Texas Gov. Rick Perry indicted on 2 felonies

[Valin]

AP:

Will Weissert

Aug. 15, 2014

 

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been indicted for abuse of power after carrying out a threat to veto funding for state public corruption prosecutors.

 

The Republican governor's accused of abusing his official powers by publicly promising to veto $7.5 million for the state public integrity unit at the Travis County District Attorney's office. He was indicted by an Austin grand jury Friday on felony counts of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. Maximum punishment on the first charge is five to 99 years in prison. The second is two to 10 years.

 

Perry said he'd veto the funding if the district attorney, Rosemary Lehmberg, didn't resign. Lehmberg had recently been convicted of drunken driving. When Lehmberg refused, Perry carried out his veto.

[Valin]

http://youtu.be/JrxsCH_p1oc

 

 

Sean Davis @seanmdav · 30m

 

When Lehmberg was arrested for DWI, her BAC was 0.23. Unclear what it was when she decided *Perry* was drunk with power.

 

Guy Benson @guypbenson · 44m

 

Step 1: WHAT?! Rick Perry got indicted? Step 2: Rick Perry got indicted for WHAT?!

 

[SrWoodchuck]

Pesky Dwunk Demo.

[Geee]

Battleground Texas Fundraises Off of the Perry Indictment

 

 

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/08/15/battleground-texas-fundraises-off-of-the-perry-indictment/

[Geee]

Shades of Tom Delay and also Scott Walker. Trumped up charges on Tom Delay that are reversed after they already ruin his career and they have been years trying to scrape up something to reverse Scott Walkers election.

[Valin]

Shades of Tom Delay and also Scott Walker. Trumped up charges on Tom Delay that are reversed after they already ruin his career and they have been years trying to scrape up something to reverse Scott Walkers election.

 

 

Could not have put it better!

[Valin]

HUGE...MAJOR...SHOCKING NEWS!!!

 

TEXANS FOR PUBLIC JUSTICE…Watch Dog or Attack Dog?

 

Texans for Public Justice (TPJ) bills itself as an independent, non-partisan, watchdog group dedicated to exposing a system of financial contributions that it says is corrupting Texas politics. In fact, TPJ is nothing that it claims to be. It is not Texan. Nothing about it is public. And, it is definitely not interested in justice. A thorough look at TPJ’s activities reveals that this “watchdog” is just an attack dog. Although it describes itself as a watchdog public interest group, it appears to be little more than a de facto mouthpiece for plaintiff trial lawyers in this state and their statewide lobby organization, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.

TPJ first appeared in Texas in 1997, when veteran operatives of leftist, out-of-state organizations – such as Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen – came to this state to set up the organization. The TPJ version of justice is one-sided. Since its inception, TPJ – preying on the good intentions of media outlets across Texas and this nation – has used an array of slanted, self-published reports to criticize a select segment of this state’s political spectrum. The targets of TPJ’s attacks are almost exclusively Republicans, business leaders and organizations, and those interested in the reform of Texas’ civil justice system.

 

Within those categories, TPJ attacks all levels of state government, ranging from former Gov. George W. Bush to the Texas Supreme Court, the Texas Attorney General, and the Legislature. While the subjects of the TPJ reports vary, the targets are always the same: Businesses, Republicans, Conservatives, Tort Reformers. Shockingly, this self-described watchdog group has never found anything worth reporting about the plaintiff ’s trial bar, or the politicians funded by trial lawyers. TPJ’s main mode of derision is a steady stream of reports targeting campaign contributions. Although there appears to be a growing recognition of the group’s partisan nature, the media generally treats TPJ as a public “watchdog” dedicated to documenting financial contributions and their role in political races.

 

(Snip)

 

 

[Valin]

A view from the left

 

[Valin]

Top Dem Axelrod appears to support Perry, says indictment seems 'sketchy'

8/16/14

 

Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry after being indicted this weekend got support Saturday from one of the country's most powerful Democrats-- former President Obama political adviser David Axelrod-- who tweeted that the charge seems "sketchy."

