Primary Investigator for CPRIT Says Gov. Perry was Never a Target

No, that's why I don't jump to conclusions. And I don't blindly accept the story from a partisan left wing so called news agency.

 

Then you didnt read it. You read the title only.

The day the complaint came in, Gregg Cox, the attorney who heads the Public Integrity Unit, told the Statesman that Lehmberg’s office would not investigate it. "It’s clear, it would not be appropriate for us to have any role in this," Cox said then.

Upshot: Lehmberg subsequently recused herself from the matter, which ended up being overseen by a Republican judge from Bexar County and a San Antonio-based special prosecutor appointed by the judge, neither one picked by Lehmberg or her office.

In checking Palin’s claim, we reached out to relevant judges and Lehmberg’s office, finding no sign the DA’s office played a role in convening or guiding the grand jury that indicted Perry.

- - - Updated - - -

In checking Palin’s claim, we reached out to relevant judges and Lehmberg’s office, finding no sign the DA’s office played a role in convening or guiding the grand jury that indicted Perry.

By telephone, Bert Richardson of San Antonio, the senior state district judge overseeing the Perry case, and Republican Billy Ray Stubblefield, the Williamson County state district judge who appointed Richardson to oversee the review, declined to comment on Palin’s claim.

But an Austin-based judge who momentarily managed the complaint and the Travis County assistant district attorney who works with most grand juries each said Lehmberg’s office had no role in convening the grand jury that indicted Perry.

 

This has nothing to do with any claim I have made.

 

Just MORE proof that the Democrat's charges against Perry claiming that he was just trying to get rid of her because she was investigating him...... are bogus.......

 

Youre so worried about her "duel role" right? She recused herself from slick ricks mess.

- - - Updated - - -

Lol. How so? Ready to admit lehmberg isnt behind it though?

 

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The Truth-O-Meter Says:

Under Rosemary Lehmberg, the "Travis County D.A.’s office" convened the grand jury that indicted Rick Perry.
Sarah Palin on Sunday, August 17th, 2014 in a commentary

Sarah Palin incorrect Rosemary Lehmberg's office convened grand jury that indicted Rick Perry

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In an online commentary, Sarah Palin suggested a sign of Democratic corruption is the Texas district attorney whose resignation was sought by Republican Gov. Rick Perry convened the grand jury that indicted him.

We can't judge Palin’s corruption opinion. But the former Alaska governor's claim about the DA’s connection to the grand jury is incorrect.

Palin, in a commentary posted on the Fox News website Aug. 17, 2014, said: "This ridiculous politically motivated ‘indictment’ of" Perry "stems from the ugly thug tactics of the ‘politics of personal destruction’ that the left is known for."

"First and foremost," Palin said, "today's liberals have no shame. Case in point: Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg." Palin recapped Lehmberg’s drunken driving conviction from 2013 and noted that Lehmberg refused to resign afterward.

"Lehmberg's D.A.’s office runs the state’s Public Integrity Unit, which prosecutes public crimes like government corruption," Palin wrote, and after Perry tried to get her to resign or face his veto of the unit’s state funding, Palin said, Democrat Lehmberg’s "liberal supporters filed an ethics complaint against Perry..."

Subsequently, Palin wrote, the "Travis County D.A.'s Office, still under Lehmberg, convened a grand jury, and – surprise, surprise! – Perry was ‘indicted.’"

It’s a fact that a liberal-leaning group, Texans for Public Justice, which monitors the influence of money in state politics and the courts, submitted a complaint to the Travis County district attorney’s office on June 14, 2013 about Perry’s actions. The complaint was submitted a day after the Austin American-Statesman revealed Perry was threatening to veto a $7.5 million, two-year appropriation to the Public Integrity Unit, housed in the district attorney’s office, unless Lehmberg resigned. Texans for Public Justice’s complaint alleged that the threat amounted to a violation of state laws prohibiting coercion of public officials.

