Tricky Ricky Perry: 'Budget cuts for thee, but not for me'

Proof that Rick Perry, like Barack Obama, is Just.Another.Politician? Proof there's nothing compassionate about his conservativism?

The budget proposals being batted around the Texas Lege have nary a cent of money being cut from his salary.

House and Senate draft budgets make no cuts to the salaries of Texas' statewide elected officials — all Republicans — and the leaders of the state's largest agencies, including the Texas Education Agency, the department of Health and Human Services, and the departments of Aging and Disability Services and Family Protective Services.

Yes, the Lege, not the Gov., marks up preliminary budgets. But, where's Perry's voice, now that a budget first draft is on the table, saying, "Take 10 percent off my salary"?

Answer: Nowhere.

That said, I was ready, when I first saw this, for some CONservatives to say it wouldn't matter.

Sure enough, other elected folks say even if you trim these salaries, it wouldn't make a real budget dent.

Lawmakers didn't reduce salaries because "even if you cut 'em in half, it's not going to be that much money" in a two-year budget that currently spends $182 billion ... the Senate's chief budget writer, Sen. Steve Ogden of Bryan, said.

Like other Just.Another.Politician types, Ogden refuses to see that it's a perception issue.

And, here's the numbers:

As governor, Perry is paid $150,000 annually, the same salary paid to Attorney General Greg Abbott, Comptroller Susan Combs and 16 of the state's 18 judges on the Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals. The chief justice of the Supreme Court and presiding judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals make $152,500.

State Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and Railroad Commissioners Elizabeth Ames Jones, Michael Williams and David Porter all make $137,500.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst , who is elected statewide and presides over the Senate, is paid a state senator's salary of $7,200.

Agency heads typically make much more than Perry and the other elected officials.

That said, former state rep. Talmadge Heflin, although claiming last week the state doesn't face a real deficit, DOES grasp the symbolism. Let's see how much the tea partiers push this one.

That said, why haven't Texas Dems picked up on the symbolism angle yet?