Special Session Hampers Perry Presidential Bid
AUSTIN (AP) - Gov. Rick Perry often cites the state budget as the only thing Texas lawmakers have to do. And, when asked before the legislative session what the state's top spending priorities should be, he named education.
But when the GOP-led Legislature adjourned the 140-day session on Monday, it did so without a budget for Texas classrooms, an omission that prompted Perry to call lawmakers back for an immediate special session to try again.
Not exactly an ideal scenario for a politician who says he'll consider a bid for the White House when the state's legislative work is done.
"It would have been better for any future political aspirations if everything had ended as expected, without that Democratic filibuster," said Bruce Buchanan, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Austin. "It ties him up a little bit, makes him look like he didn't land the airplane smoothly."
In the final days of the legislative session, it was clear Perry wanted to avoid a special session. He walked the Capitol hallways, visiting with lawmakers, meeting behind closed doors and dispatched aides, hoping to forge a last minute deal on complicated school finance legislation.
He almost succeeded.
On Friday, just hours after Perry said he'd soon consider a run for the White House, House and Senate leaders announced that a deal had been reached on new school distribution formulas to allocate almost $40 billion to Texas schools.
By Sunday night, the measure had been approved by the House but was scuttled in the Senate by a Democratic filibuster.
Failure to reach an agreement on school funding meant money for basic school operations would be stripped from the two-year state budget.
Sen. Wendy Davis and other Democrats said plans to underfund public schools by $4 billion were unacceptable when the state was sitting on an almost $10 billion reserve fund.
Lawmakers "failed to approve a budget, not because of a filibuster but because a GOP majority that had the votes to pass anything they wanted put off action on a terrible school finance plan until the last hours," said Boyd Richie, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party.
"By the time the GOP majority rationalized the impact that their budget cuts would have on their local schools, it was too late to pass a Perry-GOP budget that threatened our economic future. The governor may not know it, but reality is about to rain on his presidential ambitions a lot harder than using the Rainy Day Fund would have."
Still, the full impact on Perry's future is yet to be determined.
"The fact that they didn't finish their business in the regular session and were required to go into special session is, I think, a double-edged sword," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "If it becomes messy and Republicans, with their very big majority, can't close things out smoothly, then it's a negative."
Or, Jillson said, a successful special session could add to the GOP story of the regular session: Lawmakers passed a conservative budget by making cuts to services, without raising taxes or raiding the Rainy Day Fund.
"It would sound good to the Republican primary electorate, who wouldn't ask questions about education" or deep cuts to other state services, he said. "It remains to be seen."
Image concerns aren't the only cost to a would-be Perry candidacy.
The longer he waits to announce a run, the less time he has to raise and spend money in key election states.
"I presume that if he's wanting to become a candidate, he's already working the phones," Buchanan said. "When he calls up potential Republican financial angels, he'll have to deal with this as a question with everyone he talks to. It may or may not be a big deal but it is going to take up some of the oxygen."
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