Thread: Rick Perry stops paying all of his staff as fundraising dries up

Rick Perry stops paying all of his staff as fundraising dries up

By Philip Rucker and Abby Livingston, Texas Tribune August 10 at 7:51 PM


Former Texas governor Rick Perry (REUTERS/Rick Wilking)

This post has been updated.
Rick Perry's presidential campaign has stopped paying all of its staff as the Republican former Texas governor's fundraising has dried up, campaign officials and other Republicans familiar with the operation said late Monday.

Perry has stopped paying his staff at the national headquarters in Austin as well as in the early caucus and primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, according to a Republican familiar with the Perry campaign who demanded anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Perry campaign manager Jeff Miller told staff last Friday, the day after the first Republican presidential debate, that they would no longer be paid and are free to look for other jobs -- and, so far at least, most aides have stuck with Perry, this Republican said.

News that Perry campaign had stopped paying it's staff of six in South Carolina was first reported late Monday afternoon by the National Journal.

"Money is extremely tight," said Katon Dawson, Perry's South Carolina campaign chairman. “We all moved to volunteer status," he said, but added, "Our team is working as hard as it was last week."

Although polling suggests Republicans have a favorable opinion of Perry, he has struggled to gain traction in the deep field of candidates. He narrowly failed to crack the top 10 in national polling, relegating him to the undercard debate last week on Fox News Channel. He had hoped for a breakout moment there, but rather it was Carly Fiorina, the former technology executive, who emerged from the so-called happy hour debate with momentum.

But Perry's campaign aides as well as leaders of an allied super PAC said they will continue raising money and that the former governor is committed to a strong performance in the early contests next year. Perry is planning to campaign in South Carolina on Thursday and to visit Iowa next week.

"As the campaign moves along, tough decisions have to be made in respect to both monetary and time related resources," Perry campaign manager Jeff Miller said. "Governor Perry remains committed to competing in the early states and will continue to have a strong presence in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina."

The Perry campaign reported raising $1.14 million in the second quarter of this year and on July 15 reported having $883,913 on hand.

But a group of Opportunity and Freedom super PACs promoting Perry's candidacy was in far healthier state financially, having raised nearly $17 million by the end of June.

Austin Barbour, senior adviser to the super PAC, said the group would step up "to aggressively support the governor in a number of different ways."

“We’ve got plenty of money," Barbour said. "That’s what I know. And we’re going to put that money to use in Iowa to make sure the governor is in the top three there. The super PAC is not going to let Rick Perry down."

News of Perry's money woes has surprised people in his political circle. In the 2012 campaign, Perry was a fundraising leader, bringing in $17 million to his campaign in a single quarter.

"Nobody talked about money being a problem,” said one former Perry appointee and longtime ally.

Perry's troubles are reminiscent of Sen. John McCain's collapse in the summer of 2007, though he rebounded and won the GOP's 2008 nomination.

"I experienced this firsthand starting at the McCain campaign, a few weeks prior to what became a mass exodus and downsizing because of fundraising," said Brian Haley, deputy national finance director on McCain's 2008 campaign. "It wasn’t the end of the campaign. It was traumatic when it happened, but we all recommitted when it occurred and took it to win the nomination."

Haley added, "In today’s world, with varying political committees supporting the candidate, there does seem to be an opportunity for campaigns to shift costs. So I’m curious how the Perry organization decides to do that.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/p...sing-dries-up/

Is this the end for Rick Perry?

By Chris Cillizza August 11 at 10:52 AM


Republican presidential candidate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, speaks at the RedState Gathering, Friday, Aug. 7, 2015, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

The news that Rick Perry has stopped paying all of his campaign staff following Thursday's debate is a sure sign of major troubles -- and could be the leading edge of the collapse of his campaign.

If this is the end -- and Perry's super PAC support could well keep him on life support for a bit longer -- it would be a remarkable bit of timing: Perry entered the 2012 presidential race as its frontrunner on August 13, 2011 -- almost four years to the day when it's become clear that his second bid for the presidency has faltered badly.

For Perry, that four year period speaks to just how important timing -- and performing -- are on the presidential level. And how fickle the public can be.

At this time in 2011, Perry was the talk of the political world. He had yet to enter the race -- he did so on the day of the now-deceased Iowa Straw Poll -- but polling suggested he was widely regarded by voters as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney that they had been shopping for.

