Farouk For Governor

According to a report that was recently released by Texans for Public Justice, there is something awfully suspicious of how the state’s economic development funds were used. According to the report almost half of the companies that benefited from the fund, contributed a whooping $7 million to either Rick Perry’s re-run campaign for governor or the RGA- Republican Governor’s Association.

This has been considered to be highly suspicious by many people since Rick Perry formerly headed the association. The report states that 43 out of the 90 companies that benefited from the economic fund, received over $300 million from the state’s kitty. In some of the contributions that were made by these corporations, the money was directly donated to the Republican Governor’s Association. In some instances, these donations were made to Rick Perry directly.

The report further goes to show, that these corporations have not put the money that was awarded to them from the economic fund into good use. Many of the companies mentioned have; modified contracts in order to lower their job targets, terminated contracts, exaggerated job claims, not fulfilled job promises, and in some cases even gone as far ahead as to terminate job contracts. In the past the Office of the Governor, has been very clear that companies, that fail to meet their obligations after getting awarded state funds as incentives for growth, will be required to pay back these loans.

The Governor’s spokesperson has been noted as saying, that the incentive money that is awarded to these companies has been seminal in attracting capital investments, creating employment and bringing research dollars to the state of Texas. In responding to these allegations, Rick Perry said that Texans were very happy that the government was running such a beneficial program that has so far attracted more than $14 billion worth of investment.

Queries into the fund, may further complicate his nomination to the presidency, ass he might not have the moral ground to bring up the contentious deal in regard to Solyndra which targets President Barack Obama. Katherine Cesinge, Perry’s campaign spokesperson, responded to the allegations in the report by saying that it was not objective as the same companies had contributed a similar amount of money to the Democratic Governor’s Association within the same period. Also, she rebutted the accusations by saying that the TPJ group lacked the moral ground to make such accusations as it had refused to release a list of its donors.