{"id":19650,"date":"2014-08-18T05:30:08","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T09:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=19650"},"modified":"2014-08-17T16:27:34","modified_gmt":"2014-08-17T20:27:34","slug":"rick-perry-indicted-for-trying-to-oust-drunk-d-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/08\/rick-perry-indicted-for-trying-to-oust-drunk-d-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Rick Perry indicted for trying to oust drunk D.A."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A district attorney who was in charge of the public integrity unit <\/em>(!) was convicted of drunk driving.\u00a0 So Texas governor Rick Perry called on her to resign.\u00a0 If she didn\u2019t resign, he said, he would veto the funding for her office.\u00a0 (Which he did.)<\/p>\n

So now the Democratic machine in Austin has indicted Gov. Perry for abuse of office and coercion of a public official, felonies that carry penalties of up to 99 years.<\/p>\n

From News from The Associated Press<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday for allegedly abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto funding for state prosecutors investigating public corruption \u2013 making the possible 2016 presidential hopeful his state\u2019s first indicted governor in nearly a century.<\/p>\n

\n

A special prosecutor spent months calling witnesses and presenting evidence that Perry broke the law when he promised publicly to nix $7.5 million over two years for the public integrity unit run by the office of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. Lehmberg, a Democrat, was convicted of drunken driving, but refused Perry\u2019s calls to resign.<\/p>\n

Though the Republican governor now faces two felony indictments, politics dominates the case. Lehmberg is based in Austin, which is heavily Democratic, in contrast to most of the rest of fiercely conservative Texas. The grand jury was comprised of Austin-area residents.<\/p>\n

The unit Lehmberg oversees investigates statewide allegations of corruption and political wrongdoing. It led the investigation against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican who in 2010 was convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering for taking part in a scheme to influence elections in his home state \u2013 convictions later vacated by an appeals court.<\/p>\n

Mary Anne Wiley, Perry\u2019s general counsel, predicted Perry ultimately will be cleared of the charges against him \u2013 abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe veto in question was made in accordance with the veto authority afforded to every governor under the Texas Constitution,\u201d she said. . . .<\/p>\n

Perry and other high-profile Republicans said Lehmberg should resign after she was arrested and pleaded guilty to drunken driving in April 2013. A video recording made at the jail showed Lehmberg shouting at staffers to call the sheriff, kicking the door of her cell and sticking her tongue out. Her blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit for driving.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A district attorney who was in charge of the public integrity unit (!) was convicted of drunk driving.\u00a0 So Texas governor Rick Perry called on her to resign.\u00a0 If she didn\u2019t resign, he said, he would veto the funding for her office.\u00a0 (Which he did.) So now the Democratic machine in Austin has indicted Gov. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[600,19,36],"tags":[3295,1893],"class_list":["post-19650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime","category-government","category-politics","tag-political-indictments","tag-rick-perry"],"yoast_head":"\nRick Perry indicted for trying to oust drunk D.A.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A district attorney who was in charge of the public integrity unit (!) was convicted of drunk driving.\u00a0 So Texas governor Rick Perry called on her to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/08\/rick-perry-indicted-for-trying-to-oust-drunk-d-a\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rick Perry indicted for trying to oust drunk D.A.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A district attorney who was in charge of the public integrity unit (!) was convicted of drunk driving.\u00a0 So Texas governor Rick Perry called on her to\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/08\/rick-perry-indicted-for-trying-to-oust-drunk-d-a\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-18T09:30:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-08-17T20:27:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/08\/rick-perry-indicted-for-trying-to-oust-drunk-d-a\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/08\/rick-perry-indicted-for-trying-to-oust-drunk-d-a\/\",\"name\":\"Rick Perry indicted for trying to oust drunk D.A.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-18T09:30:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-08-17T20:27:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"A district attorney who was in charge of the public integrity unit (!) was convicted of drunk driving.\u00a0 So Texas governor Rick Perry called on her to\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/08\/rick-perry-indicted-for-trying-to-oust-drunk-d-a\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/08\/rick-perry-indicted-for-trying-to-oust-drunk-d-a\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2014\/08\/rick-perry-indicted-for-trying-to-oust-drunk-d-a\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rick Perry indicted for trying to oust drunk D.A.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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