Blog #1: Richard Perry

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