Texas Governor Perry's lawyers invoke Louis XIV to dismiss charges

[Laura PourMeADrink]

http://news.yahoo.com/texas-governor-perrys-lawyers-invoke-louis-xiv-dismiss-224916737.html
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SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Lawyers for Rick Perry invoked a former Roman emperor and 17th-century French King Louis XIV in a motion filed on Monday seeking to dismiss abuse-of-power felony charges leveled against the Texas governor.

It was the second motion seeking to dismiss the charges against Perry, a potential candidate in the 2016 Republican presidential race, who has tried to rally support by saying he is the victim of a partisan, politicized prosecution.

The new motion argues that Perry was operating within his rights in vetoing money for a public integrity unit in the prosecutor's office in Travis County, a Democratic stronghold in the heavily Republican state.

Rebutting the lawsuit's contention that Perry had overstepped his authority by vetoing the funds, his lawyers argued that he was operating within the constraints on his office imposed by the state constitution.

"A Texas Governor is not Augustus traversing his realm with a portable mint and an imperial treasure in tow; he no more has custody or possession of the State's general revenue funds than does any Texan. No governor can say of his or her state what the Sun King said of France: "L'etat c'est moi," it said.

Perry, 64, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, became the target of an ethics investigation last year after he vetoed $7.5 million in funding for the state public integrity unit run from the Travis County district attorney's office.

His veto was widely viewed as intended to force the ouster of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat, after she had pleaded guilty to drunken driving and remained in office.

Since being indicted last month, Perry has traveled to crucial presidential primary states to rally support for a possible campaign. After flaming out in a gaffe-prone 2012 presidential bid, Perry has ranked near the bottom in surveys of Republican voters among possible candidates in 2016.

(Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Peter Cooney)

[Spirochete]

1. The precedent applied to perry

should be Louis XVI, not Louis XIV.

[hobbit709]

2. +1000

[Recursion]

3. Are you saying things got better in France after 1789?

[LuvNewcastle]

4. That's just weird.

I think his lawyer must be trying to show off his knowledge of European history. That rebuttal isn't really germane to the case.

[Recursion]

5. Yeah, I thought that too: if you're bringing up Louis XIV the controlling instrument is Westphalia

*shrug*

If the facts are on your side, pound on the facts. If the law is on your side, pound on the law. If neither is on your side, pound on the lectern.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Think he's trying to imply that Perry doesn't control the purse strings

and therefore can not "withhold" funding. Pretty whacky because that is exactly what he did....although guess they could have overrode his veto.

[Gothmog]

7. The motion to dismiss is really weak

[Laura PourMeADrink]

8. do you think they filed the motions just so they

could get in the news with statements about how ridiculous they think the whole thing is?

It's not to his advantage to add any delay to the whole thing, as motions to dismiss do. so, he had to have another motive. I can hear his attorney say "It's a hail mary, that probably won't work - but it could help pollute the jury pool?"

[Gothmog]

10. They are billing by the hour

[Laura PourMeADrink]

16. do you ever say more than the subject line?

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

9. L'etat, say what?

[Gothmog]

11. This phrase means "the state, it is I"

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

13. Oui, je sais.

[pinboy3niner]

14. Is Perry envious of Louis' power...or his hair?

Portrait of Louis XIV in the Louvre (by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1701):

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

15. Probably both...

Rick thinks Quatorze was his last name.

[Rex]

12. LOL!

Wow, this just gets worse and worse for Team Perry! Keep it up!