A fifth generation Texan, Governor Rick Perry has taken an extraordinary Texas journey, from a tenant farm along the rolling plains of West Texas to the governor’s office of our nation’s second largest state.
Texas’ 47th governor, and the first Texas A&M graduate to occupy the Texas Governor’s Mansion, Rick Perry has led a life of public service, serving four and a half years in the United States Air Force, and nearly two decades in elected office as a state representative, commissioner of agriculture, lieutenant governor and now governor.
Governor Perry has focused his administration on creating a Texas of unlimited opportunity and prosperity through initiatives to improve education and the Texas job climate, keep taxes low and ensure state spending is disciplined.
He joined legislators of both parties in passing a balanced budget without a tax hike despite a $10 billion shortfall in 2003. Demonstrating Governor Perry’s priorities, the budget he signed increased education and healthcare spending despite tough economic times, and invested in jobs with the new $295 million Texas Enterprise Fund, because Governor Perry believes the best long-term, stable source of revenue for funding public priorities is job creation.
