NPT Media: Huff Post columnist: Shapleigh’s figures show Perry’s, Republicans’ failures

From columnist James Moore on the Huffington Post, on Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s comments about Texas secession:

Eliot Shapleigh, a state senator from El Paso, compiles a report each legislative session called “Texas on the Brink.” Skimming it will provide more than enough data to show just how functional the Republican leadership of this state has been since 1994.

There is little doubt that Perry is serious about seceding from the union. My guess is he’s grown tired of fighting it out for last place with Mississippi.

Ok, fair enough, but my guess is that Texas has maintained its priorities going back well beyond 1994. In other words, the state’s issues seem to be a Texas thing, not a Republican or Democratic thing.

But Republicans have owned the state for the past 15 years, so they can own the failures. And Perry’s comments, well, that’s just a Perry thing, and he’s a Republican, and now they own a fringe-right issue, just about the time Democrats have started making inroads back to power in Texas.

— Sito Negron