Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Chuck is Going . . . Going . . .

I asked here, "Is the fix in? Did Kelly get word that Chuck's resignation is in the cards?"

It appears that, indeed, the fix is in. Reports indicate that Chuck Rosenthal's chief investigator (and right-hand man) John Ray Harrison was packing up Chuck's office on Friday.

Business as usual, then, at the Harris County DA's Office: Chuck, after getting his ass kicked on the stand in federal court, decides on Friday to resign, and tells Kelly so that on Monday she can call for his resignation and appear to have influenced his decision.

I surmise, for reasons I discussed here, that a deal has been cut for Governor Perry to appoint a non-candidate caretaker DA for the interim.

The prosecutors' desired endgame: Kelly gets elected, claims that there was nothing wrong with the Office that Chuck's resignation didn't fix, and everybody but Mr. Harrison and Ms. Stevens gets to keep his or her job.

(News like this takes time to percolate down to me. AHCL and her prosecutorial readers could undoubtedly have reported that fact on Friday, but that wouldn't help create the illusion that Kelly Siegler, by calling for Chuck's resignation, acted as an agent of change.)

4 comments:

Ron in Houston said...

Nothing like getting the freshest gossip from the criminal law center.

I don't know if it's so much of a fix as a potential for spin.

I wonder if Humpty Dumpty can really be put back together again.

AWC said...

We need a DA that will do their job. Two women set up a disabled man Robert McClendon in Harris county having him thrown in jail, with the help of a protective order they invited their whole family to his home and they stole evreything he owned and then also claiming his guns from evidence without proper ID, and without a judges' signature. At this time the real criminals are on the street and the dA's office will not investigate!
Read his story at:
www.americaswrongfullyconvicted.com

Unknown said...

I don't believe any of that. I heard the rumor of Harrison packing up Chuck's office, but this is Tuesday and he's still here. Chuck is too stubborn to leave on his own. You'll have to pry his cold, dead fingers off his chair. On top of that, Lykos and Leitner have characterized Kelly throwing Chuck under the bus as political opportunism. Lykos even said Kelly "aided and abetted" what was going on. Ouch. I don't think this will end up helping Kelly much. Damage has already been done. That being said, she may still win. I wouldn't ever bet against her in anything. I can sympathize with her not calling Chuck out sooner. He was her friend. He was her husband's friend. And it was only by virtue of him that she was able to continue being a prosecutor. Remember ADA's serve under the elected DA and at his will and pleasure. Every 4 years ADA's get sworn into office right after the elected DA is sworn in. If there is no DA, there are no ADA's. Understanding this, it'd be pretty awkward for any ADA to publically call for their boss to resign. Wouldn't that technically mean they're out of a job as well? It's worth remembering that Kelly basically called on him to resign weeks ago in an interview with KHOU. She said he should do the "right thing". The reporter didn't follow up and ask what the right thing was and she wasn't more explicit.

Murray Newman said...

I heard the rumor, true, but it was just a rumor that was open to mulitple meanings. I didn't run reporting it, because there was nothing more than wild conjecture going on about it.

After today's events (those events being that nothing happened), I'm glad I didn't say anything.

I think you may be wrong on this one, Mark. I agree with J.

He ain't leaving.