With the senate in the throes of a long battle over the divisive and controversial $819 billion economic stimulus bill that affect the lives of every single American, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison certainly has her focus in the right place: border patrol and property rights.
The senator last week asked congress to authorize $100 million a year until 2013 to fight drug cartel-related crime along the Mexican border and keep residual violence from the ongoing cartel war in Mexico at bay.
According to Hutchison’s spokesperson, the plan would channel money to agencies across the country who demonstrate the most need. She also found time during the economic maelstrom to speak at the Texas Farmer’s Bureau regarding the key campaign issue of toll roads and private property rights.
She noted specifically her opposition to Gov. Perry’s Trans-Texas corridor project that she claimed was “taking away the rights of Texans and turning them over to a foreign corporation.”
It’s a great strategy considering Perry has alienated many with his record over property rights, particularly by vetoing a 2007 eminent domain bill that would have increased protection for private property owners. He has recently sought to reconcile by supporting a constitutional amendment to strengthen landowner rights.
Hopefully Hutchison is winning over more people through her thinly-veiled campaigning than she is turning off by what appears to be seeking her own interests through advocating issues that could aid her election efforts, at the expense of time working on much more imminent and pivotal issues such as the stimulus bill.
Writer and journalist Holly LaFon is an avid international affairs follower and graduate of Austin College, and has written and worked for numerous Dallas area publications, including Examiner and D Magazine.
