What Texas Democrats Are Saying About Gov. Perry Today

TDP Statement on Rick Perry Dropping Out of Presidential Race

 Austin—TDP spokesperson Anthony Gutierrez released the following statement in response to Rick Perry dropping out of the Republican presidential race:

“Dropping out of this race is the first smart decision Rick Perry’s made in a long time. Unfortunately, the aftermath of Rick Perry’s presidential bid will affect Texans for a long time. 

Rick Perry’s presidential run didn’t only damage his ego; it had real, devastating consequences on our entire state. Rick Perry used our last legislative session and state budget as a prop to launch this run. He put his political aspirations ahead of the needs of Texas children, slashed billions from public education and refused to use any of the $6 billion in our state’s savings account. 

Tens of thousands of public school teachers are unemployed right now because Rick Perry wanted to position himself for a presidential run.* Despite their shared affinity for firing people, not even Rick Perry could get excited about endorsing Mitt Romney. Even Perry was bright enough to recognize a vulture capitalist when he saw one.

Sadly, Rick Perry’s dangerous political agenda did not dissolve with his presidential campaign. Perry’s Texas Republican clones are marching on to implement the most extreme aspects of Perry’s out of touch policy proposals.” 

*Perry prohibiting the legislature from using any of the state’s saving account known as the Rainy Day Fund led to $4 billion in cuts to public education funding and tens of thousands of teacher layoffs.