The Perry Machine Revs Up
Lawmaker: Special session on school funding next week (David Koenig, AP)
Lawmakers will return to Austin Tuesday for a special session on school finance, state Sen. Florence Shapiro said today.
Shapiro, a leader on the school funding issue, said Republican Gov. Rick Perry will announce the special session Saturday. Perry's office wouldn't confirm the announcement.
The announcement would come on the same day Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is expected to announce whether she will challenge Perry in the 2006 governor's race.
Hutchison won't take on Perry (Wayne Slater and Todd J. Gillman, Dallas Morning News)
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announced Friday that she will seek a third term in the Senate, declining to wage a difficult battle against Gov. Rick Perry in next year's Republican primary.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's announcement Friday came as a surprise after several moves foreshadowing a statehouse run.
Ms. Hutchison decided only Friday to seek to keep her Senate seat. She scheduled a news conference for June 27 to explain her decision.
"She's doing it because she thinks it's best for Texas," said spokesman Chris Paulitz.
Ms. Hutchison, who would be expected to cruise to re-election with little opposition, could rise to the No. 3 position in the GOP leadership in the Senate, and one person familiar with her thinking said that was a factor.
The senator also did not relish the prospect of a hard-fought battle with Mr. Perry, who has worked in recent weeks to shore up support among religious conservatives who dominate the base of the GOP, the person said.
What had been a rough stretch for Governor Perry has suddenly calmed considerably.
He's been able to dominate the press and steal all the attention from Carole Keeton Strayhorn with the constant leaks about a coming special session, and even has the audacity to time the announcement on the day Strayhorn will apparently launch her gubernatorial bid. Strayhorn may have enjoyed her slams of the governor from time to time, but his campaign has demonstrated once again that they know how to demolish amateurs who like to shoot from the hip. One tough grandma is probably doing a bunch of sputtering and swearing about now.
In the meantime, Perry gets the added gift of Sen. Hutchison coming to her senses and deciding to stay right where she is, no doubt with encouragement from senior GOP leaders.
As for the special session, I've been hearing (like most anyone else who's listening) that unlike Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Tom Craddick still wasn't all that interested in passing any sort of school finance plan. Gov. Perry's threat to veto school finance provisions and force the special session(s) to come up with a plan certainly ups the ante.
This ought to prove interesting.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/17/05 21:01 | Texas | Technorati
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Comments
Is Craddick just not interested in passing what others are proposing, or does he want to wait til the courts tell him what to do? Or is there another possibility?
Posted by Anne @ 12:40 on 06/18/05
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