Rick Perry, the current United States energy secretary, is very concerned about the student body elections at his alma mater, Texas A&M. The Aggies are currently embroiled in a very juvenile spat over an election that included everything from voter intimidation to cries of PC culture run amok. In the school’s recent student body elections between junior Bobby Brooks and senior Robert McIntosh, the latter was disqualified amid claims of voter intimidation, resulting in Brooks’ victory despite his falling short in the vote tally (a familiar circumstance, indeed!). Brooks is the first openly gay man to serve as president of Texas A&M’s student body and expressed plans to work toward making programs at the school more diverse.
All in all, the episode seemed like a familiar collegiate controversy with a seemingly benign ending. That is, until former Texas Gov. Rick Perry showed up. Perry, who also sits on the school’s board of regents, is not having it. In an op-ed written in the Houston Chronicle, Perry poses the question, “Did A&M shun due process in the name of ‘diversity?’” The former governor is sure to point out that when he first learned of A&M electing its first openly gay student body president, he “viewed it as a testament to the Aggie character.” Perry says he was proud “because the election appeared to demonstrate a commitment to treating every student equally, judging on character rather than on personal characteristics.”
After Perry describes the allegations of voter intimidation that were later dropped by the student election committee, he goes on to say that Brooks’ campaign made up the claims of voter intimidation and that, because the people claiming voter intimidation were supporters of Brooks that “the entire episode that initially disqualified McIntosh was dismissed as a series of dirty campaign tactics.”
“Now, Brooks’ presidency is being treated as a victory for ‘diversity,’” Perry writes. “It is difficult to escape the perception that this quest for ‘diversity’ is the real reason the election outcome was overturned. Does the principle of ‘diversity’ override and supersede all other values of our Aggie Honor Code?”
School officials were surprised that the acting energy secretary would weigh in on such a trivial issue considering the fact that this sort of thing pales in comparison to the issues that the United States government has to deal with on a daily basis. But maybe Perry’s school spirit compelled him to act, to speak out on this injustice for a young white man in Texas. Or, as he’s done in the past, he was doing someone a favor.
In Texas, the land of the quid pro quo, it doesn’t take too much searching to find some dirt: Take, for example, Perry’s West Texas nuclear waste deal with Waste Control Specialist, a firm run by his buddy Harold Simmons, the 80-year-old billionaire who’s donated $3 million to Perry’s numerous campaigns and initiatives. In the case of Perry’s student election outrage, Robert McIntosh is the son of Alison McIntosh, the founder of the McIntosh group, a major Republican fundraising group from Texas that raised money for Perry’s boss, Donald Trump.
We can’t know for sure why Rick Perry decided to write an op-ed about a student body election. But just as he raised suspicions about the legitimacy of the voter intimidation claims, you can’t help but wonder who put Rick Perry up to this.
