Governor of Texas Snubs the U.N.

An international incident of sorts has broken out in Texas, after Gov. Rick Perry rejected President Bush’s request that the nation’s governors sign a proclamation honoring the United Nations.

Perry believes the U.N. has not shown enough support for the United States’ “efforts to bring freedom and democracy to the world,” Kathy Walt, the Republican governor’s press secretary, said Friday.

Asked if she could offer specifics, Walt said: “I’m not going to. That is the extent of our statement.”

The platform of the Texas Republican Party calls for the United States to rescind its membership in the United Nations and evict the organization from New York.

Suzanne DiMaggio, executive director of Global Policy Progress at the United Nations Association in New York, said this was the first time a governor had rejected such a proclamation, and called Perry’s decision “profoundly misplaced and short-sighted.”

Scores of countries, including the United States, recognized United Nations Day on Oct. 24. The annual event commemorates the 1945 founding of the United Nations. Bush signed a proclamation marking the day and praising the U.N.’s “many contributions to advancing peace and human rights around the world.”

The White House produces virtually the same proclamation each year.

Bush urged governors to follow suit. Dallas resident Beth Weems Pirtle, president of the Texas division of the United Nations Association, a service organization that coordinates scholastic programs about world affairs, wrote a proclamation about a month ago and sent it to Perry’s office for his signature. Her draft was based on text used around the world, she said.

Pirtle considered her request routine. She said she was stunned when the governor rejected the proclamation late last week.

“Texas has always been a bastion of anti-U.N. sentiment,” she said. “But I am embarrassed that the state of Texas did not sign. The governor is just out of touch.”

In response, Walt said: “Gov. Perry is a very principled and disciplined leader. I don’t think it’s an embarrassment to the state at all.”