Travis County District Attorney Ronald Earle this morning asked Gov. Rick Perry's TYC special master Jay Kimbrough to turn over to prosecutors documents and computers seized from TYC headquarters and other locations.
Testifying before the House Corrections Committee attended by prosecutors from throughout Texas, Earle read his letter to Kimbrough and said he expected Kimbrough to comply. At issue is the integrity of evidence in the investigation of the cover-up of the TYC sex scandal.
It is unclear under what authority Kimbrough seized evidence in the case. Earle appears to be trying to protect that evidence. But there are concerns that one of the reasons the Kimbrough-led task force conducted its raid was to make sure damning evidence of the cover up did not fall into prosecutors' hands.
The Texas Capitol has been rocked by a widening sex scandal in the state's juvenile justice system. And ordinary taxpayers have been left to watch in horror and disgust as the state's top leaders rush to play the blame game, find scapegoats, and limit the political damage.
Attorney General Greg Abbott was informed about the Texas Youth Commission sex abuse scandal in early 2006, but did nothing even though he had an assistant attorney general in Ward County at the time a Texas Ranger reported details of the brutal and systematic abuse of teenagers at the TYC unit there.
What was the assistant AG doing in Ward County? Harrassing a 65-year-old Hispanic woman accused of "mail ballot fraud" by a local (Reeves County) Sheriff her son had opposed for election. The harrassment was part of a statewide voter intimidation and suppression scheme that is the subject of a federal lawsuit filed by elderly victims.
Affidavits in the lawsuit include one episode in which assistant AGs were peeking in the bathroom window at an unclothed 69-year-old female Democratic activist.
So while Abbott's troops were peeking in the windows of the innocent and elderly, they were refusing to investigate the systematic rape and abuse of young people by employees of the TYC.
The shocking and embarrassing disclosure of Abbott's twisted priorities came from Deputy Attorney General Don Clemmer during his testimony before a joint legislative committee investigating the TYC.
We should be glad that some law enforcement folk have found their way to the lawless TYC facilities.
But today's revelation that a law enforcement sweep headed by Gov. Rick Perry's henchman does not give confidence that the truth about the TYC sex abuse scandal and cover-up will ever be completely known.
Let's be realistic. When Jay Kimbrough, Perry's friend and frequent employee, leads a task force of 70 law enforcement types to go secure documents at TYC headquarters -- a building run by Perry appointees -- one has to wonder. Is Perry sending his man to get control of incriminating evidence of a cover-up before independent investigators have a chance to get it?
As more information trickles out about the horrific sexual abuse at the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) facility in Pyote, the legislature's first priority must be to root out any and all sexual predators who are lurking in our state's juvenile prison system, as well as those who allowed these individuals to prey on our young people by either turning a blind eye or actively covering up the abuse.
This situation reflects a horrendous failure of state government. These young people were already in problematic circumstances. Now, they will no doubt have enduring scars inflicted by those whose job it was to help and protect them. After all, the TYC's mission is to rehabilitate young people by showing them that there are consequences for their actions. Unfortunately, the state's own actions don't match the lessons TYC claims to be teaching.
A nonsensical provision of state law shields TYC from civil accountability by blocking access to the courthouse for individuals harmed by a state employee except in the narrowest of circumstances. In short, this allows TYC and its employees to avoid full responsibility for the unconsionable sexual abuse that occurred in Pyote - not to mention those that participated in the ensuing cover-up.
What message does this send to young people who are being held fully accountable for their own actions - both criminally and through compensation to crime victims - but the state of Texas has chosen to shield itself from responsibility?
This is hypocrisy at its worst. Shouldn't we expect the same level of responsibility from leaders at TYC as we do from the juveniles they are tasked with protecting?
One of the great tactical dodges practiced over and over again by today's Republican leadership is their stopping of the buck well short of themselves -- for the mistreatment of Iraq vets at Walter Reed or the rape of children at the Texas Youth Commission.
This is often overlooked. The GOP, which claims somehow to be party of personal responsibility, is the absolute opposite. They are, in a strict sense, No-Accounts.
The GOP trick involves recasting the characters in a simple-to- understand story line. Perry becomes not the perpetrator, but the savior. We even have a joking word for this Dodge. Ronald Reagan was our first "teflon" president. The punditry actually praises politicians for this slippery quality.
The Dodge is a trick we (and the press) fall for too often, due in part to our benevolent desire to solve the crises at hand. We should reject the teflon Dodge and insist that perps are perps. Temporarily shape-shifting foxes into chickens cannot be allowed. Perry is responsible. Here's why.
When a West Texas district attorney complained that his office was too small to investigate the sexual abuse of minors at a Texas Youth Commission facility, Attorney General Greg Abbott assigned a "special prosecutor."
That was January. It's telling that we are learning about the breadth and depth of the TYC sex scandal and cover-up by high officials not from Abbott or his shadowy special prosecutor, but from the Dallas Morning News,Texas Observer,Austin Statesman and other media.
If anything in this explosive scandal is clear, the rot is at the top. The very last place Texans should turn for the truth is Abbott. What's needed is an independent investigation. Independent of Rick Perry, Greg Abbott, or any other executive branch cover-up artist.
Until this morning, I didn't think there was anything that a governor could do worse than cutting 250,000 children from CHIP; selling off our highway system to a foreign-owned company; allowing a punk congressman to enhance his power through redistricting; giving the wealthy a big tax break and calling it education reform; or, in general, virtually hanging a "For Rent" sign on the front door of the mansion where he lurks.
No governor could go lower than that, right? Wrong.
Attorney General Greg Abbott's getting some coverage for opening and then closing and then opening and then closing our county clerk's office. We aren't the only ones talking about an ill thought court ruling. KXAN points out, this recent republican flip flop would have taken years for all 254 counties to comply with.
KEYE points to more tragic news. More disturbing information is beginning to surface involving an alleged sex and abuse scandal within the Texas Youth Commission.
McBlogger links up to Kuff and EOW to highlight minority supported Governor Good Hair's Executive Orders.
A Hill Country City Council member may be recalled for telling you what cooler you can bring to the river. No really. Eliminating jello shots and volume drinking devices is ok, but coolers may cost you your job.
