.[83] In May 2011, Perry signed a “Mandatory Ultrasound Bill” which stipulates that, prior to every abortion, the abortion practitioner or a certified sonographer must perform a sonogram before any sedative or anesthesia is administered. Before every abortion, the abortion practitioner must give an explanation of the sonogram images of the unborn child. The woman has the right to waive the explanation only in cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormality, and judicial bypass for a minor. The abortion practitioner must also allow the woman to see the sonogram images of the unborn child and hear the heartbeat along with a verbal explanation of the heartbeat before an abortion can be administered. Critics stated that the law was “government intrusion”, pointing out that in the first trimester, only transvaginal sonograms (in which a probe is inserted up the woman’s vagina) can be performed, and stated that such a procedure would be inappropriate for victims of incest or rape, which the law does not exempt.[84][85][86] Also in 2011, Perry signed a bill that prohibited taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood,[87] along with a bill that created a “Choose Life” license plate to promote infant adoption in Texas.[88]
Christian religious beliefs
Perry grew up in the Methodist church,[2] and he and his family had been members of Tarrytown United Methodist Church since the 1990s, the same church that President George W. Bush attended in Austin. In 2010, Perry began attending Lake Hills Church in Austin. Perry’s former deputy director of communications and principal speechwriter of four years, Andrew Barlow, was pastor of creative development at Lake Hills Church for seven years.[89] Lake Hills was originally named Lake Hills Baptist Church, but pastor Mack Richard dropped “Baptist” from the name in 1999[90] to remove what he regarded as a barrier to people of other denominations.[91] Perry says that as governor he regularly attends numerous churches to speak. As for why he ultimately chooses to go to one place and not another, he said he administers a simple test: “If I remember on Wednesday what the message was on Sunday, it was a good message.”[2] In 2006 Perry stated that he believes in the inerrancy of the Bible and that those who don’t accept Jesus as their savior will go to hell and clarified that belief by saying. “I don’t know that there’s any human being that has the ability to interpret what God and his final decision-making is going to be,” Mr. Perry said. “That’s what the faith says. I understand, and my caveat there is that an all-knowing God certainly transcends my personal ability to make that judgment black and white.”[92] In May 2011, at a meeting in East Texas with business leaders, Perry stated that at age 27, he felt “called to the ministry”.[93] On June 6, 2011, Perry proclaimed Saturday, August 6, as a Day of Prayer and Fasting. He invited governors across the country to join him on that day to participate in The Response, which was presented as a non-denominational, apolitical, Christian prayer meeting hosted by the American Family Association at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Perry also urged fellow governors to issue similar proclamations encouraging their constituents to pray that day for “unity and righteousness”.[94]Major roles in The Response were played by members of the New Apostolic Reformation, a religious movement that also engages in political activism.[95] The event was criticized as going beyond prayer and fasting to include launching Perry’s presidential campaign.[96] After the September 11, 2001, attacks, Perry attended a student assembly at a public middle school in East Texas. During the assembly, a Baptist minister offered a prayer, concluding with the words “in Jesus’ name.” Perry, like many of the students standing in bleachers, responded with “Amen.”[97][98][99] Perry said he had no problem ignoring the Supreme Court’s 1962 ruling that barred organized prayer in public schools.[100] In his first book, On My Honor, published in February 2008, Perry expressed his views on the Establishment Clause and theFree Exercise Clause. “Let’s be clear: I don’t believe government, which taxes people regardless of their faith, should espouse a specific faith. I also don’t think we should allow a small minority of atheists to sanitize our civil dialogue on religious references.”[101] In August 2011, at a Houston prayer and fasting event, Perry noted “God is wise enough not to be affiliated with any political party.”[102]
Intelligent design
Perry has called himself “a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect”, and has expressed support for its teaching alongside evolution in Texas schools but also that “educators and local school officials, not the governor, should determine science curriculum.”[103] When asked about evolution, Perry responded: “Well, God is how we got here. God may have done it in the blink of the eye or he may have done it over this long period of time, I don’t know. But I know how it got started.”[104] In August 2011, Perry stated that Texas taught both creationism and evolution in public schools. PolitiFact.com researched the issue and labeled the statement as false, saying: “No doubt, some Texas teachers address the subject of creationism. But it’s not state law or policy to intermix instruction on creationism and evolution.” Politifact.com also received a clarification from Perry’s spokesperson stating: “It is required that students evaluate and analyze the theory of evolution, and creationism very likely comes up and is discussed in that process. Teachers are also permitted to discuss it with students in that context.”[105] In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Edwards v. Aguillard that a Louisiana law requiring that creation science be taught in public schools, along with evolution, was unconstitutional because the law was specifically intended to advance a particular religion. It also held that “teaching a variety of scientific theories about the origins of humankind to school children might be validly done with the clear secular intent of enhancing the effectiveness of science instruction.”
HPV vaccine controversy
On February 2, 2007, Perry issued an executive order mandating that Texas girls receive HPV vaccine that protects against some strains of the human papilloma virus, a contributing factor to some forms of cervical cancer.[106] The order provided vaccination free of charge to those who were not covered by insurance,[107] and included an opt-out provision for parents. At the time of the order, Gardasil, a newly approved drug manufactured by Merck, was the only HPV vaccine approved by theFood and Drug Administration. The move made national headlines,[108] and apparent financial connections between Merck and Perry were reported by news outlets, such as a $6,000 campaign contribution and Merck’s hiring of former Perry Chief of Staff Mike Toomey to handle its Texas lobbying work and Perry’s “current chief of staff’s mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi [as] state director for Women in Government”.[106][109] Perry’s decision was criticized by some social conservatives and parents due to concerns about possible moral implications of the vaccine and safety concerns. On February 22, 2007, a group of families sued in an attempt to block Perry’s executive order.[110] In May 2007, the Texas Legislature passed a bill to undo Perry’s executive order. Perry did not veto it, saying the Legislature would have sufficient time and votes to override his veto.[111]
Gun ownership
Perry has an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association.[112] He possesses a Concealed Handgun License (CHL),[113] and in 2005, he signed a number of bills that, among other things, reduced CHL fees for military veterans and senior citizens, reduced the CHL age requirement from 21 to 18 for members of the military, exempted military veterans from taking the range portion of the CHL licensing process (if they had been weapons certified in the military within the past five years), and extended the renewal period for a CHL from four to five years.[114] In 2007, Perry signed castle doctrine legislation, enhancing a person’s legal right to use deadly force in self defense against an intruder within one’s place of residence.[115] In 2011, Perry criticized the U.S. Department of Justice‘s creation of a reporting requirement for purchases of semi-automatic rifles within the four states bordering Mexico, saying “…the Obama administration should target actual criminals rather than law-abiding citizens and immediately secure our southern border against the northbound and southbound illegal smuggling of drugs, humans, cash, guns, fugitives and stolen vehicles.”[116]
Vetoes
Perry set a record in the 2001 legislative session for the use of the veto: he rejected legislation a total of 82 times, more than any other governor in any single legislative session in the history of the state since Reconstruction. Perry’s use of the veto drew criticism from some in the 2002 gubernatorial campaign, having used the veto only nine fewer times than preceding Governor George W. Bush had during three legislative sessions and 22 times more than Ann Richards cast in two sessions.[117] In the two legislative sessions following the 2001 session, Perry was more conservative in his use of the veto, employing it 51 times.[118] As of 2011, he had used the veto 273 times, more than any other Texas governor.[119]
Trans-Texas Corridor
In January 2001, Perry proposed the Trans-Texas Corridor, a $145+ billion-dollar project that would build multi-lane highways, rail lines and data lines from Oklahoma to Mexico, and from east to west in southern Texas. Instead of paying for the project with taxes, Perry proposed that it be partially financed, partially built and wholly operated by private contractors who, in exchange for a multi-billion dollar investment, would receive all toll proceeds, notably Cintra, a Spanish-owned company, and its minority partner, San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corporation, one of Texas’ largest road construction companies.[120] Some of the more controversial aspects of the project include tolls, private operation of toll collections (at rates set by local municipalities), and extensive use of eminent domain (or the option for landowners to maintain a lucrative equity stake in the project) to acquire property. Opponents portrayed the proposal as a “land grab”, and criticized Perry for opposing the public release of the actual terms of the 50-year deal with Cintra to the public for fear they would chill the possibility of the company’s investment; Perry’s former liaison to the legislature, former State Senator Dan Shelly, returned to his consulting/lobbying work with Cintra after securing the TTC deal while on the state payroll. All of Perry’s gubernatorial opponents opposed the corridor project, as did the 2006 state party platforms of both the Democratic and Republicans parties.[121][122] After much contentious debate between supporters and opponents, an official decision of “no action” was issued by the Federal Highway Administration on July 20, 2010, formally ending the project. In 2001, Perry appointed Ric Williamson of Weatherford, an old friend and former legislative colleague, to the Texas Transportation Commission. Williamson became the commission chairman in 2004 and worked for the improvement of the state’s transportation infrastructure until his sudden death of a heart attack on December 30, 2007.
