On Indictment, What Rick Perry Hopes We Don't Notice

January 28, 2015

Former Governor Rick Perry is at it again with his old antics of pretending he is “above the law.” But here’s the catch - no one is buying what his high-priced legal team is selling.

In an effort to clear the air about his failed second attempt to get around the law, Perry held a press conference to repeat the same old tired defenses he made months ago. Here are some facts he doesn’t want you to remember - especially about Rick Perry's awkward history with convicted drunk drivers:

Jack Stick

In 2011, Republican and former State Representative Jack Stick was arrested for drunk driving.
In March 2014, after vetoing funding for the Travis Couny DA's Public Integrity Unit, Rick Perry promoted Stick to chief legal counsel for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, where he earns an annual salary of $162,000.
In recent months Stick has been overcome with controversy - yet Perry has taken no action. As the Texas Tribune explained: "Stick, meanwhile, has been promoted and helps oversee the agency that is the state’s second largest recipient of taxpayer funds — the Health and Human Services Commission — at a time when it is under the microscope for its Medicaid spending and some health care providers are complaining about unfair treatment."

Wayne Roberts

Head of CPRIT, the agency at the center of the public integrity unit’s investigation at the time Perry made the bribe, was convicted of driving while intoxicated in 1990 and 2006.
Roberts also was fined in 2000 on a charge of public intoxication in Virginia.
Perry made him budget director in December 2001 and appointed him to the State Pension Review Board in 2009.
The board of CPRIT, appointed Roberts to his current position, and three of the board members were selected by Perry himself.

Distrit Attorneys

In 2009, Kaufman County District Attorney Rick Harrison was found guilty of drunk driving after driving the wrong way in traffic.
In 2003, Swisher County D.A. Terry McEachern was found guilty of a DWI.
Rick Perry made no calls for either of their resignations.

Rick Perry will keep trying to be above the law, but Texans aren't blind to the truth.