Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry responded Saturday to the weekend indictment in which he is accused of abusing his power of office, calling it a political “farce” and vowing to explore “every legal avenue” to combat the prosecution.
Perry, a 2012 GOP presidential candidate with potential 2016 aspirations, was indicted Friday for allegedly abusing his power by vowing to veto $7.5 million in state funds for agency run by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, after she pleaded guilty to drunken driving in April 2013 and refused to resign.
Perry vetoed the money after Lehmberg, a Democrat, videotaped acting erratically during her arrest, refused to resign.
“I think Americans and Texans who have seen the video would agree that this is not the type of individual who should be heading up an office that we want to fund,” Perry said during a brief news conference in Texas. “I wholeheartedly and unequivocally stand behind my veto … I will explore every legal avenue to expedite this matter and bring it to a swift conclusion. I am confident that this farce of a prosecution will be revealed for what it is.”
The governor said he would take the same action again, given the same facts and circumstances. He also made clear that we would have funded the ethics unit under Lehmberg had she resigned.
This should prove rather entertaining, though I have to admit that I think that Perry may emerge from this thing relatively unscathed.
I mean I think his presidential hopes are over, but then again I never really thought he had any, but as for going to prison or being asked to resign, I don't see that happening.
Not in Texas.
Though I would love to be proven wrong on this.
While I agree with you that since it is Texas the chances of GoodHair spending time behind bars is slight. I can only hope that Texas goes all Rod Blagovevich on his his ass. I read that GH has only worked in Gov't all his life and is now a multimillionare.. He was trying to stop an investigation into a phoney cancer charity where most of the $$ was going into republican pockets .He is despicable.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but since you mentioned 2016, check out this little quiz, it really opened my eyes in a new way about Hillary and her hawkish leanings. I would never vote for a Rethug, but I'm becoming more and more disenchanted with her positions.
ReplyDeleteWho Said It: Hillary Clinton or John McCain?
Just try to tell the difference...
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/hillary-clinton-john-mccain-quotes-foreign-policy-quiz
Which is why Elizabeth Warren has to run and win.
DeletePerry's problem is that he publicly tried to force Rosemary Lehmberg to resign and threatened to veto funding for the Public Integrity Unit that is run out of her office. And then vetoed the funding when she refused to resign.
ReplyDeleteAt the time he tried to get her to resign, the unit was investigating the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas - one of Goodhair's initiatives - because one of the officers of the company was accused of mishandling an $11 million grant from the state.Makes you kind of wonder exactly why Perry wanted Lehmberg to resign, doesn't it?
As much as I despise Governor Goodhair, a prosecutor who pled guilty to DUI should have resigned. Now I'm off to shower.
ReplyDeleteExactly. The law is not on her side.
DeleteThe law is not on her side.....She served 45 days in jail and plead guilty to the DUI. Of course the law is not on her side which she admitted to.Your statement makes no sense.
Delete"He also made clear that we would have funded the ethics unit under Lehmberg had she resigned."
ReplyDeleteThis indicates to me that bias was involved in Perry's decision to veto the PIU funding. Imo, by making this comment, Perry is essentially admitting that the reason he vetoed the funding had everything to do with Ms. Lehmberg's refusal to resign after he asked her to. When she refused to resign, Perry decided that he'd show her what happens when anyone defies him. He never had any idea that anyone would do anything about him abusing his powers to exact revenge upon Ms. Lehmberg for not doing what he wanted her to do.
she pled guilty in April 2013 -- more than a year ago, why withhold money now?
DeleteSorry, If they had caught him doing something before I'd be all on board. As it is, he only as a few more months in office and this is just going to cost the tax payers $$$$. Do I think Lehmberg should have resigned, yes, but also as an employer legally you need to give people with drug/alcohol problems time and means to deal with those. So as long as her job didn't mean driving for a living....meh, I don't care. At this point it is just a distraction from the things Abbott is talking about doing and not helping any citizen in Texas
ReplyDeleteIt isn't just Texas. It's a governor with Presidential aspirations. I don't want a President who would cut funding for a whole department because he doesn't like the person in charge- especially when that person is investigating the guy cutting funding.
DeleteGryphen, have you seen what Russell Brand had to say about Robin Williams? It's a keeper!
ReplyDeleteRussell Brand: Robin Williams’ divine madness will no longer disrupt the sadness of the world
The manic energy of Williams could turn to destruction as easily as creativity. Is it melancholy to think that a world that he can’t live in must be broken?
...Robin Williams was exciting to me because he seemed to be sat upon a geyser of comedy. Like he didn’t manufacture it laboriously within but had only to open a valve and it would come bursting through in effervescent jets. He was plugged into the mains of comedy.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/12/russell-brand-robin-williams-divine-madness-broken-world#start-of-comments
If Lehmberg resigned Good Hair would have chosen her replacement. She was trying to stop republican misuse of funds masquarding as a cancer charity. It would have been a conservative repub who would have done GH's bidding. A case of the fox watching the hen house.Lehmberg served 45 days in jail and went into rehab.Not an ideal situation but the alternative would have been far worse.
ReplyDeleteSorry, then she should have called a taxi. She put herself into the situation where Goodhair could have picked her replacement.
DeleteEven if he doesn't spend a day in the hoosgow, the chance that this will fuck up any aspirations for Washington is tangible.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought but...I believe he will be on trial in Travis County. The bluest county in Texas. We adore our DA. So she drank. We have all made mistakes. She has devoted her life & career to the state. He was doing anything to get a good ole boy into her job.
ReplyDeleteTexasMel
That video makes your DA look bad. The law is on Perry' s side. I think the DA will end up more damaged by that video going viral than Perry. I am no Perry fan.
DeletePerry was acting erratically himself during the 2012 GOP presidential primary campaign -- being forgetful, kissing a maple syrup jug, babbling... It was attributed by his own staff to the effects of controlled substances (STRONG pain medications). Maybe he should have resigned then.
ReplyDeleteI am no Perry fan but this case has made the drunk lady look worse than Perry. This case is a waste of time and money.
ReplyDeletePerry was trying to shut down an investigation of fraudulent use of funds that were being used to help cancer research . Which i worse ?Robbing a charity for cancer research or a DUI?If there was not an abundance of evidence no indictments would have been handed down.
DeleteThanks, Anonymous @9:15 am. That's the part they're not talking about. He was under arrest. No, she shouldn't have been driving drunk, but at least she served time in jail- which is more than he'll ever do.
ReplyDeletehow is Rick Perry paying his lawyer, David Botsford, $450 per hour with public funds to fight the criminal case?
ReplyDeleteArt. 16, Sec. 6 of the Texas Constitution forbids using public funds for private purposes.
We have paid $80,000 so far. Another criminal offense? Theft?