Death penalty
Perry supports the death penalty.[123] On June 2, 2009, Texas carried out the 200th execution since Perry assumed the office of governor.[124] As of August 10, 2011, Texas has carried out 234 executions since Rick Perry became governor.[125] Under the Texas Constitution, the governor is not permitted to grant pardon, parole, or to commute a death penalty sentence to life imprisonment on his own initiative (the Constitution was changed in 1936 due to concerns that pardons were being sold for cash under the administrations of former Governor James E. Ferguson and later his wife and Texas’ first female GovernorMiriam A. Ferguson).[126] Instead, all requests for pardon, parole, and commutation are channelled through the Board of Pardons and Paroles who then reviews each application and makes a recommendation to the governor. Although the Governor can accept or reject a positive recommendation of commutation or pardon from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, he has no power to override a negative recommendation. The only unilateral action which the Governor can take is to grant a one-time, 30-day reprieve to the defendant.[127][128][129]
Execution of Cameron Todd Willingham
Cameron Todd Willingham was a Texas man whose three young children died in a 1991 fire at the family home in Corsicana, Texas. Willingham, accused of having set the fire, was convicted of murder and was executed in 2004. Shortly before the execution and after several years of unsuccessful appeals, an arson expert, Gerald Hurst, filed a report advising the 7-member Board of Pardons and Paroles that the investigation of the case had not been based on good science and that there was no proof of arson, but the Board of Pardons and Paroles declined to recommend clemency to the governor.[130][131] Perry did not use his authority to grant a one-time, 30 day reprieve to Willingham. Willingham’s case gained renewed attention in 2009 afterThe New Yorker published a story about the case.[131] In 2005, Texas established a nine-member Texas Forensic Science Commission (TFSC). As part of the Commission’s inquiry into the Willingham case, another fire scientist wrote a report that agreed with Gerald Hurst that the charge of arson could not be sustained given the available evidence.[132] Two days before the Commission was to hold a hearing on this report, Perry replaced three of members of the TFSC.[133] Perry’s newly appointed Chairman promptly canceled the hearing. Perry denied that the dismissals were related to the case, noting that the terms of the replaced persons were expiring.[134] In July 2011, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott ruled that the commission did not have jurisdiction to investigate evidence in cases that occurred before the panel was created in 2005, thus implying that a Commission conclusion regarding the forensic science used in the Willingham case would not be forthcoming.[135]
Execution of Mexican nationals
Two Mexican nationals have been executed under the Perry administration – José Medellín in 2008 for the 1993 murder of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Peña, and Humberto Leal Garcia in 2011 for the 1994 rape, torture, and murder of Adria Sauceda. At the time of their arrests in the early 1990s, neither had been informed that as Mexican nationals they have the right to inform the Mexican Consulate of the charges and ask for legal assistance. A 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice concluded that the U.S. had violated the rights of 51 Mexican nationals, including Medellin and Garcia, under the terms of a treaty the U.S. had signed.[136] In response to the ruling, the Bush administration issued an instruction that states comply,[137] but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he had exceeded his authority. The Supreme Court also ruled in Medellin v. Texas that the treaty was not binding on states until Congress enacted statutes to implement it, and in Leal Garcia v. Texas declined to place a stay on the executions in order to allow Congress additional time to enact such a statute. A 2008 ruling by the International Court of Justice asked the United States to place a stay on the executions, but Texas officials stated that they were not bound by international law.[138] Garcia supporters complained about the use of controversial techniques such as bite mark analysis and luminol in determining his guilt.[139] Garcia however, confessed responsibility for his crimes, and apologized before his execution.[140] Regarding the Garcia execution, Perry stated that “If you commit the most heinous of crimes in Texas, you can expect to face the ultimate penalty under our laws.”[141]
Pardons and commutations
In 2005, Frances Newton‘s appeal for a commutation of her death penalty was declined. Her attorney had argued Newton was incapable of standing trial. The Board of Pardon and Parole did not recommend a commutation, and Perry did not grant the one-time reprieve. Newton was executed on September 14, 2005.[142] In 1990, Tyrone Brown was sentenced to life in a Texas maximum security prison for smoking marijuana while on probation. Texas Judge Keith Dean had originally placed Brown on probation, but changed the sentence after Brown tested positive for marijuana. After being defeated in the last Dallas election, Dean requested that the governor pardon Brown. Perry granted him a conditional pardon on March 9, 2007, after receiving a recommendation from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.[143] On August 30, 2007, Perry commuted the death sentence of Kenneth Foster, an accomplice in a 1996 murder, doing so three hours before Foster was to die by lethal injection. Evidence had shown that while Foster was present at the scene of the crime (transporting the individual who actually committed the crime away from the scene in his car), he had nothing to do with the actual commission of the murder, and may not have even been aware that it had been taking place, as he was outside in his car at the time. The Board of Pardon and Parole recommended commutation, and Perry accepted the recommendation, converting the sentence to life in prison with a possibility of parole in 2037.[144]
Education
As lieutenant governor, Perry initially sponsored a controversial school voucher bill as an alternative to the “Robin Hood” school finance proposal. In 2004, Perry attacked the same “Robin Hood” plan as detrimental to the educational system and attempted to get the legislature to replace it with one that he said would encourage greater equity, cost less, hold down property and sales taxes, and foster job growth. Perry supported the legalization of video lottery terminals at racetracks and on Indian reservations[145] as well as increases in cigarette taxes.[146] A special session of the legislature was convened on June 21, 2005, to address education issues, but resistance developed from House Speaker Tom Craddick, a Republican from Midland. Perry’s proposal was attacked by members from property-poor districts and was rejected. During the session, Perry became involved in a heated debate with Comptroller Carole Strayhorn about the merits of his school finance proposal. Strayhorn initially planned to oppose Perry in the 2006 Republican primary, but she instead ran as an independent in the general election.[147] Another special session was convened on July 21, 2005, after Perry vetoed all funding for public schools for the 2007–2008 biennium. He vowed not to “approve an education budget that shortchanges teacher salary increases, textbooks, education technology, and education reforms. And I cannot let $2 billion sit in some bank account when it can go directly to the classroom.”[148] Perry’s campaign office in 2006 declared that without the special session, some “$2 billion that had been intended for teacher pay raises, education reforms, and other school priorities would have gone unused because House Bill 2 [the public school reform package] didn’t pass.”[149] The bill failed to pass in the first session, and was refiled in a second session, in which the bill was defeated 62-79, after 50 amendments were added without discussion or debate.[150] Late in 2005, to maximize the impact of a bipartisan education plan, Perry asked his former rival in the race for lieutenant governor, John Sharp—a former Texas State Comptroller and a member of the Texas Railroad Commission, Texas State Senate and Texas House of Representatives—to head an education task force charged with preparing a bipartisan education plan. Sharp accepted Perry’s offer and removed himself as a potential candidate for governor in 2006. The task force issued its final plan several months later, and the legislature adopted it.[151] For his successful efforts, Sharp was later nominated byThe Dallas Morning News for the “Texan of the Year” award.[152] In 2007, Perry vetoed government provided health insurance for community college faculty due to revelations that schools had been using state funds to pay benefits for non-state employees. Funding for state-employed school personnel was restored in a joint agreement and funding re-allocation later that same year.[153] In June 2011, Perry signed into law Senate Bill 1736, which establishes the “College Credit for Heroes” program. The new law is intended to help veterans get college credit for military training.[154] As of 2011, Texas still ranks at the bottom of many educational indicators. Texas has the fewest percentage of adults with high school diplomas, compared to the other U.S. states.[155][156] Texas is also ranked low in high school graduation rate, though the exact ranking depends on how the statistic is defined.[157][158][159] Texas is 49th in verbal SAT scores in the nation and 46th in average math SAT scores. Texas Democrats, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and other detractors of Perry have criticized him regarding Texas schools’ performance and class size.[155][160][161] Pay increases for Texas’s teachers have not kept up with the national average.[162]
Inauguration concert controversy
Perry invited his friend, rock musician Ted Nugent, to perform at a black-tie gala hours after Perry’s second inauguration ceremony on January 16, 2007. Nugent appeared onstage during the inaugural ball wearing a cutoff T-shirt emblazoned with the Confederate flag and shouting derogatory remarks about non-English speakers, according to press reports.[163] TheNAACP condemned Nugent’s wearing the Confederate flag. Perry’s spokesman, Robert Black, downplayed the Tuesday-night incident. “Ted Nugent is a good friend of the governor’s. He (Perry) asked him (Nugent) if he would play at the inaugural. He didn’t put any stipulation of what he would play.” [164]
Redistricting
In 2003, Perry called three consecutive special legislative sessions to procure a congressional redistricting plan he said would be more reflective of the state’s population. The plan finally adopted—supported by then U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Sugar Land—brought about a five-seat Republican gain in the delegation. In 2006, however, the five-seat edge was reduced to three seats. Thereafter, Republicans gained one seat in 2008 and an additional three seats in the 2010 election; they now hold a 23-9 majority.
Texas and states’ rights
In April 2009, Perry endorsed a resolution in support of states’ rights under Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, reaffirming that power that is not delegated to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States. In his speech, Perry stated “A number of recent federal proposals are not within the scope of the federal government’s constitutionally designated powers and impede the states’ right to govern themselves. HCR 50 affirms that Texas claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not otherwise granted to the federal government. “.[165] On April 9, 2009, Perry said, “I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our State. That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the States’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to theU.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our State from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”[165] Similar legislation has been passed by other states.[166]After a Tea Party rally held on April 15, 2009, Perry told a group of reporters:
Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that… My hope is that America and Washington in particular pays attention. We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that.[167][168][169]
Perry’s statement was widely interpreted as raising the possibility of the secession of Texas from the union, and was criticized on that basis.[170][171] A spokesperson for Perry said that Perry “never advocated seceding”.[167] Perry’s statement that Texas, in joining the union, had reserved the right to leave was also widely disputed.[171][172]
Immigration
In 2001, Perry expressed his pride in the enactment of the statute extending in-state tuition to children of undocumented workers. He said:
We must say to every Texas child learning in a Texas classroom, “we don’t care where you come from, but where you are going, and we are going to do everything we can to help you get there.” And that vision must include the children of undocumented workers. That’s why Texas took the national lead in allowing such deserving young minds to attend a Texas college at a resident rate.[173]
Perry has opposed the creation of the Mexico – United States barrier, which is meant to keep out illegal aliens. Instead of barricading the border completely with a fence, Perry believes that the federal government should fulfill its responsibility to its citizens by securing the borders with “boots on the ground” and technology to improve safety while not harming trade with the state’s biggest trading partner, Mexico.[174] Perry said the Arizona immigration law SB 1070 “would not be the right direction for Texas” and would distract law enforcement from fighting other crimes.[175]
2011 drought and wildfires
On April 21, 2011, Perry proclaimed a three-day period, from April 22 to April 24, as “Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas” in response to the wildfires then covering much of the state.[176][177] Conditions worsened in the following months. Texas’ area of “exceptional drought” which was 15% on April 19, expanded to >80% by the end of August. Wildfires continued to rage throughout the state, some destroying hundreds of homes at a time. By September 5, over 3.5 million acres had burned. [178][179][180] In early September, blazes near the Texan capital of Austin forced Perry to cut short his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. [181] Perry criticized the federal government for being slow to act in response to the wildfires[182]; meanwhile, others criticized Perry for heavy cuts to the fire services in the state budget, which they said would impede efforts to fight the wildfires. The cuts in question include a 75% cut to volunteer firefighting services, and a 1/3 cut to the Texan Forest Service.[183][184][185]
2012 Presidential campaign
Rick Perry for President campaign logo
Until 2011, Perry persistently denied aspirations to higher office; he was originally included on the 2012 Presidential Straw Poll ballot at the Values Voter Summit in September 2009, but his name was removed at his own request.[186] In April 2008 while appearing as a guest on CNBC‘sKudlow & Company, he specifically stated that he would not agree to serve as Vice President in a McCain administration, stating that he already had “the best job in the world” as governor of Texas. Further, during a Republican gubernatorial debate in January 2010, when asked if he would commit to serving out his term if re-elected, he replied that “the place hasn’t been made yet” where he would rather serve than the governor of Texas. In December 2010, when asked if he was a “definite maybe” to run for President in 2012, he replied, “a definite no, brother”.[187] On May 27, 2011, he said he is “going to think about” running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination after the close of the Texas legislative session.[188] Perry said in a response to a question from a reporter, “but I think about a lot of things,” he added with a grin.[189] On August 11, a Perry spokesman said that he will be running for President in 2012, with plans to announce his formal entry into the race the next day, August 12.[190][191] Perry himself confirmed it on a visit to KVUE, the ABC affiliate in Austin. As the Associated Press bulletin announcing his entry into the race came across the wire, Perry signed and dated a printed copy of the bulletin.[192]
Perry campaigning at the Iowa State Fair
On August 13, Perry officially announced that he will be running for president.[193]
Political views
Constitutional issues
Some of Perry’s views are in opposition to Constitutional amendments already adopted. In his 2010 book Fed Up!, he takes issue with the Federal government’s right to collect income tax, saying “if you want to know when Washington really got off the track, the 16th Amendment, giving them the opportunity to take your money with a personal income tax.”[194] He also criticizes the 17th Amendment, which allows for the direct election of U.S. Senators. According to Perry, the 16th and 17th Amendments caused states to “[hand] over significant chunks of their sovereignty and wealth to the federal government. Congress was free to tax and spend to its heart’s content.”[195] Perry has expressed support for amending the Constitution to set a nationwide policy on social issues, by prohibiting abortionand same-sex marriage. He also supports abolishing life tenure for judges, empowering Congress to overrule Supreme Courtdecisions by a two-thirds vote, requirement of a balanced budget, and placing a limit on federal expenditures.[196]
Criticism of Federal Reserve
On August 16, 2011, Perry sharply criticized the Federal Reserve, stating that it would be “almost treacherous – or treasonous in my opinion” to be “printing money to play politics”. Many prominent Republicans criticized Perry for his statements.[197] For instance, Tony Fratto, a Republican who had worked in the Treasury and White House under the Bush administration, described Perry’s remarks as “inappropriate and unpresidential”.[198] Perry also suggested that if ChairmanBen Bernanke visited Texas, “we would treat him pretty ugly”, a remark criticized by the White House as threatening.[197][199] Another of the top-three-polling Republican presidential candidates, Ron Paul, who routinely criticizes Bernanke and has made “End the Fed” a major platform issue, said of Perry’s comment that it “makes me look like a moderate”[3].
