Texas Gov. Rick Perry Indicted For Abuse Of Power

[moonbladem]

Comments

[leprofessional]

Have to skim this... can someone explained to me what happened?

Because it sounds like Lehmberg is an even more awful human being... don't understand why she's in public office specially as a District Attorney?

Is he basically fucked because he messed with the prosecutes/legal apparatus itself/veto funding for the legal apparatus? Like lesson learnt: don't fuck with lawyers...

[layweed]

The DA is an elected position in Texas. Like the actual District Attorney. ADA's and others are appointed or hired by the DAOs.

But basically Lehmberg was arrested for DWI and because of her position she was pressured to resign and leave office, which she refused to do. And then Perry pretty much retaliated by saying he'd nix funding for the unit as long as she was in charge. Which people think is illegal and an abuse of his powers.

Idk, I'm pretty much team no one at this point. Lehmberg should have resigned, even if it meant Perry appointing one of his chums in there until the next election. But on the other hand, watching Perry squirm because of his actions is awesome too so..Idk.

[crazybreedaisy]

Its worth pointing out that there is an actual mechanism in place to oust elected officials, its called a recall. Governor Perry was trying to circumvent this process so yeah, he can get fucked. If the people had "lost confidence" in her ability to perform her duties, all they needed to do was start a petition and hold an election for someone new. THIS IS HOW A DEMOCRACY WORKS.

[layweed]

I'm not sure you can recall the district attorney. Recall laws are weird in Texas, they don't apply to all positions, only specific ones in specific cities.

[crazybreedaisy]

texas is a land where god has suspended all reason and logic

[layweed]

Not really. There are plenty of states without recall provisions or have specific ones that only apply in certain circumstances.

http://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_recall

[moonshaz]

I live in one of those states. In IL, the only elected state official that can be recalled is the Governor. At the local level, some jurisdictions have laws for recalling local elected officials, and some don't.

We didn't even have the gubernatorial recall law until 2010, and the requirements for that are pretty steep.

So yeah, it's not safe to assume that recall is always an available option in all states.

[grace_om]

The way I understand it is: she promised that she would leave at the end of her term, but did not want to resign because that would have given Perry the opportunity to appoint a Republican to her office (she's a Democrat). Which of course is exactly why he was pressuring her to leave, backed up with threats of de-funding her department. So they were both playing politics, but he may well have broken the law in his actions around the veto.

[moonshaz]

All of this. Which is why I'm Team Watch Perry Squirm!

[rhysande]

Compound that with the fact that her office was investigating several of Perry's major contributors and political associates when Perry defunded her office.

[moonshaz]

Ah, the plot thickens!

[grace_om]

LOL! Just gets better and better...