Gov. Rick Perry of Texas Is Indicted

And your evidence is?

 

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The judiciary panel and the prosecutor are Republicans according to a news story I read. I suppose they could have been paid off to salt the jury pool with Democrats, but really?

Perry didn't have any objections when two other (Republican) DAs were convicted of DWI in other counties. Maybe because they weren't investigating his good-old-boy CPRIT grants, you think?

 

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From the New York Times:

"Grand jurors in Travis County charged Mr. Perry with abusing his official capacity and coercing a public servant, according to Michael McCrum, the special prosecutor assigned to the case..."

"...Austin and Travis County are Democratic-dominated regions in a Republican-dominated state."


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/u...dicted-over-veto-of-funds-for-das-office.html

 

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Grand jurors deny politics played role in Perry indictment
August 19, 2014
Houston Chronicle

AUSTIN – Several members of the grand jury that indicted Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday that his claim the indictment was based more on politics than substance is unfair and disrespectful to the months of work they put in.

The jury, which met weekly for four months, "really tried to keep an open mind and come to a fair decision given all the testimony that we heard," said Janna Bessin, one of the 12 Travis County residents appointed to serve on the grand jury.

"It's too bad," Bessin said, calling the criticism unfair. "But I guess that his side's job – to really spin it."

Several jurors said they took exception to Perry's remarks.

One, who asked not to be named, said he expects the public perception to change once the full scope of the prosecutor's case becomes public.

"I think if and when the facts come out, that'll change," the juror said.

. . .

Rho Chalmers, who name matches that of a grand juror but would only confirm her service on a jury that ended last week, said grand juries involve careful consideration of facts.

"For me, it's not a political decision," Chalmers said. "That's what a grand jury is about – take the emotion out of it and look at the facts and make your best decision based on your life experience."
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That doesn't mean those serving on the grand jury were democrats. It doesn't prove the decision of the grand jury was in any way partisan.

 

You Know the Rules, Dude ....

True, but Gov. Perry is a Republican, which means he is entitled to special, albeit informal, rights. In this case, Mr. Perry is entitled, according to his partisan status, to mandatory praise for ineptitude, and an operating pretense that nothing he does wrong is actually wrong.

Thus, Mr. Perry accuses partisan politics in the indictment. A citizen raises the same suggestion on his behalf. Therefore, Mr. Perry is not merely presumed innocent, but must necessarily be concluded to be innocent, and we are required by such customs to assert and believe that the standard political response to the indictment is established, objective fact.

As such, your response to Spidergoat is exactly wrong and exactly meaningless.

As you're aware, Joe, I don't actually disagree with you according to reality. But Mr. Perry is a Republican, and therefore the one thing that does not apply in the context of Justice is reality itself.

 

Deserve has nothing to do with it. There are laws & procedures for that & coercion from the Governor is not yet a legal part of it.

The claim is he told the DA that if she does not resign, he will veto the funding. That is not how vetoing should work & that is not how Government officials should be convinced to resign. If that claim is proven, Perry should go directly to prison for a long time.

 

I'm not saying I know for sure or even believe that the Grand Jury is partisan, simply suggesting the possibility. Democrats can be just as blind to their own prejudices as anyone.

 

It’s reminiscent of Tom Delay who, according to Delay, could only get justice if he could stack the court with Republican judges and Republican jurors of his choice.

 

Couldn't they have found something better to attack Perry?
What will he do next?
Stop a convicted paedophile from taking over an orphanage?

 

Not quite an equal parallel.

 

1) It's an elected position 2) Nobody has questioned her competence, on any grounds 3) This is Texas, where DWIs are closer to jaywalking than they are to manslaughter, and are in any case considered personal crimes rather than betrayals of the State or one's employer, so that 4) other DAs with similar offenses against the law have not been asked to resign by anyone, let alone a Governor suspected of ties to matters of DA prosecution and in a position to influence the choice of replacement favorably to himself and fellow suspects.

The grand jury involved was convened by Perry, the indictment was apparently unanimous (were they all partisan Dems?), and the prosecutor seeking the indictment - remember, grand juries don't act on their own, they rule on requests by prosecutors - was this guy:

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/08/16/five-things-know-about-perry-indictment/

That's who asked for the indictment, in the first place. If you are looking for political bias, that's where you look.

 

It was a ludicrous exaggeration, as intended.

This offence looks like "rap over the knuckles" territory.

Perry is not POTUS material himself, but this will only serve to increase his influence among the people likely to be influenced by him.
Is that good or bad?
PASS.

 

Rick Perry Doesn’t ‘Really Understand the Details’ of Indictment
By Arlette Saenz @ArletteSaenz

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Texas Gov. Rick Perry returned to New Hampshire Friday for the first time since 2012, as he tries to rehab his political image after a failed presidential bid.

Speaking to a group of business leaders here, Perry tried to focus on substance, talking about issues like economic development and the border crisis, but his recent indictment on two felony charges was hard to ignore.

Asked about his indictment during a question-and-answer session with business leaders, Perry was a little unclear when explaining what felony charges were issued against him.

“I’ve been indicted by that same body now for I think two counts, one of bribery, which I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t really understand the details here,” Perry said of the grand jury that indicted him.

