Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Kay a lone hero on a state income tax? Maybe not.

The scintillating and sensational Wayne Slater has story that rips Kay for her claim that she was a lone voice against a state income tax. In the article, he covers Kay and Rick (and a whole lot of other people) on a potential state income tax (link). Excerpts follow:

Kay Bailey Hutchison has been pressing an idea in her run for governor, aimed at winning conservatives: She was the sole voice against a state income tax in the early 1990s.

“I was the only state official that stood up against the governor and the lieutenant governor in 1991,” she told a group last week, referring to her time as state treasurer.

“I was the only state official that stood up and wrote op-ed pieces all over the state against Bob Bullock saying we should not have a state income tax and why it was important,” she said, repeating the claim at a Round Rock fundraiser and other political stops.

Part of a campaign is holding politicians accountable. If a candidate says something, is it true?

[SNIP]

“To say she was the only person out there is false and misleading,” said Perry spokesman Mark Miner. Perry, agriculture commissioner at the time, was also opposed.

Hutchison campaign spokesman Hans Klingler acknowledges “there were other folks out there talking about it. True.” But, he said, Hutchison was the most assertive.

So Kay and Rick were both opposed to a state income tax in the early days of the GOP surge in Texas. What does that even prove? I think most voters will ask, "what have you done for me lately?"

UPDATED at 7:31 PM...

Apparently I left out a really important quote at the end of the article. Two anonymous comments came in within minutes of each other saying almost exactly the same thing. Obviously some people put a lot of work into finding the quote that I left out. Here they are. Judge for yourself:

Hutchison made a similar claim in 1993 when she ran for Senate, stirring complaints she was exaggerating. Back then, one ally came to her defense: Rick Perry.

“She led the charge against a state income tax,” Perry told a reporter. “Was I a foot soldier in her army? Yes.”

Happy now?

I am not sure that is as much as a gotcha moment as Kay's blog outreach team seems to think, nor was my blog earlier today anti Kay or pro Rick. I dismiss the entire issue as old news. As I said before, "what have you done for me lately" is going to be the name of this game.

And much like the TxSkirt blogger who was attacked by "churlish" but well intentioned Kay supporters and almost pushed all the way to Rick because of it (link), I also don't take kindly to the insinuations that I am intentionally leaving out parts of the story. Short of copying and pasting the entire story, it is difficult to choose the most operative portions of a news story to include in a blog piece. The parts of the story I did include were a give and take from Rick's media person and Kay's media person.

It is probably instructive that some equally churlish Rick supporters have made the same insinuations in the other direction in recent days. You're all almost as annoying as the person leaving incessant Ron Paul comments.

10 comments:

  1. Hey, Kay was just the only VOICE out there?

    Even if Rick supported her ideas, she was the one to push the ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wayne Slater's Research AssistantApril 1, 2009 at 5:44 PM

    But she wasn't the only voice! That's the point: she goes around claiming to be the sole official against a state income tax when that's just not true.

    A) We have never been in any real danger of having a state income tax.
    B) She was by no means the only person against a state income tax in the late 1980s or early 1990s. There were a lot of people against the income tax.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You seem to be showing a bias by leaving out the last two devastating paragraphs for Perry in the story. They blow up the whole Miner-Perry attack and makes them look like hypocrites. Scottie Howell will likely have a field day with this exchange.

    Last two paragraphs:

    Hutchison made a similar claim in 1993 when she ran for Senate, stirring complaints she was exaggerating. Back then, one ally came to her defense: Rick Perry.

    “She led the charge against a state income tax,” Perry told a reporter. “Was I a foot soldier in her army? Yes.”

    ReplyDelete
  4. It’s curious the mysterious RickvKay blogger feigns neutrality in this race, but fails to mention this quote from the DNS story today:

    “Hutchison made a similar claim in 1993 when she ran for Senate, stirring complaints she was exaggerating. Back then, one ally came to her defense: Rick Perry. ‘She led the charge against a state income tax,’ Perry told a reporter. ‘Was I a foot soldier in her army? Yes.’”

    How are you any different from the drive-bys? Twisting stories and quotes in an obvious attempt to further Perry’s campaign. Shame…

    ReplyDelete
  5. How much are the Perry people paying you?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'd never doubt Rick vs. Kay, and think the original post was perfectly legit. I do think you've got some pretty smart readers, though, as your comments demonstrate. Fact is, both Rick and Kay have something to crow about (or avoid) here. This is a good debate.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wayne Slater's Research AssistantApril 1, 2009 at 7:48 PM

    Answer me this, guys:

    Does KBH claim to be the only person who opposed a state income tax? Yes.

    Is that claim true? No.

    There's your only relevant angle to this story. Governor Perry supporting a fellow Republican in 1993 is not worthy of the label "hypocrisy." Even in that quote, the Governor says he was also against a state income tax, further disproving KBH's claim.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wayne Slater’s Research Assistant:

    I’m confused. Didn’t she say she was the only one actively opposing it? Personally, I think too many politicians take inert stances on issues and don’t do anything about them. Why are you bashing her for proactively fighting against the income tax? Better than having someone sitting on the back bench with fingers crossed that TX doesn’t get slammed with an income tax.

    ReplyDelete
  9. By "Rick supporters?" Don't you mean you trying to make it appear that you're not on his campaign payroll?

    ReplyDelete
  10. You ask what it proves that both Rick and Kay were opposed to the state income tax back in the day. Seems to me that there’s a difference between action and inaction. Rick’s spokesman says that he opposed it. Praise the Lord! But what did he actually DO to stop it? According to Kay, she was out there actively opposing the thing instead of just sitting around hoping it didn’t become law. I think that shows good leadership qualities.

    ReplyDelete

Hey now, campaign characters. Be nice. I know a lot of you on both sides, so I don't want any overly foul language, personal attacks on anyone other than the candidates themselves, or other party fouls. I will moderate the heck out of you if you start breaking the bounds of civility.