It's hardly unusual for a politician at a private fundraiser to give the media the slip, but Rick Perry, it would seem, has it down to a form of art.
As the Texas governor finished mingling with donors Thursday inside the Park Ultra Lounge in Sacramento, his aides waited out back and told reporters he was coming.
As the luncheon ended, they pulled a silver GMC Yukon SUV in front of the back entrance and opened the vehicle's back door.
And then they split.
By the time a handful of Occupy Sacramento protesters made it around front, his aides said Perry was gone.
Perry, once a front-runner among the Republican presidential hopefuls, has fallen badly in the polls. He's now preferred by only 3 percent of California Republicans, for instance, according to the most recent Field Poll.
The luncheon's hosts included Republican Sen. Tom Berryhill of Oakdale and Assemblymen Dan Logue of Penn Valley and Jim Nielsen of Gerber.
Lunch was listed at $500 per couple, and a photograph with Perry cost $1,000, according to an invitation.
An Occupy protester outside said to a couple on the way in, "You can have your picture taken with me for a dime."
>BY THE NUMBERS
The Franchise Tax Board's latest tax amnesty program brought in $350 million from those who underreported income through tax shelters and offshore accounts. More than 1,000 taxpayers admitted underpaying taxes in exchange for California's offer to waive penalties and the possibility of prosecution. Businesses made up $100 million of the catch.
>WORTH REPEATING
"Politics as a professional activity in Sacramento is dead. It's now amateur night."
KEVIN STARR, author, California historian and former state librarian, in the Los Angeles Times
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