Perry puts focus on growth, immigration<\/p>\n
By JONATHAN BLUNDELL Daily Light staff writer<\/p>\n
AUSTIN \u00e2\u20ac\u201d With Labor Day, comes the unofficial start of the November campaign season and with four opponents vying for his residence at the governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mansion, Gov. Rick Perry doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t appear to be the least bit concerned.
\nIn fact, with two write-in candidates in 2002, the field was just as broad.
\nPerry took home the win with 57.8 percent against Democrat Tony Sanchez (40 percent), as well as Libertarian Jeff Daiell (1.4 percent), Green Party candidate Rahul Mahajan (.7 percent) and write-ins Elaine Henderson (.04 percent) and Bill O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Neal (.02 percent).
\nWhile his 2006 opponents carry much more name recognition than his 2002 opponents, Perry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s war chest and polling numbers show a majority of the state is still behind the Republican governor.
\nAs of the latest filings, Perry still leads the money race with $10.3 million in his campaign coffers.
\nIndependent candidate Carole Strayhorn has $8.9 million awaiting her use, Democratic candidate Chris Bell has $654,500 to work with, Independent candidate Kinky Friedman has $491,000 and Libertarian candidate James Werner lags behind with $1,300.
\nMany political strategists believe that with five candidates running, 38 to 42 percent of the vote could win.
\nPerry still remains at the top of the polls, but his numbers have declined as his opponent\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s name recognition increases \u00e2\u20ac\u201d yet he is still the only candidate to remain above 30 percent in this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign polls.
\nThe former state representative from West Texas, agricultural commissioner and lieutenant governor said he was surprised only four candidates were running against him.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was surprised there weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 10,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great job. In fact, according to the man who held it before me, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the greatest job in the world. My goal is to get more votes than the next closest person and win the election. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a results-oriented person, not a process-driven guy. There are plenty of people in the political world, consultants and media who like to spend a lot of time, ink and intellectual effort on the process stories. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fine but I only have so many hours to focus and work in a day and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m real goal-oriented. So my goal is to win the election so I can continue to make a difference in people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lives. How we do that, and what the score is, is for someone else to deal with. I cannot make a difference if I come in second.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
State growth<\/p>\n
After being sworn in as governor on Dec. 21, 2000, Perry has served six years as the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s highest elected official and with that experience, Perry believes the greatest issue facing Texas in the next four years is the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued population growth.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Without a doubt the greatest issue is the number of people we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re absorbing into the state \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the population growth,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a two-edged sword, people move to the state of Texas because there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great business climate, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great opportunity for them to better their lives. Toyota thought it was a good enough business climate to invest $2 billion here. Samsung thought it was a good enough business climate to invest $3 billion in Austin. Texas Instruments thought it was a good enough business climate to invest in a $3 billion microchip plant. Obviously, that is an ever growing list and since June 2003 we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen 630,000 net new jobs in the state. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a reason for that. We have a fair tax structure, balanced regulatory fund, fair legal system and we continue to invest in our public schools, in our public school teachers and in our children. Therefore, we have a skilled workforce. All those things collectively tell job creators that this is the state you want to be in. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got one of the fastest job rates both percentage- and number-wise in the country. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not because we have real pleasant weather in August.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nTo deal with the population challenges Perry is calling for continued improvements to the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s infrastructure.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is a multi-pronged view that you must have,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dealing with transportation infrastructure \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which is the reason why four years ago I laid out a plan to deal with the congestion, air pollution, safety issues and the Trans-Texas Corridor subsequently became statutorily the law of the land if you will. And now it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being constructed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nPerry touted the TTC as the first plan for the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s transportation needs in the last 20 years.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For 20 years there were people who looked at it and just scratched their heads and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWell, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll try to keep up and keep these roads open that we have,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But there were no plans to create new infrastructure in the state. Economic growth as well as degradation of our environment and degradation of our citizen safety was about to become very pronounced in this state.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Education funding<\/p>\n
Along with transportation, Perry said there must also be continued improvements to the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s education-based infrastructure.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Obviously the building of infrastructure in higher education (will help),\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got more kids going to college than we have ever before and you would think that was because we have an increase in the number of people into the state. But the fact is from 1999 to 2005 we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had a 21 percent increase in the number of kids to enroll in college while we only had a 10 percent increase in population.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really encouraging and helping students through student aid type programs. The accessibility and affordability of colleges is improving. I have delivered $1.8 billion for facilities with tuition revenue bonds for new facilities. What we did for K through 12 was extremely helpful as well. There are $1.3 billion in new dollars flowing into public schools and there will be $2 million new dollars in the out year. That is substantial money flowing into education. We also have a $2,000 across-the-board pay increase for teachers and a merit pay program that will allow some teachers up to $10,000 a year. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the largest merit pay program in America.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nWhile Perry touts the recent budget changes during this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s special legislative session, his opponents are using the changes to attack him.
