The editorial board members of the normally left-leaning New York Times say the indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry is bogus.
In a piece published Monday, the editorial board members wrote: “Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is one of the least thoughtful and most damaging state leaders in America, having done great harm to immigrants, abortion clinics and people without health insurance during his 14 years in office,” the editorial stated. “But bad political judgment is not necessarily a felony and the indictment handed up against him on Friday — given the facts so far — appears to be the product of an overzealous prosecution.”
Mr. Perry was indicted Friday on two felony charges of “abuse of official capacity” and “coercion of a public servant.”
The charges stem from his defunding of an agency overseen by Rosemary Lehmberg, after she refused to resign after she was arrested for drunk driving. Mr. Perry said at the time that she ought to resign, or he’d veto funding for the Public Integrity Unit she ran. Mr. Perry then followed through on his threat and vetoed the funding.
“Mr. Perry should have left the matter to the courts, where both a criminal and a civil attempt to have her removed failed, or to the voters,” The Times opined. “But his ill-advised veto still doesn’t seem to rise to the level of a criminal act.”
The editorial board, which has been highly critical of Mr. Perry, nonetheless said his line-item veto was only part and parcel of his job as governor.
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• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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