Texas Youth SEX Scandal! The cronyism NEVER stops!

[Joanne98]

The cronyism never stops
http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/008935.html

You have to give Rick Perry credit for consistency. In good times and in bad, whether he's in trouble or he's in clover, his first instinct is always the same: Appoint a crony to do whatever needs to be done.

Under pressure from the Legislature to put the troubled Texas Youth Commission into conservatorship, Gov. Rick Perry on Friday instead named one of his aides as a special master to oversee an investigation of the agency.

Perry named his former Deputy Chief of Staff Jay Kimbrough, who has had his own controversial past, as the special master to head an investigation into whether TYC administrators covered up allegations that staff members had sexually abused youthful offenders incarcerated in agency facilities.

The Legislative Audit Committee, made up of the Legislature's leadership, had wanted Perry to either name a conservator for the agency or direct state Auditor John Keel to develop a rehabilitation plan for it.

Perry rejected the conservatorship, but authorized Keel to begin his review of the agency along with new acting Executive Director Ed Owens.

His former Chief of Staff. Because nothing says "independence" and "let the chips fall where they may" like putting your former First Officer in charge of a messy investigation. Especially one with such sterling bipartisan credibility as this guy:

Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, questioned whether Kimbrough was the right man for the job.

"The goal should be to get someone who is truly independent ... to give us an investigative report with unquestioned integrity," Dunnam said.

Kimbrough in 2003 headed the manhunt for Democratic House members when they went to Ardmore, Okla., to break a quorum during debate on congressional redistricting legislation.

Yes, I'm sure he'll inspire all kinds of trust. Burka has more on this.

Two side notes: Travis County DA Ronnie Earle will open an investigation into the allegations that were reported on Friday, and several legislators are trying to force Perry's hand.

State Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, filed a bill mandating the agency be placed in conservatorship, arguing that the rehabilitation plan was akin to sending accountants to investigate sexual abuse. Dunnam said he intended to press for a vote Monday by the full House on his bill, which garnered quick support Friday from several dozen members before Perry announced his plan.

Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, Dunnam and other lawmakers called for the immediate assignment of Texas Rangers to each Youth Commission facility to ensure that children are protected from abuse and that coercion of potential witnesses in the investigation does not occur, and to protect agency records from destruction. Black said Perry is confident his Friday orders will accomplish the same goal.

Concerned that a cover-up might be under way, as officials moved to protect themselves from the widening criminal investigation, House Speaker Pro Tem Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, demanded in a letter that the Youth Commission ensure that all records be kept intact. "Any reports I receive indicating that the staff at the Texas Youth Commission are removing or destroying documents will be dealt with immediately," Turner stated in his letter to Owens, who was named Thursday to temporarily run the agency. Within hours, a confidential e-mail from Deputy Executive Director Linda Reyes ordered all Youth Commission employees to "please refrain from any document shredding until further notice."

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, on Friday named 14 lawmakers, seven from each chamber, to a special investigating committee. Staff aides were poised to begin subpoenaing officials and documents as early as Monday, in time for Capitol hearings later in the week.

The rapid-fire actions came as political haggling about a resolution threatened to delay an official response.

Participants in the meetings said Perry was adamant that he wanted leeway to solve the problem -- not through a conservatorship. He remained upset by a Wednesday vote for conservatorship by the Senate, just after he had fired the Youth Commission board chairman and recommended Owens be hired to replace Youth Commission employee Neil Nichols as the acting agency head.

Burka said in his post that the talk around Austin is that the scandal will grow. It's already pretty ugly, so if that's true, hold onto your hats.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on March 03, 2007 to Scandalized! | TrackBack
http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/008935.html

[Joanne98]

1. I have to go to bed! if your interested in this story....Pleeze keep.

:kick:

Goodnight, sweet dreams!
:hug:

[tbyg52]

2. Night, night, and here's another kick.

:kick:

[Joanne98]

3. One more rec!

[Czolgosz]

4. K & R # 5

[Joanne98]

5. Thankyou..

:hug:

[flyarm]

6. THIS IS THE CASE THE TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL WOULD NOT

BRING A PROSECUTION !!! OR OPEN AN INVESTIGATION OR CASE ...


Sen. Orin Hatch Thinks Prosecution of Immigrants More Important Than Prosecution of Pedophiles
Sen. Orin Hatch, in his position as defender of the administrations plan to fire federal prosecutors and replace them with political appointees, nailed Lam and Inglesias to crosses (while claiming that he was not criticizing theior performance) and then compared them unfavorably to the federal prosecutor in Texas, who still has a job and who was rewarded on Tuesday with a promotion by AG Gonzales.

