Kay Must Decide, says new Texas GOP Chair and Perry supporter Cathie Adams

W. Gardner Selby at the Austin American-Statesman reported today that "Cathie Adams of Dallas, who also said she won't be withdrawing her earlier endorsement of GOP Gov. Rick Perry's re-election, said her hope that Hutchison acts on the resignation issue reflects concern among party activists waiting for Hutchison's decision before setting their own political plans or making political commitments."

"It would help the people of the state of Texas to know more clearly, especially by (the candidate filing deadline of) Jan. 4," Adams said, "because if she resigns after that, we're going to throw things into quite an unknown."

Selby also reports that, "Adams told reporters it would be impossible for her to withdraw her earlier endorsement of Perry for another term."

There are 39 days remaining until the Filing Period begins. Perhaps Senator Hutchison will soon reveal her plans for the future to all of us. Several folks have been puzzled by the lack of information and action coming out of Team Kay. You'd thought that she would have publicized the sale of her Washington, DC home; instead we're all wondering what's going on?!

Gov. Perry won't rule out a 2nd attempt at Texas-Trans Corridor

Phillip Martin at BOR just released a transcript and provided a link to a YouTube video of Governor Perry earlier today stating that he wouldn't not rule out a Texas-Trans Corridor No. 2.

Question: "Would Proposition 11 prevent future Trans-Texas corridors from seizing private land."

Perry: "This is where a government entity can take a piece of property and hand it over to a private developer for development, to enhance tax revenues. When we're building highways in the state of Texas, that still stays the sovreign land of the state of Texas. So when the next road that's built in the state of Texas and there's eminent domain [unclear word] that goes into place..."

Regardless, the fact that Perry was asked -- rather point blank -- about whether or not the constitutional amendment prohibits future Trans-Texas Corridors, and ducked the question, is newsworthy.

The link to the YouTube video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgaAQ9buwJM

Perry: Washington Republicans got us in this mess

Jason Embry at the Austin American-Statesman reports that Rick Perry and his Chief of Staff, Ray Sullivan, attended a donkey roast of a meeting with Washingtonian republicans:

Gov. Rick Perry’s broad criticisms of Washington Republicans aren’t sitting well with Washington Republicans.

In a closed-door meeting Thursday in Washington with Perry chief of staff Ray Sullivan, several top aides to Texas Republican U.S. House members expressed anger over the language Perry is using as he tries to fend off a challenge from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Perry often criticizes Hutchison in code by complaining about Washington.

Stoking their anger was a Sept. 14 fundraising letter in which Perry contrasts Texas’ relatively healthy budget climate with the Washington model of “more government, pork barrel spending and fiscal ruin.”

But instead of just talking about Democratic congressional leaders or President Barack Obama, the letter calls out Republicans.

“Let’s be frank,” the letter says. “Washington Republicans got us in this mess.”

Later in the letter, Perry writes, “If Washington Republicans hadn’t spent like Democrats for 12 years, they might have maintained enough votes to actually kill Obamacare.”

Hutchison’s campaign sent the fundraising letter to Republican chiefs of staff on Capitol Hill.

One would think Perry switched back to the Democratic party after reading Embry's post. We tip our hats to Jason's muckraking style of reporting. Embry's report continues with:

According to two sources in Thursday’s meeting who did not want to be named because they did not want to draw attention to their bosses, Sullivan was unapologetic. “He was nice, but he said, ‘We’re running against somebody from Washington and that’s the strategy,’ ” one source said.

Another said of Sullivan’s reaction, “I think there was shock and awe with the arrogance of it all.”

Perry campaign goes Negative, launches anti-Kay website

Well, it didn't take long for Governor Rick Perry's campaign to go negative.

Texans for Rick Perry has created and posted a website named "washingtonkay.com" in an attempt to portray her as a 'Washington outsider' and rapidly counter Kay's campaign.

We're not sure how long Perry's campaign will keep the negative website around, but for now it seems to indicate Rick's camp was shaken up earlier this week with Kay's allegations of redundant bill signing around the state for political purposes.

The website is http://www.washingtonkay.com and includes altered photos of Senator Hutchison that make her appear goofy. Visitors to the website can download a variety of YouTube videos that seem to have been developed to respond quickly to Kay's camp using the internet. Graphics and PDF documents may also be downloaded that attempt to show differences between the "Washington Kay" and the "Texas Kay".

Here at KVR we believe that Governor Perry is walking a very fine line. First of all, the site is outright negative in content. The site attempts to humorously ridicule a standing U.S. Senator elected by Texans to represent our state in Washington. Its also easy to construe this new website as misogynistic. Texas has a history of strong women leaders in politics. I'm not sure we've ever seen anything like this in recent political history; even with Strayhorn's gubernatorial bid.

