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Texas GOP is the Energizer Bunny of Arrogance – Laws apply to others, ’cause we are special … we are church goin’ Christians who are entitled to human weakness, but must enforce God’s law with passion.

   “I think that this Court having determined that there are certain kinds of conduct that it will accept and certain kinds of conduct it will not accept may draw the line at the bedroom door of the heterosexual married couple because of the interest that this Court has that this Nation has and certainly that the State of Texas has for the preservation of marriage, families and the procreation of children. “Even if you infer that various States acting through their legislative process have repealed sodomy laws, there is no protected right to engage in extrasexual – extramarital sexual relations, again, that can trace their roots to history or the traditions of this nation.”

– Houston District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal, in arguments to the Supreme Court in 2002’s ‘Lawrence v. Texas‘ case.

Last December, as part of a federal civil rights lawsuit into how justice is meted out in the county, he turned over the (partial) contents of his government e-mail account. And what a batch of e-mails it was. Black ministers called for the Republican to resign because of racist material, including a cartoon depicting an African-American suffering from a “fatal overdose” of watermelon and fried chicken. There were adult video clips and love notes from Rosenthal to his secretary, his mistress during a previous marriage. “I love you so much,” Rosenthal says in one. “I want to kiss you behind your right ear,” he says in another. “Go spend time with your family,” she admonishes him back.  In the wake of the e-mail revelations, local GOP leaders forced him to abort his re-election bid. Then, on Feb. 15, after Lloyd Kelley, the attorney in the civil rights case, brought a lawsuit accusing him of drinking on the job and “incompetence, or official misconduct,” Rosenthal resigned. But his problems may not be over. As eye-opening as his e-mails were, it’s the ones that disappeared that might cause him more trouble yet.

   Rosenthal deleted thousands of e-mails (even going so far as to delete them from the trash folder) that investigators in the civil rights case wanted; his actions could lead to obstruction of justice charges (the messages were destroyed after he had received a subpoena for them, he admitted in court). And during a contempt of court hearing earlier this month, Rosenthal appeared to contradict his sworn statements about the e-mails, leaving him open to perjury charges. The hearing was abruptly adjourned at the request of his lawyer and is scheduled to resume March 14. If found in contempt, the former top prosecutor could wind up in jail.

 In an earlier statement to the press about the content of the e-mails, Rosenthal said, “I deeply regret having said those things … This event has served as a wake-up call to me to get my house in order both literally and figuratively.” On Feb. 15, in response to the new lawsuit, he blamed a combination of prescription drugs for causing “some impairment” of his judgment.

E-mails sparked firestorm

On Dec. 22, the federal court presiding over the Ibarras’ lawsuit mistakenly unsealed some of Rosenthal’s e-mails.Rosenthal’s downslide continued when the federal court convened a hearing two weeks ago to determine if he should be held in contempt for deleting documents that had been subpoenaed. On Feb. 1, he testified that he made some “errors” in previous sworn explanations for why he deleted the e-mails, opening himself to a possible perjury charge.

His contempt hearing is set to resume Feb. 25, but may be delayed while the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reviews whether U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt should be recused from presiding over the Ibarras’ civil lawsuit.

Type of drugs a mystery

Rosenthal might have admitted pharmacological drugs impaired his judgment so he can raise involuntary intoxication as a possible defense if he is charged with perjury, Kelley said.

See Video [here]

This behavior has been condoned by the typical GOP good ole’ boys club for decades.  This despicable behavior will crumble under close scrutiny.  This could start a trend if the voters can keep it together long enough to crumble more arrogant, corrupt, illegal, unethical behavior.

Posted by bosskitty February 27th, 2008 | Category: Corruption, Racism, Republican, consequences, ethics, homophobia, lawrence v. texas, perversion, rosenthal, sex | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL