Perry’s Executive Order on Gardasil Proves He is a Corrupt Bastard

While there are many scandals that prove that Rick Perry is a corrupt politician, none is more revealing than his Executive Order regarding Gardasil. Here is list of specific facts regarding the Gardasil Executive Order which unequivocally demonstrate that Rick Perry is ruthless, corrupt, and void of any sense of responsibility or accountability.  On February 2, 2007, Governor Perry issued an executive order mandating that Texas girls be vaccinated with Gardasil. The order would become effective in 2008 and girls would be immunized as they entered the 6th grade.

The Act of Issuing An Executive Order of this Type Was Unconstitutional

Due to the history in Texas of abuse by politicians, the Texas Constitution expressly limits the power of the Governor, giving him “little formal power.”

Comparing the Texas governor to the other 49 Governors it is clear that a Texas governor is comparatively weak in formal powers. The Texas Constitution is void of any power or authority for the Governor to issue an Executive Order mandating the use of immunizations by any person in the State of Texas. That power was expressly reserved to the Texas Legislature. The Texas legislature, which was predominately Republican, voted 30-1 to overturn the executive order.  Simply the need of the Texas Legislature to “overturn” an “Executive Order” should be an indication of the inappropriateness of the Executive Order. The fact that both Republicans and Democrats AGREED that the order should be overturned, is prima facie evidence of the inappropriate nature of the Executive Order.

Corruption Was Evidenced by Perry’s Specification that Girls Be Treated with Gardasil

“Gardasil” is the trade name for an immunization developed by Merck & Co. designed to prevent cervical cancer. At the time of Perry’s Executive Order, Merck was not the only manufacturer of an immunization to prevent cervical cancer. Another immunization known as “Cervariz” was being developed in parallel by researchers at Georgetown University, University of Rochester, the University of Queensland in Australia, and the US National Cancer Institute.  In fact Cervarix was found to generate higher antibody levels than Gardasil, and was superior to Gardasil in several other respects. Cervarix had a few localized adverse reactions. General adverse reactions were fatigue, headache, muscle pain and joint pain.

With Gardasil the side effects were much more dramatic, and potentially life threatening. Adverse reactions included convulsions, coma, and death. In spite of the report of several deaths from Gardasil, Rick Perry still refused to withdraw his Executive Order. During a 16 month investigation of Gardasil, side effects were documented in a disturbing number of cases including 3,589 during a 16 month period. . Thousands of girls reported adverse reactions to the vaccine, but Perry found no reason to modify or withdraw his executive order.

Thus, even if Perry thought that immunization from cervical cancer was important, why would he require immunization with an inferior drug? Why did he pick Gardisil, made by Merck? The answer is easy. (1) Rick Perry’s previous Chief of Staff worked as a lobbyist for Merck at the time. (2) Perry and eight other Republican law makers received donations of $5000.00 from Merck lobbyists just a few days before the issuance of Perry’s executive order.

Perry’s Order Illustrated that He Is a Bastard

As if it weren’t offensive enough that Perry took advantage of his position as governor, issued an Executive Order he didn’t have authority to issue, to require a potentially life-threatening medication be given to healthy young girls, which was predicted to result in financial reward to his supporters, and his ex-employee, he proved that he was also a Bastard because:

1. The vaccine was only useful for girls before they had intercourse. If they were not “sexually pure,” there would be no reason to give the vaccine. By requiring the vaccine of all school age girls between ages 10-18, Perry was in essence requiring girls to report to their school nurses whether they were virgins or not.

2. In spite of Perry’s Pro-Life message, he supported the use of the Gardasil vaccine which is made from aborted fetal cells .

3. Most conservative groups advocate the importance of parent’s rights in making medical decisions for their children, and object to the government requiring them to undergo any treatment or medical regime.

4. Conservatives also felt that this Executive Order was inconsistent with the abstinence only position required in Texas schools.

Rick Perry’s Willingness to Say Anything

Even after the issuance of the Executive Order, and the challenge by the Texas Legislature, Perry Defended himself. At a press conference, he played a video message from a 31-year old cervical cancer patient hooked to an oxygen tube, who was too sick to testify earlier at the statehouse. Perry said:

“I challenge legislators to look these women in the eyes and tell them, `We could have prevented this disease for your daughters and granddaughters, but we just didn’t have the gumption to address all the misguided and misleading political rhetoric.,’

Now that Perry has declared his candidacy for President he told reporters in New Hampshire that he regretted his handling of the vaccine, explaining:

“”I signed an executive order that allowed for an opt out, but the fact of the matter is that I didn’t do my research well enough to understand that we needed to have a substantial conversation with our citizenry,” Perry said, according to ABC News. “But here’s what I learned. When you get too far out in front of the parade, they will let you know, and that’s exactly what our legislature did and I saluted it and I said, ‘Roger that, I hear you loud and clear’ and they didn’t want to do it and we don’t, so enough said.”

Perry has always insisted he did the right thing, until he became a candidate for President. He is a corrupt bastard.