We're waiting to see what Kay's campaign will do in response to this website. They will either ignore it to try and stave off attention from the new site or meet it head-on with a site of their own or calling shame on Perry's camp.

Sen. Hutchison will vote 'no' on Judge Sonya Sotomayer

Senator Hutchison has announced that she will join Senator's Hatch and Cornyn by not supporting Judge Sonya Sotomayer in her bid for SCOTUS.

The Associated Press reports:

Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison says she will vote against confirming Sonia Sotomayor to be a Supreme Court justice.

She said Tuesday she is concerned about Sotomayor's views on the Second Amendment on the right to bear arms. Hutchison is from Texas, where the population is more than a third Hispanic.

Sotomayor is expected to be confirmed as the first Hispanic justice of the high court.

Texas' junior senator, John Cornyn, voted against Sotomayor on Tuesday as the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination on a 13-6 vote and sent it to the full Senate.

Hutchison is seeking the 2010 GOP nomination for governor in Texas.

Kay expands Campaign Staff, surpasses Perry's re-election team in growth

Gardner Shelby at the Austin American-Statesman just published an article about significant changes to Senator Hutchison's gubernatorial campaign staff.

Wiley and Sullivan said the change in leadership, finalized last week, was not in reaction to Hutchison losing ground to GOP Gov. Rick Perry in recent polls. Instead, the two said, the addition of new staff and consultants reflected timely growth in a campaign intent on making history.

“As with any campaign, you build as you go,” Sullivan said. “You don’t hit the ground with a full staff.

“This is big; this is going to be one of the biggest races the country has ever seen outside of a presidential race. This is a multi-dimensional campaign. We want to make sure we’ve got the firepower to win.”

Sullivan, 35, said he’s never managed a gubernatorial campaign. But he previously worked in Texas for Hutchison in 2005, leaving then only after Hutchison chose not to challenge Perry in 2006.

“It’s going to be fun to kick Rick Perry’s record around for the next seven months,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan managed Jim DeMint’s 2004 win of a Senate seat in South Carolina. Later, he coached various Senate campaigns before managing presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s effort in South Carolina in 2008.

Shelby also reports that Kay's campaign staff is larger than Governor Perry's re-election team and growing:

Hutchison’s campaign, which already exceeded the size of Perry’s operation, is also set to reveal other hires, which Wiley and Sullivan characterized as signs of a promising build-up rather than a troubling shake-up.

Two individuals will focus on communication with reporters and a third will be handling rapid response to incidents and sallies from Perry’s campaign. Over the past few weeks there has been great speculation about whether Kay should or would drop out of her bid for the Governorship. Shelby's report seems to indicate otherwise; instead Kay's campaign seems strong and organized.

Jeff Sadosky’s arrival as press secretary amounts to no surprise considering Hutchison’s campaign earlier this year retained Hans Klingler, formerly with the Republican Party of Texas, as communications director but didn’t immediately designate a press secretary entrusted with day-to-day reporter contacts. Sadosky took the campaign job this week after joining Hutchison’s Washington staff as communications director earlier this year.

The campaign’s new senior communications adviser, Jennifer Coxe-Baker, previously helped Mel Martinez of Florida win a Senate seat. She also was a spokeswoman for the Bush administration’s Secretary of Labor.

Joe Pounder, designated the deputy communications director, will focus on rapid response. He has worked for U.S. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican Whip, for whom he composed this blog today, and Romney’s presidential campaign. (A reader forwarded this Pounder profile from Politico.com.

Sullivan said two Dallas-based consultants—already affiliated with Scott Howell, who’s handling Hutchison’s TV advertising—will play significant roles going forward. Heath Thompson, who was a regional political director in the Bush-Cheney campaign of 2004, will focus on strategy, while Todd Harris, who’s been a spokesman for Florida’s Jeb Bush, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. John McCain, will be a point person on communications. Harris was once called a “spinner extraordinaire” by “Roll Call,” the Washington newspaper.

The continued growth and organization of Kay's camp clearly shows she's ready to fight Governor Perry for the 2010 republican gubernatorial race. Here at KVR we agree with Shelby's assessment that this latest re-organization to her staff is not a shake-up, but rather a strategic build-up of experienced campaign staff. Hold on to your cowboy hat, it looks like Kay's kicking up dust and possibily running Rick outta town.

Report shows Perry lives in Luxury

Its no secret that Texas' longest serving governor lives in the lap of luxury. Today the Houston Chronicle released two lists that show gifts and travel paid provided to Governor Perry since his reign as governor began.

Gifts are nothing new to politicians. Its seen as kind of a perk, but the lists provided by the Chronicle are quite impressive.

