Bad Deeds for 8-31-2011

 

Rick Perry Became a Millionaire While Serving in Office; Giving Favors to Chums – Since his first race for office more than a quarter century ago, Gov. Rick Perry has emphasized his roots as a rural farmer. Yet Perry’s bank account no longer reflects those humble beginnings as his bottom line has soared in recent years, records show, thanks largely to a handful of real estate deals that critics allege were achieved through the presidential candidates’s political connections.

Like many Texas farmers, Perry benefitted from federal agriculture subsidies. Between 1987 and 1998, Perry received over $80,000 from such programs. Either with his father or on his own, Perry had financial stakes in gas wells as well as some real estate. Through his wife, the couple had a small investment in a local bakery. Perry also found work during that period as a pilot.

Perry bought 10 acres of undeveloped land in 1993. That property drew interest from Michael Dell, a computer magnate who needed Perry’s tract to connect his new home to municipal sewer lines. Dell took the property off Perry’s hands for $465,000, more than triple what Perry had paid for it two years earlier. Perry reported a $342,994 profit on the sale in his 1995 tax return.

Texas Democrats have repeatedly questioned the sale over the years, in part because Mike Toomey – an influential lobbyist who would later become Perry’s chief of staff – closed the deal for Perry while Perry was out of town. Perry has always maintained he didn’t know that the land would be so valuable to Dell when he purchased the property.

The following year, Perry reported a $38,000 profit off selling stock in Kinetic Concepts, a medical bed and supply company founded by James Leininger, a long-time generous donor to Perry over the years.

Around the same time, Perry also invested in MKS Consulting, a Weatherford company started by Ric Williamson, a former state representative that Perry would later appoint Texas Transportation Commissioner. Williamson died in 2007. Last year, Democratic opponent Bill White questioned whether Perry’s investment showed he had used his political connections to profit off the Barnett Shale natural gas drilling boom while opposing stricter drilling regulations.

Perry purchased the land from state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, in 2001 for $314,770. Six years later, Perry sold it for $1.1 million, pulling a profit of $823,776. Critics, including the liberal watchdog group Texans for Public Justice, have suggested a dubious dealing considering that the man Fraser bought the land from and the man Perry sold the land to were business partners.

“We’re a pay-to-play state,” Texans for Public Justice Director Craig McDonald said.

 

Tea Party’s Favorite Snake Needs Government Aid – Since the tea party movement rose to prominence in early 2009, the yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag has been a ubiquitous presence at everything from health care protests to campaign stops. It features the Revolutionary War-era slogan, along with a coiled rattlesnake, because, as Benjamin Franklin explained, the rattler “never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders.”

But the flag doesn’t feature just any snake; it’s a eastern diamondback rattlesnake—and despite what the flag says, lots of people seem to be treading on its natural habitat. According to a new report from the Center for Biological Diversity, the species could be nearing extinction unless the federal government intervenes. Scientific American reports that the CBD, along with Protect All Living Species and the delightfully acronymed One More Generation, have petitioned the US Fish and Wildlife Service to classify the eastern diamondback rattlesnake as an endangered species. The rattler is down to 3 percent of its original habitat, and according to the CBD, its population has fallen from 3 million to 100,000.

 

Republican Representative Says Young People Are Not Worth the Minimum Wage – Republicans overrode Democratic Gov. John Lynch’s veto in June and stripped New Hampshire’s minimum wage law from the books.

The change takes effect Sunday, but it will have no consequence for employers or employees because New Hampshire’s minimum wage was the same as the federal wage, which remains in force.

State Rep. Carol McGuire, the Epsom Republican who sponsored the bill, acknowledges it changes little and could be restored by lawmakers at any time. She would have liked to have repealed the minimum wage entirely and let the free market dictate wages, she said. “It’s very discriminatory, particularly for young people. They’re not worth the minimum,” she said.

 

Republican House Majority Leader Holds Hurricane Irene’s Victims Hostage for Spending Cuts – Vermont is under water. New Jersey is reeling. North Carolina is just starting to pick up the pieces. But Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is already taking Hurricane Irene’s victims hostage.

It’s outrageous to take advantage of the urgent needs of hurricane survivors in order to advance his radical crusade to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. But that’s exactly what one of the top Republicans in Congressional leadership is doing with his refusal to allocate money to disaster relief unless Congress first offsets that money with cuts to vital government programs.

Tell Eric Cantor to release the hostages and stop blocking funds for urgently needed disaster relief.

 

Ron Paul Voted Against Hurricane Ike Aid, Forgets History – Rep. Ron Paul of Texas said the nation would be much better off without the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“I live on the Gulf Coast. We put up with hurricanes all the time,” the GOP presidential candidate told CNN after a New Hampshire campaign event Friday.

After Hurricane Ike demolished parts of the Texas coast in 2008, Paul voted against a bill that would funnel billions in aid to the area, which covers his congressional district.

Citing the Galveston hurricane in 1900 that obliterated much of the Texas coast, the libertarian-leaning congressman said Americans were able to rebuild their cities and put up a seawall without the federal government’s help. But Ron Paul forgets that only the original section of the Galveston seawall was built by the city government. Other sections were built by the Federal government including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Regards,

Jim