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)

TYLER—Democrat Hank Gilbert’s gubernatorial campaign Thursday afternoon warned Democratic Primary voters to carefully parse phrases used by gubernatorial candidate Tom Schieffer of Fort Worth concerning healthcare reform when considering who to vote for in the March Democratic Primary.

Schieffer, an intimate of former President George W. Bush and Bush’s appointee as Ambassador to Australia and Japan, was quoted in the October 14 Rio Grande Guardian as promoting mandatory health insurance in a format similar to auto liability insurance in Texas and saying, “I look at it like we have mandatory automobile coverage. Everybody has to have it and you have what they call an Assigned Risk Pool and people compete for the business.”

“That Tom Schieffer is likening the national health insurance crisis to mandatory auto liability insurance in Texas is really crazy,” said Gilbert campaign spokesperson Vince Leibowitz. “What he clearly wants is to simply make health insurance ‘mandatory’ and then let insurance companies gouge consumers using credit scores, rating territories, and data mining to drive up their prices. The end result is much the same as what we have now, insurance that few can really afford but that all will be legally required to obtain,” he continued. “Simply saying ‘health insurance is mandatory,’ will not work. It will not drive the costs down. It hasn’t driven down the cost of auto liability insurance and won’t do it for health insurance,” Leibowitz continued.

Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Hank Gilbert said Democrats must work together to ensure that a viable healthcare reform package is passed.

“The health care system is broken and it’s got to be fixed. It’s not a matter of access, it’s a matter of a middle man taking his cut instead of a doctor actually making the money and a patient paying for solid coverage. We have to institute basic reform and bring the costs down by creating a real alternative to the cartel-like system of insurance companies we have today,” Gilbert said.

“Simply requiring folks to have insurance doesn’t do a thing to make the insurance affordable. There needs to be real competition and no more excuses,” Gilbert said. “It’s unfortunate that Tom can’t see what the vast majority of people in this state and nation see, that there is no real competition in the health insurance industry and the insurers are doing everything they can to keep it that way so they can bleed people dry. First they told us tort reform will lower costs and it’s done anything but. Malpractice premiums are still through the roof and patients still pay more.”

Gilbert further criticized Schieffer for making his statements about healthcare in one of the state’s poorest regions.

“For Tom to make this car insurance to health insurance comparison in the Rio Grande Valley is a slap in the face to the hardworking people of this region. It isn’t about access; that’s the dumbest argument I’ve ever heard. Anyone can get ‘access’ to health insurance if they walk down to the closest insurance agent; the problem is that they can’t afford any of their options. Tom doesn’t understand that because he’s probably never had to worry about paying for health insurance a day in his life. The taxpayers picked up that bill while he was in Japan and Australia working to advance President Bush’s agenda as the insurance crisis in the United States spiraled out of control,” Gilbert said. “We’ve waited for 16 years for insurance companies to reform and it hasn’t happened. Now it’s time for action to end the crisis.”

“How anyone can stand miles from the poorest communities in our state and colonias without running water in a region where parents have to decide between putting food on the table and keeping the lights on and make these statements is simply beyond comprehension. It isn’t about access, it is about affordability. People cannot afford health insurance, period. What Tom’s advocating won’t do anything to make it more affordable, it’ll just massively increase the profits of health insurance companies leaving ordinary people and health care providers squeezed in the middle,” Gilbert continued.

TYLER—After watching Governor Rick Perry’s much-ballyhooed campaign launch video, Hank Gilbert (D-Whitehouse), Democratic Candidate for Governor of Texas, issued the following statement:

“What state was Rick Perry talking about? It can’t have been Texas.

With a straight face, this governor talked about improved education and our state’s ‘magnetic pull on jobs,’ in the midst of some of our worse unemployment numbers in history, and at a time where we lead the nation in high school dropouts. That state exists only in Rick Perry’s warped, delusional mind.

That the governor expressed such pride in the 2003 budget cuts that broke the backs of the poor and middle class is an outrage. How can he be proud of kicking so many kids off their insurance and erecting a permanent wall that kept those kids off CHIP for so long? How can he be proud of cutting services for the elderly, mentally disabled and poverty-stricken children while creating for himself a slush fund to promote economic development? It makes no sense.

