Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said on Wednesday that continuing legal charges would not affect his decision on whether to run for President in 2016, or not. A San Antonio judge has denied Perry’s attempt to have the felony abuse-of-power case against him thrown out.
Perry had just addressed voters in the early primary state of South Carolina on Tuesday, when State Judge Bert Richardson announced his decision; he would not throw out the charges Perry faced.
Perry fired back, stating, “You know what I hear from folks out there? There is great support for standing up for the Constitution. Americans are looking for a leader that’s not afraid to stand up, [that will] not be intimidated.”
Wednesday, back in Austin with his attorneys, Perry said he would continue pressing to have the legal case dropped. The charges stem from Perry’s threat to veto the budget for the state’s political corruption unit unless the Travis County DA, who runs the unit, stepped down.
Perry’s lead attorney Tony Buzbee plans to re-file the motion to drop the charges. “The judge invited us to file another motion to quash, because in his view the indictment is vague and non-specific. So we intend to file that within 24 hours, while at the same time pursuing the appeal on Constitutional issues,” said Buzbee.
But critics like Ed Espinoza, Executive Director of the political not-for-profit, Progress Texas, said the fight wasn’t about partisanship. “They can fix language but what they haven’t fixed is charges. He still has charges against him, one felony and now one misdemeanor. He still needs to own up to it,” said Espinoza.
Taxpayers picked up Perry’s early legal tab of $132,000. He will now pay for his legal defense from the campaign fund collected while he was governor.