Same-sex marriage
Perry opposes the legal recognition of same-sex marriages, and supported the 2005 ballot proposition which amended the Texas constitution by defining marriage as “only a union between a man and a woman” and prohibiting the state from creating or recognizing “any legal status identical or similar to marriage”.[200] In 2011, after New York legalized same-sex marriage, Perry stated that it was their right to do so under the principle of state’s rights delineated in the 10th Amendment.[201] A spokesman later reiterated Perry’s support for a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, saying that position was not inconsistent since an amendment would require approval by three-fourths of the states.[202] In his first book, On My Honor, published in 2008, Perry drew a parallel between homosexuality and alcoholism regarding a choice to engage in the lifestyle, and writing that he is “no expert on the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate,” but that gays should simply choose abstinence.[203] In 2002, Perry had described the Texas same-sex anti-sodomy law as “appropriate”. TheUnited States Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas struck down the law the following year.[204][205]
Environmental issues
Perry has been a skeptic on human contributions to climate change. In Perry’s book, Fed Up!, he called climate science a “contrived phony mess” and later stated that he thinks there are “a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling in to their projects”.[206] Perry has said that “Virtually every day another scientist leaves the global warming bandwagon. … But you won’t read about that in the press because they have already invested in one side of the story.”[207] Perry’s views have been criticized, with fact-checkers stating that surveys showed that more that97% of climate scientists believed that global warming is anthropogenic and arguing that the ranks of dissenters don’t appear to be swelling.[208][209] Texas-based TXU had been planning a $10 billion investment in 11 new coal-fired power plants over the next several years, but drastically reduced those plans in 2007 under the terms of a buyout by a consortium of private equity firms.[210] The Governor’s Clean Coal Technology Council[211] continues to explore ways to generate clean energy with coal. After the 2009 legislative session, Perry signed House Bill 469[212] which includes incentives[213] for clean coal technology breakthroughs. Perry opposes regulation of greenhouse gas emissions because he says it would have “devastating implications” for the Texas economy and energy industry. He has stated that he supports an “all of the above” energy strategy[214] including oil,coal, nuclear, biofuels, hydroelectric, solar, and wind energy.[215] Perry has collaborated with T. Boone Pickens, who has advocated reduced use of oil, primarily through replacing it with natural gas.[216]
Entitlements
In Perry’s book, Fed Up!, published in the fall of 2010, he said that Social Security was “a crumbling monument to the failure of the New Deal.”[217] He likened the program to “an illegal Ponzi scheme” and also suggested that it was unconstitutional, having been enacted “at the expense of respect for the Constitution and limited government.”[217] During the promotion of the book he said that the Federal government should leave health care to the states and focus on putting Social Security on “better and more solid footing”.[218] In 2011, after he announced his candidacy for the presidency, a spokesman for Perry said that the book was written “as a review and critique of 50 years of federal excesses, not in any way as a 2012 campaign blueprint or manifesto”.[217] However, shortly after, Perry stated in a campaign appearance that he still believed the views in his book, and that he “[hadn't] backed off anything in [his] book.”[219][220] Perry has continued to sharply criticize Social Security, describing it as a “monstrous lie” and a “Ponzi Scheme”.[221]
Defense and foreign policy
Perry has said that under President Bush’s defense secretary Robert Gates, the Pentagon vastly underestimated China’s defense modernization.[222] While visiting Israel in August 2009, Perry gave an interview to the Jerusalem Post in which he affirmed his support for Israel from his religious background, “I’m a big believer that this country was given to the people of Israel a long time ago, by God, and that’s ordained.”[223]
2008 presidential endorsements
In October 2007, despite their political differences on many social issues, Perry endorsed Rudy Giuliani for President. “Rudy Giuliani is the most prepared individual of either party to be the next President… I’m not talking about any mayor, I’m talking about America’s Mayor,” Perry said.[224] Some conjectured that, if Giuliani were elected, Perry might have been considered for a position in the new president’s cabinet, or perhaps the vice presidency.[225] However, Giuliani withdrew from the race on January 30, 2008, after failing to gain support in early primaries. Both Giuliani and Perry immediately endorsed Arizona Senator John McCain for President.[226] Shortly after Mitt Romney’swithdrawal from the race in early February, Perry reportedly called McCain rival Mike Huckabee and suggested that he withdraw as well to clear the way for McCain to secure the nomination. Huckabee declined this request and made it clear publicly that he would abandon his presidential bid only if McCain secured enough delegates.[227] Huckabee withdrew his presidential bid on March 5, 2008, after John McCain won the Texas and Ohio primaries.
Publications
Rick Perry has written two books:
- On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For was published in February 2008.[228] In his book, Perry celebrates the positive impact of the organization on the youth of America and criticizes the ACLU for its legal actions against the Boy Scouts of America.[229]
- His second book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington was published in November 2010.[230] Perry’s second book discusses his support for limited central government.
Perry has also written a lecture about the role of the federal government and the military in disaster management titledFederalizing Disaster Response.[231]
Personal life
In 1982, Perry married Anita Thigpen, his childhood sweetheart whom he had known since elementary school. They have two grown children, Griffin and Sydney. Anita Perry attended West Texas State University and earned a degree in nursing. She has spearheaded a number of health-related initiatives such as the Anita Thigpen Perry Endowment at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, which focuses on nutrition, cardiovascular disease, health education, and early childhood development.[232] Anita has also helped develop and host the Texas Conference for Women.[233]
Electoral history
References
Ron Paul
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ron Paul |
 |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas‘s 14th district |
| Incumbent |
| Assumed office January 3, 1997 |
| Preceded by |
Greg Laughlin |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas‘s 22nd district |
| In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1985 |
| Preceded by |
Robert Gammage |
| Succeeded by |
Tom DeLay |
| In office April 3, 1976 – January 3, 1977 |
| Preceded by |
Robert R. Casey |
| Succeeded by |
Robert Gammage |
| Personal details |
| Born |
Ronald Ernest Paul August 20, 1935 (age 76) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Political party |
Republican (1976–1988) Libertarian (1988 Presidential Election) Republican (1988–present) |
| Spouse(s) |
Carolyn “Carol” Paul |
| Children |
Ronald “Ronnie” Paul, Jr. Lori Paul Pyeatt Randal “Rand” Paul Robert Paul Joy Paul-LeBlanc |
| Residence |
Lake Jackson, Texas |
| Alma mater |
Gettysburg College (B.S.) Duke University (M.D.) |
| Profession |
Physician, Politician |
| Religion |
Christian (Baptist)[1] |
| Signature |
 |
| Website |
U.S. House of Representatives Office of Ron Paul 2012 Presidential Campaign |
| Military service |
| Service/branch |
United States Air Force United States Air National Guard |
| Years of service |
1963–1965 1965–1968 |
| Rank |
Captain[2] |
Ronald Ernest “Ron” Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American medical doctor, author, Republican U.S. Congressman of the House of Representatives and candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination. Paul is currently the U.S. Congressman for the 14th congressional district of Texas, which comprises the area south and southwest of the Greater Houston region, including Galveston. Paul serves on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Joint Economic Committee, and the House Committee on Financial Services, and is Chairman of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology, where he has been an outspoken critic of current American foreign and monetary policy. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Paul is a graduate of Gettysburg College and the Duke University School of Medicine, where he earned his medical degree. Paul served as a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force from 1963 until 1968, during the Vietnam War. He worked as an obstetrician and gynecologist during the 1960s and 1970s, delivering more than 4,000 babies, before entering politics during 1976. Paul is the initiator of the advocacy group Campaign for Liberty and his ideas have been expressed in numerous published articles and books, including Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom (2011), End The Fed (2009), The Revolution: A Manifesto(2008), Pillars of Prosperity (2008), A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship (2007), and The Case for Gold(1982). According to University of Georgia political scientist Keith Poole, Paul had the most conservative voting record of any member of Congress since 1937.[3] His son Rand Paul was elected to the United States Senate for Kentucky in 2010, making the elder Paul the first Representative in history to serve concurrently with a child of his in the Senate.[4] Paul has been termed the “intellectual godfather” of the Tea Party movement.[5][6] He has become well-known for his libertarian ideas for many political issues, often differing from both Republican and Democratic Party stances. Paul has campaigned for President of the United States twice before, first during 1988 as the nominee of the Libertarian Party and again during 2008 as a candidate for the Republican nomination. On May 13, 2011, he announced formally that he would campaign again during 2012 for the Republican presidential nomination. On July 12, 2011, Paul announced that he would not seek another term in Congress in order to concentrate on his presidential bid.[7]
[edit]Personal life and medical career
Paul was born in Pittsburgh, the son of Howard Caspar Paul and Margaret (née Dumont) Paul. His paternal great-grandparents emigrated from Germany, and his mother was of German and Irish ancestry.[8][9] As a junior at suburban Dormont High School, he was the 220-yard dash state champion.[10] He received a B.S. degree in biology at Gettysburg College during 1957. He was a member of the fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha.[10] After earning a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Duke University School of Medicine during 1961, Paul relocated with his wife to Michigan, where he completed his medical internship at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. He then served as a flight surgeon in theUnited States Air Force from 1963 to 1965 and then in the United States Air National Guard from 1965 to 1968.[11] During 1968, Paul and his wife relocated to Texas, where he continued his medical work. Trained in obstetrics and gynaecology, Paul then began his own private practice.[12] Paul has been married to Carol Wells since 1957.[13] They have five children, who were baptized Episcopalian:[14] Ronald, Lori, Rand, Robert, and Joy. Paul’s son Rand is the junior senator from the state of Kentucky. Raised a Lutheran, Paul later became a Baptist.[15] As a medical doctor, Ron Paul routinely lowered fees or worked for free in order to refuse to accept Medicaid or Medicare payments.[16][17]As a member of Congress, he continues to refuse to sign up for the government pension that he would be entitled to in order to avoid receiving government money, saying it would be “hypocritical and immoral.”[18]
[edit]Early congressional career
While still a medical resident during the 1960s, Paul was influenced by Friedrich Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom, which caused him to read many publications by Ludwig von Mises andAyn Rand. He came to know economists Hans Sennholz and Murray Rothbard well, and credits to them his interest in the study of economics. He came to believe that what the Austrian school economists wrote was becoming true on August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon “closed the gold window” by implementing the U.S. dollar‘s complete departure from thegold standard.[19] That same day, the young physician decided to enter politics, saying later, “After that day, all money would be political money rather than money of real value. I was astounded.”[20]
[edit]First campaigns
Inspired by his belief that the monetary crisis of the 1970s was predicted by the Austrian School and caused by excessive government spending on the Vietnam War[21] and welfare,[22]Paul became a delegate to the Texas Republican convention and a Republican candidate for the United States Congress. During 1974, incumbent Robert R. Casey defeated him for the22nd district. When President Gerald Ford appointed Casey to direct the Federal Maritime Commission, Paul won an April 1976 special election to the vacant office.[23] Paul lost some months later in the general election, to Democrat Robert Gammage, by fewer than 300 votes (0.2%), but defeated Gammage in a 1978 rematch, and was reelected during 1980 and 1982. Paul was the first Republican representative from the area; he also headed the Texas Reagan delegation at the national Republican convention.[24] His successful campaign against Gammage surprised local Democrats, who had expected to retain the seat easily due to the Watergate scandal. Gammage underestimated Paul’s popularity among local mothers: “I had real difficulty down in Brazoria County, where he practiced, because he’d delivered half the babies in the county. There were only two obstetricians in the county, and the other one was his partner.”[25]
[edit]House of Representatives
