► Gov. Rick Perry’s Hypocrisy re: Austin DA Rosemary Lehmberg Print

Gov. Rick Perry’s Hypocrisy re: Austin DA Rosemary Lehmberg

 

A Travis County grand jury recently (Aug 2014) charged Ricky with two felonies regarding his effort to force DA Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat to resign after she was arrested for drunk driving. The felony charges were for (a) coercion of a public servant, and (b) abuse of official capacity. (Austin-American Statesman)

 

In a lame effort at levity, Ricky would have us believe that his only reason for demanding Ms. Lehmberg’s resignation was to protect the integrity of the Austin DA’s office of Public Integrity, which investigates misconduct by public officials.

 

When various officeholders, both Republicans and Democrats were charged/convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI) and/or other offenses, Ricky consistently invoked his Fifth Amendment Right to remain silent. Examples of Ricky’s hypocrisy are as follows:

 

Former State Rep. Mike Krusee (Republican)  of Round Rock, Texas was charged and convicted of driving under the influence (DWI) in 2008, Ricky invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Put simply, Ricky never demanded that Mike resign. Of course there’s a big difference between Mike and DA, Mike’s a Republican.

 

 

Judge Frederick Edwards (Republican) of Conroe, Texas was convicted of driving under the influence and attempting to get away with it by using the prestige of his judicial office when he was arrested (http://tinyurl.com/7xxtawx).

 

Appeals Judge Nora Longoria (Democrat) of McAllen, Texas was arrested for driving under the influence and speeding in her Lexus on July 13, 2014 (http://tinyurl.com/qybx5q5).

 

State Sen. Troy Fraser of Horseshoe Bay, Texas was found guilty of spending $3,652 at the Texas Clothiers store to purchase suits that he laughingly claimed were for campaign purposes (http://tinyurl.com/ox3ldrz). Troy was eventually fined by the Texas Ethics Commission. Moreover, his conduct constituted a misdemeanor.

 

There’s many more judges and/or members of the legislature that have been found guilty of a variety of misconduct, some of which were criminal misdemeanors. However, Ricky didn’t exhibit and outrage and/or demand that these folks resign.

 

One thing that cannot be denied is that Ricky and various GOP legislators have tried to revoke the authority of the Austin County DA to investigate public corruption via its Public Integrity Unit. In fact, if Ricky had his way, the unit would be dismantled and investigations would be handled by the Texas Attorney General. That office has been held by a Republican since 1999.

 

One need not possess an I.Q. in the mid-100s to understand that if corruption investigations were under the authority of Greg Abbot and/or his likely successor State Sen. Ken Paxton that it would be highly unlikely that they would vigorously purse cases against members of the GOP. However, just the opposite would likely take place for members of the Democratic Party.

 

Ricky’s attempt to basically silence DA Lehmberg to prevent corruption investigations is nothing new. A couple of years ago, Ricky signed into law a prohibition against anyone who wasn’t a resident of Texas and/or landowner from filing ethics complaints against any public officials (http://tinyurl.com/lef9942).

 

This absurd law was specifically aimed at silencing this Watchdog due to the fact that he had filed a plethora of ethics complaints with the Texas Ethics Commission that led to findings of guilty against state legislators and several judges.

 

Whether Ricky is convicted remains to be seen. However, there can be no doubt that he is a Certified Hypocrite who had a specific agenda in demanding that DA Lehmberg resign and it had nothing to do with ethics.