Sen. Hutchison On Iran, Iraq, WMDs & Gov. Perry Of Texas (HQ)

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) on Iran, Iraq, WMDs, and Texas Governor Rick Perry and refrains from commenting on Sarah Palin. Excerpts from MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews (aired: 06/23/09).

Mini-Bar Bio: Hutchison received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1962, where she was a cheerleader and a sister of Pi Beta Phi sorority. She received her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1967. Following her graduation from law school, she was the legal and political correspondent for KPRC-TV in Houston. Hired by Ray Miller, host of the long-running The Eyes of Texas anthology series, Hutchison was the first female onscreen newswoman in Texas.

In 1972, Hutchison was elected to the Texas House of Representatives from a district in Houston. She served until 1976. She was vice-chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board from 1976 to 1978. She was a candidate for election to the United States House of Representatives in 1982 for the Dallas-based 3rd District, but was defeated in the primary by Steve Bartlett. She temporarily left politics and became a bank executive and businesswoman.

Hutchison was elected Texas State Treasurer in 1990 and served until June 1993 when she ran against Senator Bob Krueger for the right to complete the last two years of Lloyd Bentsen's term. Bentsen had resigned in January 1993 to become Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration.

After assuming her Senate seat on June 14, 1993, following the special election, Travis County authorities, led by Democratic district attorney Ronnie Earle, raided Hutchison's offices at the State Treasury looking for proof of allegations that Hutchison used state equipment and employees on state time to help with her campaign. She was indicted by a grand jury in September 1993 for official misconduct and records tampering.

During pre-trial proceedings, State District Judge John Onion announced that he would make no rulings on the admissibility of evidence prior to the trial. The evidence was to include data from tapes maintained by Treasury employees. Hutchison (State Treasurer from 1990 until June 1993) had allegedly given instructions that the data be deleted from the department's computers (during the course of the trial, the data - enclosed in a pizza box - were turned over to the Travis County DA's office). This was a ruling DA Earle considered critical. Earle felt that it was a technique designed to torpedo his case, because Onion could rule mid-trial that certain important evidence was inadmissible under the Texas Rules of Evidence. Following Onion's ruling, Earle declined to proceed with his case.

Speculation began in 2004 that Hutchison would run for Governor of Texas in 2006, challenging current Governor Rick Perry in the Republican primary. However, on June 17, 2005, Hutchison announced that she would seek reelection to the Senate instead, reneging on an earlier promise to a two-term limit.

Voting Record: On Feb. 2, 2005, Hutchison sought to curtail the ability of plaintiffs to file class-action lawsuits against corporations.

In 2005, Hutchison voted against prohibiting oil leasing in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and has supported legislation promoting drilling in the refuge in 2002 and 2003. In 2005 she also voted against including oil and gas smokestacks in the Environmental Protection Agency's mercury regulations.

In 2006, Hutchison received more campaign contributions from members of large oil and gas corporations than any other member of Congress.

On Dec. 4, 2008, Hutchison filed the papers to establish an exploratory committee for a run for the governor's seat in Texas in 2010.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• kay
• bailey
• hutchison
• iran
• iraq
• wmd
• texas
• perry
• palin
• republican
• matthews
• hardball
• dawgnpony

[AnthonyNews]

sarah palin own party ran her out of office...thats a shame****

[dawgnpony]

I expect we will be seeing her as FOX consultant. Her expertise will be living with dementia.

[surfsalem7]

Women! You are far from Ronald Reagan quality, Governor Perry on the other hand is and a far better Governor then you could ever hope to be!

And Matthews, you moron. You say that Sarah Palin has no business getting involved in TX politics when YOU have no business getting involved with TX politics so stay out of it.

[Smartassawhip]

We don't need another war! Maybe the reason these other countries are not getting involved is because of what Bush did in Iraq... Fool me once shame on you.. fool me twice shame on me.

watch?v=ydFOfx6suvw&feature=ch­annel_page