TX Governor Perry Indicted

[auntiehill]

From The New York Times:

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas was indicted on two felony counts on Friday by a state grand jury examining his handling of a local district attorney’s drunken driving arrest and the state financing for a public corruption unit under the lawyer’s control.
The indictment was returned late Friday in Austin.
The investigation centered on Mr. Perry’s veto power as governor. His critics asserted that he used that power as leverage to try to get an elected official and influential Democrat and elected official — Rosemary Lehmberg, the district attorney in Travis County — to step down after her arrest for drunken driving last year. Ms. Lehmberg is Austin’s top prosecutor and oversees a powerful public corruption unit that investigates state, local and federal officials; its work led to the 2005 indictment of a former Republican congressman, Tom DeLay on charges of violating campaign finance laws.
Following Ms. Lehmberg’s arrest, Mr. Perry and his aides threatened to veto $7.5 million in state dollars for the public corruption unit in her office unless she resigned. The governor followed through on his threat, vetoing the money by stating that he could not support “continued state funding for an office with statewide jurisdiction at a time when the person charged with ultimate responsibility of that unit has lost the public’s confidence.”.....
One night in April 2013, Ms. Lehmberg was found by sheriff’s deputies with an open bottle of vodka in the front passenger seat of her car in a church parking lot in Austin and was arrested for drunken driving. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
She plays a powerful role in Austin in overseeing the Public Integrity Unit. At the time of Mr. Perry’s veto last year, prosecutors in the unit had been investigating a state agency called the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which finances cancer research and prevention programs. The agency — one of Mr. Perry’s signature initiatives — came under scrutiny by state lawmakers after accusations of mismanagement and corruption; a former official there was indicted last year for his handling of an $11 million grant.
Mr. Perry’s critics accused him of using Ms. Lehmberg’s arrest to dismantle the public corruption squad, to thwart the investigation into the cancer-research agency and to seize an opportunity to take down a prominent Democrat.

As a resident of Texas, I've heard rumors of Perry's shady, bullying behavior for years, and I find him, as a person, a fairly despicable individual. I hope he gets nailed for this. The man's as crooked as a three-dollar bill.

And he still plans to run for President? Really? The man's an embarrassment and tarnishes Texas' image---not that it needs any help in that department.

What do you think? Would you vote for this guy?

 

[urbandefault]

I'm not a Texan, but would you compare this to Illinois having four of the last seven governors doing time for various and sundry convictions?

Not equivocating, just asking the question.

This is breaking news, so there isn't a lot of detail yet. But if I had to guess, I'd say it was political in nature.

We'll see how it plays out.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Reposting my comments from the forum that shall not be named:

God help me, I'm kind of on Rick Perry's side on this one.

The way he handled it might not have been in perfect accordance with the rules (vetoing is okay, but threatening to veto before vetoing in order to pressure someone to quit is not, but that sounds more like a misunderstanding of the rules rather than intentional malfeasance) but it's kind of hard to have someone running the Public Integrity Unit who's a recently --while she held the office-- convicted drunk driver that flipped out in jail.

He's right, she should have resigned. He was trying to force the issue publicly instead of just vetoing their budget, which is wrong, but hardly some kind of terrible example of corruption or covering anything up. I think he just didn't understand the rules before acting, which would be right in Perry's wheelhouse.

 

[auntiehill]

^Well, yes, one can hardly say he's known for "over-thinking" anything.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I'm not a Texan, but would you compare this to Illinois having four of the last seven governors doing time for various and sundry convictions?

Not equivocating, just asking the question.

No you're not. You do this all the time. You toss out some kind of strawman or distraction that has nothing to do with the topic or insinuate something and then pull the passive-aggressive "Just asking" crap so you can walk back anything you say. That the very definition of equivocating. Have the guts to state an opinion and stick with it until you feel the facts have convinced you to change your mind. Don't sidestep the debate before there even is one.

This might come as a shock to you, but most liberals are no more enamored of liberal corruption than they are of conservative corruption. Which is why I'm sympathetic to Perry's motives here, if not the way he handled the situation. The head of the Integrity Unit (who's a Democrat) shouldn't be someone who got a drunk driving conviction while in office, regardless of political party. Period.

This is breaking news, so there isn't a lot of detail yet. But if I had to guess, I'd say it was political in nature.

No way! You uncover that clue all by yourself, Holmes?

I know this is harsh, but I've seen you do this sooooo many times and I finally got sick of it.

 

[publiusr]

Isn't this the moron who wanted to kill off EPA, DoE, etc.?

 

[Sector 7]

And he still plans to run for President? Really? The man's an embarrassment and tarnishes Texas' image---not that it needs any help in that department.

What do you think? Would you vote for this guy?

Well, Perry is governor of Texas, the state which gave us both George Bush, Sr. and Junior. I think their image was tarnished long before Perry came along.

Texas is a Statutory Law state, meaning if it isn't written in a law it doesn't exist. [overly simplified] There are written guidelines for ousting a politician and Lehmberg's case did not qualify.

If politicians could be ousted for a DUI conviction, then many politicians would be out of office (not necessarily a bad idea!).

 

[urbandefault]

I'm not a Texan, but would you compare this to Illinois having four of the last seven governors doing time for various and sundry convictions?

Not equivocating, just asking the question.

No you're not. You do this all the time. You toss out some kind of strawman or distraction that has nothing to do with the topic or insinuate something and then pull the passive-aggressive "Just asking" crap so you can walk back anything you say. That the very definition of equivocating. Have the guts to state an opinion and stick with it until you feel the facts have convinced you to change your mind. Don't sidestep the debate before there even is one.

This might come as a shock to you, but most liberals are no more enamored of liberal corruption than they are of conservative corruption. Which is why I'm sympathetic to Perry's motives here, if not the way he handled the situation. The head of the Integrity Unit (who's a Democrat) shouldn't be someone who got a drunk driving conviction while in office, regardless of political party. Period.

This is breaking news, so there isn't a lot of detail yet. But if I had to guess, I'd say it was political in nature.

No way! You uncover that clue all by yourself, Holmes?

I know this is harsh, but I've seen you do this sooooo many times and I finally got sick of it.

Really? Do I? Because I try really hard not to do that. Please show me examples and I'll not do it again.

But you do this all the time. The "you always do this or that" thing. I find it amusing. Like a cut-and-paste type of reply. Sad, really.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Really? Do I? Because I try really hard not to do that. Please show me examples and I'll not do it again.

But you do this all the time. The "you always do this or that" thing. I find it amusing. Like a cut-and-paste type of reply. Sad, really.

The "I know you are, but what am I?" gambit is a bit weak, but hey, at least it's an actual opinion rather than some wishy washy non-committal strawman. You're getting there.

 

[LordMudd]

Bush was doing fine as Governor until he resigned to run for President, letting Perry take over. Shortly thereafter Perry closed down the Alabama-Coushatta Indian reservation casino. Now I have always known that the Federal Governmet declared Indian land sovereign land, meaning Perry never had the authority to do this. The Indians don't have the finances to fight him legally, so they can't get the casino opened up. Perry broke the law, and I never voted for him anyway.

Actually, I vote for Kinky.

CCC.

 

[E-DUB]

You have the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, and, uh, some other right I can't think of at the moment.

 

[Sector 7]

You have the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, and, uh, some other right I can't think of at the moment.

You have the right to hire a sleazy attorney who will get you off the charges knowing you are guilty, Mr. Perry. You have the right to remain silent, although you will never do that.