Texas Democratic Party: Moving Texas Forward

Throughout her two decades as a career politician, Kay Bailey Hutchison has siphoned hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into contracts for her husband Ray Hutchison’s business.

Here’s how it works: KBH uses her influence to secure the contracts Ray Hutchison’s public finance law firm manages, and he rakes in millions from the federal government. For KBH, the family plan looks like this: public service + public finance = family income. What KBH and her campaign call “effectiveness” in Washington is being questioned by both Democrats and Republicans alike, but there’s no question that she has been effective at securing tax dollars for government projects that continue to enrich her already wealthy family.

No doubt KBH’s long career in politics has helped position the Hutchison family to bring down as much as $6.7 million annually – including almost $500,000 a year her husband Ray gets from his public finance law firm – not to mention $50,000 in retirement benefits each year, an amount that almost equals the median income of a Texas family of four. (Source: Houston Chronicle)

When it comes to government spending, KBH is not only the “porker of the month” – she also has a well-documented track record of spending Texans’ tax dollars on conflicts of interest.

• “As the state’s senior U.S. senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison has secured hundreds of millions of federal dollars for public projects across Texas. As one of the state’s top public finance attorneys, her husband, Ray Hutchison, has helped issue and defend the government bonds that benefit many of the same cities and public agencies getting that federal money.” (Source: Austin American-Statesman)

• “Attorney Ray Hutchison, the husband of Republican U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, helped write the bonds for Dallas’ Trinity River project. Sure enough, Texas’ senior senator helped allocate $13 million in earmarks for the project.” (Source: Texas Watchdog)

• And if all that weren’t enough, Ray Hutchison adds insult to injury by promoting the North Texas Tollway Authority, an entity which has come under fire for “good old boys’ club” politics – awarding 95% of its transportation contracts to white-owned contractors. (Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram via Dallas Blog)  The fact that Ray Hutchison earns big bucks working to promote toll roads flies in the face of KBH’s anti-toll road rhetoric on the campaign trail.

KBH talks about using her influence to benefit Texas – but while Texans have been forced to pay the price for KBH’s support for failed Republican economic policies, the real KBH has used her influence to secure her family’s finances.

Next: #4: The Real KBH… Profits For Special Interest Cronies, Republican Politics As Usual For Texans

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To read more about the real KBH, visit the TDP’s “Who is the Real KBH?” campaign by clicking here.