But he did get a nice vacation in the most beautiful state!

by Brian Leubitz

Rick Perry’s swoop through Southern California appears to be over, and he’s leaving without much other than a few parties to show for it:

On a conference call with reporters from Laguna Beach, the Republican said he spent his four days meeting with entrepreneurs and business leaders and held a reception for more than 200 California companies that have expressed interest in moving to Texas. Such relocations can take time, but Perry also offered no details on prospects, much less concrete announcements. …

Perry said on the call that “this isn’t about bashing California; it’s about promoting Texas.” But he went on to offer a few digs. When asked if Texas’ light regulatory rules have contributed to a high number of worksite deaths, the governor said he thought it had more to do with high-risk oil and gas industry jobs prevalent in his state.

“Y’all in California are not very knowledgeable about the energy industry and that is a fairly dangerous workplace,” Perry said, ignoring California’s green-technology initiatives. (Houston Chronicle)

Not sure what to say here, other than California has plenty of dangerous jobs, yet a much lower incidence of injuries. Surely that couldn’t be the work of workplace safety regulations.

Perry’s little stunt with the $14,000 radio ad got some press, but it also got this clever response from the Lone Star Project. (see right)

Now whether Perry chooses to acknowledge it, California has several major advantages that can’t simply be tossed aside. Silicon Valley is a technology cluster like no other, and Hollywood, is, well, Hollywood. Our renewable energy standards mean that we will be in the middle of the green economy, a ship that Texas is letting sail by.

California remains the home of innovation. Surely every state has its peccadilloes, but our resources are vast and our economy is growing. It’s a great time to be in California.