AUSTIN - Republican Gov. Rick Perry refused to honor United Nations Day, even as President Bush signed a U.N. proclamation, because doing so would be inconsistent with the governor's views, his spokeswoman said.
In his proclamation, Bush also had urged governors to "honor the observance of United Nations Day," which was celebrated Sunday around the world to commemorate the date the organization was founded in 1945.
"It was a conscious decision to not issue the proclamation out of concern over the lack of support the U.N. has shown for United States efforts to bring freedom and democracy to the world," Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said.
The president of the Texas division of the United Nations Association called Perry's decision an embarrassment to the state and a slap at an organization that is focused on eliminating unequal treatment of women around the world, The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday.
"We're very disappointed and embarrassed that the governor would do something like this," said Beth Weems Pirtle. "Rick Perry is trying to make the United Nations a political football, and it's not a political football. It is a nonpartisan organization that helps people all over the world.
The Republican Party of Texas has long been hostile to the United Nations.
The party platform has stated that the GOP "believes it is in the best interest of the citizens of the United States that we immediately rescind our membership in, as well as all financial and military contributions to, the United Nations."
Pirtle said she believed the governor would sign the U.N. Day proclamation after she submitted it more than a month ago.
Walt said there was never any promise to issue the proclamation, though she acknowledged that Pirtle was given wrong information that it had been sent out by the governor's office.
"That employee of the governor's office is not involved in deciding whether to issue proclamations. That may be the source of the confusion," Walt said.
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