Published: October 04, 2009 01:43 am      

Campaigns mark anniversary of economic bailout

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The campaigns of Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison spent Thursday, the anniversary of the day Congress approved the landmark $700 billion economic recovery package, sniping over who is more fiscally disciplined.

The package, which Hutchison voted for and Perry has since lambasted, has been a focal point of the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary race.

Hutchison's vote a year ago earned her the moniker "Kay Bailout" from the Perry campaign.

But Perry, an ardent opponent of the package in the past year, is catching flak for a letter he wrote with West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin — a Democrat — to congressional leaders a year ago urging Congress to pass an economic recovery package.

"Today's an anniversary Rick Perry would like to forget," said Hutchison campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Baker. "It's one year since he joined with a Democratic governor in urging (U.S. House Majority Leader) Harry Reid and (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi to support the financial stabilization package. It's typical Rick Perry, who's never afraid to change his position when it's politically expedient."

Perry and Manchin led the Republican and Democratic governor's associations, respectively, at the time they urged passage of a stimulus package without advocating a specific plan.

In another effort to boost his conservative credibility Thursday, Perry held a public event to sign a no-new-taxes pledge with conservative activist Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

Norquist has been collecting the pledges nationally for 23 years.

"Left unchecked, governments too often surrender to the temptation to raise taxes as a way to solve every problem," Perry said. "Without sensible limits in place, government will continue moving toward that tempting flame of raising taxes. This pledge helps deter that movement."

An outspoken critic of government-run programs, Norquist said Hutchison beat Perry to the punch, signing her own pledge and faxing it late Wednesday.

In signing the pledge, the two promised that as governor they would "oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes."

Hutchison has previously signed the pledge given to senators. This was Perry's first time to make the promise in his nearly nine years as governor.

"As a senator, (Hutchison) has signed the national 'Taxpayer Protection Pledge' many times and worked to lower taxes on hardworking Texans as she believes that Texans should be allowed to keep more of their hard earned money," the campaign said in a written statement Thursday.

Norquist, who praised Perry's record on taxes, said he wouldn't be making an endorsement in the Texas race.

Later in the day, the Perry campaign fired another shot, sending the Hutchison campaign a cake.

"Senator Hutchison said she was against the bailout before she voted for it," Perry spokesman Mark Miner said. "It's clear the senator wanted to have her cake and eat it too. Today she can."