Kay Bailey Hutchison

Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator from Texas
Incumbent
Assumed office June 14, 1993 Serving with John Cornyn
Preceded by	Bob Krueger
Succeeded by	Incumbent (2013)
Personal details
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Ray Hutchison
Alma mater	University of Texas-Austin

Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison, usually known as Kay Bailey Hutchison (born July 22 1943), is the senior United States Senator from Texas. She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001 she was named one of the 30 most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal.

Family life

Hutchison was born in Galveston to Kathryn Ella Sharp and Allan Abner Bailey, an insurance agent. She has two brothers, Allan and Frank. Hutchison grew up in La Marque, Texas.

She divorced her first husband, a medical student.

In 2001, Hutchison adopted two children (daughter Kathryn Bailey and son Houston Taylor) with her second husband,[1] Ray Hutchison, whom she married in 1978. He has two grown daughters, Brenda and Julie, from a previous marriage. Ray Hutchison, also a former member of the Texas Legislature and unsuccessful candidate for Texas governor in 1978, is a senior partner with the law fim of Vinson & Elkins.

Senator Hutchison and her family have their primary residence in Dallas, Texas. She has a second house in Virginia, where she lives when the Senate is in session, and where her children attend school. [2]

Education and early career

She received her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1962, where she was a cheerleader in the 1960s, 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.

In 1972, Hutchison was elected to the Texas State 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 successful businesswoman.

1993 Senate special election

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. Krueger had been appointed by Texas Governor Ann Richards to fill the seat until a replacement was elected.

A field of 24 candidates sought to fill Bentsen's unexpired term, in the May 1993 special election. [3]. The top two vote-getters were Hutchison (593,338, or 29 percent) and Krueger (593,239, also 29 percent). Two conservative Republican congressmen, Joe Barton of Dallas (284,135 or 13.9 percent) and Jack Fields of Houston (277,560, or 13.6 percent) split pro-life voters (although Hutchison is pro-life she does not advocate overturning Roe v. Wade). Their combined vote was 561,695, still a third-place finish. A fifth candidate, Democrat Richard Fisher, polled 165,564 votes (8.1 percent); the remaining candidates had about 6 percent combined.

During the campaign, in January, the Houston Chronicle reported that both Hutchison and Fields had promised to serve a maximum of two six-year terms in the Senate as part of her support for term limit legislation for members of Congress. In April, the Dallas Morning News reported that Hutchison had repeated her pledge to serve only two terms in the U.S. Senate, if elected, and had also said term limits ought to cover all senators, including Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX), who had been elected in 1984 and re-elected in 1990. (He would stay in the Senate until 2002.) The term-limits legislation never passed, and Hutchison has said that she would not leave the senate in the absence of such legislation because doing so would unilaterally hurt Texas at the expense of other states in the seniority-driven Senate.

After the initial voting, most of the Barton and Fields voters switched to Hutchison, who won the runoff, 1,188,716 (67.3 percent) to 576,538 (32.7 percent). Lower turnout in the runoff resulted in a decrease in Krueger's vote total, by 17,000. Hutchison became the first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate.

Following Hutchison's election in 1993, Texas has had two sitting Republican U.S. senators.

1993–1994 Prosecution

Shortly after the special election victory, Travis County authorities, led by 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.

The case against Hutchison was heard before State District Judge John Onion in February, 1994. During pre-trial proceedings, the judge 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 had allegedly given instructions that the data be deleted from the department's computers (during the course of the trial, these 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[4].

Following Onion's ruling, Earle declined to proceed with his case. Though he had intended to continue the case later (possibly before a more favorable judge), Onion declined to give Earle that opportunity.

The judge instead swore in a jury and immediately ordered the panel to acquit Hutchison when no evidence had been presented to them by Earle. The acquittal barred any future prosecution of Hutchison.[5]

Later that year, Earle granted reporters access to the files he had amassed to make his case against Hutchison.[6]

1994 and 2000 Senate elections

In 1994, the election for her first full term, Hutchison received 2,604,281 votes (60.8 percent) to 1,639,615 votes (38.3 percent) cast for Democrat Richard W. Fisher, the son-in-law of the late Republican Congressman James M. Collins, who had also run in the special election the year before.

In 2000 she defeated Democrat Gene Kelly, with 4,082,091 (65 percent) to 2,030,315 (32.2 percent). She carried 237 of the 254 counties, including one of the most Democratic counties, Webb County (Laredo). This was the only time since the early 1900s that Webb County had supported a Republican candidate for any office on a partisan ballot. More than four million Texans voted for Hutchison that year — still the record highest number of actual votes ever cast in Texas for a non-presidential candidate (George W. Bush received 4,526,917 votes in Texas in the 2004 election).

2006 Senate election

Main article: Texas United States Senate election, 2006

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. Many political analysts speculated that she did not believe she could defeat Perry in the GOP primary because of his popularity among Christian conservatives, while her Senate seat was unlikely to face a serious threat.

Hutchison's Democratic opponent in the November 2006 general election was former Houston attorney and mediator Barbara Ann Radnofsky, who had not previously run for public office. Radnofsky received 44% of the vote in the primary and won a runoff election against Gene Kelly with 60 percent of the vote. Kelly had been the unsuccessful Democratic nominee against Hutchison in 2000. Libertarian Scott Lanier Jameson also ran for the seat.

