by Robert Janicki
Governor Rick Perry (R) is the longest serving governor in Texas state
history and has been governor of Texas since 2000. To say Perry is a
major thorn in the side of Texas Democrats is an understatement.
Republicans hold all statewide elective offices and Democrats are
desperate to gain a foothold to begin to turn the state Democrat.
Apparently any attempt to smear and denigrate a Republican holding
statewide office is fair game for the Democrats and it's probably an
added bonus to see Perry's presidential ambitions thrashed with a
lawsuit against him.
On to the Democrat's current effort to smear Governor Perry.
"A grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday for allegedly
abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto
funding for state prosecutors investigating public corruption - making
the possible 2016 presidential hopeful his state's first indicted
governor in nearly a century.
A special prosecutor spent months calling witnesses and presenting
evidence that Perry broke the law when he promised publicly to nix $7.5
million over two years for the public integrity unit run by the office
of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. Lehmberg, a
Democrat, was convicted of drunken driving, but refused Perry's calls to
resign."
It's said that a Grand Jury could indict a ham sandwich, since the
legal threshold to do so is lower than a snake's belly. A DA will often
take a case to the Grand Jury when the DA has a very weak case, since
the level necessary to indict by a Grand Jury is far less than even the
threshold of probable cause required of a DA.
One has to ask why the subject DA's office in Austin, the state
capital, chose not to indict under their own legal authority and
discretion. The DA did not use his office to take the case to a Grand
Jury. Instead, the DA appointed a Special Prosecutor from San Antonio
to do the dirty work, quite possibly to avoid direct blowback from any
adverse results from what some say is a pure political game of "Gotcha".
Pretty clever.
"Though the Republican governor now faces two felony
indictments, politics dominates the case. Lehmberg is based in Austin,
which is heavily Democratic, in contrast to most of the rest of fiercely
conservative Texas. The grand jury was comprised of Austin-area
residents."
This is a political issue masked as a legal issue, since the
governor has the legal authority to veto any legislation put before him
for his signature and enactment into law. Courts are very hesitant to
become involved in such political issues. I suspect that Democrats will
enjoy their effort to smear Perry. I'm just not certain that it will
lead to any conviction of Perry and could easily backfire on Texas
Democrats.
Read the full account of the investigation, indictment and charges
against Perry and draw your own conclusions as to the merits of the
case HERE
