Today in Rick Perry Is Terrible

This is not how things are supposed to work in a democracy:

Now, as Texas Gov. Rick Perry embarks on a presidential campaign, it is unlikely the public will access records that provide many revealing details about his decade-long tenure as governor. While Perry extols open government - most recently challenging Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to "open the books" of the nation's central bank - he has adopted policies that shroud his own office in a purposeful opaqueness that confounds prying reporters or any member of the public questioning his policies.

...Over the past decade, the Perry administration has withheld information in response to about 100 open records requests, instead seeking review by the Texas attorney general's office. In two cases last year, Perry's office acknowledges it failed to meet legal deadlines for responding to the requests, or otherwise delayed in violation of well-established procedures outlined in the Texas Public Information Act.

Most of the withheld documents involved contracts, bidding and oversight of programs in which state money flows to entrepreneurs, privately held companies and universities from Perry's two economic development funds, the Emerging Technology Fund and the Texas Enterprise Fund. In some cases, the requests involve entities headed by Perry campaign donors and political appointees.

...Houston attorney Joe Larsen, who represents the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, said he believes Perry's office is violating state law by automatically purging all staff members' computers of e-mails older than seven days.

...Reporters learned that Perry took a 2004 trip to the Bahamas with San Antonio businessman James Leininger, a campaign donor, and antitax advocate Grover Norquist after being spotted scuba diving by a tourist. The trip did not appear on his schedule released under the state Public Information Act.

This election's collection of miscreants running for the GOP nomination not only make George W. Bush look liberal and John McCain look consistent; they also make Richard Nixon look ethical. Yikes.