http://kxan.com/2014/08/15/texas-governor-rick-perry-indicted-by-grand-jury/

AUSTIN (KXAN) – A grand jury has handed up an indictment against Gov. Rick Perry in connection with the investigation into an effort to force Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign.

At the center of the issue is a complaint about intimidation stemming from Perry’s threat to veto of $7.5 million in state funding to the Public Integrity Unit run by Lehmberg’s office. The threat came after she pleaded guilty to drunk driving and served a 45-day sentence; Perry called on her to step down but she refused to resign her position. Perry then vetoed the funding for the PIU.

A grand jury was called to determine whether or not Perry broke the law when he threatened to veto the funding. As a result they issued indictments on two felony charges: abuse of official capacity and coercion of public servant. If found guilty on the charges, Perry could be sentenced to a maximum 109 years in prison.

8/15/2014 7:25:13 PM

The glasses will save him.

8/15/2014 8:29:26 PM

Perhaps we can debate the cultural significance of Guided By Voices albums.

8/16/2014 12:11:01 AM

I'm no Rick Perry fan, but this seems completely ridiculous. If you can indict someone for vetoing or threatening to veto something then we should just go ahead and indict every governor and every president past and present.

Sounds like this is purely political, Perry wanted this woman to step down following a DUI and she refused. Her supporters/left leaning interest group files a complaint. It's pretty laughable and there's pretty much zero chance that Perry is convicted of anything.

8/16/2014 9:56:03 PM

he can threaten to veto all he wants

he can't threaten to veto unless someone he doesn't like quits

8/16/2014 11:56:32 PM

^^ Well I guess the grand jury that indicted him did so on the basis of their political views, as opposed to the evidence before them .

8/17/2014 8:19:22 AM

Sounds like Kurtis636 only read the headline

8/17/2014 9:03:59 PM

Nope, I read quite a bit about this. The whole thing is a mess. The DA should absolutely have stepped down, when she didn't Perry pressured her by threatening to veto something she was involved with.

When he did it her office sought an indictment against Perry. Getting a grand jury indictment doesn't take much, and there's no way this ever results in a conviction. This DA is doing exactly what she accused Perry of doing, it's a political pissing match of Texas sized proportions.

8/17/2014 9:56:56 PM

I don't know if it is illegal, but it's definitely wrong for Perry to defund/punish constituents and employees by cutting funding for an entire department as retaliation for not liking a particular individual.

8/18/2014 1:29:59 AM

Just for shits and giggles, here's the dashcam of her DUI that someone linked on another site I read.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrxsCH_p1oc

The Perry indictment would probably carry more weight if it wasn't coming from this woman's office and county. Does anybody think a DA who gets arrested, charged, and will be convicted should stay in office?

Her booking and arrest videos are also ridiculous.

[Edited on August 18, 2014 at 1:46 AM. Reason : sdfsdf]

8/18/2014 1:37:11 AM

^ she should def. step down. But i'd assume there are legit channels for the gov. to make this happen.

8/18/2014 2:20:03 AM

There are, one of the 3 legal reasons for removing a Travis county DA is intoxication on or off duty. It's a long, long process to do it. She's lost the public's trust, she embarrassed herself publicly with the DWI, and then again when all the videos came out with her trying to pull rank on the cops and telling jailers to call "Greg" (the country sheriff).

Also, when MSNBC is backing Rick Perry you know the charges are ridiculous.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/the-weak-case-against-rick-perry

8/18/2014 3:24:41 AM

I don't like Perry and I don't want to see a President Perry, but it's pretty obvious to me that this is just another example of liberals creating faux talking-points.

They already created them for Christie; as if these two fuckers needed any more.

Understandable considering the amount of poo Republicans have to fling regarding Hillary. Going to be a messy election. In other news Rand Paul is in Guatemala conducting charity eye surgeries. Let's hope the press doesn't catch him sleeping with a patient or sacrificing one to his libertarian Gods.

8/18/2014 8:18:45 AM

there is a link to MSNBC defending Perry literally right above your post

8/18/2014 8:21:02 AM

Oh you're right silly me.

Thread over guys; we got a video here.

8/18/2014 8:22:33 AM

If this was about smearing him for the election then why is MSNBC defending him?

8/18/2014 8:47:46 AM

Who watches MSNBC?

8/18/2014 9:04:13 AM

Quote :

"he can threaten to veto all he wants he can't threaten to veto unless someone he doesn't like quits "

How is this so hard for republicans to understand

8/18/2014 9:10:11 AM

Quote :

"If this was about smearing him for the election then why is MSNBC defending him?"

Every time I've mentioned MSNBC as being part of the liberal media, it has always been argued that MSNBC doesn't count; that they're too far left to be taken seriously, along with Fox. So it shouldn't count now.

