Writing in this morning's Houston Chronicle, Lisa Falkenburg reveals the real reason why Rick Perry wouldn't debate. Her interview with Perry's opponent, Bill White, provides some useful perspective.
Making his way through Bush Intercontinental earlier this week, former Houston Mayor Bill White says he was stopped by three different people who wanted to tell him the same thing: They now understand why Rick Perry wouldn’t debate him in last year’s race for governor.
White says it’s become typical commentary in conversations with people around town, ever since Texans got a look at the governor on the national stage, and especially at his fumbling, bumbling, “oops” moments on the debate stage.
“I think people now realize more the dangers of the scripted candidate,” White told me Wednesday.
Bill White is quite the contrast to our swaggering Secessionist-in-Chief. His credentials are impressive:
A former trial lawyer, federal agency executive and businessman, White was elected as mayor in December 2003, winning with 63 percent of the vote in a runoff against current Harris County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez. He was subsequently reelected in 2005 and 2007 by large majorities — 91 percent and 86 percent, respectively.
Having run up against his term limit, White left office in January 2010, and after a brief US Senate campaign, focused on unseating Rick Perry, filling Texas Progressives with hope that - at last - we could elect a true leader as our Lone Star State governor.
Before serving as mayor, White was a deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy during the administration of former president Bill Clinton. He formerly was a lawyer at the Susman Godfrey law firm.
He is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Texas School of Law.
White is a recipient of the "Profile in Courage" award for his "courageous and decisive leadership in addressing the human misery and ruin caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005," according to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. He also was named Governing magazine's Public Official of the Year for 2007.
Follow along below our palpable disappointment in Bill White's loss to Rick Perry for more...
Rick Perry needn’t wait by the phone for any foundations to call about humanitarian awards or profiles in courage. Well, that it, unless there’s an award for Profiles in Swaggering. Or Patron Saint of Pay-to-Play. While Bill White opened Houston’s city gates and largesse to Katrina victims, Perry only rolls out the welcome mat for corporate cronies who show up with five- or six-figure checks in hand… and that’s just to get his assistant to schedule a meeting with The Boss.
The contrast between Bill White is Rick Perry is stark. Bill White is a tall, cool drink of water to Rick Perry’s mouthful of Texas-drought dust. Bill White is the real deal, a leader who seeks – and respects – the input of all stakeholders in the quest for solutions to complex problems. Rick Perry is the guy who promised to pay a fraternity brother for the exam answers, then stiffs the guy for the money.
Bill White isn’t angry or bitter:
But White knows this: Texans everywhere are seeing a side of Perry they’ve never seen, a side unscripted. He says Perry has long run from accountability, whether in the form of debates, editorial board meetings or regular press conferences.
And now we know why: Perry has never really known the answers, he just memorized what polls and advisers told him the answers were.
“People are susceptible to brain freezes when they’ve memorized plans and stump speeches,” White told me. “You don’t forget the things that are at the heart of why you’re running for president.”
Bill White’s campaign focused on a few key issues:
I am running for Governor because I want Texas to be a great state of opportunity for all people. Public education is the primary responsibility of state government, and I will focus on improving our system to ensure that Texans are prepared with the education, skills and technology they need to compete for good jobs. I will also work for increased access to healthcare, as Texas ranks first in the percentage of uninsured residents; a diversified energy portfolio with significant investment in renewables and cleaner energy; a transportation system that helps people get to and from their homes and jobs; and more affordable homeowners' insurance and electricity rates.
Rick Perry’s campaign was based on the need to keep Rick Perry in office and continue building the foundation for the vast (or “half-vast”) “Texas Miracle". Education? Who needs it? Healthcare – hey, I’ve got fantastic healthcare, thank y’all! As far as jobs are concerned, just keep that border nice and porous, and my business buddies can keep supplyin’ jobs to millions (and those immigrant folks don’t mind low wages and dangerous job conditions). We got a good thing goin’ here; don’t let’s be messin’ it up!
Falkenburg continues:
Many of us have known for a long time why Perry avoided White’s debate invitations. We’ve known ever since the governor started issuing his silly school-yard ultimatums as conditions for facing White on stage. Perry demanded White release his income taxes, and when White did release them, Perry demanded more, dating back to White’s days as Democratic Party chair and U.S. deputy energy secretary.
Perry maintained that he was “eager” to debate the popular three-term mayor, as he had debated previous opponents in statewide campaigns, and insisted that White’s refusal to keep acquiescing to Perry’s demands was in “staunch opposition to transparency.”
“It’s not about this good ol’ fighting Texas Aggie being afraid to [engage] that Harvard boy,” Perry told The Dallas Morning News. “That’s not what it’s about at all.”
It now seems that’s exactly what it was about. Rather than face his Democratic opponent on the issues and let voters observe in real time his thought processes, knowledge and instincts, Perry hid behind prepared statements, friendly crowds and slick TV advertisements.
Sadly, that approach worked just fine, reinforcing Rick’s “see, I told y’all” smugness. It’s all good. Got me another term, got my buddies here with big bags of cash…
Those same buddies, wanting to take their pay-to-play schemes to the next level, whispered to Rick that he might want to hop into the presidential race. Of course, it wasn’t ‘til God himself reached out and tapped Rick on the shoulder that he took those hints seriously. When the Big Man calls, ya gotta answer. True to their word, the deep-pocket donors ponied up over $17 million in 3 months. Those are some mighty fine friends, I tell ya!
You know the rest… forced out of his comfort zone and onto the debate stage, Perry stumbled and stumbled, slurred and blurred, then suffered a brain freeze that could launch the next Ice Age.
Donors watched aghast, as each debate revealed the horror, and Perry’s quick meteoric rise turned to a free-fall in the polls. I guess they should have shorted Perry rather than investing in him.
To his credit,
White says he doesn’t feel anger or frustration when he watches the governor debate. Only embarrassment.
“I am Texan to the bone and I love this state and the people here,” White said. “Texas is a diverse state with folks who are proud of both their traditions and their modern, dynamic, educated Texas of the future. It’s embarrassing when our governor struggles past the memorized script.”
Embarrassed is right. Texans everywhere are developing carpal tunnel answering the many questions on “why did you guys ever elect this [insert expletive here]?” Under a Bill White administration, we might be able to get proper medical treatment for that.