After
costing him time, money, effort and possibly tarnishing his
presidential bid, former Texas Governor Rick Perry on Wednesday was
finally cleared of charges that he abused his office when he threatened
a veto and then issued it in 2013. His real crime? “Governing While
Republican.”
Some
liberals are no doubt disappointed to hear that a Texas appellate court
today, on a 2-1 vote,
reversed the
conviction of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
They shouldn’t be. There were good reasons to think that DeLay’s
prosecution in Texas for violations of state campaign finance law, like
the federal prosecutions of former presidential candidate John Edwards
and former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, involved politically motivated
charges brought by overzealous prosecutors. Today’s ruling is a window
into the world of corporate access to elected officials, for sure. But
it confirms that the big problem is not what’s illegal, but what’s
legal. [
Liberal
California law professor Rick Hasen]
To a Democrat-influenced grand jury, Perry’s actions of, well,
governing, meant he coerced a public servant and abused his office, and
they issued an indictment. But Judge P.J. Keller, who wrote the court’s
majority opinion dismissing the case, disagreed. “No law passed by the
Legislature can constitutionally make the mere act of vetoing
legislation a crime,” Keller wrote, and the court system cannot
“examine the motives behind the veto or second-guess the validity of a
veto.” Nevertheless, the frivolous prosecution did serve the Left’s
goal: to stall a strong conservative’s political career. How much more
support could the cowboy-boot wearing governor have generated if donors
and voters weren’t wary that the indictment would stick?
Texas
Rick Perry