Kay Bay's run for Governor--so far not so good

by: Deb

Tue Dec 09, 2008 at 00:33 PM CST

FW: from http://www.austinchronicle.com...

Governor KBH?  

It's official: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is thinking about maybe, possibly, running for governor in 2010.

Yesterday, Hutchison filed the paperwork with the Texas Ethics Commission to establish an exploratory committee for a run at the mansion. Former Bush pioneer Allan "Bud" Shivers, Jr. has signed on as her campaign treasurer: Shivers also helps run deep pocketed tort reformists and one time pals of Tom DeLay Texans for Lawsuit Reform.

Of course, this still only means she's thinking about it, but it would now be a shock to onlookers if her name wasn't on the ballot in two years time. All of which steps speculation about infighting in the Texas Republican establishment into high gear.

There's no reason to believe that Gov. Rick Perry will not run again, but Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst seems to have been squeezed out of this race, and out of the natural succession. Of course, if Hutchison does run, she'll have to stand down from her Senate seat (which Congressional Republicans may not be very happy about, and rumors swirl that they are actively lobbying the well-regarded and seasoned Hutchison to please, please not leave their ranks). All of which raises the question of who the Republicans (or rather, Perry, who would make the appointment) could put in her place to finish her unexpired term.

Cornyn + Hutchinson: Fighting for Big Oil

by: RoCoDemsPrez

Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 02:57 PM CST

So when the a recent energy bill came before the senate which called for a rollback of tax breaks for oil companies, both Cornyn and Hutchinson (unsurprisingly) voted against the bill:

President Bush had threatened to veto any energy bill that raised taxes. The House passed a bill with higher taxes on oil companies last week.

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison both voted against the motion to move the bill forward. Ms. Hutchison had negotiated to strip out the higher taxes on oil and gas producers.

There you have it- Cornyn and Hutchinson siding with both the White House and their campaign contributors.

Apparently, despite the fact that there was across the aisle support for the bill ("There is no reason why we shouldn't pass the energy bill today" Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY) and the other provisions that would "boost the nation's use of renewable energy, set new efficiency standards for appliances and - most dramatically - set aggressive new fuel mileage requirements for cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles", some Senate Republicans (not pointing any fingers) looked past that because of money received from certain exploitive corporations.

Because of these Republicans, the tax hike on big oil is going to be removed from the bill and it will be reintroduced. At least we still have some energy reforms to look forward to. (source)

S.A.F.E?

by: blackandblue

Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 10:24 PM CDT

This Bill goes describes about how this new temporary worker program will work. (You can read the whole article and the Discussion Draft of the Bill at http://www.washingto...)

The Bill requires American companies to verify that the jobs they want to fill by using a “temporary worker” could not be filled by and American. (Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t companies supposed to do some sort of check now that they don’t do?)

The Bill has all these provisions and stages of second class citizenry. The temporary worker would have to apply for a work visa at “Ellis Island Centers” (isn’t that a nice term) in their home country. These centers would be privately owned and operated but licensed by the DHS in countries that are a part of NAFTA and CAFTA-DR.

HERE COMES THE HATE PART!

From the Discussion Draft provided to the Washington Post:

No Amnesty:

Undocumented residents currently in the U.S. must return to their country of origin in order to apply for participation in the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Program.

Undocumented residents currently in the U.S. will not received an automatic path to citizenship by virtue of participating in the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Program. However, participation is the program will not preclude participants from returning to their country of origin at any time, surrendering their Good Neighbor SAFE Visa and applying for legal permanent residence under current law.

Basically Kay Bailey Hutchison is saying: All you people from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador… you don’t have to go home, but you got to get the hell out of here. Oh – it’s called self-deportation.

We might let you come back in the country if you are willing to work for low wages and be forever indebted to the company that brought you over here. Oh, you can leave at any time, but you have to use the existing immigration process to get back in the country.
Which means, you probably won’t be back.

This is wrong on so many levels. These are just a few:

1. It is racially motivated and targets only undocumented immigrants from the Americas.

2. It is an attempt to combine two immigration bills that were nothing but partisan politics to begin with.

3. It’s a stall tactic. (You know as well as I do that the Republicans are not going to vote on anything they can carry over into November. It is their attempt to hang on to every divisive non-issue they can.)

4. It does absolutely nothing to actually solve the non-issue of immigration.

Kay Bailey could have called her Bill “Stop the Invasion” and had just as much of an impact.

Texas, this is how your Senator represents you.

Now I ask you, is she being a Good Neighbor?

I think it’s time for her go. She has outlived her usefulness. I think she should self-deport from the U.S. Senate, but she won’t, so we have to vote her out.