CorridorWatch.org - Challenging the Wisdom of the Trans-Texas Corridor.

The governor must be impeached

February 4, 2007

Paul D. Perry, The Daily Light

The governor’s mandate of the HPV vaccine is indicative of a man who has lost touch with the citizens of our state.

As reported in DallasBlog.com, Merck’s Gardasil (HPV) vaccine already has been under fire nationally from the National Vaccine Information Center, which claims that “Merck’s clinical trials did not prove the human papillomavirus vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer and genital warts is safe to give to young girls.” NVIC cites the trial studies as showing there were serious problems with adverse reaction to the shots: “Nearly 90 percent of Gardasil recipients ... followed-up for safety reported one or more adverse events within 15 days of vaccination, particularly at the injection site. Pain and swelling at injection occurred in approximately 83 percent of Gardasil” recipients. A majority of the young women who received Gardasil complained about “serious adverse events such as headache, gastroenteritis, appendicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, asthma, bronchospasm and arthritis,” according to NVIC.

This vaccine is very questionable and has not been in use long enough for there to be a comfort factor with many parents. What will it do to growing bodies long term? I am not opposed to vaccines in general, but the governor can count me as a one dissatisfied constituent on this one.

At best this move is irresponsible, at worst, it reeks of the odor of quid pro quo like some of the governor’s other moves. Why was the legislature circumvented by the executive in this case? The legislature had just now convened and had not had time to even visit the vaccine issue in full. A rational person should ask the question, just what was promised to the governor here?

Will big pharma dollars now back the governor’s future aspirations? A vice presidential nomination seems to be being talked about in Austin. The taxpayer- and property owner-hostile, foreign profiteer-backed Trans-Texas Corridor also comes to mind; Cintra-Zachary would no doubt love to keep the governor on the friends list. Why is it necessary to legislate away normal state and federal constitutional protections to build a road, Guv? It appears large interests can have all the friends they can afford, especially in Texas.

While the governor’s picked committee on appraisal reform came forward with a few decent suggestions concerning spending limitation, the overall report was at best anemic. They did not address the imbalances in the appeal process, for instance. In meetings all over the state I hear taxpayers suggest moving lesser dollar appeals to the JP courts. The governor’s committee proposal suggesting the appointment of Central Appraisal District representatives by the district judges and calling them “taxpayer representatives” would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. All over the state, Texans called for at least some members of both Appraisal and Appeals Boards to be popularly elected. I know that some members of the committee were people of good will, but a reasonable person could wonder how stacked the committee was with the governor’s own cronies.

Paul D. Perry is a resident of Ellis County and former Ellis County Justice of the Peace for Pct. 4.