Checking and Balancing the Public Integrity Unit

Hardhatters ^ | 08/20/2014 | Jordan Long

[thetallguy24]

With the news of Governor Perry’s indictment going viral, the Public Integrity Unit (PIU) of the Travis County District Attorney’s office is once again shaking up Texas politics, though more indirectly than it has in the past. The agency has been the bane of politicians for 30 years, and routinely comes under fire from Republicans for its supposed partisanship. How did this branch of municipal law enforcement in a deep sea-blue Democratic county come to carry such influence in a ruby-red state? Is it time, as many conservative say, to rein in the rogue outfit and place its duties somewhere else?

The roots of the PIU run deep back to 1976, when Travis County elected a former Democratic state representative named Ronnie Earle into the District Attorney’s office. He soon created a division dubbed the Public Integrity Unit to investigate and prosecute wrongdoing on the part of public officials. Since Travis County encompasses Austin, PIU found itself chasing after the misdeeds of high-profile state officials conducting business there. In 1983, on account of this coincidence of geography, Earle convinced the legislature to provide funding for PIU’s operations. Other Public Integrity Units, for example those operating out of Harris and Dallas counties, receive no such largesse.

The division soon drew renown as a big-game hunter in the Texas political scene. It targeted heavyweights including Attorney General Jim Mattox, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay, and several prominent state legislators including House Speaker Gib Lewis.

Now a situation involving PIU threatens another Texas political titan as a San Antonio special prosecutor tries to make a case that Governor Perry’s veto of funding for drunk-driving Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg’s PIU constituted an abuse of power.

For many conservatives, the division is an attack dog for

[thetallguy24]

I think its a good idea. Let local DA's throughout Texas keep their authority and defund the state portion of the Travis County PIU's budget, but also give the state impeachment power over corrupt DAs.

[Paine in the Neck]