\nAn e-mail was mailed this week to teachers across the area and state accusing Perry of forcing the Texas Retirement System to make drastic cuts in teacher pensions.
\nPerry said the e-mail was completely false and was nothing more than a political attack.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We asked every agency in the state to come up with ideas to cut their budget,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good public policy. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good process to go through. I hope you do it in your life. From time to time you say, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to re-evaluate everything I do here. Do I really need NetFlix? Do I really need 186 channels? Do I really need to be driving this car? Do I really need to be making these expenditures in my life?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 And there are things that must be paid for. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to pay my rent or mortgage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 or \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to pay the car payment.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Some of those are a must. There are things out there, whether you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in the state government or private sector that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to take a look at \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and people do too.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sorry if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m passionate about this, but it greatly disturbs me that a group who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s supposed to be looking after the best interest of the teachers would blatantly use a political statement 60 days before the election in an absolutely false way. As a matter of fact I would challenge them to send a letter to all their teachers and show them how I supported the Teacher Retirement System in 1999 and again in 2001 with funding increases \u00e2\u20ac\u201d my bet is they probably don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nPerry said if the TRS presents a budget seeking to cut teacher pensions he will ask his board members to find other ways to make cuts.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I will ask my board members to take another look at it and see if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s any place administratively or in some other way, form or fashion that they can make some reductions,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not lost on me that state agencies play the political game too. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcOh, they want a 10 percent cut? Well, how do you like this, governor? Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cut the one thing that people are passionate about.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been doing this for 22 years and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fall off the pumpkin truck last night \u00e2\u20ac\u201d at least not on my head anyways.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
TAKS<\/p>\n
Perry also continues to support the TAKS test, while each of his opponents have come out against the current system.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing wrong with teaching to the test, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a curriculum,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The fact of the matter is that we are teaching a curriculum and then we are testing on the curriculum. When I was a kid in school, that was considered to be a standard practice and frankly we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten away from that. Now we are back to using a curriculum-based test to measure what our children know. And guess what, our children are performing at a higher level than they have historically. We are performing at a higher level nationally. As late as last week we even showed progress on SAT scores.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nAccording to the College Board, the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s SAT scores stayed the same or were raised on both verbal and math areas from 2004 to 2005.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My point is, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a defender of accountability,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a defender of the TAKS test. As it is, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s formulated to teach a curriculum and then to test that curriculum. My opponents, it appears, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sometimes hard to figure out what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re for, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re pretty good at saying what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re against, my instinct and my gleaning through their ramblings is that they would be for going back to the old days of social promotion where you sure don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to make anybody feel bad about having to take a test or feel bad about not making the grade, so let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pat them on their back and send them on to the next grade because we sure don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to make them feel bad. Then they step out in the real world and get slapped down by the reality of the real world. The real world does not, quite frankly, care how you feel. The real world is going to be a test and I want our children to be prepared for it rigorously. Not just be prepared but succeed in that highly competitive world.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nPerry sees the need for accountability because he believes students should be prepared for competing in the global community, not just a regional or district community.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When I graduated from Pan Creek Rural High School in 1968, my competition was the 12 other people in my class,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153By and large it was a very regionalized competition. When my son graduated from college this last May his competition was graduating the same day in Tokyo, Japan, Istanbul, Turkey, London, England, Beijing, China. Our children are in a global competition in a worldwide marketplace. And for us not to give them every tool to compete is to fail them \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and it is a tough competitive world out there. I understand people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s concerns, but the fact of the matter is that no one has laid out a better concept to raise the bar for our children and be able to measure and diagnostically test. We have revolutionized over the past six years, in the state of Texas, the tools that are available to help kids perform at a higher level. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m proud of that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nAnd while accusations abound of teachers only teaching students how to pass the test and not the curriculum itself, Perry said that policing of those teachers should come from their peers and their schools.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I hope they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re teaching the curriculum. If they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a problem there,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And the local school needs to be addressing a teacher that is shortchanging those students. Quite frankly, by not teaching the curriculum and only teaching the test \u00e2\u20ac\u201d I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be real honest with you – if we have teachers who are doing that, they ought to be brought up and that brought up is not a term that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s positive. There needs to be a little self-policing by the principal and the other teachers because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re frankly hurting themselves and the reputation of the school by doing that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Immigration<\/p>\n
As for illegal immigration issues in Texas, which has the largest Mexico\/U.S. border, Perry said the federal government must first secure the border before moving on to other issues.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You cannot have a legitimate, intellectual, constructive debate on immigration policy until you secure the border,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve shown the federal government how to do that. We have invested substantial state dollars and used Department of Public Safety, Parks and Wildlife and all of our law enforcement assets in coordination with the law and the federal border patrol and our national guard in a way that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been highly successful.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been identified by those border sheriffs – these are all Democrats, keep in mind, these are not people who share my political party – they have stood up and said this governor really gets it about securing the border. Operation Linebacker and Operation Rio Grande have been highly successful in reducing the amount of crime by upwards of 70 percent on some of the sectors of the border.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nOnce the border is secure, Perry feels the real debate can begin.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If the federal government is serious about securing our border and they will come to Texas and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll show them how to do it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Then we can have an appropriate debate on immigration policy. Do we need a guest worker program? I happen to believe we do. Can you structure one that will address the work needs in Texas and the United States? Absolutely. Are we going to have an amnesty for these 11 million people? No, but we can have some type of alien resident program where these people are identified, they come out of the shadows, they pay taxes and they are given the ability to move between the two countries appropriately. But you cannot do that until you secure the borders.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153A fence or wall won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work. You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even get a dam built in parts of Texas because of the environmental impact. Can you imagine a 1,200-mile wall? The environmentalists would go nuts. So there are probably some places in the highly urbanized areas along the border where fences help to control the illegal flow. But the fact of the matter is that a 1,200-mile obstruction of any type is unreasonable and unrealistic both in cost and time and reality.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re passing legislation in California and Arizona to make it illegal to burrow under the border. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m kind of like, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcDuh. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to stop them?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Some of these laws get passed because they make people feel better but they have absolutely zero impact on reality. And they asked, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcDon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you have a problem with people burrowing under the border?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 I said by and large no, because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a long way because of the river.
\nYou\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to burrow a long, long way.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Standing by his record<\/p>\n
With Election Day just more than 60 days away, Perry said his record will speak for itself.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a record that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m very proud of and I want people to look at my record,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The other folks frankly don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have much of a record and they really haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t laid out many ideas about how they would improve the state of Texas.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nPulling from President Ronald Reagan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign, Perry said voters in Ellis County and Texas should ask themselves if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re better off today than they were four years ago.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is the economy in Ellis County better today than it was four years ago? Are the decisions this governor made over the course of the last four years good and will four more years tend to make it better?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perry asked. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And I would suggest to them yes. Whether it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on transportation, economic development, public schools, kids\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 chances of opportunity, kids going to college – all of those are positive for the citizens of Ellis County.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Perry puts focus on growth, immigration By JONATHAN BLUNDELL Daily Light staff writer AUSTIN \u00e2\u20ac\u201d With Labor Day, comes the unofficial start of the November campaign season and with four opponents vying for his residence at the governor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mansion, Gov. Rick Perry doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t appear to be the least bit concerned. In fact, with two write-in … Continue reading Perry puts focus on growth, immigration<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-ok","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}