It always seems like the people who complain the most about other people sucking money from taxpayers are the people who actually do it the most (this may be a corollary to the premise that those people who bash gays the most are themselves afraid to come out of the closet).
The latest example is Rick Perry, who has made a career of criticizing government workers and the poor for what he calls living off taxpayer largess. So it should come as no surprise that Perry is the only Republican candidate for president who is charging his travel and security expenses to the government. Not only that, but he has the largest security contingent of any Republican candidate — the only candidate who has a larger security force is President Obama.
Perry even justified having the government pay for his campaign travel and security by claiming “I’m going to be promoting Texas. I’m going to be traveling to places where the Texas story needs to be told, and we will tell it.” I guess it is only coincidental that Perry’s travel expenses skyrocketed after he announced he was running for president. In fact, in just the month of September (immediately after he announced he was running) he spent $397,000 of the taxpayer’s money on travel and security, including $4,400 on a single meal.
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Might be interesting to see, of all the Republican candidates, who’s spent the most money and gained the least. They’re up, they’re down.
The governor’s security detail is provided by the TX Dept of Public Safety (DPS) which is funded by the gasoline tax. Former governor Bush had a similar contingent. Texans paying for the security detail likely find it worthwhile if it keeps him out of state.