Perry praises Brownback for making Kansas a ‘powerful economic engine’

In competing political events Wednesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry hailed Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s economic record, while supporters of Brownback’s opponent, Paul Davis, took to the street protesting the governor’s policies on education and women’s rights.

Perry and Brownback rallied briefly with about 100 Republicans at the GOP headquarters in west Wichita before adjourning to a private fundraiser.

About 150 Davis supporters lined Main Street, chanting and waving signs outside the Brownback fundraiser at the Fidelity Bank office downtown.

Perry said Brownback is one of several GOP governors “who really get it when it comes to what the role of a governor is.”

“He’s a professional friend; he’s also a personal friend,” Perry said of Brownback.

Perry went on to call Kansas “one of the bright and powerful economic engines of America.”

He credited that largely to Brownback’s tax plan, which eliminated state taxes on the personal income of people who own limited liability companies, sole proprietorships and corporations organized under Subchapter S of the federal tax code.

“The fact of the matter is this: If you don’t give the confidence to the job creators, that you’re not going to overtax them, over-regulate them, overlitigate them; that there’s going to be a skilled workforce for them, they will go somewhere else,” Perry said. “They won’t risk their capital to create the jobs so that men and women can have the dignity to take care of their families.”

He said Kansas has become so business-friendly that he looks elsewhere when trying to entice companies to move to Texas.

“You go fish where the fish are,” he said. “I’m not spending my time, nor is my economic development people spending our time, over the course of the last 24 to 36 months looking at Kansas to go recruit businesses to the state of Texas, because we realize what they have created here is a very competitive climate.”

Perry, who is retiring from office, said he thinks the next Texas governor will fish for jobs in Kansas if Davis, who is leading Brownback in multiple polls, wins the Kansas governorship.

“I will suggest that the most important thing that government does, and it’s what he’s done, is what those others (Davis supporters) would criticize him about, because he understood you cannot tax and spend yourself to prosperity. … It’s in his heart, and he understands that.”

The Davis supporters who gathered outside Brownback’s fundraiser said the governor has been a disaster for the state.

Most wore red T-shirts, signifying public school teachers and their supporters, or yellow shirts, representing members of Women for Kansas.

Suzanne Koch, a retired librarian for Wichita Southeast High School, said she came to the rally to support the teachers.

“I don’t like people who don’t support public education,” Koch said. “He (Brownback) goes on TV and says, ‘I funded education to this amount’ – because the (Supreme) court made him do it.”

Others questioned why Brownback would bring Perry to Kansas to campaign for him given that Perry is under indictment on abuse-of-power charges in his home state.

“His choice of guests is a little odd,” said Deena Burnett, communications director for United Teachers of Wichita and an organizer of Wednesday’s protest. “If I’m trying to raise money, I wouldn’t bring my friend who’s under indictment.”

Patricia Wedel of Wichita came to the pro-Davis rally wearing a “Wendy Davis” T-shirt.

Davis is a Texas Democratic lawmaker running to replace Perry and is nationally known for filibustering against the state’s strict anti-abortion law.

Wedel waved a sign reading: “How’s the indictment working out for you, Rick?”

An Austin grand jury has charged Perry with two counts of violating Texas public integrity law. The indictment alleges Perry improperly sought to influence Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign her position after she was convicted and served jail time for driving under the influence.

It also charges that Perry abused his authority as governor when he threatened to, and ultimately did, veto funding for the state’s Public Integrity Unit, which investigates and prosecutes alleged misconduct of government officials. The state capital, Austin, is in Travis County, and the district attorney there oversees the integrity unit.

If Lehmberg had resigned, Perry, as governor, would have appointed her successor.

Perry and his supporters have characterized the indictment as political maneuvering and have said his actions were within his authority as governor. His lawyers have filed court papers seeking to have the indictment dismissed on grounds that the law is unconstitutionally vague, that prosecution would violate legislative immunity and that courts cannot limit a governor’s authority to veto spending measures.

This story was originally published September 24, 2014 at 8:38 PM with the headline "Perry praises Brownback for making Kansas a ‘powerful economic engine’."