Tag Archives: Rick Perry indictment

Texoblogosphere: Week of August 25th

The Texas Progressive Alliance wishes everyone a Happy Back To School Week as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff has had many things to say about the Perry indictments.

Harold Cook sounded some cautionary notes about the Perry indictments.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos notes that a little ol’ indictment is not stopping Rick Perry from a POTUS run in 2016. Swaggering through New Hampshire to kiss the Koch boy ring, Rick Perry plays W., redux. Cowboy Diplomacy Redux: Rick Perry Plays the Fear Card.

From WCNews at Eye on Williamson. The media and the Texas GOP keep trying to make Republicans look reasonable when it comes to expanding Medicaid, don’t fall for it, Texas Is A Wasteland For Public Support.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants everyone to remember that damn fence is just a monument to racism and fear. What else does it do except cause trouble.

Why can’t Obama be more like LBJ and just get some things done, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs wondered. But just in a facetious way; if we ever had another president half as badass as LBJ, we’d come to regret it.

Neil at All People Have Value went to the Texas City Buc-ee’s. Neil wishes that trendy restaurants in Houston had a sign up like at the Buc-ee’s saying that staff made a wage higher than minimum wage. All People Have Value is one page of many at NeilAquino.com.

With students and teachers going back to school this week, Texas Leftist has an assignment for everyone. Is your school district one of 600 suing Greg Abbott and the Texas GOP-led legislature?Consult the list and map to see. Here’s a hint… It’s not just the schools in blue counties.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Beyond Bones has a problem with “Shark Week”.

Lone Star Ma is still writing about National Breastfeeding Month.

The Rivard Report is not writing about gun control.

Grading Texas responds to Bill Hammond about school ratings.

Very Very Urban has a photo that’s worth at least a thousand words.

Newsdesk looks at the effort to kick Eden Foods out of the Wheatsville Co-Op.

The Texas Election Law Blog has a historical analysis of the Voting Rights Act, preclearance, and redistricting.

Lone Star Q notes that some companies that have strong LGBT equality policies nonetheless have no problem contributing financially to candidates that oppose such equality.

‘stina puts the Ice Bucket Challenge into some context.

And finally, kudos to Media Matters For America for recognizing the difference between how the Texas press covered the Rick Perry indictment and how the national press covered it. To help some of those national pundits understand what the indictments are about, Craig McDonald and Andrew Wheat of Texans for Public Justice wrote a piece for Politico explaining why they filed their complaint in the first place.

(Photo credit: El Paso skyline by Virtual Tourist)

Texoblogosphere: Week of August 18th

The Texas Progressive Alliance stands with the people of Ferguson in their quest for peace and justice as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff reminds us that there’s one more special Senate election to go this year, and this one features a Democrat that’s worth supporting.

Harold Cook warns us to keep a sense of perspective on the Rick Perry indictment.

Texas Leftist keeps wondering when the national media is going figure out that Texas could be a swing state today if enough people were actually voting. Plus clarifying Wendy Davis’ stance on LGBT equality issues, and what we can expect if she’s elected.

From WCNews at Eye on Williamson. Unfortunately in Texas we have the government that we voted for, or didn’t vote for, as the case may be, Avoiding Medicaid, Non-Voting, And Ferguson.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos finds it amusing how Greg Abbott promotes himself as a small government fiscal conservative while he squanders taxpayer dollars on frivolous lawsuits. Greg Abbott’s Frivolous Fights with the Feds Cost Taxpayers Millions.

After the late Friday afternoon news broke about Rick Perry’s felony indictments, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs consumed more adult beverages than he planned. All weekend long.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes that audit of Hidalgo voting machines shows no tampering. Of course, without a paper audit trail, you can’t really be sure. Kudos to Travis County for their efforts to provide auditable elections.

Neil at Blog About Our Failing Money-Owned American Political System bought a Texas cake to mark the indictment of Rick Perry. NeilAquino.com has many pages and is well worth your time to consider.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Nonsequiteuse would like Ted Cruz and John Cornyn to invest in Texas the way they invest in themselves.

Juanita disagrees with the calls for Rick Perry to resign.

Lone Star Q decries Rep. Jonathan Stickland’s attack on transgender inmates.

The Texas Election Law Blog games out the state’s strategy in the redistricting litigation.

Lone Star Ma celebrates National Breastfeeding Month.

Scott Braddock shows how Rick Perry’s border posturing is bad for the people that actually live and work there.

And finally, The Bloggess wants us to know that help is always available if you need it.

 

(photo credit:  Brandi Grahl, panoramio)

Rick Perry Indicted On Felony Abuse of Power Counts

Some shocking late breaking news tonight, as a Grand Jury has accused Texas Governor Rick Perry of abusing his Gubernatorial Powers. Here’s the story from the Texas Tribune

A grand jury indicted Gov. Rick Perry on Friday on two felony counts, alleging he abused his power by threatening to veto funding for the state’s anti-corruption prosecutors unless Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, who had pleaded guilty to drunk driving, stepped down from office.

The first count returned from a grand jury, abuse of official capacity, is a first-degree felony with a potential penalty of five to 99 years in prison. The second count, coercion of a public servant, is a third-degree felony with a penalty of two to 10 years.

Perry’s legal counsel, Mary Ann Wiley, said Perry would vigorously fight the charges.

“The veto in question was made in accordance with the veto authority afforded to every governor under the Texas Constitution,” she said. “We will continue to aggressively defend the governor’s lawful and constitutional action, and believe we will ultimately prevail.”

Other than the pledge to fight the charges, the Governor has said very little of the issue himself thus far, instead letting his taxpayer-funded legal counsel speak on his behalf.

As one can imagine, the news has launched a complete frenzy among Texas Democrats. Within minutes of the official news wire, Democrat and left-leaning groups had blasted fundraising emails all over the planet.

Perry’s questionable actions are not about the specific situations here. No one will argue that the Governor of Texas has the ability to issue a line-item veto. He was also well within his power to make a public call for Lehmberg’s resignation, if that’s what he thought would be best for the Office of Public Integrity and the people of Texas. But the problem lies in Perry’s motivation to use that power. You cannot issue a threat to an individual and punish an entire responsibility of government for their actions. At least on it’s face, the Governor has never given any reason for why the entire OPI should be defunded other than his personal preference that Lehmberg leave her job.

There is much left to sort out here, but one thing is for sure… This is an historic event for the Lone Star State. Though probably not the type of history Rick Perry was wanting.

UPDATE: On Saturday August 16th, Governor Perry responded to the indictment, calling it a “farce” and promising to vigorously defend his decision.