Closer Look at the Facts Put Perry in More Peril?

Texas Governor Rick Perry's Mug Shot

Last week, Texas Governor Rick Perry was indicted on charges of abuse of power.  This week, he was formally charged, fingerprinted and smiled for his mugshot.  The case stems from his attempt to force Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg (D) to resign after her 2013 DUI arrest.  Ms. Lehmberg, who has worked for the DA's office since 1976 and has headed the office since 2009, was fined $4000 and served half of her 45 day jail sentence after pleading guilty in the case.  

Governor Perry requested that she resign, stating that she was unfit for public office.  If she did not resign, he threatened to veto $7.5 million in funding for her department.  When she returned to her job after serving her sentence, Mr. Perry made good on his threat and vetoed her funding.  

what eye thynk:   At the time of her arrest, Ms. Lehmberg's office, which is in a Democratic leaning county, (surely an anomaly in Texas), was investigating Gov. Perry's office for corruption involving a cancer charity. If she resigned, the governor would have been free to choose her successor, undoubtedly a Republican, and that investigation would have died on the vine.

Some news stories have looked at Ms. Lehmberg, sitting in her anomalous blue county, and Mr. Perry, steeping himself in red presidential hopes, and called the indictment "iffy," and simple political in-fighting.  I'll admit to wondering how far the case could go, until I found that:

• In 2002, Texas Swisher County District Attorney Terry McEachem (R) was found guilty of DWI in a New Mexico courtroom.  Governor Perry had nothing to say.
• In 2009, Kaufman County District Attorney Rick Harrison (R) was found guilty of DWI after he drove the wrong way down a one-way street and struck another car.  This was Mr. Harrison's second DWI conviction.  Governor Perry had nothing to say.
• In 2012, State Representative Jim Stick (R) was arrested for DWI.  Since then, he has requested and been granted extension after extension on his case.  The latest information I can find is that there was another hearing scheduled for May of this year.  In this case, Governor Perry did have something to say.  He thought Mr. Stick was one of Texas' finest and, in April--four weeks before Mr. Stick's May DWI hearing--appointed him as chief legal council for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

I'd say the Republican Party should save themselves a lot of trouble and just remove Mr. Perry's name from their presidential primary ballot now.