A cordial exchange
LONE STARS: Perry at forefront of possible Republican appointees
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has some friends in Texas, including former Gov. Rick Perry, who campaigned for him and long made known his interest in a Cabinet post.
“The place that I’m passionate about is our veterans and our military, so somewhere in that area,” Perry told reporters at the Republican National Convention in July.
He cheerfully played along Wednesday when speculation heightened that he could be on a short list of potential Trump Cabinet officials.
“Just got a call to #makeamericagreatagain Saddle up & ride, bro!!,” Perry wrote on Twitter, with an Instagram photo of him being handed a pay phone by former Navy SEAL and Houston native Marcus Luttrell.
As Trump visited the White House and Capitol Hill on Thursday, Perry was hardly the only Texan in the swirl of candidates being mentioned for posts or judicial appointments
in the new administration. Other prominent names include U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, state Supreme Court Justice Don Willett, and U.S. Reps. Michael McCaul and Will Hurd.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Trump campaign’s Texas chairman, also has been mentioned in political circles, though he has said publicly he intends to stay put in Austin.
“Had he not made those declarations, it would not surprise me if he was at the top of the list from Texas,” said Anthony Holm, a Republican consultant who is close to Patrick.
McCaul, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and a former federal prosecutor, also is seen as a potential Trump pick, either to head the Department of Homeland Security or for some other legal or national security post in the Department of Justice.
McCaul, facing a term limit on his chairman position in the House, also is considering a challenge for Cruz’s Senate seat in 2018. To political analysts, that suggests larger political horizons.
“He’s a rising star, both nationally and in Texas,” said Austin political strategist Ted Delisi, who has worked with Perry and McCaul. “His future is bright no matter what path it takes.”
McCaul is considered an expert on homeland and border security, issues that were central to Trump’s campaign, and he had a role in preparing the candidate for the debates. He also has dismissed Trump’s vision of a 2,000mile wall as a “simplistic and knee-jerk response” to the problem of border security, arguing that technology and air surveillance are more important.
“Fencing is a barricade, but it’s not a panacea,” he told MSNBC during the campaign. “It won’t solve the problem completely.”
Supreme Court vacancy
Another top priority for the incoming Trump administration is filling the Supreme Court opening left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett is one of more than 20 jurists Trump named during the summer as possible replacements.
Willett, who was appointed by Perry, comes in for high praise from conservative legal scholars. Political insiders say Cruz, who clerked for the late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, can’t be counted out.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if both those names were short-listed for the current opening, and likely others over the next four years,” Holm said. “If it’s about who’s the best jurist in America, Ted Cruz must be on the list.”
Cruz has dismissed speculation about a Supreme Court appointment, saying he is focused on his job in the Senate. As Trump’s top rival in the GOP primaries, Cruz’s selection would be considered a bold overture to the conservative wing of the party.
Like Perry, who once called Trump “a cancer on conservatism,” Cruz also has had bitter words for his rival, calling him “totally amoral” before dropping out of the race in May.
Cruz also has feuded with Democrats and leaders of his own party, making him an uncertain bet for Senate confirmation.
“My sense is he ultimately wouldn’t be the choice, but he will get some serious consideration,” said Texas GOP analyst Matt Mackowiak, who has been one of Trump’s sharpest Republican critics.
Miller also has come up in the parlor game of people in line for administration posts.
A big Trump booster from a major farm and ranching state, Miller would enjoy instant credibility as a potential Department of Agriculture secretary.
But Miller has been stormtossed by controversy, including a recent tweet that referred to Hillary Clinton as “C--t,” using an obscene word for vagina.
“There are some sensitivities there that may lead to him not being the choice,” Mackowiak said.
A more palatable choice from Texas is Hurd, one of only two black Republicans in the House, representing a border district. A former CIA officer, Hurd is viewed as a credible pick for a national security or defense job.
Having just won a tough reelection battle in the Lone Star State’s only competitive congressional district, Hurd might be reluctant to leave Congress.
“If he hadn’t won, he’d definitely have been on the list,” Delisi said. “But the fact that he won, and did so pretty convincingly, I think you want Hurd where he is helping on Congress.”
Possible link to Bush family
Rep. Jeb Hensarling’s name also has come up as a possible candidate for Treasury secretary. Hensarling’s office did not return a call Thursday, but the Dallas Republican, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, told the Wall Street Journal he would “certainly have the discussion” if asked by Trump’s team.
Another Texan said to be in the mix is Land Commissioner George P. Bush, a scion of the Bush dynasty and one of the only members of his family believed to have voted for Trump.
However unlikely a pick, Mackowiak said, “A bridge to the Bush network wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world.”
Working against Bush, some conservatives in Texas rate his Trump endorsement an act of self-preservation, and one unlikely to be rewarded by a plum job in Washington.
Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath also is mentioned in Austin. Appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, Morath is respected in GOP circles as an accomplished businessman and education reformer.
With the Washington transition team divulging little, it is unknown whether Morath’s résumé has pinged Trump’s radar.
Little also is known about Trump’s most high-profile Texas booster: Dallas tea party activist and national Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson, who was a near constant presence on television in the campaign’s early going.
After a series of uneven television outings, Pierson’s profile has diminished. A former Cruz aide who defected to Trump, Pierson is not rated by insiders as likely to play a high-profile role in the Trump White House.
She did not return a call for comment.