Rick Perry blasts election of Texas A&M's first gay SGA president



Keep going for a look back at Rick Perry's tenure in Texas through the eyes of Houston Chronicle editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson. less Accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, Rick Perry speaks after being sworn in as secretary of energy. On Friday, he addressed the department's employees.

Keep going for a look back at Rick Perry's tenure in ... more Accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, Rick Perry speaks after being sworn in as secretary of energy. On Friday, he addressed the department's employees. Photo: Olivier Douliery, MBR Photo: Olivier Douliery, MBR Image 1 of / 54 Caption Close Rick Perry blasts election of Texas A&M's first gay SGA president 1 / 54 Back to Gallery

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, a former Texas governor and Texas A&M University Aggies Yell Leader, said Wednesday the election of the first openly gay president of the institution's student body was "stolen" and that the student who had the most votes was disqualified through a process that "made a mockery of due process and transparency."

In an extraordinary submission to the Houston Chronicle's Editorial Board, the energy secretary also suggested that Bobby Brooks' victory was engineered by the Student Government Association in a quest for diversity on the traditionally conservative campus.

BACKGROUND: Openly gay junior to be Texas A&M student body president

Brooks was declared the winner in the campus election by the SGA even though he came in second in the vote count to Robert McIntosh , who is white and was disqualified by student election officials.

McIntosh was disqualified on charges that he did not provide receipts for glow sticks used in a campaign video. He also faced charges of voter intimidation, which were later dismissed on appeal.

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The student body's Judicial Court, Perry said, "admitted that the charges were minor and technical, but incredibly, chose to uphold the disqualification."

"The desire of the electorate is overturned, and thousands of student votes are disqualified, because of free glow sticks that appeared for eleven seconds of a months-long campaign," Perry wrote. "Apparently glow sticks merit the same punishment as voter intimidation."

Perry then went on to suggest that the outcome would have been different had McIntosh not been a white male.

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"What if Mr. Brooks had been the candidate disqualified? Would the administration and the student body have allowed the first gay student body president to be voided for using charity glow sticks? Would the student body have allowed a black student body president to be disqualified on anonymous charges of voter intimidation?"

Texas A&M University didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Political scientists who study Texas politics were astounded by Perry's decision to weigh in on College Station campus politics.

Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle Texas A&M's newly-elected student body president Bobby Brooks, a...

"It's astounding," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University who has studied Texas politics for decades. "He's written it as a call for fairness, not that he's come out against the first gay student body president at A&M, but the extraordinary part is that he took the time to do this when he should have so many bigger fish to fry in his current job."

AGGIE EDUCATION: The traditions, secrets and myths of Texas A&M University

Mark Jones, a Rice University political science professor who has watched Perry political career rise and fall for years, said he, too, was surprised by Perry's intervention into the A&M election.

"This must be his inner Aggie speaking, because this is certainly not something you expect a cabinet secretary to weigh in on – actually, probably not even a governor," Jones said. "It's strange. Of all the things he could have an opinion on, this is probably not the smartest move for a cabinet secretary. He must really be upset about it."

You can read Perry's full opinion on HoustonChronicle.com.