Still more #PerryIndicted developments

Charles has already written the posts I intended to write before work called me to do other things, so start there and I'll add a little more.  Note in the comments at the first link that "Mainstream" reminds everyone that the judge who appointed special prosecutor Mike McCrum -- Bert Richardson of San Antonio -- is on your ballot in November as the Republican nominee for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3.  (He has a Democratic opponent, John Granberg of El Paso, and a Libertarian challenger, Mark W. Bennett of Houston.)

Now then, some recent posts from the DMN's Trail Blazers blog.

"Rick Perry's team of high-priced lawyers come out blasting":

The Rick Perry legal team has mushroomed to a national team of prominent lawyers.

In their first appearance on behalf of the governor, they made it clear that while Perry is the one facing two felony charges, they are putting the local district attorney and special prosecutor on trial.

“This is nothing more than banana republic politics,” said Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, heading the team.

He called the charges against Perry of abusing his office and coercion of a public official contrary to law and without merit.

Buzbee was joined by Washington attorneys Ben Ginsberg, who led the George W. Bush team during the Florida recount, and Bobby Burchfield, who was general counsel for the George H.W. Bush campaign.

Also on the team is former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips, who did not attend the press conference, and Austin criminal attorney David Botsford.

Botsford's fee has already been revealed to be $450/hour.  Yes, that's your taxpayer dollars at work.  Ginsberg was portrayed by Bob Balaban in the HBO docu-drama Recount, which retold the story of the tangled and twisted 2000 election.  Two summers ago, Tablet referred to Ginsberg as the Tea Party's Enemy #1.  But the most interesting character is Buzbee, who almost ran for Texas lieutenant governor in 2006.  As a Democrat.  Here's an old Burnt Orange Report from nearly nine years ago, and the excerpt below is their quote from the Fort Worth Star Telegram (link dead).

A little-known outsider with a sizable personal fortune and a central-casting resume says he's giving serious consideration to mounting a challenge against Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst next year.

Tony Buzbee, a 37-year-old lawyer and former chairman of the Galveston County Democratic Party, said the state's GOP leaders are spending too much time fighting among themselves and too little time solving problems like school finance. So he was receptive when some Democratic elders approached him a few weeks ago encouraging him to run for statewide office.

"I'm looking seriously at it, but I haven't said yes or no," said Buzbee, a former Marine Corps captain who led troops in combat during the Persian Gulf War. "I really don't like the way our state is being run right now, and I believe that those of us who have made something in our lives need to be willing to give something back."

Emphasis above mine.  Again... he said that in 2005, the year before his client won re-election with 39% of the vote.  Buzbee's expansive multi-million-dollar homes were recently featured in the Houston Chronicle, and he also was behind those billboards urging the Houston Texans to draft Johnny Manziel.

This is a good time to remind everyone that no matter the outcome of this sordid affair, it's not about liberals and conservatives, not about Republicans versus Democrats.   The already-wealthiest among us will be the winners, just like always, and the rest of us lose.

"Perry says he’s the political victim of an 'old Soviet style' prosecution":

Gov. Rick Perry says his legal team will move quickly to resolve the indictment against him and he cast himself today as the victim of a plot worthy of the “old Soviet Union.”

Perry took aim at Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, whose drunken driving conviction last year prompted the Republican governor to slash state funding to her office. Although a special prosecutor appointed by a Republican judge actually headed the investigation and subsequent indictment, Perry focused his attack largely on the Travis County district attorney. He called Lehmberg a “leftish district attorney elected by very left-of-center constituents” in a strongly Democratic county.

Continuing his aggressive public front against last week’s indictment, Perry went on conservative blogger Erick Erickson’s radio show. Although the blogger twice incorrectly said it was Lehmberg who indicted him, Perry did not correct him. Instead, the governor praised his legal defense team, which includes Washington and Texas lawyers. And he promised swift resolution of the case. “Hopefully we can expedite this, get it over with and shine the sunshine of appropriate righteousness” on the case, Perry said. “We’re going to fight it.”

