Texas Governor Rick Perry was indicted by a grand jury in liberal Travis County for allegedly abusing his power. The truth is that Perry threatened to veto funding for the Public Integrity Unit headed up by drunken and belligerent Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg unless she resigned.
The Texas Constitution gives Governor Perry the authority to utilize the line-item veto. As such, the indictment has been panned as a political witch hunt by observers on both sides of the isle.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who recently feuded publicly with Perry over foreign policy, joined his father and other potential 2016 rivals in defending Perry, a likely 2016 candidate himself.
The Washington Post reports:
As Paul left for Guatemala last weekend, Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry, another potential 2016 presidential contender, was indicted by a grand jury on charges he abused his office and tried to coerce an elected official to resign. Despite past differences with Perry – most recently on military operations in Iraq – Paul sought to defend the governor against what he considers politically-motivated charges.
“You know, Travis County has a history of politically-motivated stuff,” he said of the county prosecutor’s office that sought Perry’s indictment. “They did it to [former House Majority Leader] Tom DeLay as well. I haven’t really read that much about it other than to think that you could be indicted for doing a veto? I don’t know how that could even pass the laugh test, really.”By the way, you can read more about Rand Paul's Guatemala trip, during which he performed charity eye surgeries, at Rare Magazine.
