Gov. Rick Perry Indicted
AUSTIN —Texas Gov.Rick Perry was on Aug. 15 indicted on two felony counts that charge he abused his power when he attempted to persuade Rosemary Lehmberg, Travis County district attorney, to resign from office and, via threat, vetoed funding for the public corrption unit of her office. Lehmberg is Austin’s top prosecutor and oversees a public corruption unit that investigates local, state, and federal officials.
This unit paved the way to the 2005 indictment of former Republican Congressman Tom DeLay who was charged with violation of campaign finance laws.
Lehmberg, a Democrat, last year was arrested on a drunken-driving charge. She says that upon her arrest, Perry and his aides threatened to veto $7.5 million in state funding for the public corruption unit in her office unless she stepped down.
Lehmberg did not resign and continues to hold that office.
Following the veto, Perry said that he could not support “continued state funding for an office with statewide jurisdiction at a time when the person charged with ultimate responsibility of that unit has lost the public’s confidence.”
Perry is awaiting arraignment at the county criminal courthouse a few blocks from the governor’s mansion. According to Michael McCrum, the special prosecutor assigned to the case, procedure calls for anyone charged with a felony to “be booked in,” which includes the governor. The charge of official capacity carries a prison sentence of five to 99 years, while the charge of coercion of a public servant is a two- to 10-year prison sentence.
Perry, who has been considering another run for the Presidency, says he will not seek another term as governor, an office he vacates in January. He has been traveling the country lately in regard to that potential bid.
The criminal investigation began when Texans for Public Justice, a nonprofit government watchdog group, filed a complaint accusing Perry of offenses related to the veto threat. Special Prosecutor McCrum, a San Antonio attorney and former federal prosecutor, in April began presenting his case to a grand jury.
