Rick Perry Indicted

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

Not every Criminal Defendant has a Political Action Committee to post responses for them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbXHg7_Zqjc

[Bob Juch]

Not every Criminal Defendant has a Political Action Committee to post responses for them

[BackInTex]

Not every Criminal Defendant has a Political Action Committee to post responses for them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbXHg7_Zqjc

Not every criminal defendant has a political action committee (Texans for Public Justice) as the driver of their indictment. Anyone who says it is a bipartisan 'watchdog' group is uninformed or lying.

[Bob Juch]

Not every Criminal Defendant has a Political Action Committee to post responses for them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbXHg7_Zqjc

Not every criminal defendant has a political action committee (Texans for Public Justice) as the driver of their indictment. Anyone who says it is a bipartisan 'watchdog' group is uninformed or lying.

They're a 501(c) non-profit organization, just like the other ones the IRS investigated.

[BackInTex]

Not every Criminal Defendant has a Political Action Committee to post responses for them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbXHg7_Zqjc

Not every criminal defendant has a political action committee (Texans for Public Justice) as the driver of their indictment. Anyone who says it is a bipartisan 'watchdog' group is uninformed or lying.

They're a 501(c) non-profit organization, just like the other ones the IRS investigated.

Not just like. They weren't investigated (I really don't know, but I'd bet money they weren't.)

[Bob78164]

I haven't seen anything yet to dissuade me from my initial impression -- that this is an ill-considered effort to criminalize an issue that should be handled politically. --Bob

[Beebs52]

Not every criminal defendant has a political action committee (Texans for Public Justice) as the driver of their indictment. Anyone who says it is a bipartisan 'watchdog' group is uninformed or lying.

They're a 501(c) non-profit organization, just like the other ones the IRS investigated.

Not just like. They weren't investigated (I really don't know, but I'd bet money they weren't.)

They're funded by The Piper Foundation, Open Society Foundation - why, George Soros! surprise, surprise-no partisanship there-, Sunlight Foundation, Winkler Foundation and Good Jobs First.

Here's their board:

Public Justice Foundation
Board of Directors
Craig McDonald, President
McDonald is the Director of Texans for Public Justice
Andrew Wheat, Secretary
A journalist by training, Wheat has written for numerous progressive publications including the Nation, the Multinational Monitor, Texas Monthly and the Texas Observer. Wheat is employed as Research Director of Texas for Public Justice.
Tom “Smitty” Smith, Board Member
Thomas “Smitty” Smith is an institution among progressive Texas advocates. Smitty has been employed as the director of the Texas Public Citizen office since 1985. Prior to that he worked with Texas Rural Legal Aide and as a staff member in the Texas Legislature.
Margaret Justus, Board Member
Margaret served as assistant press secretary to former-Governor Ann Richards. She also served as Texas spokesperson for the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign and remains active in liberal politics in Texas.
Thomas Tobin, Board Member
Tobin is former national organizing director for Public Citizen’s Washington office. He currently is V.P. of Development for Global Impact, a consortium of progressive charities focusing on poverty in the Third World.

http://www.proteusfund.org/piper/grantees/2013
http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about

[Bob Juch]

Not every criminal defendant has a political action committee (Texans for Public Justice) as the driver of their indictment. Anyone who says it is a bipartisan 'watchdog' group is uninformed or lying.

They're a 501(c) non-profit organization, just like the other ones the IRS investigated.

Not just like. They weren't investigated (I really don't know, but I'd bet money they weren't.)

My point is they're not a PAC.

[Bob Juch]

They're a 501(c) non-profit organization, just like the other ones the IRS investigated.

Not just like. They weren't investigated (I really don't know, but I'd bet money they weren't.)

They're funded by The Piper Foundation, Open Society Foundation - why, George Soros! surprise, surprise-no partisanship there-, Sunlight Foundation, Winkler Foundation and Good Jobs First.