The day the complaint came in, Gregg Cox, the attorney who heads the Public Integrity Unit, told the Statesman that Lehmberg’s office would not investigate it. "It’s clear, it would not be appropriate for us to have any role in this," Cox said then.

Upshot: Lehmberg subsequently recused herself from the matter, which ended up being overseen by a Republican judge from Bexar County and a San Antonio-based special prosecutor appointed by the judge, neither one picked by Lehmberg or her office.

In checking Palin’s claim, we reached out to relevant judges and Lehmberg’s office, finding no sign the DA’s office played a role in convening or guiding the grand jury that indicted Perry.

By telephone, Bert Richardson of San Antonio, the senior state district judge overseeing the Perry case, and Republican Billy Ray Stubblefield, the Williamson County state district judge who appointed Richardson to oversee the review, declined to comment on Palin’s claim.

But an Austin-based judge who momentarily managed the complaint and the Travis County assistant district attorney who works with most grand juries each said Lehmberg’s office had no role in convening the grand jury that indicted Perry.

Julie Kocurek, who presides over the 390th criminal district court in Travis County, called Palin’s statement "completely and absolutely false."

And why?

Kocurek said that after Lehmberg’s office received the complaint about Perry, lawyers from the office brought it to Kocurek (*)in her capacity as presiding judge for the county’s criminal district courts. The DA’s office also brought a motion to recuse its attorneys from acting on the complaint because, Kocurek said, Lehmberg was obviously entangled. Similarly, Kocurek said, she recused herself as a judge in the matter given that she had worked for the DA’s office in the past and continued to routinely work with Lehmberg on matters of criminal justice.

In accord with state law, Kocurek said, her next step was to turn the matter over to Stubblefield, (*)the presiding judge of the 3rd Judicial District that includes Travis County. Kocurek said Stubblefield then appointed Richardson, "a very non-partisan straight-shooter judge," to handle proceedings involving the complaint. Richardson’s job, she said, was to appoint an attorney to serve as the district attorney in the matter; that appointee, Michael McCrum of San Antonio, subsequently worked with the Travis County special grand jury named in April 2014 that ultimately indicted Perry. McCrum didn’t respond to our telephone inquiry.

Richardson, Kocurek said, sat in her courtroom to impanel the grand jury, which consisted of a dozen residents and two alternates drawn from a pool of 80 county residents created at random. "They didn’t know what case they’d be hearing," Kocurek said.

We also drew a recap of the Perry matter from Lehmberg’s office. Gary Cobb, director of the office’s grand jury division, said by phone that when the TPJ complaint was received, the office recognized it couldn’t reasonably handle the topic. "Because of a clear conflict of interest, we didn’t do anything but receive the complaint and recuse ourselves, putting in motion the process of having a special prosecutor assigned to it," Cobb said.

The office-wide recusal, Cobb said, was sought so that "later on we wouldn’t be accused of having some kind of undue influence."

We asked if Lehmberg’s office played some role in choosing who would serve on the special grand jury that indicted Perry.

Cobb said not, adding that Richardson or Kocurek would have notified the district clerk’s office that a pool of potential jurors, chosen randomly from adult residents of the county with a Texas driver’s license or state-issued identification card, was needed on the date (April 14, 2014) Richardson wanted to impanel the grand jury.

The DA’s office "had no role" in the grand jury’s impaneling, Cobb said. "We don’t even show up." Generally, Cobb said, the office has no role in determining which residents are in the larger pool of potential jurors; that duty, he said, resides with the county’s district clerk.

After the special grand jury’s initial three-month term ended, Cobb said, its term was extended another three months. "They have a right and can request an extension for an additional three months in order to complete business," Cobb said. "They did make the request and they did extend."

Generally, Cobb said, "we went out of our way to make sure we didn’t do anything that even gave the appearance of having any kind of involvement in the investigation for this case against Rick Perry," though occasionally the office had to coordinate schedules so different grand juries weren’t simultaneously trying to occupy the room the county sets aside for grand juries.

Our ruling

Palin said that under Lehmberg, the "Travis County D.A.’s office" convened the grand jury that indicted Perry.