To top it all off, the Governor gave his speech from a plant where the workers used to make $17 an hour and now make $10. That’s because the plant used to be in Illinois and used to be a union plant. Now, the plant has moved to a state where nearly two decades of Republican rule have resulted a giant foot on the neck of working-class Texans and small business owners while big corporations giving to the governor’s campaign coffers get tax breaks. Wages in Texas are low, small businesses and property owners are overburdened and the governor who made it all possible wants the equivalent of a lifetime appointment to lead our state further down the hole.

The workers at that plant listening to the governor should have been given hazard pay for the time they had to stand there. The lightening that was about to strike the governor for telling so many lies could have easily hit one of them.”

FACT SHEET

Perry Speak: What The Governor’s Remarks Really Mean

GOVERNOR PERRY SAYS:

“Back in 2003, we clawed our way out of a $10 billion dollar budget hole by making tough choices, and cutting spending. “

GOVERNOR PERRY MEANS:

In 2003, the Texas Legislature, with the blessing of this governor, passed one of the worst and most damning budgets in state history in terms of the treatment of the middle class and poor in this state. The 2003 Texas budget:

• Cut Medicaid Community Care Service Levels for Elderly and Disabled Texas Adults.
• Cut Medicaid Provider Rates.
• Eliminated Counseling, Podiatric, Hearing and Vision benefits for Elderly, Disabled, and Adult TANF Recipients On Medicaid.
• Reduced Medicaid Maternity Coverage For Low-Income Pregnant Women.
• Reduced the Personal Needs Allowance of Nursing Home patients.
• Eliminated Hospice, Dental, and Skilled Nursing programs from CHIP.
• Cut funding for the County Indigent Health Care Program.
• Drastically cut CHIP Benefits & Spending, Leaving Hundreds of Thousands of Texas Kids without Insurance & Costing the State more than $500 million in federal matching funds ^[1].

GOVERNOR PERRY SAYS:

“…I also line-item vetoed more than $3 billion of unnecessary spending, which is more than all other Texas governors combined.”

GOVERNOR PERRY MEANS:

Perry has done more line item vetoes than any other Texas governor because, in addition to using his line-item veto power in an almost abusive fashion, he’s been governor longer than anyone else in Texas history. Too, many of Governor Perry’s line item vetoes weren’t wasteful or unnecessary spending. Additionally, governor Perry calculates “contingency appropriation”  vetoes—line item vetoes of money appropriated for legislation that did not pass the legislature or which he vetoed, in his $3 billion figure, which is highly misleading. Governor Perry’s line item vetoes have killed:

• $9.5 million which had been appropriated to the Higher Education Coordinating Board for the Advanced Research Program. (2003)
• $22.5 million which had been appropriated for the University Research Fund (2003)
• $3 million which had been appropriated to the Texas Council on Environmental Technology (2003)
• Funding for Higher Education Employees Group Insurance Contributions for Public Community/Junior Colleges (2007)
• $5 million for an Engineering Program at West Texas A&M University (2007)
• $5 million for expansion of public health services at the UT Health Science Center-Houston. (2007)^[2]

GOVERNOR PERRY SAYS:

“As other states drive employers away…Texas is exerting a magnetic pull on jobs.”

GOVERNOR PERRY MEANS:

Actually, job loss in Texas during Governor Perry’s tenure as governor has been worse than it was in the late 1980s when the petrochemical and real estate markets went bust:

The number of Texans without a job has hit record numbers in the past several months:

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

GOVERNOR PERRY SAYS:

“Texas is a safe harbor through this economic storm whose example can chart a course out of these tough times for the rest of the country.”

GOVERNOR PERRY MEANS:

Texas can set an example to the rest of the county on how not to do things:

• Texas ranks 7^th in among the states in the percent of our children living in poverty ^[4].
• Texas ranks 3d among the state in terms of the percentage of our population living below the Federal Poverty Level^[5].
• Texas ranks 3^rd among the nation in terms of the percent of our population with food insecurity^[6].
• Texas ranks third in the nation in terms of the percent of women in our population living in poverty^[7].

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).

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).

