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But really, deductive reasoning already told us who did it, right? The Green Party is sometimes said to be left of the Democrats’ liberal wing. A Green gubernatorial candidate would not pull votes from faux tea-bagger incumbent GOP Gov. Rick Perry. Those votes would be siphoned straight from Democratic challenger and former Houston Mayor Bill White.

In a court hearing last month, former UT student Garrett Mize said lobbyist Mike Toomey, Perry’s close ally and former chief of staff, personally paid him to try to gather signatures for the Greens. Stuart Moss, who worked at the time for former Perry speech writer Eric Bearse, put Toomey and Mize in touch, Mize said.

An e-mail that Democrats obtained through their lawsuit showed that Republican operative Anthony Holm was in contact with Green Party officials as they tried to gather signatures this year. Holm’s company, the Patriot Group, received more than $90,000 from Perry’s campaign last year for technology consulting, although Holm said he was not involved with the firm’s work for Perry.

The gun is smoking, and it’ll be very interesting to trace that $532,000.

But think about it. Could Perry pals Mikey Toomey, Stuart Moss and Anthony Holm pull off something so Rovian without the governor’s knowledge?

The question isn’t whether Rick Perry’s fingerprints are all over this fiasco, but rather why Rick Perry is so fearful of the outcome of the Democratic process.

Funny, he doesn’t mention anything about how he refused to vote to extend unemployment benefits for about 1.2 million out-of-work Americans who may not be able to afford food for their families as a result. Pete has figured out that NASA and petroleum companies populate a portion of his district. Maybe he doesn’t think anyone in Fort Bend County has lost their jobs yet in the Great Recession.

So if you’ve been laid off and are curious about why Congressman Olson is fighting to spend more government money to preserve high-paying NASA jobs but not on extending unemployment benefits to people who already are out of work, perhaps you’d like to join Pete down at the McDowell building and express your constituent concern.

I feel certain he’ll have some compelling and compassionate thoughts ready to share with you.

But the main reason is this:

A big chunk of the money to pay for the bill comes from lifting payroll taxes on households making more than $250,000. On average, the annual tax bill for households making more than $1 million a year will rise by $46,000 in 2013, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington research group. Another major piece of financing would cut Medicare subsidies for private insurers, ultimately affecting their executives and shareholders.

This is why our Congressman Pete Olson and the rest of the Republicans whipped up the emotion-charged but intellectually challenged tea-baggers, and continue to squeal like stuck pigs over a health-care bill that really didn’t go nearly far enough.

The Republicans don’t care what percentage of Americans are unable to afford health care. That’s because (duh) the Republicans really only represent the rich corporate elite. Among their core constituency is the insurance industry executive management. And multimillionaire Rush Limbaugh. And multibillionaire Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch.

Which also helps explain why Texas Gov. Rick Perry and his sidekick AG are willing to play to their extremist base and flush at least a few hundred thousand dollars (of our tax money, not theirs) down the toilet in a futile legal challenge suggesting the federal government can’t force such a bill on the states.

Which I guess means they’ll be suing to dismantle the IRS and national income tax next. Good luck with that.

Personally, I can’t wait to hear the logic the GOP comes up with when they try to convince the Glenn Beck tin-foilers that stricter financial regulation is as evil as providing poor children with the ability to see a doctor.