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Well, Rick Perry has made the news again. Ain't politics fun?


skeptic

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Tom Delay had a better smile. Many more teeth.

 

This is the kind of piddly charge that many people can't understand, so they'll tune it out. He didn't stand a chance to be the president, so its not like it takes him out of the running. He'll pay a settlement in the end, or have a suspended sentence, and end up working at a K-street lobbiest, or on some corporate board, or yet another pointless think-tank. Maybe be an ambassador or cabinet appointment is some future administration. But this is boring enough to blow over (and yes, threatening to veto a bill to force an official to step down is an abuse of power).

 

 

That is a question of Texas law. I don't know anything relevant about Texas law. Any citations of Texas statutory or case law to bring to our attention ?

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That is a question of Texas law. I don't know anything relevant about Texas law. Any citations of Texas statutory or case law to bring to our attention ?

 

Did I say Rick Perry's actions fit the charges as outlined in the indictment? No, I made a general statement, that any official who threatens to use their constitutional power as a personal cudgel, rather then in the betterment of public policy, is abusing their power. Nixon had the power to order Bork to fire Cox. Christie can order a traffic study on any damn bridge he pleases. Doesn't make it right.

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Christie can order a traffic study on any damn bridge he pleases. Doesn't make it right.
There's that name again. :) Maybe he could, maybe he couldn't. But nobody, including Christie and his critics, say that was what happened. He says he didn't know the lanes were being closed, for any reason, and so far there is no publicly known evidence to the contrary. If it is shown that he did, he would probably have to resign, because he would have been lying steadily to the public for many months. The actual reason for the closure is really secondary at this point, at least as it relates to the governor himself. The other impact is that we still have an acting state attorney general, because Christie's selection is the guy who was the direct boss of the person who wrote the "time for some traffic problems" email. A lot of people, including me, don't believe a deputy chief of staff did that without approval from anybody. Sorry for the interruption, you may return to your regularly scheduled Texas scandal now.
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Packsaddle, that is very true. However (and I'm not saying this is true in Perry's case), the extent of corruption often isn't widely known until things like this are brought to light. And if a state doesn't allow recall elections then a felony conviction might be the only way to remove a public official from office. Before I read the article I cited, I thought this was a pretty cut and dry case of witch-hunting, and I don't even like Rick Perry. (Of course, I'm not a Texan so what I know about Perry comes from the national media.) Now I am less certain that it is a witch hunt.

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I'm not going to bother researching the way the law is worded. It's not that important to me.

 

But let's face it: these charges are an attempt to criminalize political disagreement.

 

"abuse of official capacity, coercion of a public servant, official oppression and bribery"

Pretty vague.

 

If you want to argue that what Perry did was morally wrong, I'll partake of that discussion.

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