• Background
• Career
• Governor of Texas
• Criticism
• Biography Links

Background

• Born in West Texas, Rick Perry graduated from Texas A&M in 1972 then served in the US Air Force until 1977. * Perry married Anita Thigpen, his childhood sweetheart, in 1982 and they have two children, Griffin and Sydney.
• At the end of his current term, Perry will become Texas' longest serving Governor.

Career

• Elected as a Democrat to the State Board of Education in 1978 and served until 1982.
• Elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1982. Served on the House Appropriations and Calendars Committees where he was one of the "Pit Bulls," a group of Appropriations Members who sat on the lower dais in the committee room, or "pit" who rallied for lean state budgets during the 1980s.
• In 1989, Perry joined the Republican Party.
• Agriculture commissioner from 1991 to 1999.
• Lieutenant Governor from 1999 to 2000.
• Governor of Texas in 2000 when George W. Bush was elected president of the US. Reelected in 2006 with only 39% of the vote. In Texas, runoffs are not required.

Governor

• ncreased health funding by $6 billion and school funding by $9 billion.
• Perry takes a hard stance on crime and vetoed a ban on the execution of mentally handicapped inmates in 2002. He vigorously supports the death penalty.
• Perry has been credited for his tax reform and job growth.
• He has set the record for veto usage, vetoing more than any other Governor of Texas in a contiguous administration.

Criticism

• Perry was the primary sponsor of the $145 billion dollar super highway "Trans-Texas Corridor" project. It is extremely unpopular in Texas and is supported by neither the public nor any political party.
• Rep. Ron Paul accused Rick Perry of being a member of the "international conspiracy" when Perry attended the 2007 meeting of the Bilderberg Group in Istanbul, Turkey. Ron Paul claims Perry violated the Logan Act, because he is unauthorized to negotiate with foreign governments.

Bio Links

• Official website

• Wikipedia