Paul proposed term-limit legislation multiple times, at first during the 1970s in the House of Representatives[26] where he also declined to attend junkets or register for a Congressional pension while serving four terms.[27] His chief of staff (1978–1982) was Lew Rockwell.[28] During 1980, when a majority of Republicans favored President Jimmy Carter‘s proposal to reinstate draft registration, Paul argued that their views were inconsistent, stating they were more interested in registering their children than they were their guns.[26] He also proposed legislation to decrease Congressional pay by the rate of inflation; he was a regular participant of the annual Congressional Baseball Game;[24] and he continued to deliver babies on Mondays and Saturdays during his entire 22nd district career.[20] During his first term, Paul initiated a “think tank“, the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education (FREE).[29] Also during 1976, the foundation began publication of the first monthly newsletter associated with Paul, Dr. Ron Paul’s Freedom Report[30] (or Special Report). It also publishes radio advertisements, monographs, books, and (since 1997) a new series of the monthly newsletter, Ron Paul’s Freedom Report, which promote the principles of limited government. On the House Banking Committee, Paul blamed the Federal Reserve for inflation,[31] and spoke against the banking mismanagement that resulted in the savings and loan crisis.[14] The U.S. Gold Commission created by Congress during 1982 was his and Jesse Helms‘s idea, and Paul’s commission minority report was published by the Cato Institute in The Case for Gold;[19] it is now available from the Ludwig von Mises Institute, to which Paul is a distinguished counselor.[32] During 1984, Paul chose to campaign for the U.S. Senate instead of re-election to the House, but lost the Republican primary to Phil Gramm.[33] Another candidate of the senatorial primary was Henry Grover, a conservative former state legislator who had lost the 1972 gubernatorial general election to the Democrat Dolph Briscoe, Jr. Paul then resumed his full-time medical practice[31] and was succeeded by former state representative Tom DeLay.[34] In his House farewell address, Paul said, “Special interests have replaced the concern that theFounders had for general welfare. Vote trading is seen as good politics. The errand-boy mentality is ordinary, the defender of liberty is seen as bizarre. It’s difficult for one who loves true liberty and utterly detests the power of the state to come to Washington for a period of time and not leave a true cynic.”[35] During 2009, Paul was featured by CBS on Up to the Minute as one of two members of the U.S. Congress that have pledged not to receive a pension from the United States government. The other is Howard Coble of North Carolina.[36]
[edit]1988 presidential campaign
In the 1988 presidential election, Paul defeated Native American activist Russell Means to win the Libertarian Party nomination for president.[14] Paul criticized Ronald Reagan as a failure and cited large deficits as exhibit A.[27] On the ballot in 46 states and the District of Columbia,[37] Paul scored third in the popular vote with 432,179 votes (0.5%),[38] behind Republican winner George H. W. Bush and Democrat Michael Dukakis.[39] Paul was kept off the ballot in Missouri, and received votes there only when written in, due to what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch termed a “technicality”.[40] As the “Libertarian standard bearer”,[41][42] Paul gained endorsers who agreed with his positions on gun rights, fiscal conservatism, homeschooling, and abortion, and won approval from many who thought the federal government was misdirected. This nationwide base encouraged and donated to his later campaigns.[20] Kent Snyder, Paul’s 2008 campaign chair, first worked for Paul on the 1988 campaign.[43][44] According to Paul, his presidential campaign was about more than obtaining office; he sought to promote his libertarian ideas, often to school and university groups regardless of vote eligibility. He said, “We’re just as interested in the future generation as this election. These kids will vote eventually, and maybe, just maybe, they’ll go home and talk to their parents.”[37]He traveled the country for a year speaking about issues such as free market economics and the rising government deficits:[41] ”That’s why we talk to a lot of young people. They’re the ones who are paying these bills, they’re the ones who are inheriting this debt, so it’s most likely these young people who will move into this next generation in government.”[45] After the election, Paul continued his medical practice until he returned to Congress.[14][46] He also co-owned a coin dealership, Ron Paul Coins, for twelve years with Burt Blumert, who continued to operate it after Paul resumed office.[47][48] He spoke multiple times at the American Numismatic Association‘s 1988 convention.[47] He worked with FREE on such projects as establishing the National Endowment for Liberty, producing the At Issue public policy series that was broadcast on Discovery Channel and CNBC,[29] and continuing publication of Dr. Ron Paul’s Freedom Report.
[edit]Inter-congressional years
Ron Paul & Associates (RP&A), Inc. was initiated during 1984 by Paul, who served as President. Llewellyn H Rockwell Jr. served as Vice President, Ron Paul’s wife Carol served as Secretary and Lori Pyeatt as Treasurer. The corporation was dissolved during 2001.[49][50][51][52] In 1985 Ron Paul & Associates began publishing The Ron Paul Investment Letter[53] andThe Ron Paul Survival Report;[20][54] it added the more controversial Ron Paul Political Report during 1987.[55] Many articles lacked a byline, yet often invoked Paul’s name or persona. After his unsuccessful presidential bid during 1988, Paul resumed his private medical practice and continued to allow the newsletters to be published bearing his name. For 1992, RP&A earned $940,000 and employed Paul’s family as well as Lew Rockwell (its vice-president[56] and occasional editor)[57] and seven other workers. Murray Rothbard and other libertarians believed Rockwell ghostwrote the newsletters for Paul;[56] Rockwell later acknowledged involvement in writing subscription letters, but attributed the newsletters to “seven or eight freelancers”.[58] Paul considered campaigning for President during 1992,[59] but instead chose to endorse Pat Buchanan that year, and served as an adviser to his Republican presidential campaign against incumbent President George H. W. Bush.[60]
[edit]Later congressional career
An earlier congressional portrait of Paul
[edit]Campaigns
[edit]1996 campaign
During 1996, Paul was re-elected to Congress after the most difficult campaign he had experienced since the 1970s. Because Republicans had gained control of both houses of Congress in the 1994 election, Paul entered the campaign hopeful that his Constitutionalist policies of tax reductions, terminating federal agencies, and curbing the U.N. would have more support than during the past.[61] The Republican National Committee emphasized instead encouragement of Democrats to switch parties, as Paul’s primary opponent, incumbent Greg Laughlin, had done during 1995. The party endorsed Laughlin, including assistance from House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Governor George W. Bush, and the National Rifle Association. Paul responded by running newspaper advertisements quoting Gingrich’s harsh criticisms of Laughlin’s Democratic voting record 14 months earlier.[27] Paul won the primary with assistance from baseball pitcher, constituent, and friend Nolan Ryan (as honorary campaign chair and advertisement spokesman), as well as tax activist Steve Forbes[14] and conservative commentator Pat Buchanan (both of whom had had presidential campaigns that year). Paul’s Democratic opponent in the autumn general election, trial lawyer Charles “Lefty” Morris, received assistance from the AFL-CIO, but Paul’s wider contributor base out-raised Morris two-to-one, giving the third-highest amount of individual contributions received by any House member (behind Gingrich and Bob Dornan).[62] While Paul was able to describe Morris as a stooge of trial lawyers and big labor, Morris ran numerous advertisements about Paul’s advocacy of federal drug law repeal. Morris also accused Paul of authoring questionable statements in past newsletters,[20] some of which were characterized as racially charged.[63][64]Paul’s congressional campaign countered the statements were taken out of context.[65] and that voters might not understand the “tongue-in-cheek, academic” quotes out of context. Further, the campaign rejected Morris’ demand to release all back issues. Paul won the election by a close margin. It became the third time Paul had been elected to Congress as a non-incumbent.[14] Upon his returning to Washington, Paul quickly discovered “there was no sincere effort” by Republicans toward their declared goal of small government.[22]
[edit]Later campaigns
During 1998 and again during 2000, Paul defeated Loy Sneary, a Democratic Bay City, Texas, rice farmer and former Matagorda County judge,[20] running advertisements warning voters to be “leery of” Sneary.[66] Paul accused Sneary of voting to increase his pay by 5%, increasing his travel allotment by 400% during one year, and using increased taxes to start a new government bureaucracy to administer a license plate fee he enacted. Sneary’s aides said he had voted to increase all county employees’ pay by five percent in a cost-of-living increase. Paul countered that he had never voted to increase Congressional pay.[61][67] In both campaigns, the national Democratic Party and major unions continued to spend much money against Paul.[20] An online “grassroots” petition to draft Paul for the 2004 presidential election garnered several thousand signatures.[68] On December 11, 2001, he told political independents that he was encouraged by the fact that the petition had spread the message of Constitutionalism, but did not expect a White House win at that time.[69] Further prompting in early 2007 caused him to enter the 2008 presidential election campaign. Unlike many political candidates, Paul receives the overwhelming majority of his campaign contributions from individuals[70] (97 percent during the 2006 cycle), and receives much less from political action committees (PAC’s) than others, ranging from two percent (2002) to six percent (1998).[71] The group Clean Up Washington, analyzing from 2000 to mid-2006, listed Paul as seventh-lowest of PAC receipts of all House members; one of the lowest in lobbyist receipts; and fourth-highest in small-donor receipts.[72] He had the lowest PAC receipts percentage of all the 2008 Republican presidential candidates.[73][74] Paul was re-elected to his tenth term in Congress during November 2006.[75] In the March 4, 2008, Republican primary for his Congressional seat,[76] he defeated Friendswood city councilman Chris Peden,[77] obtaining over 70 percent of the vote.[78] On the 2008 ballot, Paul won his eleventh term in Congress running unopposed.[79] In the 2010 Republican primary for his Congressional seat, Paul defeated three opponents with 80 percent of the vote.[80]
[edit]Relationship with district
After 2003 Texas redistricting, Paul’s district is larger than Massachusetts (though it has only a tenth of the population),[81] with 675 miles (1,086 km) of Gulf of Mexico coastline between Houston and Rockport, Texas, including some 22 counties. Even so, Paul opposes programs like federally funded flood insurance (typically endorsed by coastal and rural representatives) because it requires those outside flood zones to subsidize those within, but prohibits those within from choosing their own insurers. In an overwhelmingly rural region known for ranching and rice farms,[19] Paul opposes farm subsidies, which are paid to large corporations rather than small farmers.[82] Despite his voting against greatly endorsed legislation like farm bills, Paul’s devotion to reducing government is popular with 14th district voters:[20] in a survey, 54% of his constituency agreed with his goal of eliminating the U.S. Department of Education.[83] Paul adds his own “earmarks“, such as for Texas shrimp promotion, but he routinely votes against most spending bills returned by committee.[38][84] Earmarks permit members of Congress, rather than executive branch civil servants, to designate spending priorities[85] for previously authorized funds directed otherwise.[84] Paul compared his practice to objecting to the tax system yet taking all one’s tax credits: “I want to get their money back for the people.”[86] In The Revolution: A Manifesto, Paul states his opinion of earmarks this way: “The real problem, and one that was unfortunately not addressed in the 2007′s earmark dispute, is the size of the federal government and the amount of money we are spending in these appropriations bills. Cutting even a million dollars from an appropriations bill that spends hundreds of billions will make no appreciable difference in the size of government, which is doubtless why politicians and the media are so eager to have us waste our time on [earmarks].”[87] Paul also spends extra time in the district to compensate for “violat[ing] almost every rule of political survival you can think of,”[20] traveling more than 300 miles (480 km) daily[20] to attend civic ceremonies for veterans, graduates, and Boy Scouts, often accompanied by his grandchildren. His staff helps senior citizens obtain free or low-cost prescription drugs through a little-known drug company program; procures lost or unreceived medals for war veterans, holding dozens of medal ceremonies annually; is known for its effectiveness in tracingSocial Security checks; and sends out birthday and condolence cards.[20][84] During 2001, he was one of only eight doctors in the House of Representatives; even fewer had continued to practice while in office.[clarification needed] He is occasionally approached by younger area residents to thank him for attending and assisting their deliveries at birth.[20]
[edit]Legislation
Paul authors more bills than the average representative, such as those that impose term limits, or abolish the income tax[88] or the Federal Reserve; many do not escape committee review. He has written successful legislation to prevent eminent domain seizure of a church in New York, and a bill transferring ownership of the Lake Texana dam project from the federal government to Texas. By amending other legislation, he has helped prohibit funding for national identification numbers, funding for federal teacher certification,[20] International Criminal Court jurisdiction over the U.S. military, American participation with any U.N. global tax, and surveillance of peaceful First Amendment activities by citizens.[89] During March 2001, Paul introduced a bill to repeal the 1973 War Powers Resolution (WPR) and reinstate the process of formal declaration of war by Congress.[90] Later during 2001, Paul voted to authorize the president, pursuant to WPR, to respond to those responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks.[91] He also introduced “Sunlight Rule” legislation, which requires lawmakers to take enough time to read bills before voting on them,[92] after the Patriot Act was passed within 24 hours of its introduction. Paul was one of six Republicans to vote against the Iraq War Resolution, and (with Oregon representative Peter DeFazio) sponsored a resolution to repeal the war authorization during February 2003. Paul’s speech, 35 ”Questions That Won’t Be Asked About Iraq,”[93] was translated and published in German, French, Russian, Italian, and Swiss periodicals before the Iraq War began.[84] Paul says his fellow members of Congress have increased government spending by 75 percent during the presidency of George W. Bush.[94] After a 2005 bill was touted as “slashing” government waste, Paul wrote that it decreased spending by a fraction of one percent and that “Congress couldn’t slash spending if the members’ lives depended on it.”[95] He said that during three years he had voted against more than 700 bills intended to expand government.[96] Paul has introduced several bills to apply tax credits to education, including credits for parental spending on public, private, or homeschool students (Family Education Freedom Act); for salaries for all K–12 teachers, librarians, counselors, and other school personnel; and for donations to scholarships or to benefit academics (Education Improvement Tax Cut Act).[97] In accord with his political opinions, he has also introduced the Sanctity of Life Act, the We the People Act, and the American Freedom Agenda Act.[98] During June 2011, Paul co-sponsored a bill with U.S. Representative Barney Frank that is intended to end the federal prohibition of marijuana.[99]
[edit]List of bills sponsored and cosponsored
The following tables link to the Congressional Record hosted by the Library of Congress. All the specifics and actions done for each individual bill Ron Paul has either sponsored or cosponsored can be reviewed further there. “Original bills” and “Original amendments” indicate instances where Ron Paul had pledged to endorse the legislation at the time the bill was initially introduced rather than at some other phase of the legislative process of the bill.
