Should Democrats attack Rick Perry over TYC?

In the aftermath of Rick Perry's trouncing of Kay Bailey Hutchison in the GOP gubernatorial primary, Emily Ramshaw and Jason Embry have been suggesting attacks on the incumbent they thought Hutchison should have waged and now think Democrat Bill White should embrace. Their comments come just as the Democratic Party has put the Texas Youth Commission scandal at the top of its hit list of things for which it intends to blame Rick Perry.

Unfortunately, looking fairly at the details of Democrats' specific complaints against Perry on the Youth Commission, they either don't quite stand up or apply equally to ranking Democrats at the Lege. Most importantly, they fail to give credit for good work done in the aftermath of the TYC scandal.

Texas' weak Governor cannot control alleged sexual abuse by guards at TYC lockups. Sexual abuse at corrections facilities, after all, regrettably isn't that uncommon. To me, it's hard to blame the Governor for not reacting to activities that were being covered up by local law enforcement. Yes, there were red flags, but until Nate Blakeslee broke the story in the Texas Observer, nobody outside of a single Texas Ranger, a small group of enablers in West Texas, and a few now-fired administrators at TYC could have possibly known the extent of the scandal.

More importantly from the perspective of this blog, focusing solely on who knew what when ignores the fact that, once the story came out, the Governor and his appointed fixer Jay Kimbrough signed off on some fairly radical reforms in reaction, most of which Democrats should support.

Under Rick Perry, the number of offenders in Texas youth prisons was slashed by more than half, starting with eliminating misdemeanants from TYC and then dramatically reducing minimum penalties for most juvenile state prisoners. That's an extraordinary record, made even more remarkable and praiseworthy because (in large part thanks to Democrat John Whitmire and others at the Lege, though Perry signed off on it), the state also expanded funding for community based programs to manage these kids closer to home. Then afterward, when critics wailed that crime was sure to skyrocket as a result of these changes, juvenile crime continued to drop.

Overall, that's a record to praise, not criticize. I had plenty of disagreements in the beginning, especially with Kimbrough's selection of a coterie of staff from the adult prison system who wanted to model reforms on TDCJ's practices. But Perry's folks also commendably changed course when those adult-prison transplants didn't work out, and throughout the process they worked productively across the aisle with Democrats in the Lege. I don't say that as a Perry apologist; I'm often critical of the Governor. It's just a fact.

Accusing one's political foe of tolerating sexual abuse against children is a tempting attack, but in reality the finger should be pointed at the individual staff who're alleged to have engaged in that behavior and local law enforcement who looked the other way. The Governor should be judged based on his public policy decisions after the news came out, and with the exception of a few key appointments, I doubt that Bill White would have reacted to the scandal any differently.

Right now, going forward, the last thing TYC needs is to become a political football in the Governor's race based on unfair, overhyped allegations that ignore both the truth and the best interests of incarcerated youth. Please find another issue, Mr. White.