CPRIT: "Message to voters about future potential boondoggles: Trust your gut – vote no."

Then There's This: The Big C Stands for Corruption

Even after reforms at CPRIT, Rick Perry remains in charge

BY AMY SMITH, FRI., DEC. 20, 2013

"It's easy to understand why there was more moral outrage over Lehmberg's night behind the wheel than the massive bungling of a $3 billion taxpayer initiative to cure cancer. It's easy to understand because, well, it's easier to understand, thanks to the dumbed-down video saturation of Lehmberg at her worst, and the endless political posturing we witnessed during this year's legislative session. In June, Perry even made good on his threat to veto the Public Integrity Unit's $7.5 million budget if Lehmberg didn't heed his call to resign from her post. In a statement accompanying the veto, Perry said, "I cannot in good conscience support continued state funding for an office with statewide jurisdiction at a time when the person charged with ultimate responsibility of that unit has lost the public's confidence." (Perry is under investigation to determine whether he abused his power in delivering the ultimatum.)

If anyone is more deserving of losing the public's confidence, it's our ethically challenged state leaders – not just Perry and Dewhurst, but Attorney General Greg Abbott, who served on CPRIT's governing board and, we now know, never attended any of CPRIT's 23 meetings. A little background here: Perry vowed to work toward curing cancer in his 2007 State of the State address and that same year, with Perry and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong leading the campaign charge, voters overwhelming approved $3 billion in bonds to create a cancer research and prevention agency. The very idea of Perry and his friends helming a tax-funded slush fund was one reason I voted against the constitutional amendment. Message to voters about future potential boondoggles: Trust your gut – vote no."