Rick Perry's Indictment

Texas Governor Rick Perry wanted Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign after she pleaded guilty to a DWI. Lehmberg decided not to resign, but announced that she would not seek another term. Not satisfied with this decision, Perry vetoed a bill that would have sent $7.5 million to the Public Integrity Unit of Travis County. As a result, Perry has now been indicted for one count of abuse of official capacity and one count of coercion of a public servant.

Whether Lehmberg should have resigned is up for debate, though it is worth noting that Perry himself would have appointed her replacement if she had resigned. What should not be up for debate is whether one public servant should take official action against the office of another public servant simply because he didn't get his way. And to be clear, Rick Perry did not even try to hide the fact that the only reason he was vetoing the bill was because Lehmberg did not do what he wanted her to do. He couldn't force her to leave, and she wouldn't resign, so he decided to punish her for it by withholding money from her office.

What makes this even more interesting is that two other district attorneys in Texas have been charged with DWI since Rick Perry has been in office. One was Swisher County District Attorney Terry McEachern in 2003, and the other was Kaufman County District Attorney Rick Harrison in 2009. Both of those men were Republicans, and Perry did not ask them to resign. In fact, Perry said nothing about them. When the same thing happened to a Democrat, however, Perry decided to make noise about it.

Rick Perry says he is being prosecuted purely for political reasons (the irony in that claim should be apparent). Contrary to what some people seem to believe, though, it is not Lehmberg who is prosecuting him. Rather, he is being prosecuted by Michael McCrum, a special prosecutor who was picked by a Republican judge. This article from the Dallas Morning News will give you some information about him (if you don't want to read the article, it boils down to the fact that McCrum is far from partisan).

There is a legitimate debate to be had about whether Lehmberg should have resigned when she was charged with a DWI. I happen to think her decision not to run for another term was sufficient, but I can at least see the point of those who think she should have resigned. But please don't confuse the issues and try to claim that Rick Perry is some sort of hero or that he was justified in what he did. The money going to the Public Integrity Unit of Travis County had already been approved by a very conservative state legislature. Rick Perry blocked that money only after she wouldn't cave to his demand that she resign.

It is way too early to know whether the charges against Perry will stick. Regardless of the outcome, though, there is no doubt that Perry's actions were very wrong and completely unworthy of the highest office in state government.