Report: Perry says Texas AG has agreed not to run against him in GOP primary

DALLAS (Legal Newsline) — Texas Gov. Rick Perry revealed last week that Attorney General Greg Abbott has agreed not to run against him for governor in 2014.

Perry, a Republican, assumed the Governor’s Office in December 2000 when then-Gov. George W. Bush stepped down to become President of the United States.

Perry was subsequently elected to full gubernatorial terms in 2002, 2006 and 2010.

He is the fourth Texas governor since Allan Shivers, Price Daniel and John Connally to serve three terms.

Abbott, the second Republican since Reconstruction to serve as the state’s top lawyer, was sworn in December 2002 after John Cornyn’s election to the U.S. Senate.

Prior to assuming the office, Abbott served as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court, a position to which he was initially appointed in 1995 by Bush.

During a taping of Inside Texas Politics this week, Perry revealed he and Abbott have a deal: If he decides to run for re-election in 2014, the attorney general will not oppose him in the primary.

“Greg is a dear friend. He has said clearly that if I ran again he’s not going to be running against me,” Perry said during the interview, conducted by WFAA-TV and the Dallas Morning News.

An Abbott spokesman, in a follow-up interview with the Morning News, would not confirm or deny the arrangement.

“Gov. Perry and (Attorney) General Abbott are close friends, and talk frequently. I am not going to comment on private conversations I am not privy to,” spokesman Eric Bearse told the newspaper.

“General Abbott is focused on taking care of the business of Texas, and political speculation right now is unproductive. The time for politics is after the legislative session.”

From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.