Public Truth

I agree Fitzgerald’s lawyer is barking up the wrong tree when he tries to use the case he defended Toby Wilburn almost ten years ago in a selective prosecution defense. I wonder if he might better be served by using the prosecution that never happened in the Hight – stolen books case.

Judge Rusty Hight fits in the same legal class as anyone who took something that did not belong to him. Is there one person around here being paid by the public that doesn’t know about the theft? District attorney Mike Little? County Attorney Wes Hinch? John Bales? I would be surprised if any of them would claim they didn’t know.

Added to the theft of approximately $100,000 of public property is the possibility of organized crime. I am certainly no attorney, but a recent Liberty County case informs me that Mike Little knows it takes three people to be able to charge people with organized crime. Isn’t it true Richard Baker, Zeb Zbranek, and Rusty Hight all office where the books were delivered? By the way is that the equivalent of receiving stolen goods?

If all three of these men are aware of these very expensive books lodged in their workplace and available for their use as attorneys, shouldn’t they all bear some responsibility to do something? I am unaware that anyone I have mentioned did anything that resulted in the stolen property being returned until after six weeks of their absence in their rightful place. Yet, isn’t it reasonable to assume each one of these men knew enough history about local lawyers, the election, and expensive 'black’s letter law' books to know they were stolen?

Organized crime? Receiving stolen goods? I don’t know if these would be the proper charges, but I do know no average citizen could have done what was done here. It may be that Richard Baker as a former candidate for Supreme Court Justice is too big of a fish to reel in. It may be that Zeb Zbranek as a former State Representative is too big too. And it may be that Rusty Hight as a District Judge (retired) is more than anyone wants to take on in court. But this whole affair leaves us little fish questioning a system that selects who to prosecute.

Now that I have vented I can not help but realize I have the same question I am sure many of your readers have. Who is it that Fitzgerald’s lawyer felt escaped punishment because of selective prosecution. This kind of defense would indicate a whole lot of whistle blowing would be needed to make it make an any sense at all.

This is a no brainier defense for Fitzgerald and Groce,  Liberty County DA, Mike Little will suppress, pass the buck, ignore and selectively bury any theft (grand larceny) charges against the actors.

Liberty Dispatch readers will remember how that Liberty County DA, Mike Little  and Liberty County Attorney, Wes Hinch joined together and sent a letter to the Texas AG asking for an investigation.  The Texas AG and their Solicitor General arm initiated the investigation against Fitzgerald and Groce that ultimately resulted in indictments.

Liberty County DA, Michael Little- Official oppression, maliciously prosecutes political enemies, suppresses evidence, passes the buck, selectively prosecutes and/or buries crimes... Liberty County Attorney, Wes Hinch not far behind.  Both an obvious disgrace and source of embarrassment for Liberty County.

LD Contributor 

LIVING OUTSIDE THE FOXHOLE

After years of the good ole boy system in the courthouse we all must hope the recent election will create an entirely different atmosphere in our local government. The atmosphere at the courthouse has already changed as a new spirit of cooperation replaced the old one marked by competition, jealousy, and distrust.

We can be sure our elected officials got the message from voters. When the old guard was beaten so badly in the November election there was no doubt. Citizens of Liberty County have grown tired of the corruption and the favoritism and the selective prosecution by our public officials. The voters cleaned out the courthouse because they could tolerate it no longer. Our new leaders are well aware of the message that ushered them into office: “Public officials should not build their own kingdoms and profit by the power the voters give them”.

But did they get the other message? The message by voters that says, “Get out of the foxholes!” Voters removed officeholders from office that were involved in scandals and ones that weren’t. Voters will no longer tolerate the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” attitude that some politicians have. Voters need elected officials to go beyond what their job description is and look out for the public interests wherever they see it being abused. The selfish politician that just keeps his filing cabinets straight and dusted, but refuses to go beyond the call of duty will not be a local favorite any longer. They must speak up. They must want to right wrongs. We voters are at our jobs trying to feed our family and we cannot be in two places at one time. Elected officials need to police themselves.

We already have heard some of the public officials complaining about the media and others criticizing public officials all of the time. Grow up! The lack of an active and critical press is how we got where we were. So do your job, and on top of that do the right thing!

Here are three quotes from the late Martin Luther King, Jr. that set a higher standard for public officials than just to “not do anything wrong”:

1) He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetuate it. He who accepts evil without protesting it is really cooperating with it.”
2) “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
3) “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.’

Public officials who fear the press and openness with the electorate are either guilty of something or they are in the wrong business. They need to abandon the foxhole where they are building a re-election campaign and look out for the people. If done well, a better community will be the by product and re-election will be your reward.

Contributor, Richard Pegues

Dear Liberty Dispatch,

Oh how different it must be to walk in the world well known and powerful and to claim your fall from grace was being caused by the same culture that lifted you to the heights. To have sat on your hands and watched as the least among us could find no audience for their claims of innocence and then in your day of trouble to point to the system you have been helping to run and to point to those in it and to proclaim you have been done wrong.

Those that have felt the rotten courthouse culture we have had around here for years has caused them to be dealt with unjustly must really be shedding crocodile tears. Oh but wait Judge Fitzgerald, your accuser is not local, he is federal. He has no ties here. He has no reason to believe one person over another. This outsider has a reputation just the opposite of the culture you have helped to perpetuate. He has a reputation of following the facts. So any comparison with others folks claiming their legal matters in Liberty County have been determined by politics ends there.