Here is a quick excerpt from R.G. Ratcliffe's article in today's Houston Chronicle:

The taxpayers shell out $108,000 a year to rent him an estate west of Austin, and spend another $168,000 on chefs, stewards and housekeepers for the Perrys' creature comforts.

Piano maestro Van Cliburn once played at the Governor's Mansion for first lady Anita Perry's birthday. Dallas aerobics guru Dr. Kenneth Cooper once gave the governor free medical tests. Expensive gifts to Perry have included 16 pairs of custom-made boots, a pair of spurs, hunting trips, sports tickets and a football helmet signed by former Dallas Cowboy Emmitt Smith.

The perks of being governor are not unusual across the nation, and in many states, governors like Perry are also de facto head of state business recruitment.

Wealthy donors and corporate-funded foundations, for example, have flown him to the Bahamas for scuba diving, to Paris, Rome and Dubai for business promotion and to San Diego, Calif., for the one-time Texas A&M yell leader to attend an Aggies Muster for expatriate A&M graduates.

There was a trip to Istanbul for the Bilderberg conference hosted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. A trip to the Middle East had on its schedule meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Jordan's King Abdullah and a “breathtaking sunset cruise on the Red Sea.”

Governor Perry was honest about his role of attracting businesses to Texas -- making him the de facto Salesman for attracting and retaining businesses. Ratcliffe's article continues with:

Perry, who took office in 2000, said in a recent interview with the Houston Chronicle that his only motivation as governor is to affect public policy: “This is not about me. It's not about whatever the people would perceive as the perks of being governor ... I get to go do a job every day that makes a difference in people's lives. I find that very satisfying.”

Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said the governor's amenities are like those of previous governors and others across the country.

“Texas is the tenth largest economy in the world. We're the number one exporting state. We have an economy that is an economic powerhouse,” Castle said. “Carrying that message to other countries, other leaders, business leaders, state leaders is an important mission.”

And what about travel you ask? Well, here's what Ratcliffe's article says about that:

[Allison] Castle noted that Perry's travel is not paid by taxpayers.

Texas One, a corporate-finance foundation, pays for much of Perry's business development travel. Other travel is paid for by his political committee or campaign donors. And some is financed as in-kind contributions from specific wealthy donors or interest groups.

Scuba diving was on the agenda in a controversial 2004 trip when beer distributor John Nau and investor Charles Tate, both of Houston, and San Antonio investor James Leininger paid $40,400 to fly Rick and Anita Perry and others on private jets to the Bahamas for a trip that included discussions of public education policy.

Houston's Gulf States Toyota owner Thomas Friedkin gave $9,000 in travel to Perry's campaign last year so the governor, his wife and daughter could spend two days in Key West for a fundraiser.

Perry and his wife leave this week for San Diego to raise money for his re-election. They visited San Diego this time last year, a trip that included a visit to the San Diego Chargers training camp.

Which reminds us here at KVR... the Dallas Cowboys will begin their training camp in San Antonio at the Alamodome on Tuesday. We hope Rick will at least send an envoy to the Cowboys while he visits with the Chargers in San Diego.

Click here for a list of Gifts provided to Governor Perry.

Click here for a list of travel/trips for Governor Perry paid for by others.

Perry threatens to invote 'States Rights' and reject federal Health Care

David Montgomery at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram includes comments from a WBAP interview with Governor Perry about the proposed national health care plan that is currently before Congress:

Interviewed by conservative talk show host Mark Davis of Dallas’ WBAP/820 AM, Perry said his first hope is that Congress will defeat the plan, which both Perry and Davis described as "Obama Care." But should it pass, Perry predicted that Texas and a "number" of states might resist the federal health mandate.

"I think you’ll hear states and governors standing up and saying 'no’ to this type of encroachment on the states with their healthcare," Perry said. "So my hope is that we never have to have that stand-up. But I’m certainly willing and ready for the fight if this administration continues to try to force their very expansive government philosophy down our collective throats."

"It really is a state issue, and if there was ever an argument for the 10th Amendment and for letting the states find a solution to their problems, this may be at the top of the class," Perry said. "A government-run healthcare system is financially unstable. It’s not the solution."

Texas has a higher percentage of uninsured people than any other state, with 1 in 4 Texans lacking health coverage. Dunkelberg, whose organization supports policies to help low- and modest-income Texans, said the House version would create a "predictable and comprehensive benefits package" for thousands of struggling middle-income Texans.

It seems that lately Governor Perry has been on a mission to challenge the federal government on constitutional grounds for states rights. We're not sure if this strategy is to build hype and a name for himself or put the states interests first.

With so many Texans uninsured, how would the State of Texas propose to cover health care alone?