CHARETTE POSTS $8000 BAIL IN CAMPAIGN CASE
Brenham attorney Robbie Gail Charette has posted an $8000 bail, concerning misdemeanor charges against her past campaign for county court at law judge.
Charette, who was released Monday after posting the bail set by a district court judge, was indicted by a grand jury in June. The charges came from complaints saying she had not properly disclosed important campaign finance information.
A Washington County grand jury charged Charette with Misleading Use of an Office Title, Failure to File Personal Financial Statement, Failure to Keep Campaign Record, and Failure to Disclose True Source of Communication. These charges range from Class A to B misdemeanors.
District Judge Carson Campbell appointed Austin County District Attorney Travis Koehn to investigate the claims, which were given to the grand jury on June 19. Houston attorney Lewis Thomas, representing Charette, issued a statement last month defending her against the charges, saying they were “a result of a disturbing trend of criminalization of politics.”
I have to agree and state that I have very little faith in the grand jury process. It is very one sided and completely controlled by the prosecution. If a grand jury seems like they are getting to independent, the prosecutors will stop presenting cases until a new one is sworn in.
While I understand the points being made below, when a candidate self funds a campaign for a local election without any outside contributions (one of the purposes of the campaign finance laws are to ensure that candidates are not being bought and controlled by outside interests) it is hard to see why this is a crime that deserves the amount of time and resources being given to it. The reason we have a grand jury is to put a check on prosecutions that don’t pass the smell test, and this one does not. The grand jury failed at their duty and now we are going so spend tax payer dollars prosecuting an upstanding citizen who made a technical mistake. You may not have voted for her, but she is a good person, active in her church, sings in the choir, and contributes to our community. There is no community good served by going after this lady. This really does look like a case of the establishment sending a message not to challenge them.
The grand jury process is the problem. Stacked and very little if any turnover.
The Grand Jury process is statutory, written into law by the Legislature in Austin. It cannot be “stacked” and there is a new one every 6 months… by law. Summons are sent out at random based on driver’s license and voter registration rolls. The first 12 qualified are selected. They serve 6 month terms, and judging from the posts here listing all the folks indicted, they meet about once a month.
Mea culpa, law changed June 2015.
She was indicted by the Grand Jury, made up of regular citizens, her fellow citizens, NOT officials to determine if there was enough evidence for indictment.No one is above the law, no matter how much money you have to self fund anything.
This whole thing is a waste of taxpayer money, this women self funded her own campaign and basically failed to file a campaign finance statement (she did not take any contributions). And now she is being persecuted, what a shame. These officials should acknowledge she should have filed the form and move on, criminal charges like this are ridiculous. I hate to think this could be possible, but maybe those that rule on our county are trying to send a message to others about what will happen if you challenge them.
What?
The Election Code says you must do certain things and not do others. It’s pretty clear. So are the consequences.
She was told over and over during the campaign to file 1 of 2 documents. She HAD to file one or the other. She never did. Now she’s being PROSECUTED, not persecuted.
It’s a District Judge from Brazos County and Special Prosecutor from Austin County. Neither “rule on our county”. If you recall, the County Judge and a long time Commissioner both lost in their primaries. Did they not get the memo about “persecuting” challengers? There’s no conspiracy or witch-hunt.
Bingo.
You are absolutely right. Totally ridiculous. Complete waste of tax dollars. This is the end result in society when belligerent spoiled brats enter the work force and have spoiled self serving egotistical attitudes, personalities. They are the kids you grew up with that took their ball home and left the game when they did not get their way. This is another example of simple common sense escaping government decision making. Totally ridiculous.