Here's their board:

Public Justice Foundation
Board of Directors
Craig McDonald, President
McDonald is the Director of Texans for Public Justice
Andrew Wheat, Secretary
A journalist by training, Wheat has written for numerous progressive publications including the Nation, the Multinational Monitor, Texas Monthly and the Texas Observer. Wheat is employed as Research Director of Texas for Public Justice.
Tom “Smitty” Smith, Board Member
Thomas “Smitty” Smith is an institution among progressive Texas advocates. Smitty has been employed as the director of the Texas Public Citizen office since 1985. Prior to that he worked with Texas Rural Legal Aide and as a staff member in the Texas Legislature.
Margaret Justus, Board Member
Margaret served as assistant press secretary to former-Governor Ann Richards. She also served as Texas spokesperson for the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign and remains active in liberal politics in Texas.
Thomas Tobin, Board Member
Tobin is former national organizing director for Public Citizen’s Washington office. He currently is V.P. of Development for Global Impact, a consortium of progressive charities focusing on poverty in the Third World.

http://www.proteusfund.org/piper/grantees/2013
http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about

What? You expected Texas Republicans to be in favor of public justice?

[Beebs52]

They're a 501(c) non-profit organization, just like the other ones the IRS investigated.

Not just like. They weren't investigated (I really don't know, but I'd bet money they weren't.)

My point is they're not a PAC.

So what? They're definitely partisan. They were investigated in 2006 at, supposedly, DeLay's prompting, due to his investigation. The case was closed against them.

[BackInTex]

My point is they're not a PAC.

My point is they ARE political, they are a committee, and they are taking action. I don't care what the IRS calls them.

[Beebs52]

Not just like. They weren't investigated (I really don't know, but I'd bet money they weren't.)

They're funded by The Piper Foundation, Open Society Foundation - why, George Soros! surprise, surprise-no partisanship there-, Sunlight Foundation, Winkler Foundation and Good Jobs First.

Here's their board:

Public Justice Foundation
Board of Directors
Craig McDonald, President
McDonald is the Director of Texans for Public Justice
Andrew Wheat, Secretary
A journalist by training, Wheat has written for numerous progressive publications including the Nation, the Multinational Monitor, Texas Monthly and the Texas Observer. Wheat is employed as Research Director of Texas for Public Justice.
Tom “Smitty” Smith, Board Member
Thomas “Smitty” Smith is an institution among progressive Texas advocates. Smitty has been employed as the director of the Texas Public Citizen office since 1985. Prior to that he worked with Texas Rural Legal Aide and as a staff member in the Texas Legislature.
Margaret Justus, Board Member
Margaret served as assistant press secretary to former-Governor Ann Richards. She also served as Texas spokesperson for the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign and remains active in liberal politics in Texas.
Thomas Tobin, Board Member
Tobin is former national organizing director for Public Citizen’s Washington office. He currently is V.P. of Development for Global Impact, a consortium of progressive charities focusing on poverty in the Third World.

http://www.proteusfund.org/piper/grantees/2013
http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/about

What? You expected Texas Republicans to be in favor of public justice?

I expected, stupidly, that you'd for once realize that some things you read or see are, indeed, bullshit. That's all. Specifically, that your definition of bipartisan equals "progressive/libtard/left". Specifically, fringe left, not normal left.

[TheConfessor]

I just watched his booking appearance on the local news. Rick treated it like a campaign rally. Now he's giving another speech. It was reported that he had to remove his glasses for the photo. He's wearing a dark suit and a light blue tie.

[TheConfessor]

And here it is. I'm surprised the lightning isn't better. They must take hundreds of these each week.

[tlynn78]

And here it is:

That BASTARD!!

[TheCalvinator24]

Someone up thread said he (or she) would be interested in my take.

There has been much made about Perry not calling for the resignation of two Republican DAs who also were arrested for DWI. One of those DAs in question was my county's DA from 2007-2010. We don't know if Perry made private communication urging him to resign, but we do know he didn't make any public statements. I can tell you that the local Republican Party Chairman asked him to resign and made his desires known in the local press.

The difference between Lehmberg and the other two DAs (other than party affiliation) is that neither of the other two oversaw the statewide Public Integrity Unit (which should never have wound up in the Travis County DA's office anyway). Having Lehmberg in charge of the PIU is a farce and a slap in the face to all Texans. She should have had the decency to resign. My local DA should have as well. So should that third guy from the panhandle.

Do I think that it is possible that Perry was more concerned with an ongoing investigation by the PIU into him and some of his cronies? Sure.

Either way, I think that Bob#s is correct that this is nothing more than an attempt to criminalize behavior that should best be handled with political means.

This isn't the first time that an Austin grand jury has indicted a Republican officeholder for trumped up political reasons.

Didn't work out so well in the Kay Bailey Hutchison case, and although it required going up to the Court of Criminal Appeals (after a trial in Austin and affirmation by the Austin Court of Appeals), it ultimately didn't work out so well in the Tom DeLay case (who was indicted for conduct that quite simply wasn't a crime at the time he did what he did).

