Something missing from the "flood" of links "proving" corruption in Harris County is a comparison to other Texas counties.
Buckle up...
Starting point, https://www.texasobserver.org/justice-for-some/
I downloaded their data here, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=1887926063
red and blue counties here, https://www.kxan.com/news/your-local...ction-results/
Crunched some numbers (feel free to download and crunch the numbers yourself)...
First off, Harris county did not have the most cases (15). The "winner" was Hidalgo County (blue/24) with Montgomery County a close second (red/23).
Using the map...
Region A: 103 cases in red counties, 26 in blue counties.
Region B: 66 cases in red counties, 9 in blue county.
Region C: 112 cases in red counties, 0 in blue counties (no blue counties).
Region D: 32 cases in red counties, 65 in blue counties.
Region E: 21 cases in red counties, 12 in blue counties.
Region F: 84 cases in red counties, 38 in blue counties.
Looks like the overall "winner" is red counties.
The numbers do not support faith-based conclusions.
God Save Queen
Originally Posted by cc314
I'm not sure this is showing what you think it is. The Public Integrity Unit, which you're providing the data for, apparently is only encharged with investigating state employees and state officials, as well as violations of the law related to "campaigns for or the holding of state office, or an election on a proposed constitutional amendment." If some County or Local official is up to no good, then I don't think the Texas Rangers Public Integrity Unit is charged with investigating. See
The Texas Ranger’s Public Integrity Unit is responsible for investigating crimes committed by state officers and state employees.
https://www.dps.texas.gov/section/te...cialized-units
The 2015 law described in your post was passed by Republicans to move responsibility for investigating and prosecuting corruption among state employees away from the Travis County District Attorney's Office and placing it with the Texas Rangers and local prosecutors:
https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/ne...sure/31246207/
From the text of the bill,
On receiving a formal or informal complaint regarding an offense against public administration or on request of a prosecuting attorney or law enforcement agency, the public integrity unit may perform an initial investigation into whether a person has committed an offense against public administration
Also,
The public integrity unit shall, on request of the prosecuting attorney described by Subsection (d), assist the attorney in the investigation of an offense against public administration.
https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/84...l/HB01690F.htm
My reading of this is that corruption cases are not automatically investigated by the Texas Rangers. Rather, someone would report the alleged crime to the Rangers. Or a local law enforcement agency or local prosecutor would request the help of the Rangers.
I expect that Harris County, for example, would have the resources internally to investigate corruption cases. Many smaller counties on the other hand might seek out the help of the Texas Rangers.
I note from your map that only 9% of counties in Texas are blue, while 26% of the cases in your table were for blue counties. In other words, the percentage of public integrity cases in blue counties is far higher than the percentage of blue counties in Texas. I don't know how relevant that is, but for example I suspect there are per capita a lot more state prison guards and other state employees in red rural counties than blue counties.
No doubt there are plenty of crooked state officials and state employees in both red and blue counties. The FBI ran a sting once across central and north central Texas and Oklahoma years ago and entrapped a very large number of County Commissioners in crimes. Admittedly, they're not state employees, but corruption has always been alive and well in Texas.
Interesting analysis, thanks.