Although its painfully obvious what is going on here. Had it been a slow news week, this would be plastered as headlines all over. Because we have a bunch of crap going on in Ferguson, this is currently being overshadowed.

8/18/2014 9:15:28 AM

In this case it would count more, for reasons that are entirely obvious to someone with the most basic understanding of logic

8/18/2014 9:17:45 AM

MSNBC isn't right or left.

It's simply garbage. Garbage with a tiny audience.

Fox is garbage with a large audience; unfortunately that means it matters.

MSNBC does not. Logic.

8/18/2014 9:19:46 AM

MSNBC is very left

8/18/2014 10:23:14 AM

The left is sad that you would say so.

8/18/2014 11:01:31 AM

MSNBC is extremely Leftist as FOX News is extremely Rightist. However, MSNBC is clearly nowhere near as fact-averse and fear-mongering as Fox News (and this very issue demonstrating such) is, so don't take this as admission that they're two sides of the same coin.

8/18/2014 12:50:06 PM

Here's Sarah Palin's take on it:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/08/17/gov-perry-indicted-everything-big-in-texas-even-this-bs/

Quote :

"http://This ridiculous politically motivated “indictment” of Governor Rick Perry stems from the ugly thug tactics of the "politics of personal destruction" that the left is known for."

8/18/2014 2:20:25 PM

This may not be analogous since I don't think that he received any charges while in office, but wasn't George W. Bush charged with multiple DUIs prior to being elected Governor of Texas and President of the United States?

8/18/2014 2:28:00 PM

His wife killed someone, but I'm not sure if Bush had any DUIs stick.

[Edited on August 18, 2014 at 2:52 PM. Reason : don't care enough to google]

8/18/2014 2:52:13 PM

http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jan/27/ann-coulter/coulter-fox-news-broke-bush-drunk-driving-story-20/

8/18/2014 3:59:05 PM

Quote :

"he can threaten to veto all he wants he can't threaten to veto unless someone he doesn't like quits"

By texas law, this may not actually be true. The statute he was indicted for violating (emphasis mine):

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/txstatutes/PE/8/36/36.03

Quote :

" a) A person commits an offense if by means of coercion he: (1) influences or attempts to influence a public servant in a specific exercise of his official power or a specific performance of his official duty or influences or attempts to influence a public servant to violate the public servant's known legal duty; or (2) influences or attempts to influence a voter not to vote or to vote in a particular manner. (b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor unless the coercion is a threat to commit a felony, in which event it is a felony of the third degree. (c) It is an exception to the application of Subsection (a)(1) of this section that the person who influences or attempts to influence the public servant is a member of the governing body of a governmental entity, and that the action that influences or attempts to influence the public servant is an official action taken by the member of the governing body. For the purposes of this subsection, the term "official action" includes deliberations by the governing body of a governmental entity."

See also Texas V. Hanson which is more or less this exact case all over again:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13334114033535556636

Quote :

"Coercion of a lawful act by a threat of lawful action is protected free expression."

Given those, I sincerely doubt this indictments stick.

8/18/2014 11:31:38 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/19/opinion/is-gov-perrys-bad-judgment-really-a-crime.html?ref=opinion&_r=1

NYTimes op-ed, also in Perry's favor. It certainly isn't a pro-Perry article, but calls the charges BS.

8/19/2014 12:22:25 PM

why was this thread even made

8/19/2014 2:27:57 PM

Because liberals are terrible, oh wait, all the liberals in this thread and in the "lamestream" media agree this is unfounded.

8/19/2014 3:40:32 PM

the cherry on top

http://mediatrackers.org/national/2014/08/20/perry-grand-juror-active-democratic-party-delegate-jury-proceedings

8/20/2014 1:48:21 PM

Perry isn't even that bad. He's a dumbass, but he's closer to a Blue Dog Democrat than a hardcore conservative Republican. With that said, Texas and him deserve each other.

8/20/2014 2:05:03 PM

I liked that time he was inebriated at the Republican debate.

8/20/2014 4:25:06 PM

8/21/2014 10:27:27 AM

Quote :

"With that said, Texas and him deserve each other."

Yeah, b/c they're just doing so horribly down there...

8/21/2014 3:04:21 PM

Yeah I hate living in a state that did pretty well during the economic downturn, has plenty of jobs (and more are continually coming), and a booming housing market. The heat can be a drag at times though...

8/21/2014 3:13:49 PM

Yeah, congratulations to Texas, the Saudi Arabia of the Western hemisphere.

8/21/2014 6:53:30 PM

Except women can drive in Texas. Not well, I'm sure, but they can drive.

8/21/2014 7:52:49 PM