 

(Snip)

 

"Unless he was demonstrably trying to scrap the ethics unit for other than his stated reason, Perry indictment seems pretty sketchy," Axelrod tweeted

 

Alexrod joined Texas junior Sen. Ted Cruz on Saturday in giving his support to Perry, while other high-profile lawmakers have largely remained silent on the politically-charge issue.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Glenn Reynolds

 

JONATHAN CHAIT: This Indictment Of Rick Perry Is Unbelievably Ridiculous.

They say a prosecutor could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, and this always seemed like hyperbole, until Friday night a Texas grand jury announced an indictment of governor Rick Perry. The “crime” for which Perry faces a sentence of 5 to 99 years in prison is vetoing funding for a state agency. The conventions of reporting — which treat the fact of an indictment as the primary news, and its merit as a secondary analytic question — make it difficult for people reading the news to grasp just how farfetched this indictment is.

Well, that’s what the anti-Perry forces are counting on, but thanks for making it clear. More:

(Snip)

I have to say, though, with police militarization, cameras for cops, and now prosecutorial abuses of power, this sure has been a good week for bringing some of my pet issues to the national stage.

[clearvision]

Seems like great PR for Perry.

[Valin]

Seems like great PR for Perry.

 

 

I strongly suspect this charge has a great deal to do with the 2016 Presidential race, and killing Rick Perry's campaign before it really gets going.

[clearvision]

 

Seems like great PR for Perry.

 

 

I strongly suspect this charge has a great deal to do with the 2016 Presidential race, and killing Rick Perry's campaign before it really gets going.

 

 

I don't think this will put a dent in it. If anything it will build support of the "far right" at least in defending him. I really don't see how the middle ground will see this as anything other than political hardball.

[SrWoodchuck]

 

Seems like great PR for Perry.

 

 

I strongly suspect this charge has a great deal to do with the 2016 Presidential race, and killing Rick Perry's campaign before it really gets going.

 

 

@clearvision & @Valin

 

Could it be for putting troops on the border?

 

 

BTW: Perry is drawing defenders from ACLU, WAPO & Axelrod? Whodathunkit?

[Valin]

http://youtu.be/YSQIILTmRrI

Aug 16, 2014

Rick Perry gives first press conference following indictment 8/16/2014: Indictment is nothing more than an abuse of power
A Look at the Charges Facing Texas Gov. Rick Perry
(AP) Texas Gov. Rick Perry is his state's first governor in nearly a century to be indicted on criminal charges. The potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate said the allegations of abuse of power and coercion of a public official are politically motivated.

 

(Snip)

[Draggingtree]

Lawfare, Texas Style

 

Posted on August 16, 2014 by The Political Hat

Lawfare (Noun): Use of law or threat of law to control or eliminate ideological opposition.

 

Governor Rick Perry has been indicted by a rubber stamp grand jury (apparently there were no ham sandwiches around) for abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. Just what was this dastardly deed? Exercising his constitutional right to veto legislation.

 

This is just another example of “lawfare” by the Left. They used it against Gov. Scott Walker, Gov. Chris Christi, and Lt. Gov. Krolicki. They are using it now.

 

So, just what happened?

 

http://politicalhat.com/2014/08/16/lawfare-texas-style/

[Draggingtree]

The Ham Sandwich Indictment The Democrat ideal of 'justice'

By: Charles Flemming (Diary) | August 16th, 2014 at 09:43 AM

 

Some of you may be familiar with Texas.

 

If you’re REALLY familiar with Texas, you know that the lead prosecutor in charge of bringing corrupt officials to justice is the District Attorney of Travis County. Which is also about the only leftist enclave in the whole state.

 

The sweet lady below is the Travis County DA.

 

She was arrested for driving drunk and abusing the officers who arrested her.

 

She threatened them with retaliation.

 

Rick Perry, governor of Texas (and ambitious politician with great hair and stunning in glasses) demanded she resign her office or face a veto of the state portion of her budget.

 

When she didn’t resign, he made good on his threat.

http://www.redstate.com/diary/chasflemming/2014/08/16/ham-sandwich-indictment/

[Draggingtree]

[Draggingtree]

The Volokh Conspiracy

Is the indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry inconsistent with a Texas Court of Appeals precedent (as to the ‘coercion’ count)?

