Gov. Rick Perry makes a statement in Austin, Texas on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014 concerning the indictment on charges of coercion of a public servant and abuse of his official capacity. Perry is the first Texas governor since 1917 to be indicted. (AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman - statesman.com, Laura Skelding)
Political corruption knows no boundaries; the ingredients for political corruption are human dishonesty, a source of money to dip into and an office or position of trust to use for nefarious purposes. Call it assassination by grand jury indictment.
The grand jury indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry exposes corruption by and for nefarious purposes again in Texas aimed at Republicans, especially Hispanic friendly Republicans. Texas Democrats revel in political assassination by grand jury.
California, for example, is rife with Hispanic Democrat political corruption that reaches from small towns/cities like Bell, where city managers and council people paid themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars, to Los Angeles City Council, where people that are convicted of felonies and await prison, to the California State Senate. where long time Hispanic and Chinese American politicians await trials and prison for using political offices and campaigns to fill their pockets with bribes and political extortion.
Most elected and appointed officials fatten themselves at the public’s expense by simply stealing money. For example, my former congressman -- Vietnam War fighter ACE pilot Duke Cunningham corruption wasn’t very devious-- he accepted cash, over $2 million in cash from friendly defense contractors that paid him to insert contracts into procurement bills, a procedure that bypassed Congressional budget processes.
Corruption over clandestine cash is the norm. There is, however, a different type of corruption -- that of political and judicial manipulation. That kind of corruption has reared its ugly head in Texas again, again in Travis County, where the state capitol, Austin is located.
This corruption is spawned by and directly connected to Texas Democrats. There is a history of these grand jury shenanigans.
In 1993, State Treasurer Kay Bailey Hutchison won the Republican nomination for the Special Election to replace Senator Lloyd Bentsen, who left the Senate to be Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary. She won the seat by a two-to-one margin and did extremely well with Texas’ Hispanic voters. She was the first and only woman ever to represent Texas in the Senate. Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who himself wanted the U.S. Senate seat, convinced a Grand Jury to indict Hutchison for official misconduct in office (while State Treasurer) and for allegedly ordering state employees to destroy evidence.
When time came for trial, Democrat District Attorney Ronnie Earle did not present any evidence. The judge ordered a jury empanelled and informed them that Earle refused to enter any evidence; he directed the jury to acquit Senator Hutchison so she could not be indicted or tried again on any similar charge.
Here we are again. A Travis County Grand Jury has indicted another Hispanic friendly Republican – Governor Rick Perry championed in-state tuition for public college students in the U.S. illegally who had graduated from Texas high schools. Like the Hutchison indictment, this one is as phony as Ronnie Earle’s indictment of the best vote getter in Texas history (2000 election – 4,078,954 votes that produced a 65% victory for Hutchison’s reelection).
The charges are “abuse of official capacity” and “coercion of a public servant.”
Specifically, Perry is criminally charged because he vetoed an appropriation for the Travis County District Attorney’s Office of Public Integrity. Its leader (a Democrat) had been arrested, tried, convicted and sent to jail for a flagrant “drunk” driving episode. She refused the governor’s request to resign. He insisted she resign and if she didn’t he would veto the appropriation that funded her job. He did this publically.
Article IV, Section 14 of the Texas state Constitution states “if any bill is presented to the governor contains several items of appropriation he may object to one or more such items, and approve the other portion of the bill.” That is the veto power. Only the governor has it.
The Constitution does not prohibit the governor from announcing a veto before the act, nor does it prohibit a public/political veto threat of any sort. Thus, unless the threat is done behind closed doors there can be no crime.
Despite Texas Democrats cheering on the indictments, the political nature of the indictments is obvious to Democrats as well as Republicans.
President Obama’s close advisor David Axelrod tweeted that the indictments were “sketchy.” Another Obama man, Jonathon Price says, “Have to say Perry indictment seems nuts.” Liberal writer Matt Yglesias says, “Hard for me to imagine Rick Perry charges sticking…Does anyone think this Perry indictment makes sense?”
Nonetheless, Gilberto Hinojosa, Chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, has abandoned the American principle of “innocent until proven guilty” by declaring, “Rick Perry should step down, immediately. This type of crony politics has got to go in Texas…Governor Perry has brought dishonor to his office, his family and the state of Texas.”
Perhaps lawyer Hinojosa should read the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, particularly the part that guarantees “due process” of law.
Perry’s indictment is like Hutchison’s was 20 years ago. Nothing…Nada!
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