The current Texas Insurance Commissioner, Mike Geeslin, (a former staffer for Governor Perry), is such a pro-insurance lapdog that a leading insurance industry trade group publicly applauded his reappointment in 2005. (SOURCE: Insurance Journal, June 7, 2005; LINK).

[1] Source for 2003 Appropriations Cuts: Center for Public Policy Priorities
[2] Information taken from Governor Perry’s veto proclamations/press releases following the 81st, 80th, and 79th Texas Legislatures: http://governor.state.tx.us/files/press-office/SB_0001_VETO_proc_FINAL_6-19-09.pdf; http://governor.state.tx.us/news/press-release/4872/; http://governor.state.tx.us/news/proclamation/5438/
[3] Figures are not seasonally adjusted. Source: Texas Workforce Commission
[4] U.S. Census Bureau, R1704. Percent of Children Under 18 Years Below Poverty Level in the Past 12 Months, 2007
[5] Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, State Health Facts Onlin
[6] U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Household Food Insecurity in
the United States, 2006 (November 2007) at Table D-1.
[7] 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

Dave Montgomery | Ft. Worth Star-Telegram | September 22, 2009

“Taking a five-minute segment, a snippet of a speech and trying to twist that around is, I would suggest to you, a political hack at work,” Perry told reporters, responding to questions about a dust-up in political blogs last week after the Houston speech on Thursday.

In an excerpt from a video of the event, the Republican governor asked, “Why is Texas kind of recession-proof,” and referred to a report that Texas would be the first state coming out of the recession.

“I said, ‘We’re in one?’” Perry added.

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Perry’s leading challenger in the Republican gubernatorial primary, called the remarks “breathtakingly out of touch.”

Whitehouse rancher Hank Gilbert, a Democrat who formally launched his entry in the governor’s race this week, called on Perry to apologize to jobless Texans.

But Perry invited reporters to “look at the whole picture” and said he has continually stressed the “seriousness of this recession and how it’s impacted people.” He said he has been “very, very clear” in his concern for jobless Texans.

“I have said that till every Texan who wants a job has a job, we’re going to continue to create ways to improve our economy,” he said.

Perry didn’t identify the “political hacks” but pointedly observed: “You know what? I can take anybody’s little five-second blurb, whether it’s the president of the United States, or whether it’s a United States senator, or whether it’s a governor of the state, and make it be something that it’s not.”

People are “buzzing” over Gov.Rick Perry’s (R) 9/17 “comments about the recession.”

Perry: “Why is Texas kind of recession proof, if you will? As a matter of fact … someone had put a report out that the first state that’s coming out of the recession is going to be the state of Texas … I said, ‘We’re in one?’” (Gravios, “PoliTex,” Ft. WorthStar Telegram, 9/18)..

Sen.Kay Bailey Hutchison’s (R) camp “accused” Perry of being “breathtakingly out of touch” for the statement, which came “the same week that the state’s unemployment hit its highest level in 22 years.” But a Perry spokesperson “countered” that his remarks “were taken out of context for political gain.”

Hutchison spokesperson Joe Pounder: “His statement is so breathtakingly out of touch that it speaks for itself.” Perry spokespersonMark Miner: “It’s unfortunate that Sen. Hutchison and her campaign are using a speech where quotes were taken out of context to score cheap political points. The governor, in all of his remarks, talks about how Texas is doing better than most states. His No. 1 priority is to create jobs in Texas” (Montgomery, Ft. WorthStar Telegram, 9/18).

Texas Monthly ed.Burka wrote, “This gaffe is going to stick. It is going to be national news. It will come back to haunt him. You cannot be callous and cavalier when people are losing their jobs and homes. … It could cost him the race” (Gravios, Ft. WorthStar Telegram, 9/18).

Mr. Perry Goes To Washington, Even Though He Hates It There

Perry, addressing the Value Voters Summit 9/19 “accused the federal government of promoting an irresponsible, immoral agenda and suggested Washington look to the Lone Star state for policy guidance.”

Perry said being is Washington is like entering “the belly of the beast,” using a “familiar theme from his” race against Hutchison.

Perry: “It’s unfortunate that many of the people who serve in this town ran for office as conservatives, then got to Washington and started spending and legislating like liberals.”

