ABC Highlights Complaints That 'There is Little Heart' in Rick Perry's Texas
On Saturday's World News on ABC, correspondent Jim Avila filed a report in which he focused mostly on aspects of Texas's economy that receive praise, but he ended up warning that things may not really be as good as they seem, as the ABC correspondent highlighted claims that, "deep in the heart of Rick Perry's Texas, there is little heart."
Avila concluded his piece:
JIM AVILA: But there is another side to that Texas spirit, a story Rick Perry is less likely to tout out on the campaign trail. His state leads the way in low-wage jobs - almost 10 percent of employees making minimum wage or less, compared to six percent nationwide. And with a poverty rate of 17 percent, Texas is among the 10 poorest states in the nation.
PAUL BURKA, TEXAS MONTHLY: We have the highest percentage of people without health insurance. We do very little to support people who aren't making it.
AVILA: Deep cuts in education helped balance the budget, and the divide between rich and poor is the fourth widest in the country. Some argue that, deep in the heart of Rick Perry's Texas, there is little heart. Jim Avila, ABC News, San Antonio.
Below is a complete transcript of the report from the Saturday, August 20, World News on ABC:
DAVID MUIR: We turn now to politics here in this country and to Texas Governor Rick Perry, who campaigned today in South Carolina, a key battleground for the Republican presidential nomination. He is running, above all, on his record of creating jobs in Texas. So, tonight here, a World News "Fact Check" on the numbers, as our team traveled some 400 miles through the Lone Star State. Here's ABC's Jim Avila.
JIM AVILA: They're the numbers driving Rick Perry to the national stage. Under the governor's watch, Texas has become a job machine: one million new ones over the last decade. A full 40 percent of all jobs created in this country are here.
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY (R-TX): Jobs bring security. They bring pride. They bring further opportunity.
AVILA: And for Rick Perry, they could bring the presidency. We set out in a 400-mile journey through the heart of Texas, where oil boom and gas exploration has made a new class of millionaires out of random Texas landowners in small towns like Cotulla.
MARIANE HALL, COTULLA TEXAS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE: People are coming in every day with businesses building hotels and restaurants. Of course, the bank is growing in deposits.
AVILA: We found more traditional job creation outside San Antonio, where Toyota builds Tacoma and Tundra pickups. No unions in Texas or state income taxes. Toyota employs more than 4,000 people here. Just down the road, business is booming for Bill Cox, desperate to hire three more workers at his small manufacturing business.
AVILA: These are not McDonald's jobs?
BILL COX, BUSINESS OWNER: No, they're not. They're full-time jobs with overtime and growth.
AVILA: New businesses and thriving old ones. The 120-year-old Dr. Pepper bottle in Dublin, Texas.
BILL KLOSTER, OWNER OF DUBLIN DR. PEPPER: I think this country is built on entrepreneurs.
AVILA: But there is another side to that Texas spirit, a story Rick Perry is less likely to tout out on the campaign trail. His state leads the way in low-wage jobs - almost 10 percent of employees making minimum wage or less, compared to six percent nationwide. And with a poverty rate of 17 percent, Texas is among the 10 poorest states in the nation.
PAUL BURKA, TEXAS MONTHLY: We have the highest percentage of people without health insurance. We do very little to support people who aren't making it.
AVILA: Deep cuts in education helped balance the budget, and the divide between rich and poor is the fourth widest in the country. Some argue that, deep in the heart of Rick Perry's Texas, there is little heart. Jim Avila, ABC News, San Antonio.
