Gilbert Says Perry’s Continued Claims Show He Is Out Of Touch With Texas

Gilbert Says If Rick Perry’s Economy Was America’s Blueprint, We’d Be A Third-World Country

TYLER-Democratic gubernatorial candidate Hank Gilbert said Monday morning that Texas Governor Rick Perry’s continued comments about how great Texas is doing show just how far out of touch the incumbent governor is with reality.

At a Republican gathering Friday in Fort Worth, Perry criticized the federal government and proclaimed that, “Texas is the blueprint America needs to look at to go forward.”

“If America uses the blueprint from Rick Perry’s Texas as a model to move forward, America would quickly become a third-world country,” Gilbert said. “All we’ve seen from the Perry administration is record unemployment, higher tuition costs, toll road disasters that will end up soaking taxpayers, failed privatization experiments that cost hundreds of millions, cover-ups, and worsening conditions for the middle class and poor,” Gilbert continued.

“For this governor to say that our state is doing so well that everyone should follow our lead shows just how out of touch he is,” Gilbert said. “Ask the thousands of Texans with out health insurance or who have lost their jobs if Rick Perry’s model is working for them. It is not,” Gilbert continued. “If his so-called blueprint was for a house, the roof would be on the floor, there would be no walls, and the toilet would be in the dining room,” Gilbert continued. “The only project Rick Perry could serve as the architect for would be a ditch, because that is where his leadership has driven Texas,” he concluded.

Gilbert pointed out that, under Perry’s leadership, Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured citizens of any state, kept 1.4 million children from health insurance, priced college tuition out of reach of thousands of Texans, has seen utility rates skyrocket 64 percent and property taxes which are at an all time high.

FACT SHEET

Rick Perry’s Bad Blueprint For Texas

SKYROCKETING UTILITY COSTS

Under Governor Perry’s leadership, electric rates have skyrocketed 64 percent. (SOURCE: Associated Press)

INCOME, JOB LOSS & POVERTY

Texas ranks 7th in among the states in the percent of our children living in poverty. (SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, R1704. Percent of Children Under 18 Years Below Poverty Level in the Past 12 Months, 2007)

Texas ranks 3d among the state in terms of the percentage of our population living below the Federal Poverty Level. (SOURCE: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation)

Texas ranks 3rd among the nation in terms of the percent of our population with food insecurity. (SOURCE: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Household Food Insecurity in the United States, 2006)

Texas ranks third in the nation in terms of the percent of women in our population living in poverty. (SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2006, Table 4b, Reported Voting and Registration of the Voting-Age Population, by Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin, for States: November 2006)

Job Loss in Rick Perry’s administration has been the worst Texas has seen since the 1970s and 1986 and 1987.

(Texas LMCI TRACER Generated graphic, with modifications to highlight Perry’s years as governor)

UNINSURED TEXANS

The number of uninsured Texans has increased from 4.9 million in 2001 to 6.1 million in 2008. The percent of non-elderly adults with out insurance rose from 27.8 percent to 32.1 percent. This number only considers people who are uninsured for an entire year and doesn’t include many Texans who have lost their health coverage as a result of the recession. (SOURCE: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)

Employer-based health plans in Texas are quickly disappearing. The percentage of employer-based health coverage decreased from 63.3 percent of the state’s population in 2001 to 55.6 percent in 2008. (SOURCE: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)

3.4 million Texas workers are without health insurance. The percentage of Texas workers without health insurance rose from 25.6 percent in 2001 to 29.7 percent in 2008. (SOURCE: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).

Rick Perry’s failures on Children’s Health Insurance has forced over 1.4 million kids to go without health care coverage – over 20%, the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation. (SOURCE: Families USA)

Being uninsured isn’t just a problem for the poor. An additional 361,000 people from homes considered “high-income” households by the census bureau are now uninsured in Texas. (SOURCE: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

EDUCATION

Although Texas ranks third in the nation in terms of the money spent on public education, the state ranks 45th in the nation in terms of dollars spent per student. (SOURCES: Congressional Quarterly’s State Fact Finder 2007. & ScoreCard.org)

Texas ranks 34th among the states in average teacher salaries. (Congressional Quarterly’s State Fact Finder 2007)

Texas ranks 50th in terms of the percent of the population over 25 with a high school diploma, and 41st in terms of its high school graduation rate. (SOURCE: ScoreCard.org)

THE ENVIRONMENT

Texas is the worst air polluter in the nation.

Texas releases more volatile organic compounds into the air than any other state in the country. (SOURCE: ScoreCard.org)

Texas releases more toxic chemicals into water than any other state in the nation. (SOURCE: ScoreCard.org)

Texas ranks fifth in the nation in terms of toxic chemicals released into the air. (SOURCE: ScoreCard.org)

Texas releases more cancer-causing carcinogens into the air than any other state in the U.S. (SOURCE: ScoreCard.org)

Texas ranks seventh out of the fifty states in terms of the number of cancer-causing carcinogens released into water. (SOURCE: ScoreCard.org)

Texas ranks second among the fifty states in the amount of hazardous waste generated and first in carbon dioxide emissions. (SOURCE: Environmental Protection Agency)