Early to Rise has early corruption

Foreshadowing what is to come if the folks behind Early to Rise are successful in fleecing Harris County taxpayers, the Harris County Attorney’s office has already broken their duty to maintain attorney-client privilege. Let’s take a look at the definition of attorney-client privilege:

Because the attorney-client privilege often balances competing interests, it defies a rigid definition. However, one often-cited characterization was set forth in United States v. United Shoe Machinery Corp., 89 F. Supp. 357 (D. Mass. 1950). The court articulated five requirements: first, the person asserting the privilege must be a client, or must have sought to become a client at the time of disclosure; second, the person connected to the communication must be acting as a lawyer; third, the communication must be between the lawyer and the client exclusively—no non-clients may be included in the communication; fourth, the communication must have occurred for the purpose of securing a legal opinion, legal services, or assistance in some legal proceeding, and not for the purpose of committing a crime; fifth, the privilege may be claimed or waived by the client only (usually, as stated above, through counsel).

Remember when I said that it was news to me that Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan had given Harris County Judge Ed Emmett a private legal opinion regarding the Early to Rise petition? In that report, I didn’t know the name of the person that told this to Paul Bettencourt. I now know the name – James Calaway, Chair of the Early to Rise initiative. You can see the “debate” between Bettencourt and Calaway tomorrow morning on Khambrel Marshall’s Newsmakers. It airs on Local 2 Houston at 10:00 am, right after Meet the Press.

Emmett did not waive attorney-client privilege

I talked to Joe Stinebaker, Communications Director for Judge Emmett, about this “private opinion”. What he told me was remarkable. Yes, there has been a private opinion given to the Judge by Ryan. There is only one copy of the opinion and Judge Emmett has that copy. Judge Emmett has not waived attorney-client privilege – Stinebaker said that he couldn’t tell me what was in the opinion. Stinebaker has been receiving numerous requests from media asking for a copy and each requester has stated that the County Attorney’s office said it was okay to release it if Judge Emmett wanted to. Emmett declined each of those requests.

So here is the question for you: if Judge Ed Emmett hasn’t waived  the attorney-client privilege (remember, he is the client and is the only one authorized to waive it), who released it?

Obviously someone in Vince Ryan’s office, if not Vince Ryan himself. Thank you Republicans for refusing to vote for Robert Talton last year. Ryan is a political hack who will stop at nothing to help his friends.

Early to Rise ripe for more corruption

If we already have corruption in the Early to Rise initiative, before a single dollar has been taken from your pocket, think about the amount of corruption that will exist when this group has $30 million to toss around to their friends and political hacks.

How can we find out which person in Vince Ryan’s office broke the attorney-client privilege? Well, we already know, thanks to reporters telling people. But rather than rely on that, in one of the many lawsuits that will surround this program, let’s put Vince Ryan, First Assistant Robert Soard, Special Counsel Terry O’rourke, and James Calaway under oath and see the rats turn on each other.

Harris County Department of Education Board members, be very careful who you sleep with.

Note: I’ll be talking about Early to Rise and the HCDE tomorrow afternoon on the Mark McCaig radio show. The show airs at 4 pm on 1070 am in Harris County. You can stream it live on 1070KNTH.com.

Click here for the BJP Early to Rise information page!