Perry “chided the ruling party for wasting tax dollars, intruding in citizens’ lives and pushing immoral policy, referencing a prohibition on foreign aid from going to clinics abroad that performed abortions,” which Pres.Obama overturned when he took office. Perry “wasn’t the headliner of the conference” but his “pro-states’ rights and pro-religion message” resonated with attendees, “many of whom frequently cried out ‘yes’ and interrupted him with standing ovations.”

A straw poll by the Family Research Council “floated” possible GOP presidential candidates. Perry “had been on the poll but asked to be removed, saying he has no WH aspirations” (Korn,Dallas Morning News, 9/20).

Perry also attacked Hutchison over the weekend, trying to “paint” her as “someone who has been away from Texas so long that she no longer understands her home state.”

Perry: “Although Sen. Hutchison has been in Washington for 15 years, I don’t think you can lay the blame completely at her feet.”

Asked “if he’d run against Washington even if he beats” Hutchison in the primary, Perry “responded with an emphatic nod.”

Perry: “I’m going to run against Washington until Washington changes” (Merchant,Wall Street Journal, 9/18).

A Two Front War

Houston Chronicle’s Powell writes, Hutchison “is harnessing the powers of incumbency in Congress to wage a two-front campaign” in DC and TX to defeat Perry. Hutchison “is using her” SEN post “to showcase conservative positions on high-profile state and national issues while using her” seniority “to shepherd bread-and-butter appropriations” to TX.

But “some analysts think Hutchison’s Capitol Hill-based campaign may have backfired.” Perry “has a knack for parlaying the powers of incumbency into appeal to potential supporters.” He has deployed Texas Rangers and National Guard troops “to bolster security along the border” and “has staged ceremonial bill signings across the state.”

Perry, “striking at one of Hutchison’s main claims to fame, told reporters in Washington” on 9/18 that the senator had “joined a long and distinguished list” of lawmakers from TX “who have been unable to get the federal government to send more money” to the state “than the federal government takes in from taxpayers.” Perry: “Texas gets shorted on a pretty regular basis by Washington, D.C. We’ve been grousing about that for a number of years.”

SMU prof.Cal Jillson: “I don’t think incumbency is working for Sen. Hutchison.”

Perry is successfully casting himself as being home in Texas working hard for the people of Texas and portraying her as being up there in Washington passing all these burdensome laws and taxes that Texans don’t want.”

Rice Univ. prof.Robert Steinsays many of GOP voters expected to cast ballots “are gripped by the same anti-Washington, anti-spending fervor that brought tens of thousands of conservative activists to the nation’s capital this month.”

Stein: “That sentiment makes it difficult for her to take credit back home for all the ‘good things’ that she’s bringing back to Texas. Her successes in Washington don’t resonate with Republican primary voters in Texas” (9/21).

Dallas Morning News’s Gillman writes, “Nearly half” the TX GOPers in Congress support Hutchison. “Perry doesn’t tout a single endorsement. Those staying neutral worry about betting on the wrong horse. Many are loath to pick one friend over another.”

Miner said Perry “hasn’t made much effort to court endorsements from Congress, and that makes sense. A blessing from Beltway insiders would undermine Perry’s argument that Hutchison has lost touch with Texas values during her time in Washington. Plus, he’s probably had trouble overcoming the goodwill she has built in 16 years of helping House colleagues fund pet projects, and on a host of issues.”

The Hutchison camp “includes nine of the 20″ TX GOPers in the House (9/20).

Austin American-Statesman’s Embry writes, Perry and Hutchison “aren’t doing a very good job of hiding their personal displeasure that the other is running for governor.” The race “would be heated no matter the personal relationship of the candidates.” Yet “it can’t help matters that, if you listen closely, it’s clear that Perry and Hutchison each feel that the other has no business running.”

Hutchison’s case “seems to be that she stepped aside for the good” of the GOP in ‘06 and “that it’s now her turn.” Perry, meanwhile, “seems to think the contested primary is bad” for the GOP but “seems to think it is solely Hutchison’s obligation to stop it, not his” (9/21).

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Hutchison was among those who “tossed darts” at Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her trip to Austin 9/19 to raise money for the DCCC.

