What was on January 20, 2001, less than exemplary news for the
greater conservative nation was a change for the better in Lone
Star State governance, as Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry rose via
the process of orderly succession to succeed the newly minted
President George W. Bush in the Texas executive mansion. What began
by default procedural ascension has become one of the most
consistently conservative tenures in recent American political
history.
Arriving in Austin alongside the new Governor was a Texas Senate
controlled by Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction.
But, saddled with a wayward lieutenant governor in David Dewhurst,
whose actions then and now indicate he wishes to be some sort of
political hybrid of Arlen Specter and John McCain, and a
still-Donkey dominated House, the 2001 legislative session was less
than stellar in conservative execution.
Move forward to the Day at the Races in 2002, and the Texas
Republican faithful removed the last hurdle to serious, fundamental
change, making the House too an Elephantary voting ground.
And none too soon; the post-September 11, 2001, fiscal dearth
descended upon Austin, and the legislators convened in 2003 facing
a $10 billion budgetary shortfall.
Undaunted, and without complaint or pretext, Governor Perry
pressed ahead and eliminated in toto the deficit, with
nary a dime in taxes raised or incepted. He instead did what
conservatives wish every level of government would do when facing
issues concerning their coin.
He zeroed out the entire budget, and made each department and
every individual seeking funding justify every dollar spent the
previous period, and thereby re-validate their fiscal renewal, if
not their very existence.
Gone was the practice of status quo budgeting, where the
automatic assumption is every previous dollar was spent wisely and
well (we will pause whilst you laugh uproariously…; we now
continue) and that everyone and everything governmental will need
at the very least that much, plus a bump for population growth and
inflation, the next go-‘round. By so doing, Governor Perry
eliminated many duplicitous programs and copious amounts of wasted
coin in the myriad levels of Dante’s Lone Star bureaucratic
hell.
Also dissipating into the legislative ether was the deficit that
had once loomed so large over Austin’s city limits. After Governor
Perry’s four month frugal charge up Texas’ Capitol Hill, the budget
stood definitively in balance (and today is flush with an $8.6
billion surplus).
CONTAINED WITHIN THIS CONSERVATIVE monetary accomplishment were
many of the little steps that are always necessary to make the
Grand March to fiscal sanity.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was one of the
governmental “entitlements” most bloated by the late 1990s’ period
of pronounced governmental inebriation. Stuck with the hangover
from a party to which he was not invited, Governor Perry
implemented simple reforms that drastically reduced the amount of
rampant fraud and abuse at play in the plan.
He also oversaw the beginnings of the privatization of delivery
of many social services, which not only made it easier for those
availing themselves of Other People’s money to do so, it also
substantially reduced the amount of money those Other People were
forced to provide therefore (including another dramatic reduction
in programmatic swindle, to the tune of $1.5 billion thus far).
Through it all, the Governor has maintained a tremendous
pro-business clime, earning him Site Selection Magazine’s
Governor’s Cup the last two years running as the man presiding over
the most productive (in jobs and growth) and business
tax-and-regulatory friendly state in the land.
Texas was also faced with a medical crisis (okay, two medical
crises, one other than the waves of illegal aliens invading
emergency rooms statewide by way of the Rio Grande). Too many
lottery lawsuits against physicians had found jackpot pay dirt, and
far too many practitioners had thusly left to ply their wares
elsewhere.
So Governor Perry delivered Proposition 12, which limited (only)
the punitive damages awarded in these sweepstake suits. Three years
later, the number of doctors engaged in Texas medicine has
increased sharply, and the costs incurred therefore have dropped
precipitously. Oh, and one is far less likely to die awaiting
treatment.
He followed that up with reform of the windfall insanity that is
the asbestos tort claims process, ensconcing the heretofore
non-existent requirement that one actually be ill as a result of
asbestos before filing an asbestos assertion. He put in place a
legislative blockade on lawsuits against the fast food industry for
having the temerity to serve people the fare they order.
He also established eminent domain abuse protections, which
prevent the government from condemning one’s home so that a more
levy lucrative Four Seasons Hotel might be built in its place.
BUT GOVERNOR PERRY’S EFFECTIVENESS extends far beyond the merely
fiscal. He has signed a parental consent for minors’ abortion law,
as well as overseen the overwhelming (78 percent in favor)
ratification of a constitutional amendment protecting actual
marriage.
Texas remains a law and order state, and the Governor has
steadfastly continued the utilization of the death penalty, as well
as signed several pieces of aggressive protective legislation
regarding sexual predators.
Governor Perry’s defense of his constituents against the
invasionary forces from south of the border has been unwavering,
and increasingly stringent as it became ever more obvious that his
Texas predecessor has no interest in attending to this portion of
his new job.
The Governor implemented Operations Rio Grande and Linebacker,
which (amongst many other brim assistances) mobilized the Texas
Rangers (the ones with guns, not bats and balls), state troopers,
and additional other law enforcement personnel and equipment to
back the play of the Border Patrol, and provide added protection
for the citizens being robbed and run over, and often much worse,
by the hordes from Central and South America (and points Middle
East).
Governor Perry also rode to the rescue of the dynamically inept
duo, Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco, providing a place for 300,000+
Louisianans to go (and remain still) after their elected officials’
bumbling of the post-Hurricane Katrina flooding, and then deftly
handled the horrific impact of Hurricane Rita on his own state.
THERE ARE MANY MORE THINGS of lower profile, but no less
conservative in nature, that have been put into place by Governor
Perry. There are also some things on which he has faltered, falling
far short of the conservative ideal. (Just passed in special
session is a large, broad and incoherent business tax to offset
much needed and Texas Supreme Court mandated property tax
reduction.)
Much assistance has been provided by the conservative
legislators in the House and (to a lesser degree) the Senate, of
which Governor Perry is appreciatively aware. And, of course, the
Texas press corps roundly loathes the Governor for being
conservative, effective, and handsome all at the same time, about
which he simply does not care.
It is this apathy toward liberal disdain for his policies and
person that may be the defining of what are innumerable
conservative characteristics infixed in the man. Governor Perry,
critics be damned, has taken the Lone Star State a long way further
than did his predecessor, as well as just about anyone else in
charge anywhere else in the United States.
And now that, for good or ill, the tax shift is behind him,
conservatives throughout the country should watch closely the
Governor and his state for the multitude of
Starboard laws sure to follow his almost assured reelection
come November, as Texas once again becomes the nation’s
conservative petri dish, with Scientist Perry leading the
legislative laboratory.
