Really? I mean, really?
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Thursday she is handing the pending criminal cases against three of County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s former staffers to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office.
Ogg stopped short of calling her actions a recusal. She asked Paxton to “assume jurisdiction” in the cases, but Paxton’s office said in a press release that it “will assist” the Harris County District Attorney and Texas Rangers.
“I will never sit idly by and let public corruption cases be dismissed, swept under the carpet or even allow the rule of law to be overwhelmed by politics,” said Ogg at the press conference with three members of the Texas Attorney General’s office and the Texas Rangers investigator assigned to the cases.
It’s hard not to see this as a pre-emptive strike against Sean Teare’s stated intention to recuse the DA’s office from the case and hand it off to another District Attorney. I agree completely with this:
“For most Democrats, Ken Paxton is a scoundrel. He is seen as the enemy in any number of policy venues, and as someone who is more attentive to his political base than to doing his job,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “His involvement will be perceived as another political dagger that Kim Ogg is attempting to stick into Judge Hidalgo.”
At this point I will just note that the next court date for this case is May 13th, per that Landing story, and there’s still an un-actioned motion to recuse Ogg from the case. Perhaps that will come up on that date.
This week has been a real news geyser, so I’m just going to note a couple more bits of interest from that story and finish up:
Teare criticized Ogg’s decision to enlist the attorney general’s office, calling Paxton the “most political prosecutor in the state, who will work in tandem with a politically motivated DA” in a statement.
Throughout the Democratic primary, Teare said Ogg had politicized the district attorney’s office through the prosecution of Hidalgo’s staffers.
“By a three-to-one margin, voters rejected the politicized way that our prosecutor’s office has been run,” Teare wrote. “Unfortunately, Kim Ogg ignored the voters and called a press conference to attack her opponents and make clear that fighting political feuds is more important than finishing her term ensuring justice for victims across our county.”
Teare’s statement did not specify whether he could or would jettison state prosecutors if elected.
[…]
At the press conference, Ogg rejected the idea that politics played a role in her decision. She said she was sending the case to Paxton’s office because it is the best-resourced in the state.
“Evidence is not political, it is simply evidence, and I want this case heard by a Harris County jury,” Ogg said.
I appreciate the desire to keep the case in the county, but appointing a special prosecutor would have accomplished that. To be sure, you have to pay for one of those (unless you’re Collin County and the defendant is Ken Paxton, of course), but I daresay that Commissioners Court would have taken that over the “or we could bring in Ken Paxton” option. We’ll see what happens if this case is still pending as of next January. The Trib has more.
Due to her own stupidity Kim Ogg is now looking for a new job, and simultaneously kissing up to Ken Paxton. Does she have ambitions to become one of his storm troopers, crashing into the homes of loving families and destroying their lives for some perceived political gain?
Whatever that shameful thing is that you did that keeps coming back to haunt you at 3 am, at least you never kissed butt on Ken Paxton.
Paxton and Hidalgo deserve each other. Corrupt vs corrupt=attorneys win.
Just one more reason why I’m glad I voted against Boss Ogg in the last election. Helps solidify my position then and going forward. Thank you, Kim.