Perry declares victory on border-security funding, but chides other parts of the session

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday declared victory in his quest to persuade the Legislature to spend $100 million on border security.

Saying the legislative session that ended Monday was marked by “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” he pointed out what pleased him — not just border security funding, but increases in higher education dollars and the decision to allow voters to decide in November whether to spend $3 billion on cancer research.

“Health care will be better-funded, college will be more accessible, and school property tax rates will continue to drop,” he said.

As for what he saw as bad: not enough money went to property tax cuts beyond those funded in the 2006 session.

And the ugly? Perry said it was the lack of transparency in the budget.

Flawed projections about how much items will cost, blurred lines between education funding and property-tax relief and “accounting sleight of hands” make it harder for him to exercise his line-item veto power on the budget, he explained.

“My quarrel is not with where the dollars flow, but with the lack of transparency, accountability, budgetary honesty involving how they are allocated,” he said.

Mutiny in the House

Without naming state House Speaker Tom Craddick or the chamber Craddick oversees, Perry referred to the uprising in the House in the legislative session’s final days in which Craddick opponents asked for a vote on whether to oust the speaker.

Craddick repeatedly refused to allow the vote, citing House rules; two of his assistants quit; and about 50 of his opponents — Democrats and Republicans — walked out of the chamber and temporarily brought business to a halt. In the end, Craddick clung to power and promised to run again in 2009.

Perry said he is glad lawmakers are leaving Austin and hope they play nicer when they return.

“I had hoped that with a strong economy, a record budget surplus, that we could see greater unity this session; instead we saw continued discord,” Perry said.

“I’m glad the legislators are leaving town so that there is time for the wounds to heal.”

Border dollars

Despite the political battles, Perry said lawmakers could leave saying they improved border security this session.

The budget dedicates more than $100 million to border security, including money for Perry to send to sheriffs or other local law enforcement, as well as money for the Texas Department of Public Safety to hire troopers and buy equipment.

Some of the money may be spent only after Perry’s homeland security office exhausts all federal grants for border security.

The border-security bill passed in the Legislature sets up a Border Security Council appointed by the governor that will recommend how to use the money.

Hidalgo County’s take

Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said he is glad the governor will have more money to dispense to local law enforcement.

Treviño said he has shown he can use previous grant money to get results, he said.

“We are the second-largest county on the border and we’re probably the most productive, so I’m hoping to get a bunch of it, and I don’t think anybody is going to turn me down,” he said.

Treviño said previous differences between him and other border sheriffs have been overcome and they all agree not to use the money to enforce immigration law.

In recent years, the sheriff had received significantly less in grant money from the Border Sheriffs Coalition, which distributed grants from the governor, than some other sheriffs along the border.

“Maybe my idea or my interpretation of the grant rules was not the general interpretation of the coalition, but look, that’s water under the bridge, that’s gone,” Treviño said.

“I think the new news is that all of us are on the same page and we’re going forward.”

The next regular state legislative session is set for January 2009.

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Elizabeth Hernandez covers the state capital for Valley Freedom Newspapers. She is based in Austin and can be reached at (512) 323-0622. For this and more local stories, visit www.themonitor.com