The plot to topple Perry cannot be both a product of a Soviet client state (aka Buzbee's "banana republic") AND a machination of the Kremlin.  Which is it, fellas?  This is nuance lost on the Republican base, of course.

Erick Erickson -- his blog is called RedState -- is the proud originator of the phrase 'Abortion Barbie'.  He served as a CNN contributor before his bloviation caught up with him, and then easily transitioned to Fox.  Erickson also appears in this picture with Perry, and recently introduced Ted Cruz at one of these RWNJ national confabs that seem to happen every weekend, comparing him to the Beatles.

Finally...

"In show of support for Perry, some Republicans change profile pictures on Facebook":

Several GOP lawmakers and Republican operatives have changed their Facebook pictures in a show of support for Gov. Rick Perry, who is struggling with a criminal indictment as he tries to run for president again.

Newly elected GOP state Sen. Brandon Creighton of Conroe and GOP Reps. Jason Isaac of Dripping Springs and Bryan Hughes of Mineola posted photos of themselves with Perry. Several people commended their moves.

Several one-time aides to Republican officeholders at the Capitol also switched their profile pics, including former Perry spokeswoman and chief of staff Kathy Walt and Enrique Marquez, a former spokesman for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

On Twitter, many state and national Republican figures have used the hashtag #StandWithRickPerry. My colleague Brittney Martin has compiled some, which you can check out here.

That's where we are in our national political conversation today: geek fighting on Twitter and Facebook.  Oh well, I suppose it's nice for Rick Perry to know he has "friends."

The Weekly Wrangle

The Texas Progressive Alliance might be a little late to work this morning, after celebrating the Rick Perry indictment all weekend, as it brings you the best lefty blog posts across the Lone Star State from last week.

Off the Kuff reminds us that there's one more special Senate election to go this year, and this one features a Democrat that's worth supporting.

Harold Cook warns us to keep a sense of perspective on the Rick Perry indictment.

Texas Leftist keeps wondering when the national media is going figure out that Texas could be a swing state today if enough people were actually voting. Plus: clarifying Wendy Davis' stance on LGBT equality issues, and what we can expect if she's elected.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson wryly observes that unfortunately in Texas, we have the government that we voted for... or didn't vote for, as the case may be: Avoiding Medicaid, Non-Voting, And Ferguson.

Libby Shaw at Texas Kaos finds it amusing how Greg Abbott promotes himself as a small government fiscal conservative while he squanders taxpayer dollars on ridiculous lawsuits: Greg Abbott’s Frivolous Fights with the Feds Cost Taxpayers Millions.

CouldBeTrue at South Texas Chisme notes that audit of Hidalgo County voting machines shows no tampering. Of course, without a paper trail, you can't really be sure. Kudos to Travis County for their efforts to provide auditable elections.

After the late Friday afternoon news broke about Rick Perry's felony indictments, PDiddie at Brains and Eggs consumed more adult beverages than he planned. All weekend long.

Egberto Willies thinks that Hillary Clinton should pay attention to the Obama coalition that Rand Paul is trying to assemble.

Neil at Blog About Our Failing Money-Owned American Political System bought a Texas cake to mark the indictment of Rick Perry. NeilAquino.com has many pages and is well worth your time to consider.

===================

And here some great blog posts from elsewhere in the Deep-In-The-Hearta.

jobsanger has the chart that illustrates how Rick Perry's payola scheme has worked so well for him over the years.

Grits for Breakfast notes that the economics of the Rio Grande border surge are not sustainable, while Scott Braddock shows how Rick Perry's border posturing is bad for the people that actually live and work there.

Fascist Dyke Motors seems to have misplaced her father's suicide diaries.  If you find them, could you kindly return them?

State Impact Texas has the news that diesel fuel has been used in hydraulic fracturing, which is illegal.  Bluedaze offers the proof.

nonsequiteuse expands on the report that John Cornyn and Ted Cruz spend more taxpayer money on their office operations that nearly every other US Senator.

