The Perry Prognosis
March 12th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Rick Perry has seen better weeks. Several outlets are reporting that Attorney General Greg Abbott told a state senator that the governor’s HPV vaccine mandate is not legally binding. Turns out, he likely cannot tell an agency to do something that it was not already authorized to do.
For Perry it’s yet another setback in what was supposed to be a bold beginning to his new term in office. In the past couple weeks, reporters and columnists alike are seeing a pattern, and it’s not a good one for the guv. Consider:
- The HPV vaccine mandate
- The fast-tracked TXU plants
- The Trans-Texas Corridor
- Selling the lottery
Only the proposal to sell the lottery hasn’t meet an outright revolt, although lawmakers are hardly jumping at the proposal. And to make matters worse, as the Texas Youth Commission scandal grows more horrific, the agency’s board of directors looks worse and worse — which in turn reflects poorly on the one area where the governor has definite power: agency appointments.
Even though the governor’s press office defends the proposals as effective means of stimulating debate, the rebukes from the Lege and the public have got to sting. Take this quote from SMU political scientist Cal Jillson in the Dallas Morning News: “When you’ve been called governor for five or six years, you tend to forget that the office is mostly ceremonial and advisory. You’re the governor of the state of Texas, your chest swells and if disaster strikes, you get in the helicopter, cameras come and you feel reasonably authoritative. Then the Legislature comes back into town, and it’s a different story.”
Ouch.
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:49 pm
[…] of Gov. Rick Perry’s proposals took a beating at the Lege. We’ve noted before the struggles invovled with Perry’s HPV mandate, fast-tracked coal plants, Trans-Texas Corridor, and sale […]