Note: The numbers for the current session of Congress may no longer represent the actual numbers as they are still actively in session.
[edit]Affiliations
Paul serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee (having been on the Western Hemisphere and the Asia and Pacific subcommittees); the Joint Economic Committee; and theCommittee on Financial Services (as Ranking Member of the Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology subcommittee, and Vice-Chair of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee). Paul was honorary chairman of, and is a member of the Republican Liberty Caucus, a political action committee that describes its goal as electing “liberty-minded, limited-government individuals”.[100] Paul also hosts a luncheon every Thursday as chairman of the Liberty Caucus, composed of 20 members of Congress. Washington DC area radio personality Johnny “Cakes” Auville gave Paul the idea for the Liberty Caucus and is a regular contributing member.[14] He is an initiating member of the Congressional Rural Caucus, which deals with agricultural and rural issues, and the 140-member Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus.[101] He remains on good terms with the Libertarian Party and addressed its 2004 convention.[102] He also was endorsed by the Constitution Party’s 2004 presidential candidate, Michael Peroutka.[103] Paul was a member of a bipartisan coalition of 17 members of Congress that sued President Bill Clinton during 1999 due to his conduct of the Kosovo war. They accused Clinton of failing to inform Congress of the action’s status within 48 hours as required by the War Powers Resolution, and of failing to obtain Congressional declaration of war. Congress had voted 427–2 against a declaration of war with Yugoslavia, and had voted to deny assistance for the air campaign in Kosovo. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that since Congress had voted for funding after Clinton had actively engaged troops in the war with Kosovo, legislators had sent a confusing message about whether they approved of the war. Paul said that the judge’s decision attempted to circumvent the Constitution and to authorize the president to conduct a war without approval from Congress.[104]
[edit]Committee assignments
Rep. Paul serves on the following committee and subcommittees.[105]
With the election of the 112th Congress, and a resulting GOP majority in the House, Ron Paul became the chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technologystarting in January 2011.[106] On July 12th 2011, Ron Paul announced that he will not seek re-election as a U.S. Representative. [107]
[edit]2008 presidential campaign
Fund raising by state compared to all other candidates put together
[edit]Republican primary campaign
Paul formally declared his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination on March 12, 2007, on C-SPAN.[108][109] His campaign had intensegrassroots support—his supporters were said to “always show up”[110]—- and he had dozens of wins of GOP “straw polls“. Additionally, Ron Paul garnered much popularity among college students, with about 500 Students for Ron Paul groups formed across the United States.[111]Few major politicians endorsed Paul, but he won the endorsement of Houston political activist Clymer Wright, the main promoter of the municipal term limits imposed in Houston during 1991.[112] Paul’s campaign showed “surprisingly strong” fundraising[113] with several record-breaking events. He had the greatest rate of military contribution for 2008,[114][115] and donations coming from individuals,[116] aided significantly by an online presence and very active campaigning by endorsers,[117] who organized “moneybomb” fundraisers acquiring millions of dollars during several months. Such fundraising earned Paul the status of having raised more than any other Republican candidate during 2007′s fourth-quarter.[118] Paul’s name was a number-one web search term as ranked by Technorati, beginning around May 2007.[119] He has had more YouTube subscriptions since May 20, 2007 than any other candidate.[120] Paul was largely ignored by traditional media, including at least one incident such that FOX News did not invite him to a GOP debate featuring all other presidential candidates at the time.[121] One exception was Glenn Beck‘s program on Headline News, where Beck interviewed Paul for the full hour of his show.[122] Though projections of 2008 Republican delegate counts varied widely, Paul’s count was consistently third among the three candidates remaining after Super Tuesday, 2008. According to CNN[123] and the New York Times,[124] by Super Tuesday Paul had received five delegates in North Dakota, and was projected to receive two in Iowa, four in Nevada, and five in Alaska based on caucus results, totaling 16 delegates. However, Paul’s campaign projected 42 delegates based on the same results, including delegates from Colorado, Maine, and Minnesota.[125] In the January 2008 Louisiana caucus, Paul scored second after John McCain, but uncommitted delegates outnumbered both candidates’ pledged delegates, since a registration deadline had been extended to January 12.[126] Paul said he had the greatest number of pledgedLouisiana delegates who had registered by the original January 10 deadline, and formally challenged the deadline extension and the Louisiana GOP’s exclusion of voters due to an outdated list;[127][128] he projected three Louisiana delegates. The Super Tuesday West Virginia caucuswas won by Mike Huckabee, whose state campaign coordinators reportedly arranged to give three Huckabee delegates to Paul in exchange for votes from Paul’s endorsers.[129] Huckabee has not confirmed this delegate pledge.[130] Paul’s preference votes in primaries and caucuses began at 10 percent in Iowa (winning Jefferson County) and eight percent in New Hampshire, where he had the endorsement of state sovereignty champion, State Representative Dan Itse; on Super Tuesday they ranged from 25 percent in Montana and 21 percent in North Dakota caucuses, where he won several counties, to three percent in several state primaries, averaging under 10 percent in primaries overall.[131] After sweeping four states on March 4, McCain was projected widely to have a majority of delegatespledged to vote for him in the September 2008 party convention. Paul obliquely acknowledged McCain on March 6: “Though victory in the political sense [is] not available, many victories have been achieved due to hard work and enthusiasm.” He continued to contest the remaining primaries,[132] having added, “McCain has the nominal number … but if you’re in a campaign for only gaining power, that is one thing; if you’re in a campaign to influence ideas and the future of the country, it’s never over.”[133] Paul’s recent book, The Revolution: A Manifesto, became aNew York Times and Amazon.com bestseller immediately upon release.[134][135][136][137] His newest book, End the Fed, has been released. On June 12, 2008, Paul withdrew his bid for the Republican nomination, citing his resources could be better spent on improving America. Some of the $4 million remaining campaign contributions was invested into the new political action and advocacy group called Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty.[138] Paul told the newsmagazine NOW on PBS the goal of the Campaign for Liberty is to “spread the message of the Constitution and limited government, while at the same time organizing at the grassroots level and teaching pro-liberty activists how to run effective campaigns and win elections at every level of government.”[139]
[edit]Newsletter controversy
Controversial claims made by an unidentified author in Ron Paul’s newsletters, written in the first person narrative, included statements such as “Boy, it sure burns me to have a national holiday for Martin Luther King. I voted against this outrage time and time again as a Congressman. What an infamy that Ronald Reagan approved it! We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day.” Along with “even in my little town of Lake Jackson, Texas, I’ve urged everyone in my family to know how to use a gun in self defense. For the animals are coming.”[140]Two other statements that garnered controversy were “opinion polls consistently show only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions”. In an article titled “The Pink House” the newsletter wrote that “Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities.”[141] Paul had given his own account of the newsletters during March 2001, stating the documents were authored by ghostwriters, and that while he did not author the challenged passages, he bore “some moral responsibility” for their publication.[142] At the end of 2007, both the New York Sun and the New York Times Magazine reprinted passages from early 1990s publications of Paul’s newsletters, attacking them for content deemed racist.[14] These were the same newsletters that had been used against Paul during his 1996 congressional campaign. On January 8, 2008, the day of the New Hampshire primary, The New Republic published a story by James Kirchick quoting from selected newsletters published under Paul’s name.[56][143] Responding to the charges in a CNN interview, Paul denied any involvement in authoring the passages. Additionally, Paul’s campaign claimed through a press release that the quotations had come from an unnamed ghostwriter and without Paul’s consent. Paul again denounced and disavowed the “small-minded thoughts”, citing his 1999 House speech praising Rosa Parks for her courage; he said the charges simply “rehashed” the decade-old Morris attack.[144] CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said that the writing “Didn’t sound like the Ron Paul I’ve come to know.”[145] Later, Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the NAACP, also defended Paul.[146]
| “ |
Everybody knows in my district that I didn’t write them and I don’t speak like that… and I’ve been reelected time and time again and everyone knows I don’t participate in that kind of language. The point is, when you bring this question up, you’re really saying ‘you’re a racist, or are you a racist?’ The answer is no, I’m not a racist. As a matter of fact, Rosa Parks is one of my heroes, Martin Luther King is a hero, because they practiced the libertarian principle of civil disobedience and nonviolence. Libertarians are incapable of being a racist because racism is a collectivist idea: you see people in groups. A civil libertarian as myself sees everyone as an important individual. |
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The newsmagazine Reason republished Paul’s 1996 defense of the newsletters,[148] and later reported evidence from “a half-dozen longtime libertarian activists” that Lew Rockwell had been the chief ghostwriter.[56] Rockwell denies this charge, and “has characterized discussion of the newsletters as ‘hysterical smears aimed at political enemies.’”[149]
[edit]Assistance for third-party candidates
On September 5, 2008, the Constitution Party of Montana removed Chuck Baldwin from their presidential ticket, replacing him with Ron Paul for president and Michael Peroutka for vice president.[150] Paul made an announcement stating that he “was aware that the party planned to do this, and has said that as long as he can remain passive and silent about the development, and as long as he need not sign any declaration of candidacy, that he does not object.”[150] However, Paul requested on September 11 that Montana eliminate his name from the ballot,[151] stating that he did not “seek nor consent” to the Montana Constitution Party’s nomination.[151] He also suggested the Party list official Constitution Party nominee Baldwin on the Montana ballot instead.[151] Five days later the Montana Secretary of State denied Paul’s request for withdrawal,[152] stating that the request was sent to them too late. On September 4, 2008, a list of electors in Louisiana using the name “Louisiana Taxpayers Party” filed papers and paid $500[153] with the Secretary of State’s Office.[153] They are pledged to Paul for President and Barry Goldwater, Jr. for Vice President.[153] The same day, Paul’s staff released a brief press statement: “On the heels of his historic three-day rally in Minneapolis that drew over 12,000 attendees, Congressman Ron Paul will make a major announcement next week in Washington at the National Press Club.”[154] The congressman had reportedly invited presidential candidates Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr,Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader to the press conference, causing some people to speculate that they would endorse Paul campaigning for president on the ticket of either the Constitution, Libertarian or other third party.[154][155] On September 10, 2008, Paul confirmed his “open endorsement” (CNN) for the four candidates at a press conference in Washington D.C.[156] He also revealed that he had rejected a request for an endorsement of John McCain.[157][158] He later appeared on CNN‘s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer with Nader where they presented and briefly described the four principles that all the independent candidates had agreed on as the most important issues of the presidential campaign.[159] On September 22, 2008, in response to a written statement by Bob Barr, Paul abandoned his former neutral stance and announced his endorsement of Chuck Baldwin in the 2008 presidential election.[160] In the 2008 general election, Paul still received 41,905 votes despite not actively campaigning.[161][162] He was listed on the ballot in Montana as the Constitution Party candidate, and inLouisiana on the “Louisiana Taxpayers Party” ticket, and received write-in votes in California (17,006),[163] Pennsylvania (3,527), New Hampshire (1,092), and other states. (Not all U.S. jurisdictions require the counting or reporting of write-in votes.)
