Rick Perry became a millionaire while holding public office through "well-timed sales in the Texas real estate market." He "bought property from friends and political allies and sold to Texas businessmen"

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who has never been paid a government salary of more than $150,000, became a millionaire while in public office through well-timed sales in the Texas real estate market.

The Republican presidential hopeful bought property from friends and political allies and sold to Texas businessmen, such as computer magnate Michael Dell, and in the process made more than $1 million. Perry’s income also was supplemented by stock sales, according to his tax returns and county land and tax records.

The transactions have drawn criticism from Democrats and ethics experts because, at times, they involved people who would benefit from their ties to the governor and because Perry always came out on top in the real estate deals.

“Public officials have a responsibility around conflicts of interest to avoid even the appearance of impropriety,” said Thomas Donaldson, a University of Pennsylvania Wharton School business ethics professor who hasn’t reviewed the transactions in detail.

“Every piece of land that the governor has bought has been scrutinized and has been reported properly,” Mark Miner, a Perry spokesman, said.

Not all of Perry’s dealings in the stock market were winners. In 2009, at the height of the financial crisis, he reported capital losses of $564,000, suggesting he or his trustee sold stocks when the market collapsed.

Land Transactions

Still, the governor’s land transactions produced about $1.2 million in profits and he managed to build enough wealth to be ranked today among the millionaire candidates in the 2012 Republican presidential field.

Perry’s most lucrative land deal involved property he bought three months before he took over the Texas governorship in 2000 from George W. Bush, who stepped down after defeating Democratic nominee and former Vice President Al Gore in the presidential election.

In September 2000, Perry bought a home lot in a resort community known as Horseshoe Bay. The lot had 173 feet of waterfront property in the “Peninsula,” which is situated on the shore of Lake Lyndon B. Johnson northwest of Austin.

The then-lieutenant governor bought the tract from then- state Representative Troy Fraser, now a Republican state senator, for $314,000, according to Perry’s tax returns and county records.

Seven Years Later

Perry never built on the land and sold it seven years later, while he was governor, for $1.14 million, claiming a gain of $824,000, records show.

more