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Jim Geraghty asks a piercing question today: If Rick Perry is as dumb as his detractors say, how’d he get rich?
Wait a minute, you may say: I thought Perry spent his career in politics? Discharged from the Air Force in 1977 aged 27, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives seven years later, in 1984. At that time, the Perry family reported income of $45,000, largely from Mrs. Perry’s work as a nurse.
Rick Perry served in the legislature until elected Agriculture Commissioner in 1990. He climbed the ladder to Lt. Governor in 1998, then ascended in the governorship after George W. Bush was elected president in 2000.
Now it’s 2011, and Perry reports a net worth of $2.8 million. How’d he do it?
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram tells the story.
Perry made his money in real estate through deals like this:
Back in 1993, there was a piece of ground that computer billionaire Michael Dell needed to connect his new house near Austin to city water mains. Dell neglected to appreciate the land’s importance. But Perry did discern it. He bought the land for less than $120,000 – then sold it to Dell two years later for a $343,000 profit. Uncanny. True, some detractors have wondered whether the sale was entirely on the level:
Texas Democrats have repeatedly questioned the sale over the years, in part because Mike Toomey – an influential lobbyist who would later become Perry’s chief of staff – closed the deal for Perry while Perry was out of town. Perry has always maintained he didn’t know that the land would be so valuable to Dell when he purchased the property.
Perry repeated similarly shrewd investments again and again in the years ahead.
Look at this transaction from the 2000s. A Texas real estate developer sells land to a Texas state senator – the senator who happened to represent the development’s district. The state senator sold the land to Gov. Perry. Gov. Perry then sold then land – back to the real estate developer’s business partner. Perry scored a profit of $823,000. Tidy. And how remarkable that Perry and his state senator friend could see a value proposition that the two professional real estate developers overlooked.
So it goes through investments in stock, load, and energy properties. Perry just kept seeing things that other people apparently didn’t.
Even more impressive: how Perry managed to find the time. There he was, governor of the second biggest state in the country, creating jobs from morning to night. Yet somehow he also was able to scour the vast landscape of Texas for under-appreciated little parcels of land with the potential to triple or quadruple in value in just a few months.
Geraghty is right. Not “dumb.” Another word, perhaps.
Bunker555 // Aug 30, 2011 at 10:13 pm
The subtitle of Perry’s book is “Our Fight to Save America from Washington.” Reading it summons the image of another, urgent fight: saving America from Rick Perry.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rick-perry-by-the-book/2011/08/30/gIQAJJsbqJ_story.html
steven08817 // Aug 30, 2011 at 10:28 pm
Just what the country needs, another career politician who uses his influence to get rich and live off the fat of the land.
LISGUY // Aug 31, 2011 at 1:02 am
For what it’s worth, (to the trolls here nothing at all), Geraghty response is essentially that the issue has been raised numerous times in both primaries and general elections and drawn a collective yawn from voters. Governor Perry’s land deals have also drawn collective yawns from the Democrat Attorney General and from the U.S. attorneys that might have some say in such matters.
Pols from both parties, as they climb up the greasy pole of politics, usually come out of public service with net worths far greater than when they went in. While he was still writing over at National Review, I remember Mr. Frum passionately making the case that it was a waste of time to dwell on Obama’s relationship to Bill Ayers. The same thing could have been said about Clinton and Whitewater. Ultimately voters will judge Gov. Perry on his overall character and most importantly, what his agenda is going forward. If one wants to follow that rabbit trail, fine. I just wouldn’t expect much out of it at this point.
How $hewd is Rick Perry? : Delaware Liberal // Aug 31, 2011 at 7:37 am
[...] buy into a major league baseball team and resell his portion for mega-dollars. The FrumForum explains one property deal that is like many of his property deals: Look at this transaction from the 2000s. [...]
Bulldoglover100 // Aug 31, 2011 at 8:20 am
Smargalicious….. Mr. Frum has the right to set the record straight on a candidate that he feels is less than honest. You state that it is his site and he can do as he darn well pleases and your correct… yet your tone shows you don’t like that fact…. I have found that many delusional people don’t like those pesky little things called facts…..
Rick Perry is a danger to this country and his past dealings prove this fact and if Mr. Frum chooses to expose Mr. Perry for the scum he is, then so be it. I, for one, applaud him! I am sick of politicians who lie. Period. or Flip flop. Period. I want the truth and that can ONLY be found in facts.
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