IN HIS FIRST PUBLIC STATEMENT SINCE THE COSTLY fire at the Texas Governor’s Mansion on June 8, Governor Rick Perry said that he is “disappointed in the lapses” at the Department of Public Safety that allowed an arsonist to torch the historic Governor’s Mansion.

The ensuing blaze all but gutted the 152-yr.-old building.  Fortunately all of the furnishings had been removed for a renovation that was ongoing.

It has since been disclosed that instead of having two DPS troopers stationed at the site, as is called for, there was only one on duty and it was his 2nd work shift for that day.

Also, nearly one third of the security cameras were not functioning and the entire infra-red motion detector system had been out of service for weeks.

The Governor said yesterday, “Obviously, we’re disappointed that there was not the response from some of those who realized that there were some lapses there, and that the leadership had not accepted those,” referring directly to the head of the DPS who has been unable to explain the several security lapses.

KVUE-TV filed this video of the Govenor’s remarks:

Now the Associated Press and three other news organizations are filing requests to be able to view the security tapes that show the unknown arsonist standing in front of the house, lighting a device and throwing it onto the porch.  The DPS is refusing to release the video citing the need to protect the security system from being studied by terrorists.

The Houston Chronicle reports on this twist HERE.

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