Texas Gov. Rick Perry may never be president, but at least he doesn’t have to pick up the full tab for his failed campaign.
Lone Star State taxpayers will generously pay nearly $800,000 for the Perry campaign’s security expenses, the Austin American-Statesman reports. And that number could easily increase once unpaid invoices and reimbursement claims by members of Perry’s security detail are calculated.
One round trip from South Carolina to Iowa, for example, will cost taxpayers over $45,000, including over $7,000 in food for Perry’s bodyguards. The full travel bill for Perry’s security detail, in this fiscal quarter at least, will come to $798,031.
“Gov. Perry is governor no matter where he goes, and the Department of Public Safety has a policy of providing security for governors and their families everywhere they travel, as they have back several administrations,” a Perry spokesperson told the paper. “These policies are determined by DPS and not the governor’s office.”
Texas voters also seem to have soured a bit on Perry since he ended his presidential campaign. According to the Associated Press, his approval rate is now at 40 percent, which makes him technically less popular than President Obama in Texas, and more than half of Texans hope he doesn’t run for governor again.