Texans for Public Justice, the so-called public interest group that has been pushing for the indictment of Gov. Rick Perry by a grand jury at the urging of special prosecutor Michael McCrum.
The basis for the indictment is, in the words of liberal New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait, “unbelievably ridiculous.” The first count says that Perry violated a vaguely worded statute by threatening to veto an appropriation. That, even though the Texas Constitution gives governors the veto power and the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protects their right to free speech.
The second count states that it was illegal “coercion” to demand the resignation of Rosemary Lehmberg, head of the public integrity prosecution unit whose funding Perry vetoed, after she was arrested for drunk driving with a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit.
“To describe the indictment as ‘frivolous’ gives it far more credence than it deserves,” Chait said. Liberal Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz agreed. Perry’s actions, he said, are “not anything for a criminal indictment,” adding that the indictment is reminiscent of “what happens in totalitarian societies.”
The editorial writers of the Washington Post and the New York Times agreed. A “tendentious prosecution,” the Post wrote, noting that it was not the first one launched in Austin. (An Agenda 21 City) The Texas town also produced the 2006 campaign finance indictment of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay that was finally ruled invalid last year.
The Times, after making clear its distaste for Perry (“one of the least thoughtful and most damaging state leaders in America”), wrote that “the indictment appears to be the product of an overzealous prosecution.”
Many Texas liberals, perhaps shell shocked after losing every statewide race since 1994, are still chortling over Perry’s predicament. But the obvious injustice of the indictment may help more than hurt Perry. A decent lawyer would have told them to stop.
And a decent lawyer would also have told President Obama to stop before letting it be known that he was considering a proclamation that his administration would not prosecute some 5 million illegal immigrants. That’s apparently what he told Hispanic group leaders in a closed meeting earlier this year.
Filed under: Agenda 21, politicians, Progressives Tagged: Austin, Rick Perry, Texas