In the third installment of a continuing series, Socratic Gadfly's word to text Greg Abbott -- per request in his movie trailer ads -- is not 'freedom' but 'RickPerry'.  Or 'indictment' is good, too.

Juanita Jean disagrees with the calls for Rick Perry to resign.

Lone Star Q decries Rep. Jonathan Stickland's attack on transgender inmates.

The Texas Election Law Blog games out the state's strategy in the redistricting litigation.

Lone Star Ma celebrates National Breastfeeding Month.

And finally, The Bloggess wants us to know that help is always available if you need it.

Sunday Funnies

Morning-after fallout from the Perry indictment

-- CultureMap Houston:

If found guilty, Perry could be face up to 109 years in prison. He'll surrender to the Travis County Jail where he will be fingerprinted and have a mugshot taken. According to the Associated Press, his defense attorney David L. Botsford is being paid $450 per hour with state funds.

-- Socratic Gadfly:

...(I)f convicted, Tricky Ricky will have to give up that beloved hogleg that he allegedly uses for killing coyotes. It's not just the concealed weapons angle; convicted felons in Texas can't own firearms for five years, and they can't ever have concealed carry permits. That, and many other, restrictions he would face are here. (It's also a great way to do voter suppression, because a felonious Trickster can't vote until he's done with sentence and parole!)

No pistole and no voting; that's about the most fun parts of this.

Beyond that, this has been coming for 20-plus years.

At my first newspaper, I had a set of investigative journalism stories connected to his race against Jim Hightower for Ag Commissioner. Hightower's department was investigating an agrichemical company legally incorporated as a co-op. One of his agents accidentally went from adjoining private ranchland onto the company's site. Perry reportedly told the company to use this as an excuse to stall, stall, stall until after the election, which he, of course won in 1990.  Given the bribery cases against Hightower's aides (to which he was in no way personally connected), Perry had a good chance of winning.

Assuming what I heard as rumor is true, nobody should underestimate Tricky Ricky's legal elbows.

-- Real-time reactions from the Texas Politics blog at the HouChron, "need-to-knows" from Talking Points Memo and the Texas Observer, and some gloating and more good links from Greg Mitchell and Juanita Jean.

I'm going to hold off on the chortling at least until I see a mugshot that's been Photoshopped.

Update: This Austin Chronicle piece has a good backgrounder on Michael McCrum, the special prosecutor who brought the case to the grand jury that returned the indictments.  Kindly note that he was appointed by a Republican judge.

Rick Perry catches two-count felony indictment

A grand jury indicted Gov. Rick Perry on two counts Friday, accusing him of abusing his veto power by threatening to withhold funding from the Travis County's public corruption unit if the district attorney did not resign following her drunken driving arrest.

The Travis County grand jury, led by special prosecutor Mike McCrum, indicted Perry on one count of abuse of official capacity, a first-degree felony, and coercion of a public servant, a third-degree felony.

There's legal precedent.

The indictment is the first of its kind since 1917, when James "Pa" Ferguson was indicted on charges stemming from his veto of state funding to the University of Texas in an effort to unseat faculty and staff members he objected to. Ferguson was eventually impeached, then resigned before being convicted, allowing his wife, Miriam "Ma" Ferguson, to take over the governorship.

Almost a hundred years later, almost precisely the same crime.

Will the radiation burn the governor's longtime consigliere, Greg Abbott?  Time will tell, I suppose.  Texans who vote regularly don't seem to mind electing corrupt-as-hell Republicans.  It's the ones that haven't been voting in off-presidential years whose motivations will be under suspicion until we observe them changing their habits.

Tough break for Rick and his rebudding presidential aspirations, but on the bright side, Tom DeLay will eventually need a cellmate.

Update: Read more at Progress Texas about the $40,000 in taxpayer money he's already spent defending himself from these charges, and more from Truthyism tying everything together on Texas pay-to-play politics.

Since the veto, Perry’s office attempted to bribe Lehmberg out of office after failing to coerce her.   A message seems to be clear coming from the governor’s office that Lehmberg’s dismissal (was) more than just a matter of principle.  The desperation in which their tactics have led them seems to imply that Perry is less concerned about the drunk driving from Lehmberg and more worried over the success of the anti-corruption agency’s ability to police the current mid-term elections.