I fail to see how threatening a veto that he had every legal right to impose can be seen as somehow criminal. If he had the right to veto, he had the right to threaten the veto, no matter what the motive for the veto may have been. It seems perfectly reasonable to me for Perry to have decided that he would not sign off on funding the PIU so long as it was under the control of Lehmberg.

The real political problem is that despite having Republican super majorities in both legislative chambers, the GOP couldn't get the PIU moved out of the Travis County DA's Office and into the Office of the Attorney General, where it rightfully belongs.

[elwoodblues]

The good news is that Perry's chances of becoming President are still the same as they always have been.

Zero percent before, and zero percent now.

[Bob Juch]

There is not one Democrat involved with Perry's indictment if you don't count the members of the grand jury.

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

There is not one Democrat involved with Perry's indictment if you don't count the members of the grand jury.

Rho Chalmers, who disclosed to the Houston Chronicle yesterday that she was a member of the grand jury that indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry, was an active delegate to the Texas Democratic Party convention during grand jury proceedings. Chalmers’ active participation in Democratic state politics is important because she claimed yesterday to the Houston Chronicle that her decision to indict Perry, a Republican, was not based on politics.

LOL

[Bob Juch]

There is not one Democrat involved with Perry's indictment if you don't count the members of the grand jury.

Rho Chalmers, who disclosed to the Houston Chronicle yesterday that she was a member of the grand jury that indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry, was an active delegate to the Texas Democratic Party convention during grand jury proceedings. Chalmers’ active participation in Democratic state politics is important because she claimed yesterday to the Houston Chronicle that her decision to indict Perry, a Republican, was not based on politics.

LOL

As I said. Grand jury members don't start the process.

[TheCalvinator24]

There is not one Democrat involved with Perry's indictment if you don't count the members of the grand jury.

Yep, if you don't count the people who actually made the decision to indict, you are absolutely correct.

I really do wonder what the color of the sky is in your world.

[TheConfessor]

There is not one Democrat involved with Perry's indictment if you don't count the members of the grand jury.

Yep, if you don't count the people who actually made the decision to indict, you are absolutely correct.

I really do wonder what the color of the sky is in your world.

I'm asking this because i don't know, not as a rhetorical question -
How many people are on a grand jury and what vote is required to indict someone? A simple majority? It seems clear that one member of the grand jury was a Democratic Party activist. But she alone could not have determined the outcome, right? I don't know how grand juries are selected, but simple probability would make it likely that there was a broad spectrum of political views (or apathy) on the jury. Travis County is not the monolithic commie infested hellhole that some would have America believe. It's actually pretty middle of the road, on average, which makes it a little unusual within the state of Texas.

[TheCalvinator24]

There is not one Democrat involved with Perry's indictment if you don't count the members of the grand jury.

Yep, if you don't count the people who actually made the decision to indict, you are absolutely correct.

I really do wonder what the color of the sky is in your world.

I'm asking this because i don't know, not as a rhetorical question -
How many people are on a grand jury and what vote is required to indict someone? A simple majority? It seems clear that one member of the grand jury was a Democratic Party activist. But she alone could not have determined the outcome, right? I don't know how grand juries are selected, but simple probability would make it likely that there was a broad spectrum of political views (or apathy) on the jury. Travis County is not the monolithic commie infested hellhole that some would have America believe. It's actually pretty middle of the road, on average, which makes it a little unusual within the state of Texas.

12 members, who are typically selected by the County Judge, County Commissioners, and District Judges. This means they are far more likely to be politically connected and active than an average citizen. At least 9 must vote yes for a True Bill of Indictment to issue.

[TheCalvinator24]

I found one article in the Houston Chronicle that said that this particular Grand Jury was appointed from a random selection of those who had been summoned for regular jury duty. I have not been able to corroborate that, yet. It appears the District Judges in Travis County don't all follow the same procedure for selecting Grand Jurors, so I can't be sure.

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

Radley Balko on Texas Grand Juries

Texas judges can select a grand jury in one of two ways. The first way is similar to the traditional manner in which petit (trial) jurors are chosen: Potential jurors are picked from a random pool taken from public records like voter rolls or property records. But Texas judges can also use what’s called a “key man” system. Under the key-man system, the judge picks one or more people to serve as “commissioners.” The commissioners then choose from a pool of people who have volunteered for grand jury duty.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the- ... with-cops/