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Granny Gotcha will challenge tough governor
By Phillip Hamilton
The Paris News
Published June 19, 2005
IRVING — The Molly Ivins of Republican politics is in the race, the classy senator is out and and one tough Texas governor has put lawmakers on notice that they must find a way to fund education that meets judicial muster.
What appeared to be a post-session political calm erupted into a tornado late Friday and Saturday, but the truth is that this political storm has been brewing for quite some time. Hot air from one liberal grandma is moving out of Austin, but it is sure to meet a cool response from conservatives as it moves through the state. This weekend was just the beginning of some turbulent political storms.
But Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison isn’t going to get wet. She’s staying out of the storm, opting to ask Texans to return her to the U.S. Senate. It’s a wise move for the rising female star on the national GOP scene.
Speaking to editors and publishers gathered in Los Colinas on Friday for the 126th annual Texas Press Association convention, Hutchison danced around the question of whether she would run for governor like she was singing in the rain.
“I do have concerns,” she said, when asked point blank whether she had her eye on the governor’s mansion. “We’ve tried to nudge,” she added.
Before another journalist could question her further about a possible run for governor, her aide cut off the discussion. “Last question,” he shouted, causing the editors and publishers to chuckle.
The senator smiled politely and didn’t take any more questions. Just a few hours later, an email surfaced that made it clear that Hutchison would announce Monday that she will seek re-election to her senate seat, staying out of the political storm brewing in Austin. The senator is smart enough to sing and dance in a raincoat.
It is no secret that liberal granny Carole Keeton Strayhorn wants to be governor, and she made it official Saturday morning.
“For the past four years she has engaged in a high-risk guerrilla strategy of seizing every chance to blast, waylay, and otherwise embarrass the governor, lieutenant governor and, occasionally, the Speaker — all of whom, of course, are members of her own Republican party,” Paul Burka writes in the June issue of Texas Monthly.
Some journalists may have had trouble getting in contact with the Molly Ivins sound-alike Saturday because they couldn’t locate her in their Rolodex files. It’s not that she hasn’t been on file for a long time, but her card keeps moving from right to left and from one place to another. After two parties, three husbands and numerous political offices, she been filed under Keeton, Rylander, Strayhorn, Republican, Democrat, school board president, mayor, railroad commissioner and state comptroller. Now, she wants to be governor. I wish the fast-talking granny would make up her mind.
‘’I want my legacy to be that with every breath of air in Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s lungs, she fought passionately for education, she fought passionately for paychecks and jobs and she fought passionately for protecting our most precious resource, our children,’’ Strayhorn said.
Does anyone hear that giant sucking sound? Strayhorn is part of the problem, not the solution with her don’t-bother-me-with-the-facts Molly Ivins-style jabs. In anticipation of how Granny Gotcha will fare in her bid for governor, I have her filed under R — for retired grandma.
One tough governor took extraordinary action Saturday to get school finance off high center, where it has been for a couple of years. Gov. Rick Perry vetoed the state’s $35.3 billion public education budget and told lawmakers to get back to Austin on Tuesday to get this mess cleaned up. Faced with the prospect that schools could be left without the money necessary to open their doors, Perry placed lawmakers in detention until they fully fund schools, come up with meaningful classroom reforms and pass real property tax relief.
Like a daddy threatening to spank an out-of-control child, Perry has put lawmakers on notice that he expects them to get the job done now. Granny Gotcha says Perry is holding children’s education hostage, but it looks like he’s just being one tough governor.
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