AUSTIN - A prominent legal team has taken shape to assist Gov. Rick Perry in fighting a felony indictment, with the lead lawyer denouncing the abuse of power charges as 'nothing more than banana republic politics.'
'We are going to fight and we are going to win,' said Tony G. Buzbee, a Houston trial lawyer who will lead the five-member legal team, on Monday. 'This case is about the rule of law.'
The indictment, returned by a Travis County grand jury on Friday, stemmed from Mr. Perry's efforts to force the resignation of Rosemary Lehmberg, the Travis County district attorney, after her arrest on a drunken-driving charge. Mr. Perry threatened to veto funding to her office unless she quit, a threat that he ultimately carried out by vetoing $7.5 million earmarked for the Public Integrity Unit that was intended to fight official corruption.
Mr. Perry, the state's longest serving governor, has responded by denouncing the indictment and assailing Ms. Lehmberg's behavior the night she was arrested.
Mr. Perry has been charged with two felony counts of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant, which together could carry a maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison. He is the first sitting Texas governor in nearly a century to be indicted.
The charges come as Mr. Perry has been retooling his image with an eye toward another run for president in two years, after his 2012 bid ended with a series of missteps.
Mr. Perry has called the charges an 'outrageous' political attack.
Craig McDonald, of Texans for Public Justice, a watchdog group whose complaint led to the grand jury investigation, has countered Mr. Perry's assertion, noting that the special prosecutor who oversaw the investigation is a Republican from San Antonio. 'No Democrat has had a finger on this,' Mr. McDonald told CNN. 'For the governor to say this is a partisan witch hunt just doesn't stand in the face of the facts.'
Mr. Perry's strategy has been to fight the charges head-on, beginning with a defiant news conference at the State Capitol less than 24 hours after the indictment was handed down, followed by a Sunday talk show appearance. Perry is scheduled to appear Saturday in New Hampshire, the traditional site of the nation's first presidential primary, for a fund-raiser in Stratham for the state's Republican Party.
Mr. Buzbee, in introducing the legal team at a downtown Austin hotel, told reporters that Mr. Perry will be booked at the Travis County courthouse to be fingerprinted and photographed, although the date and time has not been determined. Mr. Buzbee stressed that Mr. Perry will make no attempt to dodge the inevitable throng of reporters and television cameras.
'There will of course be a summons and there will be a point where Gov. Perry will have to appear,' Mr. Buzbee said. 'When it comes time to happen, we're going to let everybody know.'
Attorneys for Mr. Perry will appear at the arraignment, but a spokesman, Felix Browne, said that the governor is required to be present. The legal team echoed Mr. Perry's denunciation of the charges and signaled that Ms. Lehmberg's behavior the night of her arrest will clearly be an element of their defense. They aired portions of a widely-shown video showing Ms. Lehmberg after her April 12 arrest, at one point telling officers, 'Now you've ruined my entire political career.'
'Anybody that sees that tape,' Mr. Buzbee said, 'would have lost confidence in the Travis County district attorney.'
The other lawyers on the legal team include David L. Botsford of Austin, Bobby R. Burchfield of Washington, D.C., and Benjamin L. Ginsberg, who served as counsel for the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2000 and played a key role in the Florida recount. Mr. Botsford has served as Mr. Perry's lawyer in the grand jury investigation over his veto threat.
Also on the team, but not present Monday, is Thomas R. Phillips, the former chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court.
Mr. Buzbee, a former Marine Corps infantry officer, has been described as one of the most successful trial lawyers in the country. He has won more than $1 billion for his clients, including the largest-ever jury verdict against BP in 2009, according to his biography. He was a major supporter of Mr. Perry's short-lived presidential campaign in 2012.
Mr. Buzbee acknowledged that the state 'will pay some part of this defense' but he declined to speculate on the cost of what could become a prolonged legal battle.
'Without this wrongful indictment, the taxpayers of the state of Texas would not have to pay for such a defense,' he said.
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