Perry back in spotlight
Governor's message plays well with conservatives across nation, but will it help his re-election bid?
By Jason Embry
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, April 16, 2009
A nonbinding resolution that hasn't received a vote on the floor of the Texas House is making Gov. Rick Perry something of a sensation with conservatives around the country.
It also appears to have breathed new life into Perry's re-election campaign, 31/2 months into what's been a rather rough year for him.
 Harry Cabluck/ASSOCIATED PRESS Gov. Rick Perry backs resolution on sovereignty. |
Perry's bounce began last Thursday when he guest-starred at a new conference touting House Concurrent Resolution 50, which says that the Legislature claims "sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States."
Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, filed the resolution in February, but it hasn't budged since Speaker Joe Straus referred it to the House State Affairs Committee.
"I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens and its interference with the affairs of our state," Perry said last week.
The message dovetailed with Perry's repeated criticism of the federal stimulus package that President Barack Obama pushed through Congress this year, as well as his more nuanced attacks on U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican who is challenging Perry for re-election. That may be why his stance on Creighton's resolution barely drew a mention in the print editions of the state's daily newspapers Friday.
But things took off Tuesday morning when the online Drudge Report reprinted a news release from Perry announcing his support of Creighton's amendment. Perry linked to the Drudge post eight minutes later from his Twitter page.
"Amen, bro," Rush Limbaugh said to Perry on his radio show a few hours later. Perry went on to appear with conservative radio hosts Sean Hannity and Michael Savage, and later that night with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News.
"We haven't heard as much talk about Texas sovereignty and states' rights in the last 30 years as we have in the last week," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.
For Perry, it worked. On Tuesday, more than 189,000 people went to his official Web site, where aides posted video of him speaking at Creighton's news conference. More than 91 percent of those were new visitors.
Tuesday's momentum came at a perfect time for Perry, who for weeks had been encouraging Texans to attend "tea parties" Wednesday to register their displeasure with the Obama administration and Washington. Those tax-day tea parties landed him a fresh round of conservative media appearances Wednesday, and Perry hit three tea parties himself.
"Washington needs to hear us loud and clear with a simple message," Perry said in Austin: "Cut the spending; cut the taxes; shrink the government; reread the Constitution."
The events have given Perry some steam in a year in which he's encountered a number of speed bumps: Several of his appointees signed on to support Hutchison; she transferred $8 million from her federal account into her gubernatorial campaign; and a $50 million grant he steered toward the Texas A&M University System faced harsh questioning.
Critics say Perry needs to keep his focus on what's happening at the Capitol.
"We've got the highest homeowners' rates in the nation; electric rates are too high; college tuition is going crazy," said Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco. "All he can talk about is things other than how to solve problems in Texas."
jembry@statesman.com; 445-3572