A grand jury indicted Perry last week on two felony counts – abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public official – over a 2013 veto threat.

Perry went on to detail why he threatened to veto millions of dollars in funding for the state’s public integrity unit unless District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg resigned after a 2013 DWI conviction.

“When I saw that, I made the decision if I’m going to be held responsible for making decisions about where Texas taxpayer money gets spent, I was not funding that agency,” Perry said. “And as long as that individual was there I did not feel comfortable, I think the general public did not feel comfortable.

“I think this is an attack on the constitutional authorities of a governor. I’m going to fight this with every fiber of my being,” Perry said of his indictment.

The Texas governor talked about the need to secure the border and how to combat ISIS, a group that threatens the United States as this New Hampshire community has seen firsthand after the brutal beheading of journalist James Foley, who was from the state.

“Unfortunately for this state, it has been brought right to this doorstep with the pictures of the young man who was from New Hampshire who was brutally, viciously, maliciously murdered, beheaded to send a message to Americans,” he said. “They have told us that they are coming and why should we not take them at their word.”

Perry’s trip to New Hampshire comes as he weighs another presidential bid. Perry did not fare well in New Hampshire last time around, coming in last place in the Republican primary.

“I don’t know whether I was a good fit or not. I didn’t stay here long enough. I didn’t spend the time. I didn’t have the preparatory time. I learned some really, really good humbling and frustrating lessons running for the presidency,” Perry told reporters.

“I just think you have to spend a lot of time in these states if you’re going to do it. It’s like a relationship before you get married. There are a few times I guess people meet and it just works right off the bat but generally there’s a courtship that goes on. There is a period of time that you need to spend with people. They need to know you and I need to do that, and I didn’t do that.”

 

Remember this is Texas, DUI is a misdemeanor offense like speeding. George Junior (former POTUS) and his VP,Dick Cheney both had DUI convictions. So if a DUI doesn't' disqualify the highest elected official,why should it disqualify a much lesser elected official?

 

This not funding government agencies should be stopped anyway. They should be funded or closed & if closed, it should be done thru proper procedures.

 

Reportedlty the agency he was closing was allegedly about to bust his cancer prevention center for fraud of some kind. His action appears to be more serious than Republicans want to believe, and, if so, his dismissive treatment of the matter will in the future look Nixonesque. If this comes to pass, the media that are supporting him, as well as the law professors, etc., are all going to get black eyes. Also, if this scenario proves true, watch them all change their tune and pull up stakes once the evidence begins to bear down on him, as they all scramble to minimize their allegiance to the Republican Party, just in case any of the really naive Americans are actually listening to them by then.

That's just a scenario. Who knows what the grand jury actually saw. I happen to believe that defendants shouldn't be tried in the court of public opinion, but I can't for the life of me find and ounce of empathy for the man. I hope all of the evidence is admitted and that the jury brings down the full force of the law. Either way, I suspect this is the end of his political career. He will either be proven corrupt, or somehow miraculously wiggle out of it, to go on to become the Republican poster boy for political persecution, followed by a resounding defeat at the hands of an intelligent articulate Democratic adversary. What a boon to the cause of the Democratic Party if he should become the next Republican presidential hopeful!

Interesting note: Perry has stacked the Texas courts during his extraordinarily long tenure as Tx Governor (14 years, since he gained 2 yrs taking over after Dubbya resigned to be Prez) so it will be interesting to see how many judges will have to recuse themselves should he be convicted, in which case he will of course appeal.

 

Speaking of intelligence, as shown in Post #34, he couldn't understand and/or remember the charges.

 

1 way or another, he did not go about it the right way but yes, it is obviously not being fairly applied.

 

I think Bush's 2000 campaign admitted to three alcohol related arrests, one of which was behind the wheel. I also think his would-be campaign manager (during Bush's botched "coming out" as a candidate, probably in '76 or '77) tells a scandalous story of Bush convincing a cop to tear up a DUI ticket based on the fact that his daddy was a powerful man (probably Director of Central Intelligence, depending on when this happened). Bush allegedly bragged about this to the party muckity mucks waiting to congratulate him. And that was when the would-be campaign manager quit. I hunted around for the story but couldn't find it. But I would love to see this resurrected at Perry's trial. That is, if it came out that there is a testimony that Perry knew this at the time he was Lt Governor. It would certainly remind the public of how tainted Perry is by the Bush legacy. And it would establish just what you said: that dozens of Republican Texans witnessed the election of a shiftless drunk college grad (drunk for 6-8 years after that) to the Governership, and then to the Presidency. It was OK with all of those Texas Republicans, which supports what you just said.

Something bothers me about this though. I don't know what Texas voters knew about Dubbya's record when they put him in the Governor's mansion. But the other thing to consider is that voters around the country elected him to the White House in spite of it. That, too, should come out at Perry's trial, I believe. Of course all of this may pale in comparison to the scenario that he was obstructing justice (if the report I mentioned above turns out to be true). Depending on the nature of his activities, it's even conceivable that a federal indictment could be handed down, if a state level conviction is returned, based upon the "findings of fact and conclusions of law" produced by the State courts. That is, such a state level conviction might be sufficient to move a federal grand jury to indict for some other act not prosecuted at the state level, which is nonetheless established as a matter of the state court record.