PolitiFact CheckGov. Perry says he made tough decisions including $3 billion in vetoes to boost economy(snip)
As for Perry’s veto claim, his campaign told us it was based on adding up all spending that Perry vetoed after each of five regular legislative sessions.
That sounds straightforward. But it’s been debunked by the Dallas Morning News, which found that much of the vetoed spending never would have happened regardless. That’s because separate legislation authorizing the expenditures failed to pass into law. The newspaper said that nearly $2.5 billion of the more than $3 billion touted by Perry already was doomed because the required authorizing measures failed to pass.
The News said the funds at issue reflected "agencies that were discontinued, federal money that had to be repaid anyway and spending that was shortly thereafter restored, with Perry’s general approval." The newspaper's analysis continued: "The governor has even acknowledged that the vetoes were merely procedural. In supporting materials for the ad, his campaign points to the veto proclamations Perry issued at the time, and in those, he explains that the underlying bills failed to pass the Legislature."
(snip)
Not so good: Perry misrepresents the significance of balancing the state budget, a must-do for every legislature and governor. He distorts the size and substance of his budget vetoes. As previously reported, his claim that Texas has a surplus in the billions is Barely True since the state is expected to confront a revenue shortfall in 2012-13. Finally, Perry's claim to cutting state spending could lead viewers to think spending has decreased on his watch, which isn't so.
Perry’s ad drifts from evidence-strong facts to full-bore misrepresentations. We rate his statement altogether as Half True.
Trailblazers blog DMN 2/9/10Heat index: A fact check of Perry's claim on taxes, state budget(snip)
THE CLAIM: "I vetoed more than $3 billion in spending."
THE FACTS: He's counting about $2.5 billion that he ceremonially vetoed -- it was contingency money linked to bills that the Legislature did not approve. Most of the "cuts" were appropriations for nixed bills, discontinued agencies and federal money that eventually had to be repaid.
In many of the statements he issued upon vetoing the money, Perry stated that his veto was merely procedural. So in most cases, he is counting as cuts money that never would have been spent. (For more on this claim, take a look at this
Heat Index item from January.)
Perry's doing the Enron again - distorting the facts. Or as Trailblazers puts it -
serious misrepresentation of the facts.
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