Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

The governor is dabbling in — meddling with, some would say — your higher education system.

In two recent examples, we believe Gov. Rick Perry was within his authority (if less than candid) on one and way out of bounds on the other.

The American-Statesman's Jason Embry and Ralph K.M. Haurwitz reported that Perry worked behind the scenes late last year to try to get University of Texas regents to pick his favorite candidate — former Texas Tech Chancellor John Montford — for chancellor of the UT system.

Former Regents Robert Rowling, John Barnhill Jr. and H. Scott Caven Jr. (all Perry appointees) told the Statesman that Perry made his wishes known last December as the board moved toward its eventual selection of Francisco Cigarroa.

"I hate to answer yes or no," Barnhill said when asked if Perry's call to him was out of line.

We are not afraid of saying yes or no on this one. Yes, depending on how it's done, it might be a little heavy-handed for a governor to tell regents whom he or she favors for a key post. But, no, there is nothing wrong with it.

In fact, we expect leaders to lead, and that can include weighing in on major decisions faced by appointees.

In this case, short of evidence about threats or intimidation, we see nothing wrong with Perry weighing in with his thoughts on what he thought was best for UT. He is the governor. He can claim credit for everything that goes right and expect blame for everything that goes wrong.

On this one we agree with Caven, who said it was "perfectly proper" for Perry to weigh in. And we admire the regents for doing what they thought was right — despite Perry's opposition.

What we don't admire is what we heard from Perry's office about his role in the UT chancellor selection.

"I am not privy to the governor's private conversations, but the selection of the chancellor was a board decision," said spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger.

Please. How about a little backbone? How about something like, "Yes, the governor reviewed the situation and offered his input on this important selection. His appointees considered all of the input. They made a fine choice, and we respect their decision."

The bottom line is there is nothing wrong with gubernatorial input devoid of threats, retribution and in-your-face politics.

The latter seems to be what happened in the case of two former Tech regents who spoke to the American-Statesman's Embry and Corrie MacLaggan about Perry's pressure on them stemming from their support of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign to defeat Perry in next year's GOP gubernatorial primary.

Ex-Regents Windy Sitton and Mark Griffin said Perry got word to them that they should drop their public support of Hutchison or quit the board.

Sitton said the message came through Scott Dueser, then the board chairman, who told her Perry wanted her to "cease and desist supporting Kay Bailey immediately or resign from the board." Sitton did neither but was replaced when her term expired.

Griffin said he got Perry's instructions after praising Hutchison at a campaign rally last month. Griffin said Brian Newby, Perry's former chief of staff, told him the governor "expects loyalty out of his appointees, and if you can't be loyal, it's probably not best to be on the team."

Griffin resigned in August. "I was concerned that my staying on would be a distraction and could possibly place the institution at political risk," he told the American-Statesman.

Perry disputes Griffin's account.

"We didn't have anything to do with it," the governor said Friday. "I didn't talk to anybody."

Someone's not telling us the truth. We hope it is not our governor, a skilled politician now in the political fight of his life.