Gov Perry: You’re On Trial, Not Willingham

By
Glenn W. Smith
– October 14, 2009Posted in: Politics

camerontoddwillingham18 198x300 Gov Perry: Youre On Trial, Not WillinghamStung by criticism of his handling of the Cameron Todd Willingham execution, Gov. Rick Perry has begun to try Willingham again in the press. Governor, Willingham is not on trial. He’s dead and can’t be retried. It’s your actions that are on trial.

Perry will want to further politicize this matter in hopes of burying the truth in a prisoner’s grave. It won’t work, Rick. Man up. Let all the facts be known.

As criticism has mounted around the nation and world, it was only a matter of time before Perry began to tell us what a bad man Willingham was, hoping that will trump the evidence against Perry.

The governor’s engaged in an aggressive cover-up of his administration’s handling of the Willingham case. He scuttled the Texas Forensic Science Commission investigation by replacing his appointees at the last minute. He refused to make public memos, emails and other documents related to the case. Forensics experts say the evidence against Willingham was flawed, that the fire in which his children perished wasn’t even arson.  They believe he was innocent of the crime for which he was executed.

Earlier this week, Perry’s opponents in the GOP gubernatorial primary criticized him for his handling of Willingham case. Perry’s spokesperson, Allison Castle, fired back with an attack on Willingham. Because it’s intellectually dishonest, it is very predictable behavior from Perry.

Willingham was no angel, but I think the law doesn’t provide the death penalty for those who are not  angels. I haven’t seen the flawed forensic evidence. I didn’t hear the testimony. I wasn’t at Willingham’s trial. I have heard what the experts say. I have heard Perry mock them publicly. I know that Willingham’s past actions, whatever they were, were not capital offenses.

Perry will try to make this an issue about the anything but his own actions.  We can’t bring Willingham back from the dead. We can hold officials accountable who may have executed an innocent man. We can demand openness and transparency in government.

The state forensics commission was not re-trying Willingham. It was not debating the death penalty. It was looking into forensics errors of the past in hopes that they won’t be made again in the future. It was, that is, until Perry decided that he might be embarrassed by the hearing, by the testimony of experts, by the actions of his office when it received an arson expert’s opinion before the governor denied Willingham a stay of execution.

That brings up another dishonest dodge in Perry’s defense of himself. He wasn’t asked to pardon Willingham back in 2004. He was asked to stay the execution so the evidence against Willingham could be examined more closely. He shouldn’t try to argue today that his choice was to set Willingham free or let him be executed.

Death penalty advocates ought to want all the facts made public in the Willingham case. Prosecutors can’t possibly want a dark cloud hanging over the criminal justice system. Doubt is their opponent, and they should want the public to know the state does everything in its power to ensure justice. Right now, it appears that in the Rick Perry era, the state does everything it can to ensure the opposite.

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About Glenn W. Smith

Glenn W. Smith has spent the past 30 years in journalism and politics, where he’s made a name for himself as a writer, campaign manager, activist, think tank analyst and, as Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says, a “legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.” “There’s no one like him,” says author George Lakoff. CNN commentator Paul Begala says, “He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us.” Novelist Sarah Bird speaks of his “lucid and lyrical” prose. And, she says, he’s fun. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says Glenn writes with “grace and abundant humor” and “uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all.”

Smith led Ann Richards’ successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas. He worked for former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier, Smith was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post. He’s coordinated national campaigns for groups such as MoveOn.org. In 2004, he authored the highly acclaimed book, The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction. He also wrote Unfit Commander, a book that detailed George W. Bush’s mysterious disappearance from military service.

In 2004, Smith was featured in the film, Bush’s Brain, a documentary about Karl Rove. Smith provided commentary on Rove’s role as then-President Bush’s senior advisor. He has made numerous media appearances with Chris Mathews on Hardball, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and many others. He writes a regularly for top national web sites, including FireDogLake and Huffington Post.

As a senior fellow at George Lakoff’s prestigious Rockridge Institute in Berkeley he studied, wrote and taught on the power of metaphor and narrative in political communications. He also lectured on religion and politics at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley. As a sponsor and organizer, he has pulled together numerous national events with progressive religious leaders. He also organized a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at Riverside Church in New York City as well as “Freedom and Faith” bus tours, which was a nationwide campaign for social justice and progressive values.

Smith’s play, Double Play, which explored American Western myths and legends, was held over to sold-out audiences. He’s even written and performed songs in the Americana tradition, such as his best-known song, “Helping Marty Robbins,” a tribute to his hometown, Houston.

Most recently, Smith is the creator of DogCanyon, a political and cultural web site covering state, national and global issues from a Texas perspective. DogCanyon is an exhilarating and unique site that gets the connections between politics and culture and explores both the personal side of politics and the ups, down, craziness and beauty of “life its ownself,” as humorist Dan Jenkins would say. DogCanyon offers heartfelt personal essays, hard-hitting political analysis, and, most importantly, laughs.

As Paul Begala said, Smith writes in “the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”