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Texas Tribune Talks: Bill White Shows Campaign Colors [Politics]
While his body language was initially less than confident and his answers pat (perhaps due to the early hour, as the conversation took place over breakfast), White hit his stride once the talk turned to Rick Perry. Repeatedly calling out the governor's actions as "not conservative," the three-term mayor of Houston stressed his own businesslike approach to city government and his fiscally prudent philosophy—calling for individual audits instead of Perry's 5% solution, and making sure that "revenues match expenses."
White attacked Perry's proposal to build a "toll road for 18-wheelers," arguing that those in passenger vehicles have a hard enough time getting from home to work already. But when he grasped at real-world traffic examples, the only specifics he gave were from his birthplace of San Antonio—did none of his Austin staffers brief him on the hell that is I-35?
Once he relaxed a bit, White even cracked a few jokes: after refusing Smith's request to commit to no tax raises (a simple "no, I won't"), the Tribune chief asked how White would head off potential Republican mischaracterizations of this refusal.
"They'll mislead people anyway," said White, to audience laughter.
Casting humorous doubt on Perry strategist Dave Carney's credibility, White demanded, "Where's he from?" when Smith mentioned that Carney had characterized the former corporate attorney as a trial lawyer. "Is he from New England?", he pondered aloud.
Two Trib cameras were trained on White during the conversation, and the full video is available here.
