Prosecutor: Perry wanted to stymie public integrity unit

By Peggy Fikac February 13, 2015 Updated: February 13, 2015 5:19pm

AUSTIN - A special prosecutor alleged Friday that former Gov. Rick Perry tried to force out a local district attorney because he wanted to stymie the work of a unit she oversees that investigates public corruption involving state officials.

The contention is at odds with Perry's long-held assertion that he vetoed the funding for the Public Integrity Unit because Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg had lost the public's confidence after a messy drunken-driving arrest.

Perry was indicted on abuse-of-power charges last summer, a year after the 2013 veto.

In fighting the indictment, which Perry contends is unwarranted, his legal team said the charges against him were too vague and didn't actually allege a violation of the law.

Special prosecutor Michael McCrum of San Antonio answered Friday with a "bill of particulars" that provided more detail and amended the indictment.

"The grand jury's indictment charges, and the state will prove, that the defendant broke the law in two different ways," said thefiling by McCrum and his assistant, David M. Gonzalez of Austin.

The prosecution said Perry used a lawful power - his veto - "in an unlawful manner and for unlawful purposes," constituting abuse of office. It said he also conveyed "an illegal threat in a similarly unlawful manner and for unlawful purposes," constituting coercion of a public servant.

"The state will prove that defendant Perry did not approve of historical and current management decisions regarding the operation of the Public Integrity Unit and therefore wanted to coerce Ms. Lehmberg into resigning her elected position and/or stymie or obstruct the continued operation of the Public Integrity Unit under Ms. Lehmberg's management," said the prosecution.

McCrum in the filing said the prosecution will present evidence that Perry "is criminally responsible for the communication to Rosemary Lehmberg that unless she resigned from her official position as elected Travis County district attorney" that Perry would veto the funding.

Perry, who is laying the groundwork for a 2016 run for the Republican presidential nod, has said he acted properly and has even called the indictment a "badge of honor."

The case stems from Perry's 2013 promise to veto funding for the public corruption unit headed by Lehmberg, a Democrat, unless she resigned after behaving belligerently following a driving- while-intoxicated arrest.

Lehmberg, who served jail time after pleading guilty, stayed in office. Perry axed the funding.

Texans for Public Justice, a government accountability group, filed a complaint saying that Perry overstepped by trying to force the resignation of a locally elected official.

A grand jury in August indicted Perry on abuse of official capacity, a first-degree felony punishable by five to 99 years in prison; and coercion of a public servant.

That second charge was described by McCrum as a third-degree felony. State Judge Bert Richardson, in refusing an earlier effort by Perry's lawyers to get the indictment tossed, said the second count as presented in the indictment was instead a Class A misdemeanor. McCrum specified Friday that it's being presented as a third-degree felony.

The Public Integrity Unit has long been a source of aggravation for some elected officials. Republicans in particular have accused it of political motivation in the cases it pursues. Officials with the district attorney's office have pointed out that it has pursued cases against Democrats as well as Republicans.

The director of the unit, Gregg Cox, has told the Houston Chronicle that Perry's veto derailed a criminal investigation into Texas Department of Public Safety contracts for the former governor's border-security program. Those deals, worth tens of millions of dollars, were awarded through a process similar to one at the heart of a Texas Health and Human Services Commission contracting scandal.

Cox also has said the unit since the veto has had to turn away a number of complex cases dealing with financial crimes in which there is alleged fraud against the state, because its resources have been stretched thin.