Texas Governor Rick Perry Does Not Deserve a Third Term

DALLAS - Texas Governor Rick Perry has been controversial at best in his 8 years as the governor of the 2nd biggest state in the union. Now he is running for yet a third term as Governor.

Perry is currently in a battle with Democrat Bill White to see who will be the Governor of Texas after the voting is over in November. Bill White is the former Mayor of Houston and he is facing an uphill battle in attempting to defeat Rick Perry. Though parts of Texas, like the Dallas area, have shifted more and more towards voting for Democrats, there are still more registered Republicans in the state. This will mean that Bill White needs the Democrats to get out and vote and he needs the help of Independent voters as well.

Rick Perry has big pockets; he is a millionaire with a lot of influential friends in the state, such as George W. Bush who now resides in Dallas. Predictably he has pinned Bill White as "Obama like" and says that Texas can't afford to elect White. I feel that Texas can't afford to re-elect Rick Perry. I'm an Independent voter who looks at the issues and the person running for each office before I decide who I will vote for. I have voted for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents in previous elections. There is no way Rick Perry is getting my vote to remain the Governor of Texas.

Rick Perry tries to frighten Texans to believe that Bill White will raise taxes and put the state in debt. That's hypocritical on his part because Perry has more than doubled the Texas debt during his time as Governor. In 2000, Texas already had a 13 billion dollar debt; the debt is now near 34 billion dollars. So much for Rick Perry's claim of a "balanced budget". As for raising taxes, how do you raise state taxes when Texas has NO state tax? Dallas voters know better and hopefully our fellow Texans will as well.

Rick Perry touts the "strong public schools" in Texas, but that is simply not reality. Perry's political ads claim that "Texas is on the right path", but Tricky Ricky (his nickname here in Texas) is not being honest. Texas ranks dead last in the number of kids getting high school diplomas. Texas ranks near the bottom for national test scores of our students. 36 states have adopted the "common standards" for what students should learn in math and English each year from kindergarten through high school, but Perry has declined to accept a basic standard for what Texas kids should be learning. Our schools and our kids need help. He refused millions in federal stimulus money because it specifically had to be spent on Texas schools. Perry wanted total control over the money and where it would go in the state.

Perry does have an interest in school kids; he ordered a controversial HPV Vaccine to be required for every female student to receive by the 6th grade. Even his Republican supporters lost their lids over that mind boggling move by Perry. A vaccine for sexually transmitted diseases being required of 12 year old girls? It appeared to be a sexist move on Governor Perry's part, but the truth came out over why he made the order. Perry stood to make millions from the pharmacy company that was to make the HPV Vaccine. He had ties to the Merck Pharmaceutical Company, and when that became public knowledge, he rescinded his controversial order.

Hopefully the voters won't forget their anger at Perry now that early voting has begun. Texas and our school kids cannot afford to give Rick Perry four more years of being Governor.

Source: The author's perspective. Statesman.com, corestandards.org