Hutchison: “Nancy Pelosi is coming to the wrong place if she’s trying to drum up support for Obama’s government takeover of health care. The Texas grassroots movement in opposition to government run health care is unlike anything I’ve seen. The message is clear, ‘don’t mess with Texans’ health care.’ I urge Speaker Pelosi to listen to the people and stop pushing legislation through Congress that would have a disastrous effect on the quality of our health care and on the economy” (Selby, “Postcards,”Austin American-Statesman, 9/19).

Purse Boys

Ex-Bush speechwriter Matt Latimer, in his book Speechless, “gives an account of the day he suddenly found himself faces to face” with Hutchison in an elevator at the Capitol. He writes that “a friend got her shoe wedged in the door, delaying the elevator and visibly annoying Hutchison.”

Latimer: “”As the elevator proceeded downward, the senator turned to her J. Crew aides. They were ‘the purse boys.’ That was the nickname staffers gave them because their job seemed to consist of carrying Sen. Hutchison’s purse around Capitol Hill. They also were known to drive her from her house to work — a distance of approximately two blocks. They were basically taxpayer-subsidized butlers.”

Then “as one of the aides quietly held her large purse, she started to fish through it. Then she issued a list of instructions” which included taking her nail polish and makeup from the bag and putting it all in the refrigerator too.” The purse boy “nodded dutifully, and Latimer and his friend, feeling uncomfortable, let Hutchison pass when the elevator door opened.”

Latimer: “She did so regally, without a word to either of us, the purse boys following close behind. In those few minutes, my enthusiasm for KBH sunk to a previously unfathomable low.”

Hutchison’s camp “dismissed the account as untrue.”

Hutchison: “For the record, I have never put nail polish, nor makeup in the refrigerator. That is bizarre. Who does that?” (Slater, “Between The Lines,”Dallas Morning News, 9/19).

King Of The Hill

‘06 Ag. Commis nominee Hank Gilbert(D) “kicks off” his camp today “with a tour around the state.” Gilbert said his “priority is education” and said that today “he’ll outline a public school strategy that will call for scrapping the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.”

Gilbert “doesn’t hesitate to take shots at political rivals.” In ‘06 he called Perry “just one notch lower in stupidity” than ex-Pres.Bush. Gilbert: “I’m a no-bull kind of person. I’m not always politically correct in the way I say things or present things, but people who know me … understand that whatever I tell them, they can take it to the bank.”

Gilbert will face ex-Amb./ex-state Rep.Tom Schieffer(D) in the primary. Gilbert “has criticized Schieffer for his ties to Bush, who appointed Schieffer as U.S. ambassador to Japan and Australia” and said that Schieffer’s “work overseas has made him out of touch” with TX (MacLaggan,Austin American-Statesman, 9/21).

Gilbert said he’s never watched “King of the Hill” but said “he’s used to jokes.”

Gilbert: “Every year my kids were in school, other kids would find out my name and call me ‘Hank the Cowdog.’” He was”referring to a children’s book.”

Gilbert: “So, the idea of ‘Hank the Governor’ doesn’t bother me a bit” (Kennedy, “PoliTex,” Ft. WorthStar Telegram, 9/20).

Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Calls Perry’s Recession Remarks “Out Of Touch” And “Irresponsible”

TYLER— Democratic gubernatorial candidate Hank Gilbert (D-Whitehouse) today called on Texas Gov. Rick Perry to immediately apologize to the more than 62,000 Texans who lost their jobs last month for remarks he delivered to a Houston business group on Thursday in which he said he responded to someone who asked about the current recession by asking, “We’re in one?”

“The answer is ‘Yes,’ Governor,” Gilbert said.  “Texas and the nation are in the midst of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, and just this week your administration announced that the number of jobless Texans is at a 22-year high.  Those men and women deserve better than a governor who smirks ‘Recession? What recession,’” Gilbert continued.

“This man is oblivious to the plight of everyday Texans and has no idea of the economic hardships facing working families in this state. He has no clue what is going on in Texas. It makes me wonder if he has even bothered to climb out of the utopian fog he is lost in to look at the jobless numbers the Texas Workforce Commission put out last week,” Gilbert said.

In spite of record unemployment during June, July, and August of 2009, Perry continues to pretend that Texas is not in a recession, and that our economy is doing fine.