This would explain why gubernatorial candidate and current Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott was barely even acknowledged by Texas regulators when he took money from the Koch brothers immediately prior to hiding the location of possible explosive chemical storage sites from Texans.  Only a handful of media outlets were critical of Abbott during that exchange of election funds for possible favors, and it seems that the veto from Perry might have been a move to protect Greg Abbot’s election campaign from scrutiny that it does seem to merit.

And Harvey Kronberg asks the right question: Is Ken Paxton next?

At last, a Texas lieutenant governor debate

Republican state Sen. Dan Patrick has agreed to participate in a September debate with his Democratic opponent for lieutenant governor, Leticia Van de Putte.

Patrick's campaign announced Wednesday that he'll debate his Senate colleague Sept. 27 Sept. 29 for an hour-long event to be broadcast by KLRU-TV in Austin. It will be moderated by Texas Tribune Executive Editor Ross Ramsey.

But Van de Putte released a statement Wednesday calling Patrick a "coward" for agreeing to just one debate out of five she's proposed. She said a single debate "in front of a bunch of Austin insiders" isn't enough.

Patrick's campaign says he participated in numerous debates during the Republican primary and is working to establish a debate schedule in the coming months that doesn't conflict with ones involving the candidates for governor.

Sounds as if there might be more than one debate.  Van de Putte has already built momentum this week with her initiative on free community college tuition for Texas high school graduates.

In a higher education proposal announced Thursday, Van de Putte called for amending the state constitution to create the “Texas Promise Scholarship Program” by pulling $2 billion from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to underwrite scholarships for some high school graduates who are planning to attend a community college, technical college or a two-year state institution.

Add that to the fact that she is winning over the Texas business community, very much a new development for a statewide Democrat.

...Van de Putte pointed out that several prominent business leaders were helping her fill her campaign coffers.

Her list of fundraisers includes one to be hosted by Edward E. Whitacre Jr., former chairman and chief executive of General Motors and AT&T, and Henry Bartell Zachry Jr., who heads the H.B. Zachry Company.

The San Antonio business leaders have contributed to several Republican and Democratic candidates in the past, according to campaign filings, but they have chosen to raise money for Van de Putte in this election cycle.

But as to debates, and as Wayne has already said, kind of a BFD.

This is huge news for the state of Texas, which hasn’t seen a true general election debate in over a decade for the office of Lieutenant Governor.  There also hasn’t been a general election Gubernatorial debate since 2006.  Many people may downplay that a general election debate is really all that important, but it serves an important purpose in presenting both sides of the political argument, especially to low-information voters or those that don’t pay attention to the election until the last minute.  For a very long time in Texas, voters have been trained to believe that there is only one main viewpoint in this state…. Republican. 

Unlike Wayne, I'm not going to trumpet the greatness of this development in terms of how much it helps Texas Democrats.  The next (good) step would be to have all of the LG candidates included.

But in case that does not happen, you should avail yourself of the handy tool the TexTrib has provided to see everyone listed on your ballot for November.  For the state's most powerful legislative post, the names include Green Party nominee Chandra Courtney and Libertarian challenger Robert Butler.  The TexTrib still lists independent candidate (and previously 2006 lite guv Dem nominee) Maria Luisa Alvarado as running, but an unnamed source told me in June at the Texas Democratic Party convention that she was out.  Alvarado indicated she would make a bid against LVDP as a Dem last fall, but declined to do that, then early this year stated her intention to compete as an indy.  By all appearances, that has also been abandoned. 

As I mentioned back in January, a run by Alvarado -- and the same goes for Brandon de Hoyos had he emerged as the Lib nominee -- would have dented Van de Putte's chances simply by virtue of a Spanish surname appearing on the statewide ticket.  That neither de Hoyos nor Alvarado made the cut helps Van de Putte significantly.  So her luck is holding, too.

