White continues tech fund attack
SMU Political Science Professor Cal Jillson talks about the race for Texas governor and the controversy over the distribution of money from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund.
By JOE HOLLEY
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Bill White on Monday accused Gov. Rick Perry of "using tax dollars to subsidize hand-picked companies" with ties to his own high-dollar campaign donors.
With his second statement on the issue in two days, White attempted to capitalize on a Sunday Dallas Morning News story detailing the hundreds of thousands of dollars contributed to Perry by owners and investors of companies that received $16 million from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. The Governor's Office oversees the five-year-old fund, and the governor signs off on grants. . .
SMU political scientist Cal Jillson said White may have found a weak spot.
"My sense is that Perry has been vulnerable for awhile," he said. "He's become so used to working the governor's office in conjunction with the lobby that voters are a little bit nervous."
White's earlier claims that Perry used the office for personal gain were based on old news, which rarely is effective as campaign fodder, Jillson said.
"These two things — that a quarter of his campaign funds have come from people he's appointed to boards and commissions and that he may be using the Emerging Technology Fund as a honey pot for his own political purposes — are new," Jillson said. "It's possible that they could cause voters to push the refresh button on this issue of whether Perry has created a political machine in Texas."
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