Texas Gov. Rick Perry met with gunmakers last week as part of a visit to the tristate area, with hopes of snaring a portion of Connecticut”™s $1.3 billion firearms industry.
Perry met with firearms industry representatives and other business owners in Hartford June 17 in between testing out the shooting range at Colt”™s Manufacturing Co.”™s East Hartford headquarters and meeting with representatives of North Haven-based O.F. Mossberg & Sons.
After a speech in Stamford later that evening, Perry said he would also seek to entice area financial services firms and pharmaceutical companies to move to Texas, citing the state”™s more business-friendly tax and regulatory environment. Perry”™s stop in Connecticut, which coincided with a visit by South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard, was followed by a series of meetings in New York state.
“There are 1,400 people a day moving into the state of Texas. Fourteen hundred,” Perry told reporters following his speech at Stamford”™s Ferguson Library. “The economic impact of that is $15.9 billion a year in gross state product,” according to economists at TexasA&MUniversity.
“This state (Connecticut) has lost gross state product for the last two years,” Perry continued, referencing a recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. “There is a connection there, and that”™s part of the discussion that”™s going to be borne out of me coming and talking and reaching out to your businesses. I know that”™s uncomfortable to some, but the fact is, it”™s a productive conversation.”
The outspoken Republican and former presidential candidate was in Stamford to participate in the city”™s “Civility and America” speaker series. “I thought I would take a little bit of a break from poaching all of your jobs to talk about civility,” Perry told the 200-plus people in attendance.
The firearms industry employs more than 1,000 people in Connecticut, which is the birthplace of Colt and home to other major gunmakers such as O.F. Mossberg and Sturm, Ruger & Co.
As a whole, the industry contributes more than $1.3 billion to the Connecticut economy, according to 2011 testimony by a representative of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a Newtown organization that lobbies on the behalf of the firearms industry.
“Part of the reason I”™m here is not just to poach your jobs,” Perry said in his speech. “I”™m here to help stimulate a conversation about policies that can make both Connecticut and Texas stronger places economically.”
He pointed to Texas”™ 4.8 percent increase in economic output last year, telling reporters afterward that it is the government”™s responsibility to have “a tax structure that is as light as it can be, a regulatory climate that is fair and predictable … a legal system that doesn”™t allow for overusing,” and “the accountable public school system so you have a skilled workforce.”
And then, Perry said, government”™s job is to “pretty much get out of the way and let the private sector do what it does best, which is create those jobs and which in turn creates the wealth.”
Perry spoke with his Connecticut counterpart at Max Downtown in Hartford when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made an unexpected visit to the restaurant where Perry was hosting business representatives.
“He was very, very genuine,” Perry said. “I totally understand that he”™s probably not crazy that I”™m here trying to recruit his businesses, but that”™s part of, I think, what we do (as governors).”
During his speech, Perry criticized the “permanent campaign culture” of politics, saying that it has led to a fracturing of government at the federal level.
“We all contribute to the worsening of the public discourse ”“ myself included,” Perry said. “You”™d be hard-pressed to find anyone who has beaten up on Washington, D.C., more than I have over the past few years, but part of the reason people bash Washington is because of a lack of civility, which profoundly contributes to its dysfunctionality. They get nothing done because they can”™t communicate (with) one another, except through a press conference.”
[Editor’s note: This article was updated June 20. An initial version was published June 18.]
Gov. Perry is a coward. He wouldn’t take time to meet with the parents and relatives of the Sandy Hook Shooting. Instead he met with the manufacturers of the weapons that killed all those children and teachers. And by-the-way the gun manufacturers are major contributors to the NRA. Gov. Malloy should publically denounce this coward, and let him know is isn’t welcomed in CT.