Politics & Government

Perry Deflects 2016 Talk In Return To Missouri

The Texas Governor was in St. Charles this weekend to talk to conservative political activists.

Former GOP Presidential candidate and current Texas Governor Rick Perry spent a second day in the St. Louis area Saturday, using his appearance at the American Conservative Union's regional Conservative Political Action Conference to continue his push for tax reform and a critique of the Obama administration.

It was the second appearance in the state in recent weeks for Perry, who has barnstormed the country with an ad campaign and in-person push to promote Texas as business-friendly. Perry took on Missouri Governor Jay Nixon here earlier this summer in a high-profile ad campaign prior to Missouri's September veto session in the state legislature.  A Republican supermajority was unable to override Nixon's veto of a tax relief measure.

Governor Perry defended his travels to Missouri and elsewhere, and said he expected other "Red State" governors to make their pitch to lure Missouri businesses. "It's good thoughtful civil competition and competition is what makes you stronger."

The Texas Governor used his remarks in front of a conservative audience in St. Charles to hit the Obama administration on health care reform and also on foreign policy. "It is not in the interest of our nation to give advance warning to the enemy of the nature of a strike," he said of the administration's stance on the potential for military action in Syria over that country's use of chemical weapons. "As a former Air Force pilot I can tell you the first sign of a coming attack from the united states needs to be craters in your soil."

Perry deflected questions about whether the stops here in Missouri are a prelude to a 2016 bid for the White House, or if he'll have a future in elective office after his term ends in 2014. He told reporters that the visit was a return to the state he lived in when he lived in Festus in 1969.

The San Antonio Express-News reported Perry spent the summer selling bibles in the state.

Perry arrived Friday to launch the non-profit Americans For Economic Freedom, which "will focus on job creation by pushing low-tax state policies rather than a "Washington culture (that) is fundamentally broken," he told The Associated Press.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from St. Charles