Burnt Orange Report

Hutch Urges Special Session

By Andrew Dobbs

From Quorum Report:

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) today urged Gov. Rick Perry to call an immediate special session to fix school finance, give teachers a pay raise, and provide property tax relief.

Speaking outside the Texas Supreme Court after attending the swearing in of Justice Priscilla Owen to 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Hutchison declined to say what her future political intentions were. However, she said Texas needed "leadership to be shown now more than ever" to do what was right for the state. (...)

Perry also attended the Owen event but did not hold a press conference. Responding to Hutchison's comments, Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said Perry was "glad" Hutchison shared the Governor's "displeasure" that the Legislature failed to reach agreement on important school reform and property tax relief. (...)

Asked to comment about her political future, Hutchison said she was in the "home stretch for making the decision for what's right for Texas." She said she had tried to "stay out of the fray" during the 79th Legislature so that lawmakers could make progress on important issues. "I am disappointed like everyone that school finance and especially relief for the property taxpayers of our state were not addressed," Hutchison said.

I'd put more of KBH's quotes in, but it sounds nauseatingly like a campaign ad. "Texas is the greatest state in America and I want us to be the example of how to do things right. I want other states to look to us to be the state that has the creativity and the innovation" blah blah blah. Still, the Hutch-o-meter must have swung back up to the upper 90s by now...