In jab at Romney, Perry uses Whitman’s praise for Texas

During the 2010 California gubernatorial campaign, former EBay chief and GOP nominee Meg Whitman frequently touted Rick Perry’s leadership on the campaign trail, recounting how the Texas governor frequently took “hunting trips” for California business, urging them to relocate to the Lone Star State.

During the San Francisco Giants’ World Series battle with the Texas Rangers, Whitman and Perry even wagered on the series, betting a surfboard and cowboy boots, respectively -- an unusual move for a politician who doesn’t hold elected office.

So it apparently rankled some in Perry-land on Tuesday when Whitman, a longtime backer of former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney’s presidential ambitions, took what could be viewed as a veiled swipe at Perry.

Romney, Whitman’s mentor at Bain Capital, released his jobs plan on Tuesday, an 88-page treatise that includes this quote from Whitman: “Unlike other candidates, [Romney] knows what it takes to create private-sector jobs, and that’s exactly what our country needs.”

The Perry campaign fired back at Whitman on Tuesday evening in an email titled “Meg Whitman in Her Own Words” that lists multiple times the then-gubernatorial candidate lauded Perry’s leadership and the business climate he created in Texas, including noting that after she had been at EBay for a few years, when the company’s executives pondered where they would have chosen to start the online auction firm, she answered “Probably Texas.”

Should make for some interesting conversations if Whitman shows up at the GOP presidential debate Wednesday night at the Reagan presidential library.

seema.mehta@latimes.com