EDITORIAL: Perry’s confirmation is good for energy and for Texas

March 06--Our enthusiasm for Rick Perry's confirmation as Energy Secretary requires some explanation. He is, after all, the same guy who declared his intent to get rid of the department whose name he famously couldn't recall. And our archives brim with editorial denunciations of his actions as Texas' longest-serving governor.

But Perry succeeded at setting and achieving his agenda. We disagreed with it but the skills he brought to fulfilling it deserve their due. We expect him to display those skills as Energy Secretary.

Perry stands out among President Trump's Cabinet appointees as an experienced administrative and legislative government leader. His buffoonish "oops" moment in 2011 as a presidential candidate, when he couldn't recall the name of the department he now leads, may never be forgotten and shouldn't be. Nor should it be overlooked that he possesses no special technical knowledge of the task of maintaining the country's nuclear weapons stockpile. That's the big part of the job that couldn't be guessed from its title. But that's the kind of expertise Perry can look for in his hires.

They, in turn, can count on him to advocate effectively for them. He has dismissed his previous talk of doing away with the department as just talk and they should believe him. Even the researchers who study climate change should take his word that he will not interfere with their work. He is, after all, a politician. Even the ones who, like him, insist on reversing government growth seem to have a knack for expanding it if they're as good at politics as he is.

Long before Perry was an embarrassingly unsuccessful presidential candidate, and before he was governor and lieutenant governor, he was the Texas agriculture commissioner. He was no stranger to farming but he also arguably was no more expert at the technical aspects of that job than this one. That department's oversight includes fuel pump inspection and industrial weights and measures, none of which can be gleaned from its name. But Perry thrived and his performance as agriculture commissioner was the reputation-enhancer that helped him move up.

As governor, Perry was an effective advocate for the Texas energy industry. Under his watch, Texas not only put the country on the path to energy independence via hydraulic fracturing, but it also became the leader in wind energy. Like a true conservative, Perry goes where the market goes. His rhetoric in support of coal as governor didn't cause a coal resurgence and his denunciations of all things Obama didn't hinder wind energy development. The market response speaks for itself and for what to expect of Perry.

It also helps -- especially in the Trump administration -- to have someone just plain likable in a position of authority. Perry's personality lightened the mood at his Senate hearings. He doesn't take himself too seriously and is quick to joke at his own expense -- a refreshing contrast not only to his boss but also to much of the Washington establishment Trump went to Washington to dismantle. The guy who forgot his department's name while on pain medicine for back surgery is, by the accounts of those who have worked with him, likely to remember the first names of the children of his staff. This is a trait that can win over the holdovers of a previous administration.

We don't forgive the former governor for refusing billions of Affordable Care Act-related Medicaid dollars that could have saved lives, siccing the National Guard on Central American refugee children, cutting public education mercilessly, assaulting women's reproductive rights, setting up and abusing a slush fund for economic development, or pushing the court-certified-discriminatory voter ID law.

But he's not running for governor or president. He's the new Energy Secretary. And because of what we know about him, we won't be surprised if the Energy Department turns out to be one of the best-run departments of the Trump administration.

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(c)2017 the Corpus Christi Caller-Times (Corpus Christi, Texas)

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