What to do about Rick Perry? - Part 1

The big news story today is, surprisingly, not the Iowa straw poll. Instead, it is the formal announcement by the three term Governor of the Lone Star State, Rick Perry, that he intends to seek the Republican nomination for the 2012 Presidential election. For those who have been following the horse race, his announcement should come as no surprise. For the past few months, he has been aggressively challenging the Federal government on issues such as the constitutionality of ObamaCare and invasive pat-downs and screenings by the TSA.

Despite his high public profile over the past few years, the question still remains as to who exactly is Rick Perry, and what exactly does he stand for? By examining his political career and record, I hope I am able to answer these vital questions.

Karl Rove, who certainly needs no introduction, in his book Courage and Consequence, says that Perry was a Democrat until 1990. What made Perry switch? Did the Democratic Party leave him, just as it left Ronald Reagan? Or was it Bloomberg-esque opportunism?

According to Rove, it was the latter. In his book, Rove states that "Democrat Rick Perry, had planned to retire from the legislature, until his best friend...and I [Rove] talked him into switching parties and running for the GOP nomination for agriculture commissioner" (emphasis mine).

Let's take a look at some politicians who have switched parties recently, as well as why they decided to change parties.

One person who is no stranger to switching parties is New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. Up until 2001, Mayor Bloomberg had been a lifelong Democrat. Noticing a crowded field in that party for the nomination, Bloomberg suddenly became a Republican.

 Another person who is familiar with switching parties is former Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont. In 2001,  he switched from being a Republican to being an Independent that caucused with the Democrats, giving them a majority in that chamber until the 2002 midterm elections.

Why did Jeffords switch? Because the Senate Republicans refused to fully fund (read, spend more money on) the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and he thought that it would be fully funded if he caucused with the Democrats.

Are party switchers always political opportunists, hoping to gain some electoral or policy advantage? No. In fact, a party switcher by the name of Ronald Reagan turned out to be one of Conservatism's greatest advocates of the 20th century, right up there with William F. Buckley, Jr. However, when Reagan became a Republican, it was because the Democratic party had abandoned him and his principles, not because it was convenient to do so.

Where on this continuum does Rick Perry fall? Is he a principled conservative who, like Ronald Reagan,  felt like his core values and beliefs had been abandoned by his current party? Or is he a political opportunist, like Bloomberg and Jeffords?

The first logical step to take is to examine his career as a Democrat. In 1984, Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat. During his time in the legislature, he sat on the appropriations committee and helped to push for budget austerity. So it sounds like as a legislator he was, at the very least, fairly conservative on fiscal matters.

In 1988, a certain Tennessean by the name of Al Gore ran for President. As is usual for Presidential candidates, he picked up endorsements from officials at various levels of government from around the country. One of these endorsements came from a Texas legislator by the name of, you guessed it, Rick Perry. In fact, not only did Perry endorse Al Gore, but he managed Gore's Texas campaign. To be fair though, this was while the Goracle was still somewhat sane, and hadn't started worrying global warming/climate change/manbearpig yet. In fact, he ran pretty much as a Southern centrist, which could also be called a moderately-conservative Republican. So he wasn't all that radical...yet. Although I can't find an exact statement, it is safe to say that as campaign manager, Perry would have had to attack Conservative icon Ronald Reagan, which raises questions about the strength of his conservative convictions.

The next logical step, and the subject of the next post in this series, is to examine Perry's record as an elected Republican during the 1990's.