[edit]Post–presidential campaign activities
Paul speaking at CPAC 2011
On February 26, 2009, Ron Paul was a major speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., speaking for 20 minutes on topics including monetary theory and policy in the United States, in addition to the War in Iraq, and international foreign policy.[164]Paul’s Campaign for Liberty sent 140 volunteers to CPAC 2009 to distribute materials, and significantly increased that number the next year.[165] In the 2009 CPAC Straw Poll for the 2012 presidential election, Paul tied 2008 GOP Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin for third place with 13% of the vote, behind fellow former candidate Mitt Romney and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.[166] However, in the 2010 CPAC straw poll, he scored first, decisively winning with 31%, followed distantly by Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, among others. In the 2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll, Paul finished second place with 24% of the vote (438 votes), behind only Mitt Romney (with 439 votes). An April 2010 Rasmussen poll among likely voters found that Ron Paul and President Obama were statistically tied in a hypothetical 2012 presidential election.[167][168][169]
[edit]2012 presidential campaign
Ron Paul is a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2012 election. Beginning during 2010 there was speculation among pundits and journalists regarding the prospect of Paul campaigning for president again during 2012.[170][171] When Paul’s wife, Carol, was asked if he would campaign during 2012 her response was “If you would ask him now he would probably say ‘no’, but he did say… things are happening so quickly and fast in our country, if we’re at a crisis period and they need someone… with the knowledge he has… then he would do it.”[172] Paul won several early straw polls[173] and began raising funds for an exploratory committee.[174] In mid-April, 2011, Paul announced the formation of a “testing-the-waters” account, and stated that he will make a decision on whether to enter the campaign officially no later than May.[175][176] In late April, he formed an official exploratory committee to campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.[177][178] He participated with the first Republican presidential debate on May 5, 2011.[179] and on May 13, 2011, Paul formally announced his candidacy in an interview on ABC‘s Good Morning America.[180] He placed second in the 2011 Ames Straw Poll, missing first by 0.9%.[181] An August scientific poll of likely voters across the political spectrum by Rasmussen Reports held a contest between Paul and Barack Obama, in which the two were “almost dead even.” Obama led Paul by one percentage point at 39% to 38% – a significantly smaller margin than July (41% – 37%).[182] Paul moved up to 3rd in a late-August poll of likely Republican primary voters, trailing Rick Perry and Mitt Romney and passing Michele Bachmann,[183] climbing from fourth to third position.[184]
[edit]Political positions
Paul has been described as conservative, Constitutionalist, and libertarian.[14] He has been nicknamed “Dr. No”,[20] representing both his medical degree and his insistence that he will “never vote for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution”,[31] and “Mr. Republican”.[185] One scoring method published in the American Journal of Political Science[186] found Paul the most conservative of all 3,320 members of Congress from 1937 to 2002.[187] Paul’s foreign policy of nonintervention[188] made him the only 2008 Republican presidential candidate to have voted against the Iraq War Resolution during 2002. He advocates withdrawal from the United Nations, and from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, for reasons of maintaining strong national sovereignty.[189] He endorses free trade, rejecting membership in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization as “managed trade”. He endorses increased border security and opposes welfare for illegal aliens, birthright citizenship and amnesty;[190] he voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006. He voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks, but suggested war alternatives such as authorizing the president to grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal targeting specific terrorists. An opponent of the Iraq War and potential war with Iran, he has also criticized neoconservatism and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, arguing that both inadvertently cause terrorist reprisals against Americans. Paul has stated that “Israel is our close friend” and that it is not the place of the United States to “dictate how Israel runs her affairs”.[191] Paul is a proponent of Austrian school economics; he has authored six books on the subject, and displays pictures of Austrian school economists Friedrich Hayek, Murray Rothbard, and Ludwig von Mises (as well as of Grover Cleveland)[38] on his office wall. He regularly votes against almost all proposals for new government spending, initiatives, or taxes;[66] he cast two thirds of all the lone negative votes in the House during a 1995–1997 period.[20] He has pledged never to raise taxes[192] and states he has never voted to approve a budget deficit. Paul believes that the country could abolish the individual income tax by scaling back federal spending to its fiscal year 2000 levels;[88][193] financing government operations would be primarily by excise taxes and non-protectionist tariffs.[194] He endorses eliminating most federal government agencies, terming them unnecessary bureaucracies. Paul has a consistent record as an inflation hawk, having warned of the threat of hyperinflation as far back as 1981.[195] Paul also believes the longterm decrease of the U.S. dollar’s purchasing power byinflation is attributable to its lack of any commodity backing. However, Paul does not endorse a “return” to a gold standard, as the U.S. government has established during the past, but instead prefers to eliminate legal tender laws and to remove the sales tax on gold and silver, so that the market may freely decide what type of monetary standard(s) there shall be.[196]He also advocates gradual elimination of the Federal Reserve System.[197] Paul endorses constitutional rights, such as the right to keep and bear arms, and habeas corpus for political detainees. He opposes the Patriot Act, federal use of torture, presidential autonomy, a national identification card, warrantless domestic surveillance, and the draft. Citing the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, Paul advocates states’ rights to decide how to regulate social matters not cited directly by the Constitution. Paul terms himself “strongly pro-life”,[198] ”an unshakable foe of abortion”,[199] and believes regulation or ban[200] on medical decisions about maternal or fetal health is “best handled at the state level”.[201][202] He says his years as an obstetrician led him to believe life begins at conception;[203] his abortion-related legislation, like the Sanctity of Life Act, is intended to negate Roe v. Wade and to get “the federal government completely out of the business of regulating state matters.”[204]Paul also believes that the notion of the separation of church and state is currently misused by the court system: “In case after case, the Supreme Court has used the infamous ‘separation of church and state’ metaphor to uphold court decisions that allow the federal government to intrude upon and deprive citizens of their religious liberty.”[205] He opposes federal regulation of the death penalty[201] (although he opposes capital punishment),[206] of education,[207] and of marriage, and endorses revising the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to concern mainly disruptive sexual behavior (whether heterosexual or homosexual).[208] As a free-market environmentalist, he asserts private property rights in relation to environmental protection and pollution prevention.[citation needed] He also opposes the federal War on Drugs,[209] and believes the states should decide whether to regulate or deregulate drugs such as medical marijuana.[210] Paul pushes to eliminate federal involvement with and management of health care, which he argues would allow prices to decrease due to the fundamental dynamics of a free market.[211] He is an outspoken proponent for increased ballot access for 3rd party candidates and numerous election law reforms which he believes would allow more voter control.[212] Referring to the federal government, Ron Paul has also stated that “The government shouldn’t be in the medical business.” He is also opposed to federal government influenza inoculation programs.[213] Paul was critical of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguing that it sanctioned federal interference in the labor market and did not improve race relations. He once remarked: “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 not only violated the Constitution and reduced individual liberty; it also failed to achieve its stated goals of promoting racial harmony and a color-blind society”.[214] On April 15, 2011, Paul was one of four Republican members of Congress to vote against “The Path to Prosperity“.[215]
[edit]Bibliography
A 1980 memo from then-freshman House member Gingrich may be the original inspiration for Ronald Reagan’s “are you better off than you were four years ago?” line from a presidential debate the same year.[17] In 1981, Gingrich co-founded the Congressional Military Reform Caucus (MRC) as well as the Congressional Aviation and Space Caucus. During the 1983 congressional page sex scandal, Gingrich was among those calling for the expulsion of representatives Dan Crane and Gerry Studds.[18] Other notable early House activities by Gingrich include supporting a proposal to ban loans from the International Monetary Fund to Communist countries and endorsing a bill to make Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s birthday a national holiday.[19] in 1983, he founded the Conservative Opportunity Society (COS), a group that included young conservative House Republicans. Early COS members were handpicked by Gingrich and included Robert Smith Walker, Judd Gregg, Dan Coats and Connie Mack III. The group expanded over time to comprise several dozen representatives[20] who met each week to exchange and develop ideas.[19] Gingrich’s analysis of polls and public opinion identified the original issues that the group focused on.[20] Ronald Reagan adopted the “opportunity society” ideas for his 1984 re-election campaign, supporting the group’s conservative goals on economic growth, education, crime, space exploration and social issues, which he had not emphasized during his first term.[21] Reagan also referenced an “opportunity” society in the first State of the Union address of his second term.[20] In May 1988, Gingrich (along with 77 other House members and Common Cause) brought ethics charges against Democratic Speaker Jim Wright, who was alleged to have used a book deal to circumvent campaign-finance laws and House ethics rules. During the investigation, it was noted Gingrich had his own unusual book deal, for Window of Opportunity, part of whose publicity expenses were covered by a limited partnership, which raised $105,000 from Republican political supporters around the country to promote sales of the book.[22] Wright eventually resigned as a result of the inquiry. Gingrich’s success in forcing the resignation was in part responsible for his rising influence in the Republican caucus.[23] In March 1989, after House Minority Whip Dick Cheney was appointed Secretary of Defense, Gingrich was elected to succeed him. He faced the chief deputy whip, Edward Rell Madigan, in the election and won by 87 to 85.[24] This was Gingrich’s first formal position of power within the Republican party[25] and following the election he stated his intention to “build a much more aggressive, activist party.”[24] Early in his role as Whip, in May 1989 Gingrich was involved in talks about the appointment of a Panamanian administrator of the Panama Canal, which was scheduled to occur in 1989 subject to United States government approval of the candidate. Gingrich was outspoken in his opposition to giving control over the canal to an administrator appointed by the dictatorship in Panama.[26] Gingrich and others in the house, including the newly minted Gang of Seven, railed against what they saw as ethical lapses in the House, an institution that had been under Democratic control for almost 40 years. The House banking scandal and Congressional Post Office scandal were emblems of the exposed corruption. Gingrich himself was among the 450 members of the House who had engaged in check kiting; he had overdrafts on twenty-two checks, including a $9,463 check to theInternal Revenue Service in 1990.[27] As a result of the 1990 United States Census, Georgia picked up an additional seat for the 1992 U.S. House elections. However, the Democratic-controlled Georgia General Assemblyeliminated Gingrich’s old district, which stretched from the southern suburbs of Atlanta to the Alabama border. Gingrich’s home in Carrollton was drawn into the Columbus-based 3rd District, represented by five-term Democrat Richard Ray. At the same time, the Assembly created a new 6th District in Fulton and Cobb counties in the wealthy northern suburbs of Atlanta—an area Gingrich had never represented. However, Gingrich sold his home in Carrollton, moved to Marietta in the new 6th and won a very close Republican primary. The primary victory was tantamount to election in the new, heavily Republican district. Meanwhile, Ray lost to state senator Mac Collins by 9.52 percentage points. In the 1994 campaign season, in an effort to offer an alternative to Democratic policies and to unite distant wings of the Republican Party, Newt Gingrich (with the help of other Republicans) came up with a Contract with America, which laid out ten policies that Republicans promised to bring to a vote on the House Floor during the first hundred days of the new Congress, if they won the election.[28] The contract was signed by Gingrich and other Republican candidates for the House of Representatives. The contract ranged from issues such aswelfare reform, term limits, tougher crime laws, and a balanced budget law, to more specialized legislation such as restrictions on American military participation in U.N. missions. In the November 1994 elections, Republicans gained 54 seats and took control of the House for the first time since 1954. Long-time House Minority Leader Bob Michel of Illinois had not run for re-election in 1994, giving Gingrich, the highest-ranking Republican returning to Congress, the inside track to becoming Speaker. The following year, Gingrich was named “Man of the Year” by Time magazine for his role in the 1994 election and his nascent Speakership, which Time wrote had “changed the center of gravity” in the nation’s capital.[29]
