Josh Marshall stays on Tom DeLay's involvement in the Texas redistricting stuff, particularly his use of federal resources in a partisan conflict.
talkingpointsmemo.com
(May 29th, 2003 -- 8:08 PM EDT // link)
Following up on the last post ... After the initial squall over the manhunt for the Texas Democrats, state Representative Lon Burnam -- a member of the Law Enforcement Committee -- filed an open records request for documents relevant to the Department of Public Safety's manhunt. After hearing news reports that files were being destroyed even after the issuance of that request, he filed a motion for, and eventually received, a restraining order barring further document destruction. Burnam also subsequently filed a motion to depose four members of the DPS.
In response to Burnam's request, the Texas Attorney General's office -- acting on behalf of the DPS -- demanded that Burnam reveal the names of his sources (i.e., those at DPS who had squealed) before any members of the DPS would be deposed.
"It is not possible," says the AG's filing, "to prepare for the preliminary injunction hearing or to prepare for the defense of depositions until Plaintiff identifies the source of the information that documents were allegedly destroyed after the receipt of the open records request on May 19th, 2003."
(A copy of the Texas AG's motion has just been added to the TPM Document Collection.)
Yesterday a judge ordered everybody to show up to get deposed next Monday, the four members of the DPS and Burnam and his legislative director.
On Thursday afternoon, I spoke to Burnam. He told me that he has "multiple sources" at the DPS who told him about the alleged document destruction. He also says he will identify his sources at the deposition on Monday, though he is currently trying to arrange some sort of whistleblower protection for them. When I asked Burnam why he thought the AG's office placed such importance on finding out the identity of his sources, he said he thought "they are trying to find out what I know and who I know it from and how they can get to them."
-- Josh Marshall
(May 29th, 2003 -- 2:28 PM EDT // link)
More on the Texas Dems. This from a Wednesday evening report in The Quorum Report, a Texas political newsletter ...
"I will be able to reveal more in a couple of days but for now I have to protect my sources. What I can say is there has been a development that I would describe as significant."
Bailey said he would likely be able to reveal more Friday. At his press availability, Bailey disputed comments made yesterday by Gov. Perry¹s office that their involvement in the DPS search was negligible.
"My source in the DPS paints a very different picture," Bailey said. "I was told the DPS felt like they were puppets. That was their exact words. They felt they were being manipulated throughout."
Add to this the following fact: Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Dallas Fort Worth) is the Texas rep who sued the Department of Public Safety to prevent them from destroying any more records connected to the Dem manhunt. He is now being forced to reveal his sources at DPS. Burnam says the Texas AG "is apparently trying to find out who a whistle-blower is rather than stopping the illegal shredding of documents."
And, finally, TNR has a very good lead editorial about the Texas shenanigans. Credit, lots of it, where credit is due.
The choice graf ...
Why won't this once scandal-obsessed city take what happened in Texas seriously? Sure, it involved neither sex nor money. But it involved something more serious: the blurring of the line between the power of the state and the partisan interests of those who run it--a line that represents the fundamental separation between a democracy and a dictatorship. When FBI files showed up in Bill Clinton's White House, Republicans, with the help of the press, screamed with outrage, even though no evidence that they were used for any partisan purpose was ever uncovered. Yet, in this case, when we know that police powers were harnessed for partisan gain, the issue elicits laughs.
The inner rot laid bare.
-- Josh Marshall
(May 29th, 2003 -- 9:58 AM EDT // link)
"More disturbing than the false alarm and subsequent cover-up is the ease with which one of the most powerful federal agencies was seduced into a hunt for a citizen's airplane. More abuses are almost sure to follow if the perpetrators get away this time, if controls on Homeland Security are not implemented and if secrecy prevails."
That's a choice graf from a must-read editorial on the Texas/Homeland Security shenanigans in today's Austin American-Statesman.
-- Josh Marshall |
