Perry plan calls for truth in spending: But opponents argue he has failed to use funds for their stated purpose. Check it out:
(Dallas Morning News, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Sep. 28--Gov. Rick Perry called Wednesday for budget reforms that would create a truth in spending policy as well as return surplus revenue to taxpayers.
Speaking to the Greater Dallas Chamber in Addison, Mr. Perry said dedicated funds should be used for their stated purpose, not tossed into the state's general fund for other needs.
"I'm kind of drawing a line in the sand," Mr. Perry told a group of business leaders and elected officials gathered at the Chamber luncheon. "I'm going to fight that practice real hard so people get the government spending that they have been promised."
Mr. Perry's opponents quickly dismissed his five-point plan, saying that he has been part of the problem.
"If Rick Perry wants to stop fraud, he should stop being a fraud," said Jason Stanford, a spokesman for Democrat Chris Bell. "He has been defrauding the taxpayers of Texas for the last six years. He never spoke out about this until Chris Bell raised the issue."
Independent candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn accused the governor of "wasteful spending and misrepresentations to the people of Texas." The campaign noted that state spending has increased $44 billion on Mr. Perry's watch and decried what it called $300 million in corporate welfare, a reference to the governor's Texas Enterprise Fund, which provides state incentives for job creation.
Mr. Perry's plan would:
--Impose a stricter limit on how much state government spending can grow.
--Require that dedicated funds, such as a sporting-goods sales tax designed to fund state parks, be used as intended or refunded to taxpayers.
--Require detailed descriptions of spending in the state budget, rather than lump-sum line items.
--Push state agencies to publish their expenditures online.
--Amend the constitution to allow the state to return surplus revenue to taxpayers.
"It's time to scream bloody murder on this," Mr. Perry said after his speech. "Texans need to know that when they have been told that this is what this money is being collected for, that's what it goes for."
The governor, locked in what could be a tight four-way scrum as he seeks a second full term, defended his decision to push for the reforms just weeks before the election.
"An election is a really good time to talk about it," Mr. Perry said. "People are focused, the public is paying attention. If I'd said it 18 months ago, nobody might have paid attention."
One business group praised Mr. Perry's proposals.
"They sound like reasonable ideas, depending on the details on how they are to be implemented," said Bill Allaway, president of the Taxpayers and Research Association, which represents hundreds of medium and large companies.
Strayhorn aides noted that Mr. Perry has never returned state surplus money to taxpayers.
"This last-minute, pre-election conversion will be seen for what it is -- a political gimmick the governor is trying to pull over on the voters after six years of failures and deceit," said Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders.
The governor spent most of Wednesday in Dallas, speaking at a nanotechnology convention and the grand opening ceremony of the Rena Tarbet Cancer Center in McKinney.
He also visited The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board, where he said he wanted to be governor for, perhaps, another eight years. Most observers have figured that if he wins another term, he won't run again and might be angling for a spot on the 2008 Republican presidential ticket.
"I'm interested in getting things done," he said. "When you look at the decisions we have made day in and day out ... we're making progress. We're doing some inventive things to move this state forward."
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Dallas Morning News
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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