Here’s something I hadn’t realized about the Travis County District Attorney. In addition to investigating and prosecuting state level corruption cases (including everyone’s favorite former House Majority Leader), the Travis Co DA’s office has also been responsible for prosecuting criminal environmental cases across the state since 1994 under the Texas Water Code and Texas Health and Safety Code.
Rosemary Lehmberg, the current DA, has been particularly effective at going after large industrial polluters. Since 2009, a special prosecutor, Patty Robertson, has been assigned to the investigation of these cases through a grant from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state agency responsible for granting environmental permits and handing out fines for non-compliance. Since the creation of the environmental crimes unit, the DA’s office has opened 51 cases, handed down 12 convictions and collected over $3.2 million in fines.
The biggest case they’ve tried so far was against Gulf Chemical and Metallurgical Corporation and its former Environmental and Health Services Manager, Rajani Vadlamudi, for the unlawful discharge of a pollutant into state waters. Gulf Chem was ordered to pay a $2.75 million fine and Vadlamudi was additionally fined and placed on deferred adjudication.
In an interview with the Austin Chronicle, Lehmberg described the strategy behind these cases.
I really do believe that even though sometimes we go for an individual - like it might be the main engineer or the president of the company for individual responsibility - mostly what these folks recognize is where it hits them in the pocketbook. And I think that we’re going to end up being more and more aggressive about that. The more we do these, the more we learn that we can assess bigger fines, because that’s what’s punitive to a big company.
Lehmberg will be facing a tough re-election campaign against former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judge, Charlie Baird. Her commitment to environmental justice is definitely worth noting in the lead up to Democratic primary (if it ever happens that is).
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg today announced that Texas State Representative Joe Driver has pled guilty to Abuse of Official Capacity, a third degree felony. Driver is accused of converting more than $20,000 of State travel reimbursement funds intended for his campaign office holder account by depositing those funds into his personal account. Driver should have repaid the reimbursement funds to his campaign office holder account, which had initially been used to pay the travel expenses.
The District Attorney's Office recommended a sentence of five years deferred adjudication probation, a $5,000 fine and that he perform any treatment and counseling as recommended by the probation department. Driver will repay $14,321.49 to his office holder account in addition to the $49,426.87 he had previously repaid, bringing the total amount repaid to $63,748.36. Sentencing is set for December 19th in the 299th District Court.
"Misuse of taxpayer money violates the public's trust. It is most egregious in these hard economic times. Our Public Integrity Unit will continue to protect the people of Texas from unlawful and unethical conduct by elected officials," said District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg.
Representative Driver, who represents House District 113 in the Texas House of Representatives, has announced that he is not running for reelection next term.
As of next Tuesday, former Judge Charlie Baird will stop exploring and begin officially campaigning for the position of Travis County District Attorney. Making his primary challenge to Democratic incumbent Rosemary Lehmberg official, Baird has announced that he will be joined by the Hon. Morris Overstreet, former judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and Cory Session brother of Tim Cole, defendant exonerated in 299th District Court in 2009 by Charlie Baird.
The selection of the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex in a historically African-American part of East Austin, combined with his announced guests, would indicate that Baird is looking to tack to the left of Lehmberg in his primary challenge. This sets up the highest profile primary on the county level in Travis County for next spring's ballot outside of the TX-35 Congressional primary. Lehmberg sports a broad list of supporters, including many traditional African-American community and elected leaders including Rep. Dawna Dukes, Sheriff Greg Hamilton, and former DA opponent Gary Cobb. While Black voters tend to make up a larger share of the Democratic primary electorate than say a general election, it's not a source of votes from which to launch an terribly strong primary challenge for a countywide race.
We'll know more after next Tuesday as Baird lays out more of his policy agenda which he has been building with community input through local advertising including on Burnt Orange Report.
Rosemary Lehmberg, Travis County District Attorney, announced today that she will seek re-election to a second term.
Lehmberg took office in January of 2009, the first woman to hold that office in Travis County history. In announcing her bid for a second term, Lehmberg pointed to the successes of her office during the last two and a half years of her four year term.
“I am proud of my amazing staff who work tirelessly to keep the people of Austin safe,” said Lehmberg. “Over the last two and a half years we have implemented important initiatives like the deferred prosecution program, mental health team, and the environmental prosecution unit.”
