Calling All Lawyers
October 14th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
A little while back the Observer posted the invoices from the outside law firms retained by the Department of Public Safety to fight our public records request for videotape of the back hall of the House chamber. You can find the latest on the story here and the filings from the case here. The invoices totaled more than $165,000. Today, the Austin American-Statesman has a big story on the lawsuit. In the piece by Mark Lisheron, at least one influential legislator expressed anger that the agency is wasting so much taxpayer money fighting the public’s right to know.
We posted the invoices partly in the hopes that lawyers around the state would take a look to see if DPS is getting its, I mean our, money’s worth. So, if you have the legal background and the time, we’d love to get your comments.
Meanwhile, the case is scheduled to be heard on October 24 before a panel of three judges at the 3rd Court of Appeals. A DPS official told the Statesman that the agency is more than willing to take it all the way to the Texas Supreme Court if it loses the appeal. There goes more of your money down the drain.
October 16th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I notice in the Statesman article that Ernie Angelo, DPS chair and (not coincidentally) Republican fixer from Midland, staunchly defends the use of $165,000+ of taxpayer money to defend the indefensible. Ernie, of course, has not written a check out of his own pocket to pay for the legal defense of a position that even the Attorney General does not share.
I’d hate to see what the legal bills would be if Ernie wasn’t such an avocate of “small government.”
October 16th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
It is sort of strange, no article about the DPS tape affair has brought up the subject of the possiblity of bribery in connection with the reasoning behind the DPS refusal to release the tapes.
Money talks and a lot of it talks louder.