Ian Grant
9/3/14
Pols. 100W
Blog #1
Prof. Wood
Richard Perry Twitter Fiasco
The world around
us is constantly evolving. Social media and technology have allowed for a
greater range of news coverage but in some cases, this expansion of media can
have a negative effect on our views of politicians and the government. Texas
Gov. Richard Perry is a victim to this negativity that comes with misusing
social media. The issue focuses on how one post on social media can shape the
views we have of our government and those whom we are choosing to represent the
people.
Gov. Perry
reportedly deleted a post from his Twitter account last Sunday that highlighted
the drunken driving arrest of Travis County Dist. Atty. Rosemary Lehmberg. This action resulted in the governor's recent indictment by a Travis County grand
jury. The post by Perry stated "I don't always drive drunk at 3x the legal
blood alcohol limit ... but when I do, I indict Gov. Perry for calling me out
about it. I am the most drunk Democrat in Texas." The tweet from Perry's
account was retweeted more than 600 times. Gov. Perry attempted to shield
himself from facing scrutiny by claiming the post was “unauthorized” by him or
his office but once something is posted to the internet it cannot be reversed or
deleted.
Gov. Perry was a
firm supporter of Lehmberg and funded her political party; this all changed
with the arrest of D.A. Lehmberg and bad blood between the two quickly arose.
Perry requested for the resignation of Lehmberg feeling that she had lost “the
public’s confidence” due to her irresponsibility. He threatened to veto her
position in office if she didn’t step down. Lehmberg refused to quit after
serving her time in jail and in return prompted Perry to follow through with
his veto threat.
At the time, another one of Perry’s “pet
projects”, whom he was funding similar to his arrangement with Dist. Atty.
Lehmberg, went under investigation by the public integrity unit. The state
agency was called the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. A
left-leaning government watchdog group called “Texans for Public Justice” filed
a complaint against Perry resulting in his case being brought up in court.
In the end, his
choice to publicly humiliate another official backfired and may have cost Perry
his whole career with him potentially being a candidate for the 2016
Presidential election. Social media is becoming ever more powerful with the
evolution of technology. Users should be careful when posting on these types of
websites because you never know how dramatic of a turn one “tweet” can have on
your life.
kathryn.wood@sjsu.edu