Interesting that Orin Hatch thinks so highly of federal attorney Johnny Sutton. Sutton is under fire for his decision not to prosecute officials at the Texas Youth Commission for the sexual abuse of children under their care. The local prosecutor had refused to step in to protect these minors. The Texas (Republican) AG had declined to prosecute these apppointees of Republican Governor Rick Perry prior to the 2006 election in which Perry was running. That left Sutton as the last hope for justice for the kids at the facility. He decided not to get involved either.

So, Orin Hatch thinks that a federal prosecutor who declines to prosecute child sexual abusers is a model US attorney.


FLY

[flyarm]

7. PERRY GOT SCARED WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERAL STUFF GOING TO HEARINGS!

>so the Texas Attorney general does not loose his job for
>ignoring this case and refusing to press charges or bring a
>case against the criminals who did this to children..nope he
>did not loose his job..Carol Lam did...but not this
>prosecutor!!
>
>
>
>
>
>Sex abuse of juveniles in Texas covered up
>
>Sex abuse of juveniles in Texas covered up
>http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/ba ...
>
>Wednesday, March 07, 2007Alicia A. CaldwellAssociated Press
>Pyote, Texas - For at least two years, investigators say, boys
>at a juvenile prison in the West Texas desert were summoned
>from their dorms late at night and taken to darkened
>conference rooms, offices and ball fields for sex with two of
>the institution's top administrators.
>
>The boys told their parents, their teachers, any staff member
>who would listen. A few diligent staff members took their
>complaints to their supervisors. But the allegations were
>largely covered up until last month, when they exploded in the
>biggest scandal ever to engulf the Texas juvenile prison
>system. The No. 1 and No. 2 officials at the Texas Youth
>Commission have lost their jobs over their handling of the
>allegations. Prosecutors are looking into criminal charges.
>And lawmakers are infuriated.
>
>
>
>snip:
>
>Mary Jane Martinez of San Antonio told lawmakers last week
>that her son also was sexually assaulted at a juvenile jail.
>"My son is home, but he is not the same since he was raped in
>the TYC," she said. She said her 17-year-old son "is so
>ashamed of himself he built a wall."
>
>Randal Chance, a retired inspector general with the Texas
>Youth Commission and author of the book "Raped by the State,"
>said the routine mistreatment of children by the Youth
>Commission has long been ignored. "This one here, it finally
>snuck out," he said. Investigators said that at Pyote,
>Brookins and other administrators used intimidation to
>suppress complaints about sexual abuse.
>http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/ba ...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>and when the heat got tooo hot in the Attorney firing ..look
>what Texas Governor Perry did wednesday!! can't have anyone
>questioning why the Attorney General in Texas never charged
>anyone and wasn't fired now can we??????????
>
>
>
>http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislatur ...
>
>
>Perry agrees to conservator for Youth Commission
>Governor gives no reason for abrupt change of course.
>By W. Gardner Selby
>AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
>Wednesday, March 28, 2007
>
>
>snip:
>
>
>
>Republican Gov. Rick Perry reversed course and yielded to
>legislators today on how to best manage the Texas Youth
>Commission. He agreed to declare the agency guilty of gross
>fiscal mismanagement and put a conservator in charge.
>
The commission has been under scrutiny in the wake of inaction
>in response to the reported sexual abuse of juvenile
>residents.
>>Perry said Jay Kimbrough, a lawyer who has been serving as
>Perry's appointed special master watching the commission, will
>fill the conservator's job at least through the legislative
>session, which ends May 28.


>
>
>
>snip:
>

>
>>Perry, who previously insisted there wasn't a need to take the
>far-reaching step, twice declined to say why he'd changed his
>mind, saying: "We're looking forward, not back."
>
SNIP:
>
>Perry acted the same week the House corrections panel approved
>legislation requiring a conservator to be appointed. The
>Senate previously approved a similar measure. And early this
>month, the Legislative Audit Committee, consisting of the
>speaker, lieutenant governor, two House members and two
>senators, had urged Perry to name a conservator.
>
>Perry announced the action shortly before a joint legislative
>committee started an afternoon hearing intended to elicit
>public comment on misdeeds at the agency. Scores of people
>lined up outside the hearing room before the hearing started.
>
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