jacksonthor@justice.com or jacksonthor@yahoo.com
March 14, 2004
Ronnie Earle, District Attorney
Travis County
Austin, Texas
Dear Mr. Earle,
I am a free-lance writer based in the Washington, D.C., area and a former long-time Texas resident who moved out of the state just last fall.
After reading a March 5, 2004, article in the Austin American-Statesman, I am writing to you to file a complaint against Texas Gov. Rick Perry and to request that you investigate whether the governor’s office violated the law against using state taxpayers-supported funds and staff to carry out partisan political activities. Those activities were specifically using staff employees to investigate political opponents who spread rumors about Perry's alleged marital infidelity.
According to the American-Statesman’s article, Gov. Perry’s "staff, in trying to track down the source of the rumors and who is helping spread them, has collected some bits of cyber-evidence, including a lengthy online column posted Feb. 21 by Jackson Thoreau of Dallas, who bills his writing as ‘political and social commentary with a liberal bias.’"
The article also includes some critical comments by Perry against Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting. Perry said of Soechting: "I don't think that was taught in anybody's manners class that it's acceptable behavior to go spread those types of malicious and hurtful rumors for no other reason than to further some political objective."
That statement came from a politician whose campaign in 2002 ran "malicious and hurtful rumors" in its paid political advertisements that attempted to link Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez to murderous Mexican drug dealers. Perry’s "political objective" in spreading the "malicious and hurtful rumors" against Sanchez was, of course, to stay in office.
The article can be found on the Internet at
http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/03/0305perry.html?urcm=y. In this latest case, I believe the intent of the governor’s office was to execute a partisan witch hunt to find Democrats and/or liberals who spread rumors about Gov. Perry’s alleged marital infidelity simply to discredit the rumors by trying to say that only political opponents spread such rumors. I know Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, independents, and others who spread the rumors so to only look for liberals or Democrats who did so is engaging in partisan political activities in my book.
Furthermore, why did the governor’s office have to try to track down the source of the rumors in the first place? Trying to find out the source of rumors about the governor doesn’t seem to be an effective use of taxpayers’ funds. If it was the governor’s Republican campaign making such an investigation, I would have less of a problem than I have with using taxpayers’ funds. Rumor spreading and investigations of the sources of such rumors are fairly commonplace in political campaigns.
But I would still have a problem with being investigated by the governor’s campaign. Such an investigation of political opponents by a sitting governor like Perry smacks of McCarthyism and Watergate-like tactics. It can lead to wider abuses, such as using a powerful political office to intimidate political opponents into not speaking out against your conduct and policies. I believe such abuse is dangerous in a country that espouses democratic ideals. That is why I copied this letter to the Texas ACLU and other parties that may be interested in the issue.
Unfortunately, Gov. Perry’s political history includes questionable actions that at the very least border on abuses. In February 2004, Perry and his wife spent a weekend in the Bahamas with major political donors James and Cecelia Leininger and John and Bobbi Nau. The official story on this was it was a "working trip" paid for by "campaign funds" to discuss "public school finance." As the Austin Chronicle pointed out, "That is, during a luxury retreat in the Bahamas, the governor discussed 'public school finance' with a group of wealthy right-wing activists who have done everything in their power to undermine, or even abolish, public education."
Other questionable trips made by Perry have included to Italy and France. Between 1991 and 1998, Perry spent $84,355 on travel expenditures, more than any other state official during that time.
In 2003, Perry wasted millions of taxpayers’ funds calling special sessions for purely partisan political purposes – to redraw Congressional districts in a mid-year redistricting scheme just so more Republicans would be elected. The list goes on.
In summation, I believe an investigation is warranted into whether the governor’s office violated the law against using state taxpayers-supported funds and staff to carry out partisan political activities.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Jackson Thoreau
CC: Texas ACLU
Texas Ethics Commission
Associated Press
Reuters
Austin American-Statesman
Austin Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Dallas Morning News
Texas Observer
Gov. Rick Perry
Texas Democratic Party
Texas Republican Party
Common Cause Texas
Public Citizen of Texas
Texans for Public Justice
Bush Watch
Democrats.com
Buzzflash
Citizens for Legitimate Government
Democratic Underground
Smirking Chimp
Bartcop
Jim Hightower
Online Journal
ThomasMc.com
Oped News
Moderate Independent
Evil GOP Bastards
Liberal Slant
America Held Hostile
Mike Hersh
Meria Heller
Burnt Orange Report
Duckdaotsu
Dream Forge
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