Less than three months later, it was effectively over -- thanks to a series of poor debate performances capped off by "oops."

Perry's decision to run again -- after such a disastrous first campaign -- made very little political sense.

Polling suggested that Republicans had made up their minds about Perry during that first campaign -- and concluded that he simply wasn't up to the job. Nice guy. But not ready for primetime.

As I wrote many times between the end of Perry's first campaign and the start of this one, it's extremely difficult to get a second chance to make a first impression in politics (or life). But, if you read Perry's quotes -- or talked to people around him -- you got the distinct impression that this second campaign wasn't fundamentally about winning, it was about rehabilitating his image from the last campaign.

In the wake of the last campaign, a top Perry aide said that the back surgery the governor had undergone in July 2011 had created major problems for him throughout the campaign. "The whole campaign was built on a very aggressive, arduous schedule of travel in order to make up for lost time," [Perry consultant Dave] Carney said at a campaign post-mortem event at Harvard University. The pain, Carney added, made it challenging for Perry to even sleep.

Perry, the theory went, would be free of that pain this time around. And, he remained the same appealing candidate on paper that he was when he entered the race four years ago. Wrote WaPo's Dan Balz on Perry's second candidacy: "He and his advisers think that, if he was overestimated but ill-prepared four years ago, he is the opposite now, underestimated and in their judgment readier for the challenges that a presidential campaign presents."

And yet, Perry has struggled mightily to convince voters that his 2012 campaign was the exception not the rule. He raised barely over $1 million during the first six months of 2015 although super PACs supporting him did bring in $17 million -- on the backs of two donations totaling $11 million.

Perry's poll numbers have never even come close to the heights he enjoyed in 2012. He was relegated to the kids table debate last Thursday and even in that lower-profile forum (it ran at 5 pm on Fox News Channel) he exhibited some of the halting nervousness that characterized his debate struggles four years prior.

Yes, Perry will likely plod on in the campaign because, well, he can -- thanks to his super PAC. But, staying in the race and being a viable candidate aren't the same thing. Perry's financial troubles are indicative of the systemic problem at the heart of the campaign: He simply isn't a good enough candidate to overcome what people believe to be true about him. (That is, of course, that he is not a very good candidate.)

Perry had his chance in 2012. He swung and missed.

This campaign is an attempt to reverse history and start again. Which almost never works.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/t...or-rick-perry/

Rick Perry Super PAC: We've Planned for Pay Freeze 'For Weeks'

by ALEX JAFFE

Austin Barbour, a senior adviser to Rick Perry's super PACs, said Tuesday that his groups have been planning "for several weeks" to take over some operations from Perry's presidential campaign amidst news the former Texas governor has frozen pay for his campaign staff nationwide.

He also said that Perry's super PAC advisers are "still tremendously optimistic about him," even as Perry is polling at the bottom of the GOP primary pack and failed to make it into the first major primetime debate last week.

"We saw several weeks ago when the campaign finance reports first came out that this was probably going to happen with the campaign, that they were going to have to go to a lean and mean operation that focused more on the governor's travel, doing events in the states…and the first three debates," Barbour told NBC News in an interview.

The news that Perry would freeze pay for his staffers nationwide, confirmed late Monday night by NBC's Alex Moe, threw his campaign into further uncertainty and sparked speculation that the former Texas governor's campaign may not make it through the end of the year.

Perry's campaign reported raising only $1.14 million by the end of June, and ended the quarter with just $883,913 cash on hand. In contrast, the three super PACs backing the candidate raised $16.8 million, buoyed largely by a handful of major donors contributing, in some cases, as much as $5 million.

But a relaxed Barbour — speaking via phone from the porch of his Jacksonville, Miss. home as the mailman came in — said the super PACs could pick up the slack and would be focusing on Iowa as key to Perry's presidential hopes.

"I think the key really is Iowa — we've gotta perform well in Iowa, and see what happens after that," he said.

To deliver Perry a strong performance there, the super PACs have hired an Iowa state director and deputy state director and are in the process of hiring a field team for the Hawkeye State. Barbour described Rick Santorum's last-minute surge there in 2012, which ultimately landed him an unexpectedly robust finish in the caucuses, as a model for what Perry is trying to achieve.