Congress fulfilled Gingrich’s Contract promise to bring all ten of the Contract’s issues to a vote within the first 100 days of the session, even though most legislation was initially held up in the Senate. Over the objection of liberal/progressive interest groups[30] and President Clinton, who called it the “Contract on America”,[31] many aspects of the proposal were implemented in subsequent legislation. Legislation proposed by the 104th United States Congress included term limits for Congressional Representatives, tax cuts, welfare reform, and a balanced budget amendment, as well as independent auditing of the finances of the House of Representatives and elimination of non-essential services such as the House barbershop and shoe-shine concessions. Following Gingrich’s first two years as House Speaker, the Republican majority was re-elected in the 1996 election, the first time Republicans had done so in 68 years, and the first simultaneous with a Democratic president winning re-election.[32]
A central pledge of President Clinton’s campaign was to reform the welfare system, adding changes such as work requirements for recipients. However, by 1994, the Clinton Administration appeared to be more concerned with universal health care and no details or a plan had emerged on welfare reform. Gingrich accused the President of stalling on welfare, and proclaimed that Congress could pass a welfare reform bill in as little as ninety days. Gingrich insisted that the Republican Party would continue to apply political pressure to the President to approve welfare legislation.[33] In 1996, after constructing two welfare reform bills that were vetoed by President Clinton,[34] Gingrich and his supporters pushed for the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), a bill aimed at substantially reconstructing the welfare system. Introduced by Rep. E. Clay Shaw, Jr., the act gave state governments more autonomy over welfare delivery, while also reducing the federal government’s responsibilities. It instituted the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program, which placed time limits on welfare assistance and replaced the longstanding Aid to Families with Dependent Childrenprogram. Other changes to the welfare system included stricter conditions for food stamps eligibility, reductions in immigrant welfare assistance, and recipient work requirements.[35] Gingrich personally negotiated with President Clinton over the legislation in private meetings. Previously, Clinton had quietly spoken with Senate Majority Whip Trent Lott for months about the bill, but a compromise on a more acceptable bill for the President could not be reached. Gingrich, on the other hand, gave accurate information about his party’s vote counts and persuaded more conservative members of the Republican Party to vote in favor of PRWORA.[34] President Clinton found the legislation more conservative than he would have preferred; however, having vetoed two earlier welfare proposals from the Republican-majority Congress, it was considered a political risk to veto a third bill during a campaign season with welfare reform as a central theme.[34] As he signed the bill on August 22, 1996, Clinton stated that the act “gives us a chance we haven’t had before to break the cycle of dependency that has existed for millions and millions of our fellow citizens, exiling them from the world of work. It gives structure, meaning and dignity to most of our lives.”[36] After the passage of the bill, Gingrich continued to press for welfare reform and increasing employment opportunities for welfare recipients. In his 1998 book Lessons Learned the Hard Way, Gingrich outlined a multi-step plan to improve economic opportunities for the poor. The plan called for encouraging volunteerism and spiritual renewal, placing more importance on families, creating tax incentives and reducing regulations for businesses in poor neighborhoods, and increasing property ownership for low-income families. Gingrich cited his volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity as an example of where he observed that it was more rewarding for people to be actively involved in improving their lives—by building their own homes—than by receiving welfare payments from the government.[37]
A key aspect of the Contract with America was the promise of a balanced federal budget. After the end of the government shutdown, Gingrich and other Republican leaders acknowledged that Congress would not be able to draft a balanced budget in 1996. Instead, they opted to approve some small reductions that were already approved by the White House and to wait until the election season.[38] By May 1997, Republican congressional leaders reached a compromise with the Democrats and President Clinton on the federal budget. The agreement called for a federal spending plan designed to reduce the federal deficit and achieve a balanced budget by 2002. The plan included a total of $152 billion in Republican sponsored tax cuts over five years. Other major parts of the spending plan called for $115 billion to be saved through a restructuring of Medicare, $24 billion set aside to extend health insurance to children of the working poor, tax credits for college tuition, and a $2 billion welfare-to-work jobs initiative.[39][40] President Clinton signed the budget legislation in August 1997. At the signing, Gingrich gave credit to ordinary Americans stating, “It was their political will that brought the two parties together.”[41] In early 1998, with the economy performing better than expected, increased tax revenues helped reduce the federal budget deficit to below $25 billion. Gingrich then called upon President Clinton to submit a balanced budget for 1999—three years ahead of schedule—which Clinton did, making it the first time the federal budget had been balanced since 1969.[42]
Shortly after the Republicans won the House majority, Gingrich promised that the House would be on the Internet by the opening day of the 104th United States Congress. In January 1995, Gingrich and the Library of Congress unveiled THOMAS, an Internet-accessible database of congressional information. THOMAS initially included text versions of bills of the 103rd United States Congress, directory information, and other legislative materials. Commenting on the new system, Gingrich said, “This will change the balance of power in America toward the citizens out of the Beltway. There will be a shift to talking about ideas, not personalities.”[48] Among the first pieces of legislation passed by the new Congress under Gingrich was the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995, which subjected members of Congress to the same laws that apply to U.S. businesses and their employees, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. As a provision of the Contract with America, the law was symbolic of the new Republican majority’s goal to remove some of the entitlements enjoyed by Congress. The bill received near universal acceptance from the House and Senate and was signed into law on January 23, 1995.[49]
Gingrich and the incoming Republican majority’s promise to slow the rate of government spending conflicted with the president’s agenda for Medicare, education, the environment and public health, leading eventually to a temporary shutdown of the U.S. federal government.[50] Prior to the government shutdown, Congress passed several continuing resolutions for funding, although both were vetoed by President Clinton.[51] When the previous appropriations bills expired, the government closed most non-essential offices. The shutdown became the longest-ever in U.S. history, ending when Clinton agreed to submit a CBO-approved balanced budget plan.[52] During the crisis, Gingrich’s public image suffered from perception that the Republican hardline stance over the budget owed partly to a “snub” by Clinton during a flight to and fromYitzhak Rabin‘s funeral in Israel.[53] Following the trip, Gingrich attended a breakfast with reporters in Washington, where he expressed dissatisfaction with Clinton not inviting him to discuss the budget during the flight, as well as being instructed to use the plane’s rear exit, saying the snub was “part of why you ended up with us sending down a tougher continuing resolution”.[54] In the subsequent media coverage, Gingrich was lampooned for implying that the government shutdown was a result of his personal grievances, including a widely-shared editorial cartoon depicting him as having thrown a temper tantrum.[55] Democratic leaders, including Charles Schumer, took the opportunity to attack Gingrich’s motives for the budget standoff.[56][57] Gingrich later called his comments the “single most avoidable mistake” as Speaker.[58] Reflecting on the impact of the government shutdown for the Republican party, Gingrich later commented that, “Everybody in Washington thinks that was a big mistake. They’re exactly wrong. There had been no reelected Republican majority since 1928. Part of the reason we got reelected … is our base thought we were serious. And they thought we were serious because when it came to a show-down, we didn’t flinch.”[59] In a 2011 op-ed in the Washington Post, Gingrich stated that the government shutdown led to the balanced-budget deal in 1997 and the first four consecutive balanced budgets since the 1920s, as well as the first re-election of a Republican majority for the first time since 1928.[60]
Gingrich is the only Speaker of the House to have been disciplined for ethics violations.[61] During his term as Speaker, eighty-four ethics charges were filed against him; eighty-three of them were dropped.[62] The remaining charge concerned a 20-hour college course called “Renewing American Civilization” that Gingrich had taught through a tax-deductible foundation, Kennesaw State College Foundation. Allegations of tax improprieties (which were never proven) led to two counts “of failure to seek legal advice” and one count of “providing the committee with information which he knew or should have known was inaccurate” concerning the use of a tax exempt college course for political purposes. To avoid a full hearing, Gingrich and the House Ethics Subcommittee negotiated a sanctions agreement. Democrats accused Gingrich of violating the agreement, but it was forwarded to the House for approval.[63][64] On January 21, 1997, the House voted 395 to 28 to reprimand Gingrich, including a $300,000 “cost assessment” to recoup money spent on the investigation.[65][66] The full committee panel did not agree whether tax law had been violated.[67] In 1999, the IRS cleared the organizations connected with the courses.[68]
In the summer of 1997 several House Republicans, who saw Gingrich’s public image as a liability, attempted to replace him as Speaker. The attempted “coup” began July 9 with a meeting between Republican conference chairman John Boehner of Ohio and Republican leadership chairman Bill Paxon of New York. According to their plan, House Majority LeaderDick Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out. However, Armey balked at the proposal to make Paxon the new Speaker, and told his chief of staff to warn Gingrich about the coup.[69] On July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation. He explained that under no circumstance would he step down. If he was voted out, there would be a new election for Speaker, which would allow for the possibility that Democrats—along with dissenting Republicans—would vote in Dick Gephardt as Speaker. On July 16, Paxon offered to resign his post, feeling that he had not handled the situation correctly, as the only member of the leadership who had been appointed to his position—by Gingrich—instead of elected.[70]
By 1998, Gingrich had become a highly visible and polarizing figure in the national public’s eye, making him a target for Democratic congressional candidates across the nation. His national approval rating was 45% in April 1998, although his local approval was undiminished, and he was handily reelected to an 11th term.[71] Republicans lost five seats in the House in the 1998 midterm elections—the worst performance in 64 years for a party that didn’t hold the presidency. Polls showed that Gingrich and the Republican Party’s attempt to remove President Clinton from office was widely unpopular among Americans.[72]Gingrich suffered much of the blame for the election loss. Facing another rebellion in the Republican caucus, he announced on November 6, 1998 that he would not only stand down as Speaker, but would leave the House as well. Commenting on his departure, Gingrich said, “I’m willing to lead but I’m not willing to preside over people who are cannibals. My only fear would be that if I tried to stay, it would just overshadow whoever my successor is.”[73]
Gingrich has since remained involved in national politics and public policy debate, especially on issues regarding healthcare, national security, and fighting for recognition of the role of religion in American public life.
