Texas Does Not Want Kay Bailey Hutchison as Governor

Posted on January 5th, 2010 by iwaller

Kay Bailey Hutchison is another Republican career politician who, along with her fellow Republicans, has failed Texas; pledging to serve only two terms as Senator but has been in Senate over 16 years.

Hutchison voted for 98 % of all Federal spending bills and to raise the national debt ceiling 10 times to $12.1 trillion which has nearly tripled since she became Senator.

Hutchison voted with George W Bush 90% of the time, nearly ten percentage points greater than the average Republican in Congress. (Source: Washington Post)

Hutchison is a 100% champion of Bush-style tax cuts for the wealthy that benefit special interests like Exxon-Mobil and passes the tax bill to the middle class, stating “every major tax cut in history has created more revenue.” Source: Think ProgressHutchison pushed through Congress, Wall Street deregulation with her mentor Phil Gramm, leading to the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression (Source: Austin American-Statesman)

Hutchison defended Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court yet voted against the more qualified Sonia Sotomayor. (Source: MSNBC)

Hutchison argued against raising the minimum wage for Texans who had not seen an increase in over a decade and has done nothing to help the 25% of Texans without health care coverage.

Hutchison said earmarks were wasteful spending: “Our children and grandchildren must pay for it for years to come” but Hutchison has inserted 346 secret earmarks as Senator. Kay Bailey Hutchison was recently awarded the title of “porker of the month” for her excessive reliance on Congressional earmarks (Source: KXAN) Hutchison obtained 149 pork projects worth $1.6 billion in FY 2010. Hutchison supported passing on the cost of Medicare Prescription Drug Act to our children and grandchildren.

Hutchison has accepted $949,489 from oil companies since 2000, which makes her one of the top recipients of oil money in the Senate. She has received almost $8 million from Estate Lawyers and Big Oil.

As State Treasurer in 1993, Hutchison was indicted on charges of official misconduct. Testimony given by her staff revealed that she thought it was ok to bill the taxpayers for using state staff for self-serving personal matters, spending 90% of her time tending to personal, non-state matters (Source: Dallas Observer via Houston Press)

The Dallas Observer reported that “Hutchison hit, pinched and shoved employees with enough regularity to make such outbursts a kind of leitmotif of her management style.” (Source: Dallas Observer)

Hutchison offered to be “character witness” for Jack Abramoff’s lobbying partner and made history as the first Senator to be banned by Google.

Hutchison voted for $700 billion Wall Street bailout, supported the Patriot Act allowing the Federal Government to spy on Texans, access their mail, internet and bank accounts.

Hutchison voted for Federally approved legislation for more Texas toll roads in 2005 to finance improvements for Rick Perry’s failed 600 mile Trans-Texas Corridor scheme.(Source: U.S. Department of Transportation)

Hutchison pushed for proposals in Washington to have Texas “opt out of the federal system that funds highway construction”, voted against High Speed Rail in Texas opposing President Obama’s stimulus package, which contained over $8 billion for high speed rail in Texas costing thousands of Texas jobs. (Source: Dallas Morning News) (Source: Austin Business Journal)

“Attorney Ray Hutchison, the husband of Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, helped write the bonds for Dallas’ Trinity River project and Kay then helped allocate $13 million in earmarks for the project.” (Source: Texas Watchdog)

Hutchison’s career in politics helped position the Hutchison family to bring down as much as $6.7 million annually, including almost $500,000 a year her husband Ray gets from his public finance law firm (Source: Dallas Blog, Texas Watchdog)

Hutchison is a lifelong Republican career politician who was willing to throw away successful education policies that worked under a Democratic administration in favor of Bush’s failed policies. Her record on education should frighten the parents of Texas’ 4.65 million school children.

Kay Bailey Hutchison embraced one of the worst legacies of former President George W. Bush when she voted for No Child Left Behind which slowed gains in test scores for Texas students, forcing teachers to “teach to the test” and leaving Texas children behind.(Source: Project Vote Smart & New York Times)

In 2005, Senator Hutchison voted against closing $11 billion in corporate tax loopholes to support public education initiatives which would have been spent on scholarships, Pell Grants and student loan forgiveness. (Source: On the Issues)

Hutchison voted against the 2009 stimulus package, which to date is scheduled to send at least $3.7 billion to Texas’ public schools which would provide funds for 1,031 Texas school districts and 8,061 schools helping pay for new textbooks, provide teachers with a pay raise, and improve achievement in low-performing schools. (Source: Think Progress) (Source: Texas Education Agency)

Kay Bailey Hutchison’s endorsement from Dick Cheney exemplifies her commitment to Washington politics over the needs of hardworking, taxpaying Texas families. Texans should remember banking, housing and the auto industry collapsed under her watch. Kay Bailey Hutchison is in favor of dismantling every regulatory and federal agency; she has never supported government oversight, transparency nor checks and balances of any sort.

Hutchison has failed Texas veterans, children, the less fortunate, and Seniors. Review a portion of her voting record which demonstrates her Washington, partisan politics over the interest of Texans:

1996 Voted NO against the Employment Nondiscrimination Act of 1996

1996 Voted NO against the Campaign Finance Reform bill

1998 Voted No against the Campaign Finance Reform Amendment

2002 Voted No against Greater Access to Affordable Pharmaceuticals Act for Texas Seniors

2003 Voted against providing an additional $322 million for safety equipment including body armor to troops in Iraq

2004 voted NO against Unemployment Benefits for Texans

2005 Voted NO on Investigating Contracts in Iraq Amendment for fraud

2005 Voted NO against Additional Funding For Veterans Amendment

2005 Voted NO on the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Amendment

2005 Voted NO against Medicare Premiums Amendment for Texas Seniors

2006 Voted NO against the Teen Pregnancy Education Amendment for Texas Teenagers

2006 Voted NO against the Immigration Reform Bill