Declined to Answer Yes or No
I guess San Antonio, the second largest city in Texas, doesn’t rate Rick Perry’s attention.
The San Antonio Express-News interviewed all the candidates except Perry, who declined a request. The Express-News also asked each to give yes or no answers to a series of questions on key business issues. Perry’s campaign provided brief statements on those questions but opposed any attempt to translate those statements or previously reported positions into the newspaper’s format.
And what attention he does deign to bestow on us, is only on his own terms. Now I can understand any candidate’s reluctance to answer “yes” or “no” questions but some of the ones he refused to answer were “gimme” questions. I would consider them along the lines of answering “do you think child abuse is a bad thing?” Of course, if the Express News had asked that particular question, he would still have declined to answer yes or no.
What questions am I talking about? How about would you “abolish the enterprise fund?” Perry’s campaign website states the following:
Governor Rick Perry § Jobs and the Texas Economy:
Job creation tools like the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Emerging Technology Fund are bringing thousands of new jobs to our state and adding billions to our economy.
And if you don’t think this was a “gimme” question, consider that not only did the Express News endorse Perry, one of the reasons it did so was because of his support for the enterprise fund.
Attacks on the Texas Enterprise Fund from opponents demonstrate why Perry is the best candidate to continue the state’s impressive economic run. Other major candidates would either dismantle or dilute the fund.
Perry’s efforts have helped the state attract more than 600,000 jobs during his current term.
Another easy question, would you “create a state personal income tax system?” What candidate in Texas would answer “yes?” Certainly none of Perry’s four opponents included in the comparison.
If he had selected to answer only a few questions, he would not have been the only one. Strayhorn also declined to answer yes or no one of the questions. Furthermore, the accompanying article provided the candidates the opportunity to explain their answers in somewhat more detailed.
His answers to those questions are obvious and ones he should be proud of. So why the cold shoulder to San Antonio?
Filed under: Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Carole Strayhorn, Governor, Rick Perry, San Antonio Express News, Texas Residential Construction Commission, Texas enterprise fund, campaign, debate, election, republican, texas, texas personal income tax, texas politics, vote