A special grand jury consisting of Travis County citizens indicted Perry in August 2014. But Lehmberg’s office played no role in organizing the jurors. Early on, Lehmberg’s office recused itself from handling the complaint that eventually resulted in the grand jury whose secret deliberations culminated in Perry’s felony charges. A senior district judge from San Antonio, chosen by a judge based in Williamson County, impaneled the grand jury. The San Antonio judge picked a San Antonio lawyer to prosecute the case.

We rate this statement False.

FALSE – The statement is not accurate.

Click here for more on the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.

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About this statement:
Published: Thursday, August 21st, 2014 at 12:00 p.m.

Subjects: Crime, Criminal Justice

Sources:

Commentary by Sarah Palin, "Gov. Perry indicted: Everything's big in Texas, even this B.S.," Fox News, Aug. 17, 2014

News stories, "Officials: Perry vows veto of state funding unless Lehmberg resigns," Austin American-Statesman, June 13, 2013; "Complaint: Perry veto threat violates state law," Statesman, June 14, 2013

Document, complaint by Texans for Public Justice, submitted to Travis County District Attorney and Travis County Attorney’s office, June 14, 2013

Telephone interview, Gary Cobb, director, Grand Jury/Intake division, Travis County District Attorney’s office, Austin, Aug. 20, 2014

Telephone interview, Julie Kocurek, state district judge, 390th criminal district court, Travis County, Austin, Aug. 20, 2014

Written by: W. Gardner Selby
Researched by: W. Gardner Selby
Edited by: Debra Davis

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Privacy Policy | Terms, Conditions & CopyrightBoy yall are willing to swallow everything slick rick says no matter what. Here, read the whole thing:

 

Oh but we are supposed to accept the crap " reported" by faux news? Lol. Not. At least mine provides sources and phone numbers so you skeptics can call them.

 

I never really understood the logic behind defending a district attorney whose alcohol level was almost 3 times the legal limit and driving in that state and endangering lives while also threatening police officers for doing their job. I mean really, what legitimate cause is there to defend her against Perry trying to get her to step down?

 

C'mon dollface, support your connecting the two Repo DA's convicted of DWI with the case of Perry trying to fire Travis County DA for making a public donkey's behind out of herself. Show us evidence of them making a public disgrace of their office.

Again, Texans aren't going to deny a citizen the right to drink. They will patrol the roads to get drunk drivers off the street. If they go home and sober up then it's a done deal. But if - like Ms. Lehmberg - they going around blowing noise out of their butt then they shouldn't be surprised if someone is following with a blow torch.

Did Jim Bob Door Knob at the Huff 'n Puff lead you into a dark alley with useless drivel? Or were you not interested in the part where he suggests Perry would have replaced Lehmberg with a Republican, which is documented from the Travis County DA's office that Perry had committed to a Democratic replacement. And did you miss the part where the Prosecuting Atty in this case was snorting Prezzy's fairy dust and didn't get his appoint as US District Atty?

 

Im not. Im against them saying that it was solely for that. He wants her out for other reasons even though her office had recused themselves from his crap.

If thats the only reason then why didnt he eject the two REPUBLICAN da's convicted of duis?

 

So, then, you and I actually agree on the fact that the charges coming from liberal outlets and Democrat organizations that Gov. Perry sought to get D.A. Rosemary Lehmberg out of the way because her department was investigation Perry are BOGUS. As my OP states from the LEAD investigator in that case.....Perry nor the Governor's office was ever a target. So, Democrat organizations and liberal outlets should STOP making that bogus charge. They should take it down from the websites and the liberal outlets should make public corrections.

 

When was the last time there was a Republican DA elected in Travis County?? The Travis County DA is one of the most powerful County DAs in the country. They investigate anything that is government connected or political and they has been persecuting elected Republicans for decades. The two DAs you mention don't have the power that the Travis County DA does and your handler knows that.

