The lawsuit industry has its panties in a bunch over the prospect of Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry becoming President, and the trial lawyers are prepared to loosen their purse strings in a bid to defeat him as reported by Alexander Burns for Politico: "there is no presidential candidate who inspires the same level of hatred — and fear — as Perry, an avowed opponent of the plaintiffs' bar who has presided over several rounds of tort reform as governor." The Perry campaign views trial lawyers as parasites on the economy, and spokesman Mark Miner said "plaintiffs' lawyers 'feed off the system' and inhibit job creation."
The Obama Administration "has delivered only about 9 percent of the $1.6 billion in drug-war aid promised to Mexico and Central America" pursuant to the 2008 Merida Initiative supported by then-President Bush as reported by Jonathan J. Levin for Bloomberg:
The shortfall in U.S. assistance hurts Mexican President Felipe Calderon's fight against organized crime, said Adam Isacson, senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America, a human rights and policy research group. Armed groups in northern Mexico murdered political candidates in this year’s regional elections and have expanded their tactics, including detonating a car bomb in Ciudad Juarez last week. "When you consider the urgency with which politicians talk about violence in Mexico and the threat it poses to us, to have only delivered 9 percent after two years is pretty remarkable," Isacson said in a telephone interview from Washington. Mexico has reported almost 25,000 deaths related to organized crime since Calderon took office in December 2006.
Meanwhile, TX Gov. Rick Perry, citing the increasing impact of the drug cartels and their associated violence north of the border, is not impressed with the Obama Administration's plans to send 1,200 National Guardsmen to the Southwest as he writes in The Hill:
As it turns out, only 250 personnel — a scant 20 percent of the troops being deployed — are being sent to help guard the 64 percent of U.S.-Mexico border in the Lone Star State. Those familiar with operations of this scope estimate that, due to the time demands involved in ramping up and ramping down, this deployment, which is slated to last no more than a year, will likely be at full strength for only four months or so.
U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn sent a letter today urging President Barack Obama "to take action on the escalating violence along the U.S. border with Mexico" as reported by KVIA:
"The spillover violence in Texas is real and it is escalating. Our border patrol agents and local law enforcement are more regularly engaged with gunmen associated with drug cartels, but our resources and personnel are limited…We urge you to deliver a concrete plan to address the increasing violence across the border, and share it with Congress," wrote Sens. Hutchison and Cornyn. "A credible plan must include immediate measures, including the temporary deployment of additional resources to help local officials better protect their citizens and communities as well as minimize disruptions to travel and trade."
Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Rick Perry ain't waiting for the feds, and he has stepped up "Texas' law enforcement presence along the Mexico border to handle the threat of spillover violence from escalating drug cartel warfare in cities like Juarez and Matamoros" as reported by Peggy Fikac and Stewart M. Powell for the Houston Chronicle: "The governor also continued his call for additional federal assistance, saying he was activating the state violence contingency plan in the meantime because 'with the safety of Texans on the line, we can't afford to wait.'"
