Morning Briefing
For August 18, 2014
Rick Perry Becomes a Victim of Lawfare
Rick Perry, scourge of frivolous litigants, has just become the
victim of one of the worst and most insidious variety: the runaway
prosecutor. Perry was indicted late
Friday
afternoon on charges of abuse of power by a grand jury at the behest of
special prosecutor Michael McCrum. The basic facts of the case appear
not to be in dispute – Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg, an
influential Democrat, pled guilty to DWI and served 45 days in jail.
After serving her jail sentence, Lehmberg returned to her office and
refused to step down. Perry announced that he would veto a bill that
funded the Public Integrity Unit, a division over which Lehmberg was
supervisor, unless she stepped down because he felt that she had lost
the public’s trust. Later he followed through and did veto the bill.
The indictment is clear that Perry is not accused of abuse of power
for actually vetoing the bill – presumably, everyone accepts both
legally and factually that a Governor has the absolute privilege to veto
a bill for any reason he wants to or no reason at all – but rather for
announcing beforehand his intention to veto the bill.
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