But hearing the acknowledgment of a political culture that exerts influence in Liberty County’s justice system should not end here. This should be the beginning Judge Fitzgerald. Many have pointed at our system and proclaimed what you now have, but people like you denied it. This can be a new beginning for you. Start with the names of the people you are accusing. Spell them out! Who are you talking about? Your known nemesis? Are you talking about revenge and on your budget slashing attempt? Or are you talking about the mail thief who was gathering information to defame one of your opponents? Oh it truly is a political world you come from.

But let me make a suggestion to you. Rather than point to people who may have told about your FEMA contracts for revenge for things you have done or things you have been involved with, why don’t you do something to lessen your penalty and to help Liberty County. Why not point to the one whose budget has been dramatically increased? The “politics” of turning over information that may lead to the arrest and conviction of your enemy is not illegal. In fact, it helps keep our public officials cleaner than they otherwise would be. But wheeling and dealing to hide or suppress evidence and benefiting by that with a larger budget among other things - that kind of finger pointing may benefit your case as well as benefit the public.

Or you can take your chances on telling the good people in Beaumont what a political bunch of “gotcha politics” we have over here. But if you do stick with your current defense, please think of all of the known attempts to indict those who have spoken up about your FEMA contracts. Think of the Grand Juries and the people in the District Attorney’s office and attempts to imprison people that have not taken one red cent from taxpayers - now that is political!

THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!

Monday United States Magistrate Judge Earl Hines will preside over perhaps the most infamous case alleging fraud by a public official in Liberty County history. The case should feature the evidence brought forth by U.S. Attorney John Bales alleging former Liberty County Judge, Phil Fitzgerald and former Liberty County Commissioner, Lee Groce used their elected positions to fraudulently influence and award debris removal contracts to a company in return for sub-contracts being awarded to Fitzgerald’s brother-in-law, Mark Miksch. It should also feature a vigorous defense focused on how those charges are not valid. But it may not. What Judge Hines may not be prepared for is the attempt to shift this case away from the devastating events emanating from the Hurricane Ike’s landfall on September 13, 2008 to the world of backroom wheeling and dealing that KSHN’s Bill Buchanan and Fitzgerald have been living in for decades.

Liberty Dispatch has been told Phil Fitzgerald is represented by Beaumont attorney Lum Hawthorne, but we have reason to wonder if Lum has taken a backseat to Buchanan and Fitzgerald. Rather than take an opportunity to defend himself, once again Fitzgerald through KSHN radio is claiming innocence and blaming this all on his political opponents. Rather than take the opportunity to explain why a county official is entitled to have $612,000 of taxpayer money in his bank account, Buchanan and Fitzgerald are behaving more like the November 2010 general election is at stake. KSHN seems intent on a media campaign that simply repeats that “the former county judge did nothing wrong and will be vindicated in court”. Less than 100 days ago efforts like that put Fitzgerald and Groce on the list of unemployed former public officials. Liberty County voters have a history of almost always re-electing incumbents, but both men got trounced on election day. There have been plenty of political prosecutions around here, but in order for it to be a legitimate defense the person claiming to be a victim better be armed with reasons why they are innocent.

Up until now Fitzgerald seems to think the efforts made by Buchanan and KSHN, along with his own denials (“can’t wait to tell his side of the story”), is a valid defense. Liberty Dispatch can’t help but wonder out loud if a very experienced highly paid attorney like Lum Hawthorne would himself direct the defense towards this kind of strategy. But Hawthorne to this point seems to be endorsing the media campaign. KSHN (with their special access to Fitzgerald) is reporting that Lum Hawthorne has written a letter on behalf of his client that asserts the FEMA fraud charges “originated with Judge Fitzgerald’s political opponents who fed the U.S. Attorney information” that was incomplete or incorrect. Liberty Dispatch wonders why Hawthorne would go along with such rhetoric. The results of the last election would seem to suggest that voters do not believe there is any “incorrect or incomplete information”. Why not tell us what it is? Or is the defense hoping that just the idea of politics being involved will help absolve them of any wrongdoing?

Taxpayers in a federal court may not be impressed by the “shoot the messenger” strategy that Liberty County politicians and Bill Buchanan have used for years to intimidate challengers to their agendas and to do whatever they wanted to do around here. Most of us do not appreciate any attempt to put a whistle-blower on trial, nor will we fail to ask the pertinent question: “Is politics relevant to the guilt or innocence of a public official who has been proven to have used a FEMA generator illegally and who appears to have tried to hide the financial trail of over $3,000,000 worth of FEMA contracts that lead back to him?”

The political system is adversarial by design and the public depends, in part, on being informed by the people that want their opposition out of office. Most should hope for more public officials and political activists that speak out against practices like the ones alleged in these indictments.

If anything, by the end of it the Fitzgerald case should point to that part of our system that really is broken in Liberty County, the media. The importance of the first amendment’s protection of press is so people in positions like Bill Buchanan can vigorously expose wrongdoers without being shut down, not so they can try and redirect potential jurors. Buchanan by his relentless campaign on behalf of Fitzgerald and other behavior through the years is viewed by some as an enabler at a minimum. Fitzgerald and Buchanan have depended on politics to have their way on many things and they have made a great deal of money through politics. Now what do they want to say? Is the political world they have used to create their own little worlds is no longer working for them? How is that a defense against these charges?

Are they now going to complain about the same the politics of the courthouse or the rules in an investigation or the process of indictment? Look at this “reporting” by KSHN for example: “The lawyer also points out that government attorneys refused his offer to speak with them before they presented the case to a grand jury.” Buchanan knows there is nothing unusual about this but he will saturate the public airwaves with this kind of stuff as if it is a legitimate defense. His spin on stuff like this is legendary. But does it explain away all of the money that came his friend’s way?