Why? Because that’s what he did when Ronnie Earle went after Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Judge Bob Perkins would have heard the case, but he removed himself because he had donated $300 to her Democratic opponent, the Houston Chronicle reports today.
The Chronicle also reports that Perkins, the judge who issued the arrest warrant for DeLay, donated $100 in 2002 to the Texas Partnership PAC run by a leading Texas Democrat. This is before he gave money to John Kerry and MoveOn.org in 2004.
Perkins should have recused himself in the cases of DeLay co-defendants John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, but as the Chronicle reports, he did not: “Perkins already has ruled against Colyandro and Ellis on motions to dismiss the case because the election law is vague and a contention that money laundering does not apply in this case. Those rulings are on appeal.”
The case centers around the actions of DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority PAC (TRMPAC) during the state elections of 2002. The fact that the judge donated to the Texas Partnership PAC, whose goals were in opposition to TRMPAC’s, and did not recuse himself already is outrageous.