In 2003 he founded the Center for Health Transformation to develop a 21st century intelligent healthcare system that is centered on the individual, prevention focused, knowledge intense, and innovation rich.[74] Gingrich supported the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, creating the Medicare Part D federal prescription drugs benefit program. Some conservatives have criticized him for favoring the plan, due to its cost. However, Gingrich has remained a supporter, stating in a 2011 interview that it was a necessary modernization of Medicare, which was created before pharmaceutical drugs became standard in medical care. He has said that the increase in cost from medication must be seen as preventive, leading to reduced need for medical procedures.[75] In a May 15, 2011, interview on Meet the Press, Gingrich repeated his long-held belief that “all of us have a responsibility to pay – help pay for health care”, and suggested this could be implemented by either a mandate to obtain health insurance or a requirement to post a bond ensuring coverage.[76][77] In the same interview Gingrich said “I don’t think right wing social engineering is any more desirable than left wing social engineering. I don’t think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate.” This comment caused a great deal of back-lash within the Republican Party.[76][77] Gingrich has also been an advocate for health information technology. In 2005, together with Hillary Rodham Clinton he announced the proposal of the 21st Century Health Information Act, a bill which aimed to replace paperwork with confidential, electronic health information networks.[78] Gingrich also co-chaired an independent congressional study group made up of health policy experts formed in 2007 to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of action taken within the U.S. to fight Alzheimer’s disease.[79] Gingrich has served on several commissions, including the Hart-Rudman Commission, formally known as the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century, which examined issues affecting the armed forces, law enforcement and intelligence agencies with regards to national security.[80] In 2005 he became the co-chair of a task force for UN reform, which aimed to produce a plan for the U.S. to help strengthen the UN.[81] For over two decades, Gingrich has taught at the United States Air Force‘s Air University, where he is the longest-serving teacher of the Joint Flag Officer Warfighting Course.[82] In addition, he is an honorary Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Professor at the National Defense University and teaches officers from all of the defense services.[83][84] Gingrich informally advised Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld on strategic issues, on issues including the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and encouraging the Pentagon to not “yield” foreign policy influence to the State Department and National Security Council.[85] Gingrich is also a guiding coalition member of the Project on National Security Reform. In September 2007, Gingrich founded the 527 group American Solutions for Winning the Future. The stated mission of the group is to become the “leading grassroots movement to recruit, educate, and empower citizen activists and elected officials to develop solutions to transform all levels of government”. Gingrich spoke of the group and its objectives at the CPAC conference of 2008 and currently serves as its General Chairman.[86] Other organizations and companies founded or chaired by Gingrich include the creative production company Gingrich Productions,[87] and religious educational organization Renewing American Leadership.[88] Gingrich is also a fellow at conservative think tanks the American Enterprise Institute and Hoover Institution, focusing on U.S. politics, world history, national security policy, and environmental policy issues. He sometimes serves as a commentator, guest or panel member on cable news shows, such as the Fox News Channel. He is listed as a contributor by Fox News Channel, and frequently appears as a guest on various segments; he has also hosted occasional specials for the Fox News Channel. Gingrich is a proponent of the Lean Six Sigma management techniques for waste reduction,[89] and has signed the “Strong America Now” pledge committing to promoting the methods to reduce government spending.[90]
Between 2005 and 2007, Gingrich expressed interest in running for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.[95] On October 13, 2005, Gingrich suggested he was considering a run for president, saying, “There are circumstances where I will run”, elaborating that those circumstances would be if no other candidate champions some of the platform ideas he advocates. On September 28, 2007, Gingrich announced that if his supporters pledged $30 million to his campaign (until October 21), he would seek the nomination. However, insisting that he had “pretty strongly” considered running,[96] on September 29 spokesman Rick Tyler said that Gingrich would not seek the presidency in 2008 because he could not continue to serve as chairman of American Solutions if he did so.[97] Citing campaign finance law restrictions (the McCain-Feingold campaign law would have forced him to leave his American Solutions political organization if he declared his candidacy), Gingrich said, “I wasn’t prepared to abandon American Solutions, even to explore whether a campaign was realistic.”[98] During the 2009 special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district, Gingrich endorsed moderate Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, rather than Conservative Party candidateDoug Hoffman, who had been endorsed by several nationally prominent Republicans.[99] He was heavily criticized for this endorsement, with conservatives questioning his candidacy for President in 2012[100][101] and even comparing him to Benedict Arnold, a traitor during America’s War of Independence.[102] Gingrich has since regretted his decision.[103]
Gingrich has been married three times. In 1962, he married Jackie Battley, his former high school geometry teacher, when he was 19 years old and she was 26.[115][116] In the spring of 1980, Gingrich left Battley after having an affair with Marianne Ginther.[117][118] In 1984, Battley told the Washington Post that the divorce was a “complete surprise” to her. According to Battley, in September 1980, Gingrich and their children visited her while she was in the hospital, recovering from surgery, and Gingrich wanted to discuss the terms of their divorce.[119]Gingrich has disputed that account.[92] In 2011, their daughter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, said that it was her mother who requested the divorce, that it happened prior to the hospital stay (which was for the removal of a benign tumor, not cancer), and that Gingrich’s visit was for the purpose of bringing the couple’s children to see their mother, not to discuss the divorce.[120] Gingrich has two daughters from his first marriage. Kathy Gingrich Lubbers is president of Gingrich Communications,[121] and Jackie Gingrich Cushman is an author, conservative columnist, and political commentator[122] whose books include 5 Principles for a Successful Life, co-authored with Newt Gingrich.[123] Six months after the divorce from Battley was final, Gingrich wed Marianne Ginther in 1981.[124][125][126][127] In the mid-1990s, Gingrich began an affair with House of Representatives staffer Callista Bisek, who is 23 years his junior. They continued their affair during the Lewinsky scandal, when Gingrich became a leader of the Republican investigation of President Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with his alleged affairs.[128] In 2000, Gingrich married Bisek shortly after his divorce from second wife Ginther. He and Callista currently live in McLean, Virginia.[129] In a 2011 interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network Gingrich addressed his past infidelities by saying, “There’s no question at times in my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate.”[126][127] A Southern Baptist since graduate school, Gingrich converted to Catholicism, Bisek’s faith, on March 29, 2009.[130] He said “over the course of several years, I gradually became Catholic and then decided one day to accept the faith I had already come to embrace.” The moment when he decided to officially become a Catholic was when he saw Pope Benedict XVI on his visit to the United States in 2008: “Catching a glimpse of Pope Benedict that day, I was struck by the happiness and peacefulness he exuded. The joyful and radiating presence of the Holy Father was a moment of confirmation about the many things I had been thinking and experiencing for several years.”[131] Gingrich has stated that he has developed a greater appreciation for the role of faith in public life following his conversion, and believes that the United States has become too secular. At a 2011 appearance in Columbus, Ohio, he said, “In America, religious belief is being challenged by a cultural elite trying to create a secularized America, in which God is driven out of public life.”[92] Gingrich has been a prolific amateur reviewer of books, especially of military histories and spy novels, for Amazon.com. As of 2004, Gingrich held the #488 spot among Amazon’s top reviewers. Although an author himself, Gingrich does not review his own works. According to Katherine Mangu-Ward at The Weekly Standard, it is “clear that Newt is fascinated by tipping points—moments where new technology or new ideas cause revolutionary change in the way the world works”.[132] Gingrich is known for, and has written on several occasions about, his great interest in animals.[133][134] According to USA Today, Gingrich’s first engagement in civic affairs was speaking to the city council in his hometown, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, about why the city should establish its own zoological park. Gingrich wrote the introduction for the 2008 bookAmerica’s Best Zoos.[135] Gingrich is also known as a dinosaur enthusiast. A New Yorker comment on his 1995 book To Renew America noted: “Charmingly, he has retained his enthusiasm for the extinct giants into middle age. In addition to including breakthroughs in dinosaur research on his list of futuristic wonders, he specified ‘people interested in dinosaurs’ as a prime example of who might benefit from his education proposals.”[136] Another subject of interest to Gingrich is space exploration, originating in a fascination with the United States/Soviet Union space race during his teenage years.[137] Gingrich has stated that he would like to see the U.S. aggressively pursue new achievements in space, such as sustaining civilizations beyond Earth,[138] and he advocates relying more on the private sector and less on NASA to drive progress.[139] As of 2010, Gingrich serves on the National Space SocietyBoard of Governors.[140]
Newt Gingrich has declared his position on many political issues through his public comments and legislative record, including as Speaker of the House. The political initiative with which he is most widely identified was the Contract With America.[141] His engagement of public issues has continued through to the present, in particular as the founder of American Solutions for Winning the Future. More recently, Gingrich has advocated replacing the Environmental Protection Agency with a proposed “Environmental Solutions Agency”.[142] Gingrich’s policy reach covers everything from national security to personal responsibility, but Gingrich has been known to take stances that are different from the traditional Republican line. For instance, on immigration, he favors a strong border policy but also favors a guest worker program[143] and a flex-fuel mandate for cars sold in the U.S.[144] As a nonfiction author, Gingrich’s later books have taken a large scale policy focus, including Winning the Future, and the most recent, To Save America. In recent years, Gingrich has identified education as “the number one factor in our future prosperity”, and received national attention for partnering with the Al Sharpton and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to promote the issue.[145]
Gingrich has authored or co-authored 17 non-fiction books since 1982.
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The grand warlock has been making public New Year predictions for about 25 years
김갑수 (kim gabsoo)
Randy Babbitt was sworn in as the FAA’s sixteenth administrator on June 1, 2009. Babbitt comes to the FAA from Oliver Wyman, an international management consulting firm where he served as partner.
When my good friend, 
Bob Price with Former US Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos
The China Deal Tracker provides a database of over 1000 non-residential PV projects across China. The data includes over 600 system owner (or host) names in over 200 prefecture level cities. Delivered in both English and Chinese, decision makers throughout the solar supply chain can track projects by installer, module supplier, segment, installation year, city, province and more. The database also includes valuable installed pricing data for large projects.
convoy in Kabul on Saturday, killing at least 13 Americans inside an armored vehicle, according to Western officials and eyewitnesses in Afghanistan.
![[SB10001424052970203687504577005780115073376]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-QI677_1029ka_D_20111029113503.jpg)
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A CDC file photo of Y. pestis bacteria. Scientists have reconstructed the genome of an ancient strain of the bacterium associated with Europe’s devastating Black Death. (AFP/Getty Images/CDC)
日, ‘국제중재’ 카드로 독도해역조사 관철: 위키리크스
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President Barack Obama arrives to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 8, 2011. Watching are Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner.(Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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Then the criminal ngr Obama!
teatards blown within the last year? Trump, Palin, Newt the list goes
on and on. This is so funny. Sounds like all of you tools are getting
desperate now. I wonder what the new GOP flavor of the month will
be? OBAMA 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OOPS, I was wrong, There’s not much down there either.
Sorry for the misleading statement. ;-(
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