Lehmberg’s campaign team will consist of general consultant David Butts, campaign manager Katie Naranjo, fundraiser Susan Harry and treasurer Bill McClellan. “Rosemary is one of our finest public servants working to ensure the integrity of our government with a watchful eye across the state,” said Butts.
“It has been my honor to serve this community for the last two and a half years,” said Lehmberg. “I look forward to expanding our environmental prosecution of industrial polluters and continuing to create new approaches that end the cycle of incarceration.”
Lehmberg’s kick-off will be hosted by former opponents, Asst. District Attorney Gary Cobb and former Asst. District Attorney Mindy Montford this Thursday at Threadgill’s.
What: Re-Election Campaign Kick-Off for District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg
Date: Thursday, July 14, 2011
When: 6PM to 8PM
Where: Threadgill’s, 301 West Riverside Drive
The event is open and free to the public and all are welcome to attend. For more information about Rosemary Lehmberg's campaign visit: www.rosemarylehmberg.com
Across the state of Texas today until 7 pm local time, Democratic primary voters (as well as all non-primary voters) can cast a ballot in the Democratic run-off for Railroad Commission.
Burnt Orange Report strongly urges you to vote for Dale Henry for Railroad Commissioner.
In local Austin area races, there are two more runoffs.
Burnt Orange Report has previously endorsed Rosemary Lehmberg for District Attorney.
Burnt Orange Report did not endorse either Janie Serna or Danny Thomas for County Constable Precinct 1.
Woke up this morning to find an interesting e-mail from the Lehmberg campaign:
This week, we sent an e-mail to let you know about developments in the race for Travis County District Attorney.
It has come to our attention that the statements made by the Austin Political Report about whether Terry Keel is actively campaigning for Mindy Montford may be incorrect.
While Ms. Montford has received financial support from prominent Republican donors, we now understand the statements attributed to Former Republican State Representative Keel may not have indeed been made.
We apologize for any confusion and ask our supporters to refrain from repeating these statements.
Posted with author's permission.
by Barbara A. Taft, President -
People of the Heart
Gary Cobb, one of the perpetrators of the travesty launched against an innocent child, LaCresha Murray, in 1996, has been eliminated from the race for District Attorney. Rosemary Lehmberg, however, still holds a smoking gun. In the interest of changing the guard and securing perhaps a more just, merciful and law-abiding person in the office of Travis County District Attorney, I offer the following.
In 1996, Rosemary Lehmberg and Gary Cobb filed capital murder charges against an 11-year-old, with no physical, eye witness or forensic evidence physically linking either the home or anyone there with the numerous injuries suffered by a deceased two and a half year old. Lehmberg, Cobb and/or their subordinates assisted three seasoned APD detectives assigned to the case by advising them in circumventing the Magistrate Law, which demands that a child in police custody, before a statement is taken, be presented to a judge, who explains the ramifications of talking to the police and generally assigns an attorney. Based on advice received from the D.A.'s office, the detectives arranged for Child Protective Service (CPS) to leave this child alone in an empty building on CPS' campus to be "found" by the detectives, thereby eliminating any charge that she was in police custody and, in effect, waiving her rights under the Magistrate law.
The following is from an interview I had with Rosemary Lehmberg, who is running for Travis County District Attorney against Mindy Montford. We will have more on this race later today. -- Phillip Martin
What separates you from Mindy Montford? Why are you the better choice for Travis County voters?
Clearly, my experience separates me, and the breadth of my experience. I've tried cases and directed every major division in our office, so I am deep in trial experience. I have worked for the last 10 years running the day to day operations of the office, and so I have experience running a large law office - which we are now. That means I have budget and personnel and information services experience that my opponent does not have. I have worked on many community based initiatives throughout my career, primarily when I was the director of the Family Justice Division.
Most important against this particular opponent, I have directed the Public Integrity Unit (PIU) and later, as first assistant, oversaw the PIU. I'm free of influence of the Public Integrity Unit. My opponent has been funded by many people who seek to influence legislation, and unlike her I have independent judgment and know how to exercise independence in my work.
Can you describe briefly what the Public Integrity Unit does, and some things you did during your time as its Director?
