Politics & Government

Anita Perry Pitches Husband's Campaign to Concord Seniors [VIDEO]

Says he's in it to win it.

The First Lady of Texas campaigned in New Hampshire on Dec. 19, making a stop in Concord to speak to about 20 seniors at .

Anita Perry gave a short stump speech and then took questions from residents for about 15 minutes on topics ranging from taxes, the federal debt and deficit, climate change, and something she hadn’t been questioned about yet so far in the campaign season, the death penalty.

“It’s great to be in New Hampshire,” she told the attendees, in a sweet, southern drawl reminiscent of the characters from the CBS sitcom “Designing Women.”

Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The candidate’s wife said that so far, she has few disappointments with the campaign.

“I’ll be honest with you, we hate the scrutiny, the peeling of the layers of the onion,” she said. “The national scrutiny is so different than what we have in Texas. But it’s good because every candidate should be vetted, everybody should know what every candidate stands on every issue. We have no secrets and we’re all in.”

Find out what's happening in Concordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On capital punishment, it was noted that both New Hampshire and Texas were death penalty states but the exception was that Texas actually executed people and New Hampshire doesn’t. Perry said it was the law of Texas and if the criminals go through court system and are found to face the death penalty, they do. She noted that her husband was a supporter of the policy.

“He’s for it … He thinks if someone creates a heinous crime, that they deserve the punishment,” she said. “Good question though … I’ve not been asked that question.”

Perry said her husband doesn’t support the Iraq withdrawal timeline because he thinks it’s an invitation to enemies and adversaries to cause problems. She said he would not support going into wars that were not necessary. The couple also supports the military, she said.

Perry also promoted the candidate’s 20 percent flat tax plan saying it would promote growth, stimulate the economy, create jobs and balance the budget by 2020.

“Twenty percent for G.E. too?,” one person asked.

Perry appeared stunned for a moment, looking into the hall for an answer from an aide.

“General Electric,” the man said.

“Oh,” she laughed, “Close those corporate tax loopholes, yes … I’m not sure how he would do that.”

“He doesn’t believe in government bailouts,” she added.

Perry, who was once a nurse, answered a few more questions about health care, immigration, and border security and then thanked everyone for "the great questions," and then spent another five minutes shaking hands and thanking people for coming to the event.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here