Why I Will Not Be Voting for Rick Perry

Rick Perry will probably elected to yet another term this November. However, he will have to do so without my vote. At one time, I respected Perry as a conservative leader. No more. Here is why.

1. Rick Perry has become a professional politician. He has served as Agriculture Commissioner, Lieutenant Governor and Governor for the past twenty years. He has spent more time in the Governor's office than anyone else. One reason that many conservatives favor term limits is that life-tenure politicians tend to forget what it is like to have to make a living in the private sector. The longer the time in office, the greater the temptation toward corruption and arrogance. That seems to be the case with Rick Perry. During his tenure, he has grown wealthy on sweetheart land deals. After the Governor's mansion burned down, he rented a $10,000 a month home at the taxpayer's expense. Governor Rick is living high off the hog while I am struggling to pay my bills.

2. Rick Perry never saw an execution he didn't like. As a Christian, I have qualms about the death penalty. I am realistic enough to believe that death penalty and guilt don't always go together. Rick Perry had a rare chance to commute a death sentence recently. Under the law of parties, an accomplice to a murderer is treated the same as if he had pulled the trigger himself. In one case, the accomplice received the death penalty while the actual murderer received life in prison. The Board of Pardons and Paroles, which is usually a rubber stamp for prosecutors, recommended that the death sentence be commuted. Rick Perry said no. In another case, it appears that the State wrongfully executed an innocent man based on junk forensic science. Rick Perry still insists on the dead man's guilt and shuffled the Forensic Science Commission just as it was about to release a report on the case.

3. Rick Perry is not a very truthful person. PolitiFact Texas tracks statements by and about public figures. Rick Perry has had eight statements rated true or mostly true and twelve statements rated false or pants on fire, a category for ridiculous lies. He accused Bill White of profiteering from Hurricane Rita but couldn't back up the statement. Perry accused Bill White of race-baiting when White said that he wanted to be a servant rather than a master. Of course, Bill White, the former Sunday School teacher, was merely using Christian imagery. Finally, he accused White of presiding over the construction of a large abortion clinic, when the truth was that White did nothing other than be mayor at the time that Planned Parenthood was building its clinic. I realize that politics is a contact sport. However, someone who claims to be a Christian could run a more positive campaign and try to get his facts right. To me, this goes back to point number one. Once you are addicted to government power, you will say or do anything to hang onto it.

I don't think I'll be running out to join the Democrat Party anytime soon. There are too many issues that we don't see eye to eye on. However, Rick Perry is one Republican that I will not be voting for again, whether it is in the 2010 election or the 2022 election when he is running for Governor for Life.