Bob Richter, the public editor for the newspaper in San Antonio, reports:

The Express-News got snookered by Gov. Rick Perry’s office last week. Perry held a signing ceremony at the Alamo for legislation that did not require his signature. It was a proposed constitutional amendment on eminent domain, red meat for Perry’s conservative followers, and we helped feed them by sending a reporter and photographer over there to cover it.

After the story and photos were published Tuesday, an unnamed “elected official” called an editor “to chide us for falling for a public relations stunt.” I wrote a longer-than-usual “Setting it Straight” for Page 2A Wednesday, because readers need to know the story wasn’t a story, but the damage had been done to our - and Perry’s - credibility.

One thing the Perry-at-the-Alamo story failed to report was information from a Monday news release released by Perry’s probable foe in the 2010 GOP primary, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. The headline said it all: “Rick Perry Hypocrisy Tour Heads to San Antonio.”