Strayhorn Rips Perry Over Enterprise Fund
AUSTIN (AP) – Seizing on the announcement that a company receiving state money expects to cut 600 jobs, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn criticized Gov. Rick Perry for what she called “meager” oversight of the program that uses millions in cash to lure business to Texas.
Strayhorn, who is running for governor against Perry, wrote him a letter complaining of what she calls a lack of accountability with companies that get money from Perry’s Texas Enterprise Fund. “As the state’s chief fiscal officer, I am gravely concerned,” Strayhorn wrote.
Perry is a Republican. Strayhorn is running as an independent. Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt dismissed the criticism as a “typical, shrill attack where she doesn’t take the time to get the facts before she spouts off.”
In 2004, Perry pledged to give Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. $35 million in return for a promise to create 3,000 new jobs in the next several years. On Tuesday, the company announced the job cut, mostly at its Dallas aircraft-parts assembly plant.
Ms. Walt said state officials expect Vought to meet terms of the deal, which she said includes provisions allowing the state to take back the money if the company fails to meet job targets. “You have new management coming into the business making restructuring decisions. We do hope the layoffs are temporary,” Walt said.
Vought Aircraft Industries has added 1,200 jobs and is on track to keep its long-term obligation despite the layoffs, she said. Most of the jobs were added by moving work from plants in Stuart, Fla., and Nashville to facilities in Dallas and Grand Prairie.
The company said in December that some work expected to move to Dallas would not. Strayhorn’s letter urged Perry to institute tighter controls over enterprise fund grants.
She said the State Auditor’s Office should be required to review all contracts with grant recipients, the Texas Workforce Commission should verify all job and payroll information and that quarterly and annual progress reports should be filed.
Ms. Walt said the auditor’s office can already review all contracts and that the workforce commission already does what Strayhorn recommends. Currently, the governor’s office is required to get a written agreement with a company, which must file annual progress reports.
Perry’s office is to report the status of the grants to the Legislature every two years, Strayhorn’s letter said. Those provisions provide no comfort in a situation like Vought, which needs to cut jobs to survive, Strayhorn said.
The company lost $230 million last year.
By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press Writer
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) AP-NY-04-06-06 1729EDT
