A Look Back at Rick Perry

As former Gov. Rick Perry's U.S. Senate confirmation hearing approaches, we  are re-posting several of our major reports on Perry's tenure as governor.  You can view a list of all of the
130-plus TPJ postings relating to Perry by scrolling down the right-hand column of the home page and clicking on the "Rick Perry" label.

The Rick Perry Primer 

Our 2011 background report documenting Perry's many conflicts and controversies.
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Perry Top-Donor:  Nuclear Waste Dumpster

Lobby Watch Report:  Nuclear Compact With the Devil?
Lobby Watch Report:  Don't Trash Texas Until Your Give Perry $1.1 Million.
Lobby Watch Report:  Waste Kingpin's $$ Predicts Nuke Dump Support.
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Perry's Enterprise Fund Con Job

TPJ has documented the many shortcomings of Perry's economic development funds.
Lobby Watch Report: Texas Big Three Bag Enterprise-Fund Millions.
Con Job: Report Finds Most Texas Enterprise Fund Grantees Failed to Deliver in 2010. 
Report: Enterprise Fund Grantees Give $7 Million: Rick Perry's Piggybank.
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Perry and the Texas Lobby

TPJ Shark Week reports documented connections between Perry and Texas lobbyists.
Report One:  Perry's Roomie Toomey Mobilizes the Corporate Lobby.
Report Two:  Governor Runs Farm Team for Lobbyists.
Report Three:  Perry Appointees Morph Into Lobbyists.
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Perry's Criminal Indictments

Fact-sheet on Rick Perry criminal indictments, June 2015.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed the charges against Perry in a pretrial ruling in February 2016.

Revisiting Rick Perry's Corporate Welfare Giveaways

 
Alex MacGillis at ProPublica takes a look at
 Rick Perry’s Texas Giveaways.

Read TPJ's 2010 report on Perry's Enterprise Fund grants.

Statement on Court Ruling on Perry Case

Statement by TPJ Director Craig McDonald -

"A highly partisan court has handed Rick Perry a gift. This decision is based on who Perry is rather than what he did. This pre-trial ruling ensures that prosecutors never get an opportunity to present the evidence that makes their case in an open courtroom."

Lobby Watch: Perry Promotes Secretive Contractor to his Dark-Money Funder

Rick Perry is promoting GovWhiz, a secretive government contract company, to Perry-appointed Lottery Commission Chair Winston Krause. Krause founded a secretive non-profit that spent at least $1.3 million pushing Perry's presidency. If GovWhiz bankrolled Krause's pro-Perry Americans for Economic Freedom, nobody needs to inform the public about that conflict.

Recent Texas contracting reforms did little to assure transparency, as Texas' sleazy revolving door spins freely in the dark.
Read about the GovWhiz Biz as usual in Lobby Watch.

Perry Indictment Fact-Sheet

A two-count felony indictment continues to saddle ex-Gov. Rick Perry as he announces his second bid for the White House.  Perry has dismissed the indictment as a ‘partisan witch hunt.’  If Perry’s indictment is a partisan witch hunt, then it is one of his own party’s making.  TPJ has the facts!

Read TPJ's fact-sheet and timeline.

Prosecutor says Perry intended to obstruct Public Integrity investigations

Special prosecutor Michael McCrum has updated the original indictment against former Governor Rick Perry, providing more detail on the actions and motivations behind Perry's veto of the Public Integrity Unit's budget. The updated indictments contend Perry's general disapproval of the watchdog's investigations prompted him to "obstruct the continued operation of the Public Integrity Unit."

Updated indictment is here.

Statement re: Judge's Refusal to Dismiss Perry Charges

"Rick Perry, his high-priced legal team and out-of-state pundits have long argued that Perry's indictments are so flimsy that they will not stand up in court. Today a top GOP judge again refused to dismiss the case. The prosecutor and a grand jury have said there's compelling evidence against Perry. That evidence should be presented in court for all to see.  The chances of that happening improved today," said TPJ director Craig McDonald. 

Texans for Public Justice filed a criminal complaint against Perry in June of last year. That complaint led to Perry's indictment by a Texas grand jury on two counts related to his abuse of office.

Judge Rules Against Governor Perry

Perry (right) lost his first court battle.

Statement of Craig McDonald on Judge Richardson’s ruling against Gov. Perry’s motion to disqualify the special prosecutor.

 

“We applaud the judge's ruling.  Perry's legal strategy of bluster and bombast didn't work.

Let’s get to a trial in open court so everyone can see the evidence the grand jury saw. It’s time to stop the efforts  to keep the evidence secret. ”

Perry's First Court Appearance on November 6

Gov. Rick Perry will appear in Travis County District Court on November 6th for the first hearing in his 'abuse of power' criminal indictment. Perry’s defense team is trying to have the felony indictments dismissed claiming that Special Prosecutor Michael McCrum was improperly sworn in. Visiting Judge Bert Richardson, who says he properly swore in McCrum, will preside at the hearing.

