(from Brian Rogers, Alan Bernstein and Matt Stiles of the Chron)
New e-mails released Tuesday show District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal sent and received racist jokes and strategized with political consultants and colleagues about his re-election campaign on his county e-mail account.
Also within the correspondence obtained Tuesday by the Houston Chronicle were numerous sexually explicit images. It was unclear, however, if Rosenthal ever forwarded those files.
The latest batch of 730 e-mails was met with concern by Harris County GOP leaders, who had already successfully pressured him to abandon his re-election bid.
"It's time for Chuck Rosenthal to pack his bags and leave," said county GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill.
Rosenthal declined to comment late Tuesday.
Among e-mails that concerned Woodfill were video clips of nudity and sex acts and a racist joke forwarded by Rosenthal that compares former President Bill Clinton to a black man.
The e-mail says Clinton played the saxophone, smoked marijuana and gets a check from the government each month.
The sex will get the sizzle of the story, but the steak is probably in the racist joke that was forwarded.
You did know that D.A. Rosenthal has a reputation for agressively going after the death penatly right? And that a majority of the cases in which he seeks the death penalty involve young black men?
Yeah, that looks bad. Even given the probable fact that Rosenthal didn't target these men because of their race (which I believe) as a D.A. in Texas largest county you not only have to be colorblind and evenhanded, you can't let there be the appearance that you are not raise its ugly head.
He should step down, and the airing out of the office can begin.
UPDATE: 3:00 PM Jan 9...
In a press conference today Harris County Commissioner Ed Emmet asked for the State District Attorney to investigate Rosenthal. He also said that he will ask Rosenthal to "step down" if he can't provide "a good account" of how he is spending his time on the taxpayers' dole. The article also notes that Emmett's primary challenger, Charles Bacarisse, made similar calls for Rosenthal to step down previously.
Yup, the sharks are circling.
OTHER EYES:
Profesor's R Squared: Time to go Chuck. Now.
Off the Kuff: Oh, those e-mails.
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