Rick Perry's Opponent Accuses Texas Governor Of Slacking On The Job

A recent examination of Texas Governor Rick Perry's work schedule shows that he may be a more of an avid coyote sharpshooter or aspiring author than a state employee.

The Trail Blazers blog over at the Dallas Morning News reports:

The Bill White campaign requested the governor's official work calendar for this year and the open records request showed that Perry performed no scheduled state work on 24 of 72 business days. That's one-third of the work week without phone calls or meetings. The calendar covered January, March, April and most of May. The February record has not yet been released.

According to the review, the days that Gov. Perry did take on state business were sometimes marked only by lone phone calls or press conferences.

As Trail Blazers points out, the first two months included in this report covered the span leading up to March's gubernatorial primary -- which Perry eventually won -- and they don't contain vital campaign events such as fundraising, speeches and other appearances.

The campaign of Bill White, the former Democratic Mayor of Houston who Perry will face in November, isn't buying it.

"Maybe the Legislature should start paying Perry on an hourly basis to encourage him to stop ignoring the budget crisis and get things done," Katy Bacon, a spokeswoman for the White campaign, told the Trail Blazers blog.

Rick Perry's campaign shot back with their own response, defending the Governor's work record and attacking Bill White for his own campaign activities.

"Gov. Perry works 24 hours a day seven days a week addressing issues that matter to people, like creating jobs, being fiscally responsible and balancing budgets," Perry spokseman Mark Miner told Trail Blazers. "Bill White has spent the last two years campaigning statewide without announcing one new policy initiative."