Texas Deficit and The best Governor Money can buy

[white cloud]

Donors, corporate interests footing bill for Rick Perry’s inauguration
AText Size By WAYNE SLATER / Senior Political Writer
Published 17 January 2011 09:23 PM
More on this storyBudget mess could overshadow inaguration
AUSTIN — Before publicly taking the oath today for another term, Rick Perry had some private time with corporate interests and political supporters bankrolling the inauguration.

The Republican governor and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst were the featured attraction Monday night at an invitation-only soiree for donors giving as much as $100,000.

Oil executives, beer distributors, lobbyists and big-dollar campaign donors — many with interests before the state — are providing the nearly $2 million for the swearing-in. In exchange, they are offered various levels of access.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20110117-donors-corporate-interests-footing-bill-for-rick-perry%E2%80%99s-inauguration.ece

[Gman]

1. "...at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum..."

Bullock would be absolutely beside himself at what is going on in Austin today.

[sonias]

2. Who Owns the Legislature?

Great graphic from the good folks at Texas Observer here:
Texas Observer

Mouse over the image to get a larger focus on the categories. Finance and Real Estate industries own the Lege. Note how low on the list agriculture and labor are. That's why Texas is a red state. It's been bought and paid for by the same kind of crew that brought you the financial system collapse in the U.S.

:grr:

[Gman]

3. There's not a lot of votes in rural areas

but when they vote, they vote GOP. And, there's still a family farms left, but with hundreds if not thousands of acres. Not the 10, 30-40 acres of years ago. The big farm owners vote GOP anyway, so it doesn't matter to the GOP.

[sonias]

4. PPP Poll: Huckabee Tops 2012 GOP Field In Texas

Talking Points Memo 1/19/11
PPP Poll: Huckabee Tops 2012 GOP Field In Texas

Republicans in Texas want Mike Huckabee as the party's presidential nominee in 2012, with GOP voters there preferring the former Arkansas governor to their own current governor, Rick Perry, by a nearly three to one ratio, according to a new PPP poll.

In the poll, 24% of respondents said Huckabee was their first choice for the party nod. Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich each notched 17%, while Ron Paul and Mitt Romney tied at 10%. Perry trailed the pack at 9% despite being immensely popular with the GOP base in his home state. Sixty-five percent of Republican voters there approve of Perry's job performance, versus 26% who disapprove, according to the poll.

Perry, who just won reelection in November, has stated that he does not intend to run for President. Yet he made a national name for himself last year, criticizing the federal government and going on cable news shows to promote his book. Then there's the recent National Review report that Perry has been polling outside Texas to gauge his chances of a 2012 bid. An adviser to Perry denied that report.

There was little change in the poll when PPP dropped Perry form the slate of choices. Huckabee remained on top, but with an improved 25%, while Palin climbed four points to 21%. Gingrich and Romney stayed put at 17% and 10% respectively, while Paul dipped one point to 9%.

Even the TX GOP doesn't want Perry to be President by nearly three to one ratio.

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[sonias]

5. Foxes In the Henhouse

Texas Observer 1/20/11
Foxes In the Henhouse
This article is the first in a series of stories called “The Poverty Business” about regulators and the industries that enrich themselves at the expense of Texas consumers.


The Texas Finance Commission is supposed to protect consumers from being plundered. The commission writes regulations for loans and lines of credit. When the commission was created in 1943, state leaders stated in the agency’s mission that it “enhance the financial well-being of the citizens of Texas.”

Instead, commissioners are enhancing the financial well-being of banks, mortgage and payday lenders and pawnshops. In just one year the payday lending industry makes more than two million loans in Texas, draining borrowers of more than $280 million in fees and interest payments. Representatives from the financial industries dominate the commission’s nine-member board. The chair, William “Bill” White, is vice president of public affairs for Cash America International Inc., one of the largest payday-lender and pawnshop chains in the country. Not one commission member represents consumers.

Most Texans probably have never heard of the Texas Finance Commission. But it wields the kind of power that affects every consumer who takes out a payday or car loan, or who applies for a second mortgage. The board, made up entirely of Gov. Rick Perry’s appointees, can interpret financial statutes and usury laws, and set guidelines on fees and interest rates for consumer loans. The members also appoint commissioners of three agencies: the Department of Banking, the Office of the Consumer Credit Commissioner and the Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending. These three agencies regulate myriad financial services, from examining the fiscal health of state chartered banks to loans from pawnshops and interest rates for secondary mortgages and car loans. Despite its low profile, the agency’s rule-making can have devastating financial consequences for Texas borrowers, as in the case of Valerie Norwood.

:grr: