So Over Grover

Anti-government activist Grover Norquist (r) throws his support behind Gov. Rick Perry in exchange for the guv signing a Taxpayer Protection Pledge. (Photo by Jana Birchum)

While political analysts and potential senators scratch their heads over when Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will start really campaigning for the Republican nomination for governor, her incumbent opponent has been sweeping the board on endorsements from the far right. So far this month, Gov. Rick Perry has gotten the nod from Allan E. Parker Jr., president of conservative legal advocates the Justice Foundation, and Phyllis Schlafly, founder of social reactionaries the Eagle Forum. And on Oct. 1, Perry took the time for a photo op with Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist when he signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. In it, the governor pledged "to the taxpayers of the State of Texas, that I will oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes." Norquist's crew calls this kind of commitment "a prerequisite for many voters."

Widely regarded as the philosopher-king of deregulators, Norquist famously wrote that his intention is to get government "down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." So it was no surprise that outspoken state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, author of two books on the impact of Norquist's anti-government activism (the latest, Getting Out of Grover's Tub, was published in August), fired back. Noting that even Perry's own 2009 Select Commission on Higher Educa­tion and Global Competitiveness concluded that "Texas is not globally competitive," Shapleigh said, "Good government is of, by, and for people – and those irresponsible few who seek to starve government are really starving us."

Perry may struggle to live up to his tax commitment. Earlier this year, he approved a state budget that even House Finance Com­mittee Chair Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, admitted had a structural deficit – whereby there was no way the current tax base could cover the state's spending, never mind cover its actual needs – and it was only bailed out by federal stimulus dollars.