Rick Perry indicted on abuse of power

[SteveRogers]

I don't believe this one will be particularly harmful. The belief that the following prosecutor should resign after her arrest for drunk driving does not seem controversial.

But the belief that that gives one the right to literally extort a state agency is going to be more controversial.

[SteveRogers]

I don't believe this one will be particularly harmful. The belief that the following prosecutor should resign after her arrest for drunk driving does not seem controversial.

But the belief that that gives one the right to literally extort a state agency is going to be more controversial.

So exercising a constitutionally-delegated power (the veto) is an "abuse of power"?

Not in a vaccuum, but it is if it was done solely for personal benefit or for another wrongful purpose, then yes, it would be the very definition of abuse of power. "Abuse of power" generally involves misusing a power that one actually has.

[SteveRogers]

I don't live in Texas, so I have my own filter. Texas has some strange politics.

Elected officials have no right to interfere in the judicial process for partisan ends. A state governor may use pardons and commutations as permitted by the State constitution, but that is as far as it goes. The governor cannot fire a judge or diminish his pay (which is a constructive firing) for political purposes.

An indictment has been made, and that does not itself imply guilt -- just that a case for prosecution exists. That is all.

It's good to see that someone gets it. I keep seeing this really, really nasty meme that it's okay to blatantly break the law if you're doing to to "punish" a wrong-doer (alleged or otherwise). Does anyone think that what Perry did would have been just dandy if he'd done it because the person he was targeting was hispanic? Or gay? Or Muslim? The ends DO NOT justify the means - if a civilization start ignoring its own laws because it think that is true, then its doomed.

There are two aspects here. How bad does it look for Perry? Did he break the law?

The DA's drunk driving arrest/ behavior fits both discussions. Primarily we've talked about the former, but it's still relevant for the latter.

As Governor, Perry has veto powers. And he is also able to say that he will use the veto powers under certain circumstances.

He wouldn't be able to use the veto powers to remove someone for being gay, Muslim or Hispanic. However, a prosecutor serving three weeks in jail for drunk driving, who is videotaped trying to pull rank on the officers around her, is not the moral equivalent of someone who is a victim of discrimination. She did something that's clearly wrong.

But this is a case of two wrongs not making a right. Should the Travis County DA have stepped down? Probably. But that doesn't make it ok to then extort that public official or their agency. Using the veto power to force a public official to resign is either an abuse of power according to the law or it isn't. I think the legal question here is an iffy one. The law is vague enough that it can probably be stretched to make this fit. But in any case, the morality of the public official being coerced is wholly irrelevant to the legality of the coercive action.


Anyway, Perry will be turning himself in today for his mugshot and fingerprinting.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rick-perry-to-turn-himself-in/

[SteveRogers]

This is pretty badass. I may have changed my support from Paul to Perry.

Not surprising, based on your signature. Perry's response to this has been very Nixon-esque, and I mean that in the most complimentary way. This has been a very big boost for him, and I think Democrats made a huge mistake in essentially resurrecting his viability as a national candidate with this idiotic stunt.

Did they though?