| Sen. Hutchison Ridicules Texas Rangers on Campaign Trail |
|
|
|
| by Tom McGregor | Fri, Oct 30, 2009, 03:44 PM |
 Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tx.) is campaigning to be the next governor of the state of Texas. While running for office, she is launching attacks against the state's most prestigious law enforcement agency, the Texas Rangers. She deems it an outrage that some Texas Rangers would take a few minutes off their hectic schedules to take a photograph with her opponent in the race for the Republican nomination, Gov. Rick Perry.
The Houston Chronicle reports that, "about 120 of the state's 144 Texas Rangers - all wearing the customary light colored rancher or cattleman's hats posed for photographs with the governor." One of Perry's high-ranking aides explained, "the Rangers wanted a picture, so we managed to find some time." For the previous nine years while Perry has served as governor, he never made time to organize an official photograph session with the illustrious Texas Rangers. At the photograph session, someone from the Kay Bailey Hutchison camp made an appearance and brought along a video camera to put the footage on YouTube. According to the Chronicle, "in a campaign release, Hutchison's team noted: 'in September, Rick Perry made a lot of press for announcing that he was deploying the Texas Rangers to the border. He lamented that the Rangers would have to be 'pulled away from some of the work that they're doing' in the state to go to the border." Sen. Hutchison accuses the Texas Rangers of not actually being deployed to the border. She claims the security border announcement in September was a publicity stunt and a "fraud." She believes that Rangers are more interested in taking a picture with Gov. Perry than with patrolling the border. A spokesman for the Perry campaign, Mark Miner, said, "it's unfortunate that Sen. Hutchison and her campaign would criticize the Texas Rangers, who were already in town for annual training." Chief Tony Leal of the Texas Rangers also responded to Sen. Hutchison's attack on his agency, by saying that, "the Rangers were in Austin for required training." To read the entire article from the Houston Chronicle, link here: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Bookmark
Email This
Comments (11)
...
written by furrpiece , October 31, 2009 I can think of a whole host of ways that Senator Hutchison can re-connect with Texans. Being critical of, and cynical about, the legendary Texas Rangers is not one of them. When Obama pulled hundreds of Border Patrol officers off the Mexican border and redeployed them to the Chicago area border with Canada, John Cornyn raised bloody Hell about it. If Kay did anything at all, she was relatively silent about it. But, it appears she did virtually nothing. The Texas Rangers ARE protecting the border as best they can in their numbers. But, Obama's leaving the Mexican border vulnerable is one of the dumbest things he's done; and that's a high bar, indeed. If Sen. Hutchison wants to complain about the Rangers taking pictures with the Governor, she needs to do some research into the civilian chain of command of the DPS. She'll find her answers there. Trying to marginalize the Rangers is NOT smart, and NOT the way to handle the problem.
...
written by bigun , October 31, 2009 I don't know what KBH is really trying to accomplish here but surely she doesn't think this will help her become the next governor of Texas. If she does think that then she is unworthy of anyone's vote IMHO.
...
written by Dallas REALTOR , October 31, 2009 Attacking the Texas Rangers for taking a "class photo" with the Governor during their annual training is really sloppy politics. As a former supporter of Hutchison, I hope she pulls her staff out of the gutter. All they do is attack, attack, attack. Whoever launched this attack should really be muzzled, and she should really apologize on behalf of that person as she shows him or her the door. I left Senator Hutchison when my group endorsed Perry. It wasn't the endorsement, it was her staff's derisive mocking of my group as somehow a joke. We don't take kindly to insults from career politicians.
...
written by Carter Class of '72 , October 31, 2009 Off topic, but was that a Gonzalez "Come and Take It" flag on the Governor's boot in that video? If so, very cool. I was already voting for Perry, but this latest episode does nothing but make me feel better about my decision. Keep it up Kay. Maybe it's time to retire.
...
written by Jason K , October 31, 2009 Yeah... not bright by KBH at all. All I know is I still won't be voting for Perry. Now whether another candidate gets my vote or not, I do not know.
...
written by furrpiece , November 01, 2009 There are increasing rumors that Sen. Hutchison will not run for Governor of Texas. Yet to be voted on in Washington are Cap and Trade (Cap and Tax), some form of health care legislation, Son Of Stimulus, and other critically important measures. Failing to vote on those bills would NOT be a plus for a Hutchison campaign. Failing to resign-to-run is also problematic for her. So, she's doubly damned. GOP finance people are not excited about pouring $40 million dollars into a primary race for Governor, and millions more into a general election. My guess is that they would prefer Hutchison to bow out, leaving Perry to easily win re-election as the incumbent, keeping Hutchison in the Senate as a solid GOP vote. Hutchison also has to consider the added attraction that, if the GOP takes the Senate in 2010 or even 2012, she becomes a powerful senior Senator who can almost name her committees. Hutchison, or her campaign staff, have made some very bad political moves in the last few weeks. Being critical of the Texas Rangers is just one of many examples. I personally hope Kay will stay in Washington doing what she does best, and that Perry is easily re-elected, keeping two important trigger positions for Texas in GOP hands.
...
written by bk , November 01, 2009 I wonder what Kay's side of this is, which we will never hear on this blog.
...
written by furrpiece , November 02, 2009 Sen. Hutchison's people have posted here previously, and I don't believe there is any kind of bar to prevent their doing so in the future. I, too, would like to hear Sen. Hutchison's side of criticizing the Texas Rangers for having a class picture taken with Gov. Perry while they were already in Austin for training, as they have done with every other Texas Governor for years. Write comment
|
|
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
