Kinky Friedman has asked Travis County District Attorney, Ronnie Earle, to investigate Grandma to see if she has violated Texas election laws. The Houston and San Antonio newspapers have reported in the last couple of days, that Grandma has used state employees on state time, to work on her campaign. This is not only unethical, it is illegal under Texas law.
Kinky's campaign manager, Dean Barkley, said he doesn't understand why Grandma has done this. She has over $8 million dollars in her campaign war chest. He said, "She could have avoided these questions by simply paying her campaign staff to do this work."
Blake Rocap, Friedman campaign general counsel, said in a letter to DA Earle that depending on how much state time was used, "the comptroller could face first-degree felony charges carrying with them criminal punishment of a fine not exceeding $10,000 and life in prison. We urge you to investigate this matter and take proper steps to ensure that no candidate misuses a public office for their personal political benefit."
Perry declined to say whether he thinks Grandma should be investigated, but did say, "There appears to be some smoke."
Grandma's campaign said she often discusses state business no matter where she goes, so it was OK to use state employees. Her spokesman called it typical mudslinging politics.
DA Earle said his office's policy is to wait until after an election to investigate such charges. The written policy states, "This policy is intended to avoid the appearance of the criminal justice system being used for political purposes."
Perhaps most perplexing in this matter, is the reaction of Democratic candidate Chris Bell. Jason Stanford, Bell spokesman, said, "The statement that Kinky Friedman filed an ethics complaint against Carole Strayhorn, just that sentence, conveys levels of absurdity heretofore not known in Texas politics." Attacking the messenger? Does Bell really think it is more important to attack Kinky, than to see that Grandma obeys Texas laws?
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We have a right-wing nut-job here in the Texas Panhandle who has made it his personal goals to pass stupid laws and embarrass Panhandle resi...
Why do I never hear Chris Bell's name?
ReplyDeleteHave the Dems just ceded Texas to the Repubs?
The Dems ceded Texas to the Repubs years ago. There are many lefties who would love to have a Democratic governor (including myself), but we are far outnumbered.
ReplyDeleteI don't hear Bell's name enough either, which tells me that he's not being nearly loud enough in his campaign. I hear Strayhorn's and Kinky's names on a daily basis though. Perry is simply unavoidable.
As I stated in a thread a week or two ago, I'd feel a hell of a lot more comfortable voting for Bell if he was anything but a little known Democrat. I barely knew his name before the Convention in June, and I've barely heard it since. I believe if he were willing to run a much more aggressive campaign, none of us could avoid hearing his name on a daily basis.