On Judge Hidalgo
Yesterday, I watched Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo respond to the dismissed charges against her three former aides. See the featured photo. She was on her A-game. She praised the attorneys from the Attorney General’s office. She slammed Rachel Hooper, a top Texas GOP lawyer who helped lead the investigation against the three who were indicted. Then Judge Hidalgo called former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg a “dirty cop.”
A lot of folks called this one of the most corrupted deals to ever come out of Harris County government, but nobody went to trial and the cases were dismissed. I would say that it was not one of the most corrupted deals to ever come out of Harris County government. It was just a sloppy handling of a contract, and we have seen thousands of these throughout local, state and federal government.
Judge Hidalgo had every right to do a victory dance and take a victory lap yesterday in an in-your-face message to her critics and those who have called her a corrupt politician. In my book, she was vindicated. I mean, where’s the beef.
A bunch in MAGA world claim that the guilty verdicts and the investigations of Donald Trump helped his win last November. If that is the case, then you have to say, these indictments and now dismissals and the investigations of the Harris County Judge will help her if she decides to seek reelection next year.
I think she is now a lot stronger politically.
Here is what Kim Ogg put out yesterday:
“Unfortunately, the people of Harris County will never have the opportunity to hear the evidence and decide for themselves whether Judge Hidalgo’s staff rigged an $11 million COVID contract and what role she played in it.”
Huh? I don’t know about that.
The following was sent by Josh Reno, Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice:
“A joint investigation into public corruption in Harris County conducted by the Texas Rangers and the Criminal Prosecutions Division of the Office of Attorney General has reached resolution in the cases involving Alex Triantaphyllis and two other low level county staffers. This joint investigation was rigorous and discovered new information from witness interviews, which was corroborated with physical evidence. This new information, which was not presented to the grand jury, critically affected the ability to substantiate certain elements of the crimes required to meet the State’s high burden of proof. Our fight against government corruption is not over, and we will vigorously prosecute those who abuse our tax dollars when the evidence meets the standard required by law.”
Here is from Fox 26 News:
As a result of this criminal case dismissal, Harris County taxpayer will likely pick up a very large legal tab. Under a policy approved by Harris County Commissioners, workers who are prosecuted or sued for actions taken during the course of their employment and later cleared are entitled to full reimbursement for the cost of their legal defense.
This is going to cost us Harris County taxpayers a lot of dough.
It looks like Judge Hidalgo had the final word over former DA Ogg. It is hard to argue against what Judge Hidalgo said yesterday.
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Have a safe Super Bowl Weekend.