 

Perry wanted her to resign because she had a DWI he was very specific about this plus perry buddies that he was giving tax payer money to were being investigated. Try again

 

I'll certainly agree with you on that last part. There is no reason for Perry to go after her while ignoring the other 2. It is nothing short of partisan behavior and you either go after them all or none. It's just another reason why I'm not a fan of Perry.

 

Do you have video of the Republican DA's ordering the cops to let them go, sticking their tongues out at the police, requiring a restraint chair, requiring a spit hood, and threatening cops? Were any of the DA's in charge of the Public Integrity Unit? You know that's all Perry did right? He vetoed funding for the PIU, which the state legislature was free to either override or reintroduce in accordance with the state constitution.

It's funny people think the person in charge of the Public Integrity Unit is fine illegally threatening cops with her office, but when Perry uses legal means to pressure someone we have to have an indictment. Where's Obama's indictment when he pressured Rick Wagoner to resign or he'd withhold funds?

 

First, her country is far larger and more important. Their counties were rural and didn't get taxpayer funds for being in charge of and ETHICS Division. Nor where they almost 3 times over the legal limit.....HOURS after being arrested.....nor did they threaten the police officers that arrested them with their jobs because of their positions as D.A.'s. Nor did they abuse jail personnel. Don't forget....the Austin Police Association AND plenty of Texas citizens were upset that someone like her could continue as a top District Attorney. He was calling for her to do the right thing.

And BTW, one of the indictments is about "coercion." To coerce someone means to OBTAIN the goal. She's still in office so he never coerced anybody, much less her. Most liberal lawyers....very well-known ones.....also believe based on their legal knowledge that this is all bogus and an abuse of their power against Perry.

 

If you're just making that up then I don't believe it. Can you give me specific links to confirm exactly what you've claimed in your reply?

 

Somehow I doubt any other republican DA sullied the good name of their official position like that of Democrat rosemary.



If I'm wrong show me some evidence of a Texas Republican DA acting like a jackassse that Rosemary did - having to be restrained, kicking at doors, yelling at officers, threatening them with calling their boss, Sheriff Greg Hamilton unless she gets preferential treatment. It looks like she takes the cake and should be removed from office. This was not a case of a simple DUI.

 

He not only looked the other way...one rose in rank AFTERWARDS.

the Governor's previous treatment of public officials charged with drunk driving— treatment which includes looking the other way entirely, and allowing one official to rise in rank.

In 2011, Republican and former State Representative Jim Stick was(*)arrested for drunk driving. He has since been(*)appointed as chief legal counsel(*)for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, earning an(*)annual salary of $162,000.
Then, there are officials who held identical offices as Rosemary Lehmberg. Since Perry has taken office, two other District Attorneys have been charged with drunk driving, but(*)Rick Perry made no calls for their resignation.

In 2009, Kaufman County District Attorney Rick Harrison was found guilty of drunk driving after driving the wrong way in traffic.
In 2003, Swisher County D.A. Terry McEachern was found guilty of a DWI.

 

Like I said, not a fan of Perry.

 

Sadly for you i never said any of that. What i said was uts bull(*)(*)(*)(*) to use that excuse while turning a blind eye to 2 repub da's convicted of the same thing. Did she make an ass of herself? I already said yes. One of the repubs was driving THE WRONG WAY IN TRAFFIC. Last time I checked thats pretty unsafe TO OTHERS. I guess thats a-ok eith you. Sad.

Plus, how do you defend slick ricks channeling funds to his buddies? Can you?

 

This is a classic example of the tactics of the America hating progressive leftists that says: “The nature of the evidence is irrelevant, it's the seriousness of the charge that matters.”

I hope Perry wipes up the floor with these partsan losers, and makes them eat their false charges that are motivated by revenge and political positioning.

 

Soooo youre okay with them potentially killing someone in a smaller county? Tell the families that.

And yes, Perry did do what hes accused if...no matter how much you kick and scream and cry foul. Sucks but its true.

 

She is the cause of the mess.

She was right to recuse herself.

 

The other two were not employees of the state. Rick Perry had no jurisdiction over them