"What Santorum did in Iowa is he came on in the last four or five days…that may be where we are," he said. "We may be one of those campaigns where it's Christmas and New Year's Day and you're starting to see a surge. It could happen before then, it's just impossible to predict."

Barbour noted the super PAC's efforts to pick up slack for the campaign are not unprecedented, pointing to the groups backing Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina — both of which are expected to take over key operations for the campaigns — as examples. Super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money, are barred by law from coordinating with the campaign.

Asked how he decided, without input from the campaign, that the super PACs would need to pick up their slack, Barbour acknowledged "it's a great question."

"It's not like we could say, 'Hey Jeff [Miller, Perry's campaign manager], this is what we're about to do — we just knew this is something we've got to go do," Barbour said. "They may have a resurgence of money and they may want to go do their own ground game — there's nothing wrong with that. If you're doing it and the campaign's doing it as well, it's just complimentary."

It's a striking reversal of fortunes for Perry, however, from his last run, where he rapidly rose to the top of the GOP field before dropping out after a series of unforced errors and gaffes that raised doubts about his campaign. At this same time last cycle, Perry was just days away from officially launching his bid and had taken an early lead in the polls, surpassing even eventual GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

But Barbour said he's not sweating the campaign's financial struggles and is optimistic that "things are going to break" for Perry — though it remains unclear how he'll crack the top-ten polling position needed to land a spot in the second GOP primary debate.
"Things are going to break. It's been a slow process, but it's also been a very fluid process — the governor's favorables are so high, people like him, they know about his track record, they're going to see him do really well [in the debates]," he said.

"After a couple of breakout performances, he'll be right at the top."
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016...-weeks-n407881

More on Austin Barbour.

Austin Barbour will run Rick Perry Super PAC

DAILY LEDES


Sam R. Hall, The Clarion-Ledger
4:01 p.m. CST March 2, 2015

Austin Barbour is heading up the super PAC that will support Rick Perry's presidential campaign.

Barbour, who declined comment at this time, will set up the organization and lead fundraising and political efforts.

Barbour was one of the driving forces behind the turnaround of Sen. Thad Cochran's 2014 re-election campaign, which saw GOP primary opponent Chris McDaniel lead the primary vote before Cochran pulled out the run-off victory.

Barbour's brother, Henry Barbour, ran a PAC that supported Cochran but was not directly affiliated with the campaign.

This will mark Perry's second presidential run. The Barbour family has a history with Perry. Former Gov. Haley Barbour, the uncle to the Barbour brothers, is friends with Perry and has advised him on occasion. Henry Barbour has worked in advisory capacities for Perry as recent as last year.

The New York Times, who first reported the news about the super PAC, reported that Austin Barbour's "job will be to attract donors and assure them their money is being spent well."

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/d...-pac/24279277/

By Katie Glueck
09/11/15, 05:20 PM EDT
Updated 09/11/15, 05:35 PM EDT

Former Texas governor Rick Perry on Friday said he is suspending his campaign, becoming the first Republican candidate to drop out of the crowded race for the White House.

"We have a tremendous field—the best in a generation—so I step aside knowing our party is in good hands," Perry said, according to remarks he planned to deliver at a conservative conference in St. Louis.

Perry had struggled to raise money and gain traction in what was his second attempt at a presidential bid, following a failed run in 2012.

"I share this news with no regrets," Perry said, according to the text. "It has been a privilege and an honor to travel this country, to speak with the American people about their hopes and dreams, to see a sense of optimism prevalent despite a season of cynical politics. And as I approach the next chapter in life, I do so with the love of my life by my side, Anita Perry. We have our house in the country, we have two beautiful children and two adorable grandchildren, four dogs, and the best sunset from our front porch that you could ever imagine. Life is good. And I am a blessed man."

Perry, who was the longest-serving governor in Texas history, entered the 2016 race determined to rehabilitate his image after a disastrous 2012 bid. This time around, he sought to broadcast a serious, sometimes wonkish understanding of policy issues, particularly foreign policy.

Despite demonstrating new depth, along with strong retail politicking skills and the ability to deliver a fiery speech, he stumbled amid fundraising woes, and at one point this summer stopped paying his staff, resulting in an exodus after the campaign gave permission for aides to look elsewhere.


http://www.politico.com/story/2015/0...al-race-213569

Yes, it's over. Bye Rick.