Here's a brief message from Courtney:



Kuff has more.

Calm in Ferguson, and why their government is so white

Cooler heads and all that.

County police in riot gear and armored tanks gave way to state troopers walking side-by-side with thousands of protesters, as the St. Louis suburb where an unarmed black teen was shot by a city police officer overwhelmingly avoided violence Thursday after nearly a week of unrest and mounting public tension.

The dramatic shift came after Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon assigned oversight of the protests to the state Highway Patrol -- stripping local police from the St. Louis County Police Department of their authority -- after four days of clashes with furious crowds protesting the weekend death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

"All they did was look at us and shoot tear gas," said Pedro Smith, 41, who has participated in the nightly protests. "This is totally different. Now we're being treated with respect."

Obama did step up, but more importantly so did Governor Nixon (who, it is worth noting, is a Democratic governor in a red state).

But the latest protests had a light, almost jubilant atmosphere among the racially mixed crowd, more akin to a parade or block party. The streets were filled with music, free food and even laughter. When darkness fell —the point at which previous protests have grown tense — no uniformed officers were in sight outside the burned-out QuikTrip convenience store that had become a flashpoint for standoffs between police and protesters.

"You can feel it. You can see it," protester Cleo Willis said of the change. "Now it's up to us to ride that feeling."

Nixon appointed Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, who is black, to lead the police effort. Johnson, who grew up near Ferguson and commands a region that includes St. Louis County, marched alongside protesters Thursday, joined by other high-ranking brass from the Highway Patrol as well as the county department. The marchers also had a police escort.

"We're here to serve and protect," Johnson said. "We're not here to instill fear."

Several people stopped to shake hands and even hug Johnson and other officers, thanking them by name. At one point, Johnson spoke to several young men wearing red bandanas around their necks and faces. After the discussion, one of the men reached out and embraced him.

Race crisis averted.  For the time being, anyway.  (By the way, the tense local situation with regard to Open Carry Texas in the Fifth Ward has also been back-burnered.)

Now about that Ferguson government: we already knew that part of the underlying problem was a 94% white police force in a 67% black suburb of St. Louis -- which is, shockingly, average for the US --  but what about the elected officials?  Why is it that five out of six city council members, and mayor, are Caucasian?

Is it gerrymandering?  Voter suppression, perhaps?

Why no.  It's abysmally low voter turnout, of course.

Ferguson, Missouri, is 67 percent black, but only one of six council members is black and the mayor is white. So is the chief of police. This demographic discrepancy is one of the reasons the black community in the St. Louis suburb has felt misrepresented by its local government.

But how is that disparity possible? If two-thirds of the city is black, shouldn't there at least be more black council members?

The problem, MSNBC reports, is low voter turnout. "No one collects data on turnout by race in municipal elections. But the overall turnout numbers for Ferguson's mayoral and city council election are discouraging," writes MSNBC's Zachary Roth. "This year, just 12.3 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot, according to numbers provided by the county. In 2013 and 2012, those figures were even lower: 11.7 percent and 8.9 percent respectively. As a rule, the lower the turnout, the more the electorate skews white and conservative."

This is your wakeup call for November 2014, people.  And by 'people', I mean every single person in Houston, in all of Texas, in Ferguson and Missouri, and the thousands of towns and cities in the remaining 48 states who typically vote in presidential years and -- for reasons understood only by them -- do not in midterm elections.

Also known as Democrats, but other assumed names include 'liberals' and 'progressives'.  A whole lot of shit in this state and nation -- not all of it certainly, but a lot -- could be fixed if just a small percentage of the vast number of MIAs would simply show up at the polls.  Why, we might even avoid having to watch Barack Obama endure an impeachment proceeding.  Could possibly still have a Democratic US Senate.  Hope beyond that, a statewide official elected in Texas who is not an extremist Republican.  One would be a blessing, more than one would be cause for rejoicing.

If you're already planning on voting, then it's your neighbors who need to be reminded.

There's still time to fix things.  But everybody has to pitch in.

More from Slate and the Field Negro.