By Eugene Volokh August 16

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been indicted for violating Texas Penal Code § 36.03, which provides:

 

A person commits an offense if by means of coercion he … influences or attempts to influence a public servant in a specific exercise of his official power or a specific performance of his official duty or influences or attempts to influence a public servant to violate the public servant’s known legal duty ….

 

(Gov. Perry was also indicted under another statute, which I won’t discuss in this post.) Texas Penal Code § 1.07 in turn defines “coercion” to mean,

 

a threat, however communicated:

 

(A) to commit an offense;
( to inflict bodily injury in the future on the person

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/08/16/is-the-indictment-of-texas-gov-rick-perry-inconsistent-with-a-texas-court-of-appeals-precedent-as-to-the-coercion-count/

[Draggingtree]

The Volokh Conspiracy

Does a governor have ‘custody or possession’ of funds the legislature wants to appropriate, in a bill that he vetoes?

By Eugene Volokh August 16 at 10:20 PM

Count I of the indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry alleges that,

 

[Rick] Perry, with intent to harm another, to-wit, Rosemary Lehnberg and the Public Integrity Unit of the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, intentionally or knowingly misused government property by dealing with such property contrary to an agreement under which defendant held such property or contrary to the oath of office he took as a public servant, such government property being monies in excess of $200,000 which were approved and authorized by the Legislature of the State of Texas to fund the continued operation of the Public Integrity Unit of the Travis County District Attorney’s Office,

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/08/16/does-a-governor-have-custody-or-possession-of-funds-the-legislature-wants-to-appropriate-in-a-bill-that-he-vetoes/

[Valin]

 

 

Is there a day when Mark doesn't 'Go Nuclear' over something?

[SrWoodchuck]

 

Via DougRoss@Journal

[SrWoodchuck]

 

Via WesternRifleShooters

[Geee]

THE LYNCHING OF RICK PERRY

 

All across America, it seems, we have been hearing about the militarization of law enforcement. To the growing list of 21st century social and cultural disorders it seems timely to add the criminalization of political disagreement.

 

What else could the Rick Perry case be about? A governor, and sometime presidential candidate, indicted by a grand jury for a particular use of his constitutional veto power? Such are the dismaying dimensions of the matter.

 

No such thing, replies the special prosecutor who procured the indictment of Texas’ longest-serving governor. Michael McCrum finds “absolutely no basis” for the accusation that politics motivated the indictment, on account of his case’s grounding in “the facts and the law, and nothing else.”

The prosecutor, if I may be permitted, is full of a commodity long recommended for agricultural enrichment. We may imagine if we like that a grand jury in one of America’s most liberal counties concluded, without bias or rancor, that one of America’s best-known conservative politicians illegally vetoed funding for that same county’s “public integrity” unit, presided over by a DA convicted of drunk driving. It was illegal for the governor to use his legal power? That seems essentially the narrative the jury bought from McCrum.

http://spectator.org/articles/60265/lynching-rick-perry

[Geee]

The Perry Indictment’s Predecessor

 

John Fund

 

If you want to know where the abuse-of-power indictment of Texas governor Rick Perry may be headed, look no further than how a similar indictment of then–U.S. senator Kay Bailey Hutchison crashed exactly 20 years ago.

 

Republican Hutchison was indicted only four months after her landslide win in a special election in 1993. Travis County district attorney Ronnie Earle — whose successor, Rosemary Lehmberg, is at the center of the Perry indictment — persuaded a grand jury made up of residents from the liberal Austin area to indict Hutchison on charges of misusing her prior office of state treasurer. (The Travis County district attorney’s office runs the Public Integrity Unit, which enforces ethics laws for all state officials, and Austin is the county seat.) Hutchison was accused of using state employees and her state offices to conduct personal and political business and then ordering records of her activities to be destroyed. Among the specific accusations was that she used state employees to plan her Christmas vacation in Colorado and write thank-you notes.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/385594/perry-indictments-predecessor-john-fund