$2.6 Million in Contributions Leads to F1 'Oral' Application for $250 Million Taxpayer Handout

An alleged "oral application" secured extraordinary pledges of $250 million in state funds for Austin's Formula 1 franchise. Yet nobody will identify the mysterious Deep-Throat parties to that oral application--or say when it supposedly occurred.

Following the skid marks, Lobby Watch identifies $2.6 million in F1-related political contributions. Major F1 beneficiaries include  Governor Rick Perry,  Greg Abbott and Comptroller Susan Combs.

Read the racy F1 Lobby Watch.

Backgrounder on Rick Perry: A bully indicted for abuse of office

The Perry indictments have triggered a flood of misinformation about the case. TPJ's fact sheet rebuts major spin-machine fallacies and includes links to numerous sources that document the facts.
Read TPJ's spin-busting fact sheet.

Dallas Morning News:
Group whose complaint led to Rick Perry indictment no stranger to political retaliation
Texas Tribune: Five things to know about the Perry indictment
Dallas Morning News: Governor Perry indicted for abuse of power
Houston Chronicle: Perry indicted on two felony charges
MSNBC: Rick Perry Indicted for Abuse of Power

Read TPJ's June 14, 2013 complaint.
Read TPJ's June 14 media release.

Con Job: Campaign Money & Phantom Jobs at the Texas Enterprise Fund

TPJ has documented the questionable job creation reports at the Texas Enterprise Fund since 2010. TPJ has also tracked campaign contributions from TEC grant recipients to Governor Perry and other state officials. Today's auditor report on TEF warrants revisiting some of our research.

Lobby Watch: Texas Big Three Bag Enterprise-Fund Millions.

Con Job: Report Finds Most Texas Enterprise Fund Grantees Failed to Deliver in 2010.

Rick Perry's Piggybank.

Get the facts--not the spin--on Perry indictment

The Perry indictments have triggered a flood of misinformation about the case. TPJ's fact sheet rebuts major spin-machine fallacies and includes links to numerous sources that document the facts.

Read TPJ's spin-busting fact sheet.

Perry vs. TPJ

Rick Perry is rapidly expanding his legal and spin team in his fight against his criminal indictment. Below is an update and a link to an objective article by the New York Times documenting the long battle to defang the Travis County Public Integrity watch dog.

Perry keeps expanding his spin team.
He announced yesterday he is bringing on Republican consultant Steve Schmidt.

From today's New York Times.
Texas v. Perry Emerges From Years of Struggle Over Anti-corruption Unit

TPJ profiled by Texas press

Below are links to several of the recent stories highlighting the work of TPJ.

Texas Tribune Meet the group that sparked the Perry indictment
Austin-American Statesman Group that brought Perry complaint leans to left
Houston Chronicle Group has history of making trouble for Texas politicians

Rick Perry Indicted by Grand Jury

Texas Tribune: Five things to know about the Perry indictment
Dallas Morning News: Governor Perry indicted for abuse of power
Houston Chronicle: Perry indicted on two felony charges
MSNBC: Rick Perry Indicted for Abuse of Power

Read TPJ's June 14, 2013 complaint.
Read TPJ's June 14 media release.

Gov. Rick Perry asks to enter grand jury courtroom through back door

The Austin American-Statesman reports that in an ironic twist Governor Rick Perry has asked District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg if he can sneak through her office to enter the grand jury room out of the view of the media. Perry and/or his staff are expected to testify on whether the Governor violated the law when he threatened to withhold her budget if she did not give up her office.

Read the Austin American-Statesman story.

Perry offers to DA continued after veto, insiders say

The walls around Governor Perry appear to be crumbling as the Special Prosecutor's investigation into bribery allegations continues. As reported in the Texas Tribune, sources now say that Perry made offers to restore funding to the Travis County DA after his June 14 veto if Rosemary Lehmberg would resign.
Read the Tribune story: Sources: Perry Offered to Restore Vetoed Funding if DA Resigned

TPJ Perry Complaint Heats Up

Recent media coverage of TPJ's complaint against Governor Perry.

Investigation of Gov. Perry Picks Up Momentum
By Tony Plohetski, Austin-American Statesman

Probe Could Complicate Rick Perry's Prospects
By Paul Weber, AP

Grand jury considers whether Gov. Rick Perry went too far in seeking DA's ouster
By Christy Hoppe, Dallas Morning News

Everything you need to know about Rick Perry's newest scandal
By Christopher Hooks, Texas Observer

Grand Jury Seated in Perry Veto Threat - Perry Lawyers-Up

A Travis County Grand Jury was empaneled on April 14 to hear evidence in TPJ's criminal complaint alleging that Governor Perry abused his authority when he threatened to veto the budget of the Travis Country Public Integrity Unit. Perry also announced he has retained a high-profile criminal defense attorney to represent him in the matter.

Judge Seats Grand Jury in Perry Probe, Houston Chronicle.
Perry Hires Austin Lawyer for Criminal Inquiry Into Veto Threat, Austin-American Statesman.