The duty and responsibility of the Travis County DA is unique because the center of state government is in our county. All prosecutors have jurisdiction and venue over crimes that occur in the county, and our duty and responsibility includes the crimes related to state government. The PIU does everything from workers compensation fraud to motor fuel tax fraud to insurance fraud. We've undertaken a whole new prosecution in the vice tax area.
I talk about being the guardian of the Capitol, and what I mean is that there is always a possibility of abuse of power through the money that is used to try to influence legislation. By that I mean lobby, and the like, and if money is incorrectly accepted by the Members of the Legislature. It is our job to look at all of those allegations that are made. Some of them are unfounded, some of them are made by political opponents who have a bone to pick, and some are true criminal cases.
We have prosecuted Democrats and Republicans over the years, and what happens in that is the people who abuse power are the ones who have the power. When Democrats were in power, more of them were accused of - in some way - misusing money and power. More recently, there have been Republicans. You have to look at that aspect and that history of that unit to understand they have not been partisan prosecutions - they have been prosecutions of those who abused their power. We're most famous for the Delay case, with the alleged use of corporate money in the November 2002 elections, which led to the Colyandro, TRM-PAC, Tom Delay, TAB, etc. The upshot of that was that the alleged use of corporate money was alleged to have elected a certain set of individuals.
Whoever is the head of the Public Integrity Unit must be able to look at those and determine what is right free of the influence of who is part of those investigations.
Montford has - and correct me if I'm wrong - won the endorsement of all the major law enforcement groups in Travis County. Can you speak to why the law enforcement groups would choose Montford over you?
I've worked with law enforcement individuals up and down the lines. I've got support from the members, just not the political action committee. And that's okay, because the District Attorney has to be independent of everyone. I intend if elected to work closely with law enforcement, but we do have to be independent of everyone.
I think - and I can only say what I've heard - which is that law enforcement wants tougher enforcement of the drug laws. What I've heard them say doesn't have much to do with community-based initiatives, or even too much in terms of public safety in terms of violent crime, which are both essential components of the work of a District Attorney.
Law enforcement officers have worked in the courts more recently, working directly with patrol officers and detectives. And that's a familiarity thing for them. The juries are more prone to be lenient on drug cases and want drug users to get into rehab, rather than be incarcerated. In that way, there is a disconnection between what the law enforcement wants and what the people want. The quirky part, of course, is that the law enforcement often responds to complaints in the community...so the jury itself is exhibiting a disconnection, too. Many people just want drug users off their street, which is why they call law enforcement, but then once they're off the street, they don't necessarily want them to go to jail.
A District Attorney needs to be responsive to all aspects - the community-based needs, and the best approach to public safety. And that can't happen unless you can approach these complex problems from a point of independence.
Check below the fold for the rest of the interview.
We try to avoid rumors and speculation as much as possible, but something strange is going on in the Travis County DA's race.
Capitol Annex and Austin Political Report are reporting two different stories of Republican big wigs campaigning for Travis County District Attorney Candidate Mindy Montford.
The Austin Political Report states that Republican and Craddick loyalist Terry Keel has decided to campaign for Mindy Montford instead of helping his sister-in-law Donna Keel defeat Valinda Bolton.
Now it seems Bush's Brain himself appears to be helping Mrs. Montford too.
Capitol Annex has the story complete with pictures. Vince states:
Karen Johnson, a longtime lobbyist and Bush pioneer who lives in the Pemberton area of Austin, has a Mindy Montford yard sign in front of her house. Asked by a neighbor this weekend why she is supporting a Democrat, Ms. Johnson replied: "I never have before, but Karl Rove asked me to help her."
Early vote started yesterday in this close election. This last minute revelation could dramatically effect the outcome in this low voter turnout situation.
Updated: A spokesperson from the Montford had this to say in response to the allegations Terry Keel and Karl Rove are working to elect Mrs. Montford:
This latest negative attack by Rosemary Lehmberg fits the pattern of lies and distortion meant to distract from the positive, issue-based campaign of Mindy Montford.
While Montford talks about real changes she will make, Lehmberg only talks about Montford. If Karl Rove has been advising anyone, it is obvious from their tactics that it is Lehmberg's unscrupulous campaign.