Radnofsky faced an uphill battle in a state that has not elected a Democrat statewide since 1994, as George W. Bush's landslide reelection as governor in 1998 had helped carry Republicans into all the other statewide offices. In the August 2006 Rasmussen poll, Hutchison led her opponent by 30 percentage points — 61 to 31. [7]. The Survey USA Poll, which is not a head-to-head matchup, but only lists approval ratings of incumbents, found Hutchison with a 61 percent approval rating. [8] The Zogby poll, in contrast, showed a closer result, but still showed Hutchison with a 17.3 percent lead — the highest of any incumbent Republican Zogby tracks. [9]. The authors stated "...Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who got 65 percent of the vote in 2000, is a safe bet to win a third term."

On election night 2006, Hutchison won re-election to another term, winning 2,661,789 votes (61.7%). Radnofsky won 1,555,202 votes (36.04%). [10] Radnofsky only won in base Democratic areas, carrying only border counties with strong Hispanic majorities (such as El Paso and Hidalgo) and Travis County (Austin). Hutchison won everything else, taking more votes in 236 of the state's 254 counties.

Ironically, Perry's underwhelming reelection victory suggested that Hutchison might well have won the governorship had she opted to pursue it.

Political views

Hutchison serves on the following Senate committees: Appropriations; Commerce, Science and Transportation; Rules and Administration; Veterans' Affairs. As of 2007, Hutchison will succeed Jon Kyl as the Policy Chair for Senate Republicans, the fourth ranking leadership position in the Republican caucus.

Hutchison speaking.

In June of 2000, Hutchison and her Senate colleagues coauthored Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate. In 2004, her book, American Heroines: The Spirited Women Who Shaped Our Country, was published.

Since 2001, Hutchison had been Vice-Chairwoman of the Senate Republican Conference (caucus), making her the fifth-ranking Republican in the Senate behind (as of 2005) Majority Leader Bill Frist, Majority Whip Mitch McConnell and conference chairman Rick Santorum, and Policy Chairman Jon Kyl.

Hutchison serves on the Commerce Committee, Appropriations Committee, Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and as a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. During her time in the Senate, Hutchison has been a strong supporter of NASA.

The National Journal ranked Hutchison as follows in its 2004 rankings, which are based on various key votes relating to economic policy, social policy, and foreign policy:

Economic: 26% Liberal, 73% Conservative; Social: 38% Liberal, 60% Conservative; Foreign: 0% Liberal, 67% Conservative.

Abortion positions

Hutchison is presently considered to be moderate on abortion issues, at least compared to most elected Republicans from Texas. Although she has served on the Advisory Board of The Wish List (Women in the Senate and House) Political Action Committee, which contributes to pro-choice female Republican candidates for Congress, she is no longer on the board [11] and the PAC did not endorse her in 2006. [12]. In the past years NARAL has given her ratings of 0%, 7%, 20%, and 0%, indicating that her voting record mostly favored enacting proposed abortion restrictions. [13]

While in the Texas House of Representatives (1973 to 1977), Hutchison worked with Sarah Weddington, the attorney who won the Roe v. Wade case, to protect rape victims from having their names published. She has since supported some abortion rights, but not federal funding for them. She also has endorsed parental notification laws [14] and in 2006 sponsored legislation to prevent minors from being transported across state lines to subvert such laws.

Pistol ban controversy

Hutchison proposed the "District of Columbia Personal Protection Act," which drew 31 cosponsors in the Senate, while drawing 157 cosponsors from the House. This bill would have dismantled the handgun bans the city has had for thirty years. She drew fire from some residents and local politicians who rejected her proposal, who said they "could certainly live happily without Hutchison and her policies." DC's law states that one may possess a rifle or shotgun, but not pistols. Hutchison formerly had resided in D.C., but has since moved her family to Virginia, in addition to her primary residence in Texas.

Environmental record

In 2006, Hutchison received more campaign contributions from large oil and gas corporations than any other member of Congress. 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 EPA's mercury regulations. In 1999, she voted to remove funding for renewable and solar energy, although she has more recently stated she supports the development of alternative energy sources. According to the League of Conservation Voters environmental scorecard, Hutchison received a rating of zero--the lowest possible score--in the 104th Congress.

Political future

Hutchison is the most senior female Republican senator, being elected in 1993. Next in line is Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who was elected in 1994.

In February 2006, TheWhiteHouseProject.org[15] named Hutchison as one of its "8 in '08", a group of eight female politicians who could possibly be elected President in 2008.

Hutchison's name has been circulated as a possible Vice-Presidential candidate on the Republican ticket. Her strong record as a conservative, female politician from the Southwest could induce the GOP to add her name to the ticket in an effort to balance any perceived gender gap between the parties, particularly if Hillary Clinton were to get the Democratic nomination for the Presidency in 2008.

Hutchison is also considered a possible candidate for the governorship of Texas in 2010.

Trivia

She is an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

In 1997 she appeared as herself in an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger. [16]

References

• Selby, W. Gardner. "Earle lost Kay; can he beat DeLay?". Austin American-Statesman, Oct. 2, 2005. pp. A1, A8–A9.
• Barone, Michael. The Almanac of American Politics, 2006. "Kay Bailey Hutchison," pp. 1580–1581.

External links

• U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison official Senate site
• United States Congress. "Kay Bailey Hutchison (id: h001016)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Federal Election Commission — Kay Bailey Hutchison campaign finance reports and data
• New York Times — Topics: Kay Bailey Hutchison collected news stories and commentary
• On the Issues — Kay Bailey Hutchison issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Kay Bailey Hutchison campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Kay Bailey Hutchison profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Kay Bailey Hutchison voting record
• Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison official campaign site
• NoKay.org anti-candidate site