No Kay Blog

The Houston Chronicle has an article about the new "Power Rankings" from Congress.org. They rank Sen. Hutchison in the top quarter of the Senate; 23rd most powerful, to be exact.

Too bad - as you see from this site - she doesn't use that power for good.

Another interesting part of the article, which has little to do with our least favorite Senator, points out how disgraced Representative Tom DeLay's redistricting screwed the Texas delegation long-term. The argument, they say, goes like this:

• The redistricting scheme was successfully designed to replace veteran moderate Democrats with rookie conservative Republicans.
  
• As a result, the cumulative seniority of the Texas delegation, a key factor in all-important committee posts, dropped from 347 years to 262, a loss of 85 years, or 24 percent.
  
• With DeLay's resignation, the most powerful Texan in the House is Rep. Joe Barton, the only Texan with a committee (Energy & Commerce) chairmanship. But under Republican rules, he relinquishes the post next session.
  
• If, as now appears at least possible, the Democrats regain control of the House this November, all the Democrats with enough seniority to assume a major chairmanship or leadership post are gone.

I just finished and published the page detailing Kay's voting record on educational issues. Surprise, surprise; she didn't come out to well on this issue:

Sen. Hutchison has had ample opportunity to help build America's public school system during her Senate career. However, the ratings of three major national educational associations are consistent: she's earned failing marks. And it's easy to see why: she has chosen to consistently underfund important educational initiatives, focussing instead on questionable issues such as single-sex education.

As I reported here previously, Sen. Hutchison gets lots of money from oil and gas companies. More than any other member of Congress, in fact.

We now learn, via Raw Story, that that pack-leading number has jumped from $140,911 to $159,611, according to new data from OpenSecrets.org.

No wonder she favors shortsighted ways to easing pressure on gas prices, such as letting the oil companies destroy the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

From the Dallas Morning News, some interesting insight into what some of Texas' mostly-Republican congressional delegation drives: Area's U.S. lawmakers love their gas guzzlers. (Courtesy of BugMeNot, you can login with email "me@me.localhost", password "password".)

No big surprises from those that take so many campaign contributions from Big Oil, and are so eager to squander the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for the sake of a little oil:

Forget hearing much about conservation from Dallas-area lawmakers. Most drive trucks and big cars with poor gas mileage. And most push expanded oil production as the top solution to the current price squeeze...

GOP Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has one of each [an SUV and a big sedan] – an 8-year-old Ford in Washington and a 3-year-old Cadillac Escalade in Dallas that gets a paltry 14 mpg.

The Citizen's Voice has a story about oil & gas company contributions to Senate candidates. Being in Pennsylvania, they focus on Senator Rick Santorum. But notice who beat out Santorum for the lead in accepting oil & gas money (emphasis added):

As gasoline prices skyrocket, the oil and natural gas industries have been busy pumping cash into the campaigns of congressional incumbents up for re-election, including U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.

With $110,050 received, Santorum, a Penn Hills Republican, trailed only Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, ($140,911) and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, among members of Congress who received money last year from the two industries, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign financing.

Santorum was behind only Hutchison among all Senate candidates seeking election this year.

That's not very good company to be in, is it?