Texas is the new cool place these days. There are a bunch of TV shows shot in the Lone Star state. Austin has become the hipster place to be. An Austin aesthetic has developed that is showing up all over. It’s like white trash meets SoHo. It helps that the economy is booming. The people who claim to measure these things say more jobs have been created in Texas since the bust than the rest of the states combined.
But, it is a very weird place with a distinct third world vibe to its politics. This story is a good example. The local DA gets drunk and decides to drive around, getting caught by the cops eventually. Anywhere else, even deep blue states like Massachusetts, the DA would have resigned. If not, then the rest of the crooks would have backed efforts like Perry’s in order to force the issue. Not Texas.
A Travis County grand jury Friday indicted Gov. Rick Perry on two charges related to his effort last year to force District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign after her drunken driving arrest.
Grand jurors charged Perry, 64, with abuse of official capacity, a first-degree felony, and coercion of a public servant, a third-degree felony. The first charge carries a punishment of 5-99 years and a fine of up to $10,000. The second charge is punishable by 2-10 years and a fine of up to $10,000.
The indictment stems from Perry’s threat last summer to withhold $7.5 million in state money from Lehmberg’s office unless she step down – a threat he later carried out by vetoing an appropriation in the state budget.
Mary Anne Wiley, General Counsel for Perry, said in a statement following the indictment: “The veto in question was made in accordance with the veto authority afforded to every governor under the Texas Constitution. We will continue to aggressively defend the governor’s lawful and constitutional action, and believe we will ultimately prevail.”
Immediately, after the indictment was announced, Perry, who is poised to make a second run for president, tweeted: “Help RickPAC elect candidates who support a strong border, new jobs, smaller gov’t, and fiscal responsibility.”
The special prosecutor in the case, San Antonio attorney Michael McCrum, said he was confident with the strength of the charges filed against Perry.
“There has been an immense amount of work that has gone into my investigation up until this point,” he told reporters after announcing the indictment. “I have interviewed over 40 people who were related in some way to the events that happened.”
He later added: “I looked at the law. I looked at the facts. and I presented everything possible to the grand jury.”
This is the same court that hounded Tom DeLay out of office. A lunatic named Ronnie Earle terrorized the state for years, abusing his office with the full support of the kooks in Travis County.
Asked about his thoughts of Perry’s ability to do his job as governor, McCrum said: “I took into account the fact that we’re talking about the governor of a state and a governor of the state of Texas, which we all love. Obviously that carries a level of importance, but when it gets down to it, the law is the law, and the elements are the elements.”
McCrum said he will speak with Perry’s lawyers Monday to arrange for the governor to be booked and formally notified in court of the charges against him.
Ray Sullivan, a former chief of staff to the governor who served as his spokesman when he ran for the 2012 presidential nomination, said of the indictment, “I think it certainly will be a big deal with the liberal media – Slate, Salon – and therefore for the national media. It is beyond ridiculous that Travis County is pursuing the governor, after letting the seriously drunk, police-disrespecting DA stay in office.”
Some Democrats were calling for Perry to step down.
Again, you see the weirdness of Texas. Anywhere else this either gets laughed out of court or laughed off the stage. In Texas, it is how they do politics. I wonder if it is the unusual combination of people. If you look at this great map from American Nations, you see Texas is a mix of independent Mexicans, chaos-loving Scots-Irish and Anglo-Saxon rejects. That’s not the genetic stock one looks for in a stable democracy. Great warrior class, but not what you want in local burghers.
Governors sign bills, they veto bills, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for bad reasons, and sometimes for no reasons at all. That’s what Governors do. It’s their job. Absent any overt criminality involved, their decisions should not be legally assailable.
What the prosecutor has done—in a blatant political attack with eyes on the 2016 presidential election—opens the door for his own decisions and actions to be subject to similar legal scrutiny. And if the courts make the mistake of failing to pay proper deference to the decision making authority of the state’s chief executive officer, a case can be made that the legal opinions and actions of judges are likewise subject to the same legal jeopardy.
Austin is to Texas as southern New Hampshire is to Massachusetts.
you mean Boston?
Austin is to Texas as southern New Hampshire is to Massachusetts. Lots of transplants there who left someplace else, which they royally f*cked up and laid waste until they picked up and left, and are now doing the same to their latest victim. Like a bunch of locusts, they ravage an area and move on.
Well. Travis County. Austin. Their slogan, “Keep Austin Weird” is more than just a slogan to those guys. Great place to go see some live music. But way too many pretend Texans there, any more.