David Frum characterizes the argument in the post below (and today’s Jolt) as, “If Rick Perry is dumb, why is he rich?” (Not exactly what I wrote, but I’ll put that aside.) He points to the Fort Worth Star Telegram’s tracking of Perry’s net worth, and the number of times the governor has made real-estate deals with developers who had business with state government, and the number of times those real-estate deals have paid off quite well for Perry.
The insinuation, of course, is that Rick Perry is corrupt, that those with business dealings with the state government have used the real-estate deals as a back-door way of bribes.
I’d note that for the Horseshoe Bay property, Perry bought at a relative trough in the real estate market (2001) and sold near the peak of the bubble (2007), and Texas home prices enjoyed some particularly good years in there. One of Perry’s earliest land deals ended with a modest profit ($70,000 over three years) and for another one, Perry enjoyed the good fortune of owning the land that computer magnate Michael Dell needed to connect his new home to municipal sewer lines.
Last year the Democrat gubernatorial candidate in Texas, Bill White, tried to make an issue of it, and Texans largely yawned. Some of these deals go back to Perry’s time as Texas agriculture commissioner in the early 1990s. Fascinatingly, through six statewide general-election races in addition to some brutal primary fights (even by Texas standards), none of Perry’s rivals have managed to get the accusations to stick or persuaded voters that anything corrupt occurred. Throughout the 1990s, the Texas attorney general was Dan Morales, a Democrat, who would seemingly have no partisan reluctance about investigating a bribery accusation of a Republican state officeholder.
Perhaps it is voter cynicism. Perhaps the cacophony of negative attacks in Texas politics makes voters tune out or discount all charges. Or perhaps, as Perry claims, he “did everything open and honest, at arm’s length” and there’s not enough there to justify charges, or even implicit suggestions, of corruption.
UPDATE: I would add that to the best of our our knowledge, these deals have not generated even any preliminary investigations from any U.S. Attorney’s offices.
Given the Obamas' real estate deal with a convicted felon back in Chicago - which has never been adequately explained - this is a campaign issue that has no legs. I assume the motivation for this line of attack is Frum's fear that a conservative, Tea Party Texan who attended state college will be the GOP nominee for President. If that proves to be the case, will Mr. Frum vote for Perry, vote for Obama or stay home? Someone should ask him that question.
P.S. Frum's dad was a real estate developer.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI don't know if Frum can even vote. He's canadian and I've seen nothing that shows he's a naturalized citizen.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI should have mentioned that mine was a rhetorical question. Frum and his wife are Canadian citizens, which most people didn't know when he was working for the Bush White house as a speech writer. Maybe it's just me, but I prefer providing taxpayer-funded federal employment to American citizens whenever possible. There are thousands of political speech writers who are also American citizens. I find it hard to believe George Bush couldn't find one that suited him just as well as David Frum.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat self-respecting organization would hire such a man?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo you're advocating affirmative action for the benefit of American speechwriters?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWealth acquired from wheeling and dealing in a finite commodity (land) is not the same as wealth created from starting or growing a business that employs workers and makes something.
Rather, it's the same in terms of cash value, no matter how one gets it. But I have a lot more respect for the doers than the dealers.
I also note that the dealers typically make their deals because of inflation in the commodity, so that it is then less available to others. But the doers typically make their products in a way that makes those products more affordable. This is why so many of us have less home than we did two generations ago, but much more by way of things to play with.
Perry? Bah.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTexans yawn at the indication of real estate shenanigans because there have been so many. On the national stage it may still be a shocker, particularly when MSM will go into overdrive for Obama.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI made 60% profit on 8 acres here in north Texas in less than 2 years. Bought it on Valentine's Day, sold it on Christmas Eve less than 2 years later. And kept the mineral rights.
And I know nobody.
So if I can do it, then it's no surprise that Perry can.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGood for you and it's true anybody smart can make 60% in two years on a land deal. Perry bought it for 324k and sold it for 1.1 mil six years later. That's almost 300% profit or about 50% EACH year. This is never going to be a big issue and I'm not going to say that if this was a Dem, you know the Reps would investigate, but you have to admit the perception is scandalous.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhitewater, Hillary's magic cattle futures, blah, blah, blah...
Expecting honesty from any politician is a fool's errand.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMr Geraghty:
How can you stand to read Frum? Insinuation and insults are not a writing style. This is mean, but Frum is a nasty hack.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMore Perry apologism. Is this really the guy you want to back NRO? Really?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo you don't like Perry. Is that a reason to object to anyone writing about him ? I would like to know more about him. I guess you don't.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou mean Rick Perry made his money the same way George Washington and Davy Crocket did? Land speculation?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIs Frum just mad that nobody reads him anymore, now that he's not on NRO?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAnd all the "Hillary cattle future" folks suddenly develop amnesia. What a shock!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis reminds me of the various Bush scandals that were brought up and knocked down, always played as though they were new discoveries.
In the not unlikely event, that Perry is elected, I expect my liberal friends to rediscover Perry's corrupt past every couple years ad nauseam
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou have to love the left's entire meme here:
"Rick Perry is a dumb hick; therefore, if Rick Perry succeeds, it is either from luck or corruption. It cannot be because he made intelligent choices because Rick Perry is a dumb hick..."
Notice the circle in which their reasoning travels.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI have my suspicions about Barack Obama's wealth.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou don't believe he wrote books?
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