Robert Scott loses his interim title.Gov. Rick Perry named his former aide the state's new commissioner of education, a role Scott has filled for the last few months since Shirley Neeley resigned the position.
Scott was deputy commissioner at the Texas Education Agency for four years and worked as Perry's policy aide on that subject before that.
Neeley quit in June. Several candidates for her job have been mentioned, but Scott's name has been in the hopper since before she left.
It's official: Gov. Rick Perry endorsed former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani this morning.That's an important endorsement for a Yankee who'll be looking for Southern votes next year, and a sign — to some watchers — that Perry is angling for national attention and maybe a spot on a presidential ticket. "For the last six months, I have cogitated, I've looked, I've studied these candidates — some of them I know very well — and came to the conclusion that the individual who can lead America with clarity, the individual who has the experience, the individual who cleaned up a city that was absolutely on its back is mayor Rudy Giuliani," Perry said. Flashback to January 2006, with Perry embroiled in a four-way race for reelection against Democrat Chris Bell, Republican-turned-independent Carole Keeton Strayhorn, and independent Kinky Friedman. That month, Perry won an endorsement from Giuliani; and in 2005-2006, the political action committee of the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm gave $20,000 to Perry's campaign. This isn't a new relationship. Perry said, in a conference call with reporters, that he "won't consider" going on the ballot as a vice presidential candidate. Asked if he'd turn down the veep spot if offered it, he added: "I just had to move out of the Mansion [for renovations] and I'm not looking for another move." But Giuliani, in that same call, kept the idea afloat: "I would say that Gov. Perry is at the top of everyone's list — mine and everyone else's." Perry's leap prompted a towel snap from Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who, with Attorney General Greg Abbott, is co-chairing the Texas campaign for presidential candidate Fred Thompson. "I'm confused," Patterson said. "One of the most, if not the most conservative governor in Texas history, endorses a pro-choice, rabidly anti-2nd Amendment former New York mayor who as mayor, endorsed the Democrat candidate Mario Cuomo over the Republican candidate George Pataki for New York governor. What happened to conservative principles as a measure when choosing who to endorse for any office?" A talking points memo sent to Perry friendlies addresses differences between the candidate and the governor on four big issues: abortion, gay marriage and gays in general, gun control, and immigration. Perry's answers, in order: "Good people can disagree on this issue"; "...we, too, are called to love everyone even if we may disagree on issues like this one"; "Mayor Giuliani makes a distinction between what may work in New York City versus the rest of America"; and "Mayor Giuliani understands that you cannot have homeland security without border security." The two politicians said they're off to Iowa to campaign for Giuliani. Perry will be one of Giuliani's national co-chairs; his Texas chair is Comptroller Susan Combs.