“This governor has the worst unemployment record of any governor in Texas since the 1970s. More people were unemployed during Governor Perry’s administration than any time since 1986 and 1987 when the oil and real estate markets collapsed. His record keeps getting worse. Our jobless numbers for June, July and August of this year are the worst we’ve seen in decades. They are off the charts,” Gilbert said. “I’ve heard of wearing rose-colored glasses, but this is ridiculous. Rick Perry must have on a virtual reality helmet.”

Gilbert said Perry should be ashamed of making light of the plight of Texans and ignoring the fact that the Texas economy is in a downward spiral. It is just disgusting,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert said Texas faces enormous challenges that won’t be met until state leaders take steps to fix the financial crisis that is hurting tens of thousands of middle-class families and small businesses in our communities.

“A good first step would be for Governor Perry to apologize to those who have lost their jobs even as they continue to foot the bills for his $10,000-a-month luxury home in Austin,” Gilbert said.

FACT SHEET: Rick Perry’s Recession

The number of Texans without a job has hit record numbers in the past several months:

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)

Texas ranks 7^th in among the states in the percent of our children living in poverty^[2]

Texas ranks 3d among the state in terms of the percentage of our population living below the Federal Poverty Level^[3]

Texas ranks 3^rd among the nation in terms of the percent of our population with food insecurity.^[4].

Texas ranks third in the nation in terms of the percent of women in our population living in poverty. ^[5].

^[1] Figures are not seasonally adjusted. Source: Texas Workforce Commission

^[2] U.S. Census Bureau, R1704. Percent of Children Under 18 Years Below Poverty Level in the Past 12 Months, 2007

^[3]Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, State Health Facts Online

^[4] U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Household Food Insecurity in the United States, 2006 (November 2007) at Table D-1.

^[5] 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)

Texas ranks 7^th in among the states in the percent of our children living in poverty^[2]

Texas ranks 3d among the state in terms of the percentage of our population living below the Federal Poverty Level^[3]

Texas ranks 3^rd among the nation in terms of the percent of our population with food insecurity.^[4].

Texas ranks third in the nation in terms of the percent of women in our population living in poverty. ^[5].

^[2] U.S. Census Bureau, R1704. Percent of Children Under 18 Years Below Poverty Level in the Past 12 Months, 2007

^[3]Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, State Health Facts Online

^[4] U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Household Food Insecurity in the United States, 2006 (November 2007) at Table D-1.

^[5] 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

“For decades, Texas has been bleeding manufacturing jobs. In my part of the state, one of the manufacturers, Carrier, recently sent Texas jobs to Monterrey, Mexico. That is happening across the state. Traditional manufacturing jobs are disappearing south of the border where labor is cheap and the quality of life is low,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert, a Democratic candidate for Texas Governor, said creating “green” jobs was part of the answer to Texas’ unemployment crisis.

“It is time to invest more money in renewable energy and green manufacturing. As a state, we must do more to attract green manufacturing. Texas needs programs to re-train our highly-skilled manufacturing employees who have become unemployed to work in green energy and green manufacturing jobs,” he said.

Gilbert said Texas should spend more to attract green industry, too.

“Green industry jobs are higher paying jobs because they require more skill. Instead of Governor Perry using his economic development slush funds to reward campaign contributors and political allies who bring jobs to Texas that pay only slightly better than minimum wage, we should use that money to bring green industry and more green energy to Texas,” Gilbert said.

“This is another example of Governor Perry’s failure to anticipate an economic decline and prepare for it. What makes this doubly galling is his decision to reject stimulus money for unemployment benefits and instead borrow funds from the Federal Government to meet the gap in unemployment funding. It’s time to put an end to political decisions that end up costing Texas taxpayers far more in the long run.”

Gilbert also called on Congress to immediately pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

REFRENCES: Hank Gilbert lives in Whitehouse, near Tyler. Tyler’s Carrier air conditioning plant announced last year that it would transfer some of its operations to Mexico. (Source: Tyler Morning Telegraph).

We have to pull politics out of funding for TXDOT and create a sustainable transportation fund that can allow TXDOT and contractors to rebuild and expand our roads — thus putting Texas back on the road to prosperity