2010: Newspaper Endorsements: Chron for Kay

The Houston Chronicle is backing Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary for governor:

In waging her campaign to return to Austin, where she once served as a state representative and treasurer, Hutchison has focused on well-documented charges of cronyism and politicization of appointments by the incumbent. The replacement by Perry of public university regents who supported Hutchison's bid only spotlights how the longest-serving governor in Texas history has used his tenure to reward political supporters and punish opponents in handing out prestigious positions on state boards and commissions. His wide practice of allowing holdovers to overstay their terms, sometimes by years, not only deprives the state Senate of its role in confirming appointments but allows Perry to oust them if they get out of line politically.

Hutchison criticizes the governor's use of end-of-session vetoes to effectively kill popular legislation that passed with substantial majorities, and says she will back a constitutional amendment allowing a special session to override those vetoes. According to Hutchison, “We've got to empower the Legislature to fulfill its part of the power structure.”

Hutchison has also blasted Perry's past support for the Trans Texas Corridor, a boondoggle of toll roads and rail easements that would have required the condemnation of thousands of acres of private land and given a foreign business a decades-long monopoly on collecting tolls. She promises to reform the Texas Department of Transportation, whose leadership she describes as “arrogant.” She cites agency officials' heavy-handedness “in telling local officials, ‘If you want state money, here's what you have to do,' and it's usually a toll road where TxDOT thinks it needs to be, rather than collaborating with our local elected officials.”