As I reported yesterday, Texas Governor Rick Perry is the subject of a lot of conjecture, concerning whether of not he plans to mount a campaign for the Republican Presidential Nomination.

On April 9, 2009, Governor Perry issued the following statement:

I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state.

That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.

So, how do the citizens of the Republic of Texas feel about their Chief Executive and the job that he is doing?  And how is he handling the challenges of governing the largest state in our contiguous 48?

Last January, a consortium of Texas newspapers commissioned a poll which asked Texas their opinion of their politicians.

The poll showed Governor Rick Perry’s approval ratings among Texans coming in at over 50 percent, up from 46 percent in 2010.  52 percent said that they believed that Texas was heading in the right direction.

Jennifer Sauer, 32, of Elmendorf, Texas, said:

I’m not that political. I think things have been going great lately. That’s why I was saying for him not to run for president. He needs to stay in Texas.

Some “Distinguished Alumni” from Texas A & M beg to differ with Ms. Sauer.

Here’s an excerpt from a  post found on the May 3rd, 2011 on-line edition of the Houston Chronicle:

On Tuesday, 22 A&M graduates honored as “Distinguished Alumni” by the Association of Former Students warned that “an extraordinary level of political intervention in our university” could damage A&M’s reputation, particularly “proposals to fundamentally change how research universities in Texas fulfill their educational responsibilities.”

The signatories, most of them wealthy Texas businessmen who have contributed generously to their alma mater and have served in leadership positions at the university, ranged in graduation class from 1949 to 1967. Perry graduated from A&M in 1972.

“It is our opinion that several of these proposals will do significant damage,” the alumni wrote. “We encourage you to ask the Board of Regents to end their well-known support for the seven proposals. We call on you to ask the board of Regents to resist inappropriate political intervention …”

In response to one of the “seven solutions” promoted by Perry and Sandefer, Texas A&M published an online ranking of professors on their “productivity” based on the number of students they taught.

The ranking earned the university a rebuke from the prestigious Association of American Universities, an organization of the nation’s top research institutions.

This missive was titled “Open Letter to the Texas A&M University Community”. In it, the alumni criticized the proposals of Jeff Sandefer, an Austin businessman and architect of the “Seven Breakthrough Solutions.” Sandefer’s suggestions had been supported by Governor Perry as a way to make higher education more cost-effective.

Sandefer contributed nearly $450,000 to Perry’s campaigns.

And if you think that Governor Perry is engaged in a war with Texas Liberals over Education Reform.  You ain’t seen nothing, yet.

You remember, Gentle Reader, that Texas is a Border State, right?

Well, Governor Perry has championed an immigration bill that almost tore the Texas House of Representatives apart before it was passed.

The original bill would allow local police to question anyone they detain about their citizenship status.

However, it was derailed yesterday as a key Senate committee voted to take out the police enforcement measure that “concerned” citizens had packed a committee room to testify against.

The proposed legislation, nicknamed the “sanctuary cities” bill, had been declared an emergency by Gov. Rick Perry and had naturally been the center of a passionate and racially charged verbal donnybrook.

Leading up to the Texas House’s vote, there were a lot of differing opinions about the purpose of the bill.

The bill’s author, Republican Burt Solomons, said:

It simply prevents cities from telling officers to turn a blind eye to violators of federal law.

House Democrats disagreed.   State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer told reporters:

It’s the largest anti-Hispanic bill I’ve seen in Texas.

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo told a House committee in March:

At a time with dwindling resources, we’re very concerned with placing the job of the federal government in the hands of state and local” entities. Quite frankly, I’m not sure what we’re trying to fix.

When asked about some police chiefs opposing the measure, Perry referred reports back to the last Election.

My response is that I hope they were paying attention on the second day of November, 2010, when the people of the state of Texas said pretty clearly that they wanted to have a sanctuary city prohibition in our statute. I talked a lot about it during the campaign.

In conclusion, it appears that the majority of the citizens of Texas support their Governor and the things that he is trying to accomplish for them.  The problem is, Governor Perry has to work with his Legislative Branch.  He can’t just rule by diktat, as a certain resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. is attempting.