Texas Gov. Rick Perry's role in possible wrongful execution may hurt campaign chances

Texas Gov. Rick Perry presided
over 231 executions -- more than
any governor in U.S. history

AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has presided over 231 executions, more than any governor in the death penalty's modern history. If he runs for president, one of those executions may become a campaign issue — a case involving questions of whether he allowed an innocent man to be put to death, then tried to scuttle a state commission's investigation into the matter.

The execution of Cameron Todd Willingham drew little attention when it took place in February 2004. But in the subsequent seven years, the way Perry handled the execution and an ongoing investigation into the case has become controversial. A presidential bid would likely increase the scrutiny, particularly as the Republican governor becomes better known.

Whether the scrutiny would influence the outcome of the presidential campaign is another question.

When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, he rushed back to Arkansas from New Hampshire as the Gennifer Flowers scandal broke to preside over the execution of Ricky Ray Rector, who was so brain damaged from a gunshot wound to the head that he saved the dessert from his last meal in hopes of eating it later.

There was only a smattering of protest, and the execution of Rector did not slow Clinton's campaign.

And though reporters pored over George W. Bush's support for the death penalty while he was Texas governor and examined several controversial executions, what became an issue were allegations that Bush had ridiculed convicted murderer Karla Faye Tucker for claiming she had had a Christian conversion.

"There's something there, but to my mind it's not going to be Willingham or the death penalty alone," said James Henson, who teaches government at the University of Texas and is the director of the Texas Politics Project. "But with something else, it may get voters to take a longer and more critical look at Perry."

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Source: Chicago Tribune, June 25, 2011

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