came ashore. giving you a real global perspective like no other can. >> al jazeera, nairobi. >> on the turkey-syria border. >> venezuela. >> beijing. >> kabul. >> hong kong. >> ukraine. >> the artic. real reporting from around the world. this is what we do. al jazeera america. you hear it whenever a political figure is charged with crime. as the governor of one of the largest states and national figure is arraigned, we take a look at what sometimes called the criminalization of politics. it's the inside story. hello, i am ray swarez.

over the years a lot of elected officials have been charged, tried, some even convicted of official misconduct. the former governor of virginia is taken to stand in his own defense this week, telling a jury he didn't accept gifts from a businessman, in return for influencing the operation of state government. robert mcdonald says he didn't do anything for johnny williams, he wouldn't have done for any constituent, trying to invest and create jobs. in texas, governor rick perry has been charged with trying to use the powers of his office, to muscle a county prosecutor out of office, after she was convicted of drunk driving. the district attorney in question rose mary are is a democrat, the county where she serves travis is also the home of the state government in austin, and thus, investigates official corruption. lamb burg still in office, governor perry insists the charges against him are are pure harassment, poll tiggs in trouble, this time on inside story.

texas governor, turning himself in and then posing for a mug shot, the longest serving chief executive in the state history, he was indicted last week by a grand jury on charges of abuse of power. on the powers of the office of governor. there are important fundamental issues at stake. and i will not allow this attack on our system of government to stand. >> the charges stem from perry threatening to veto and then vetoing funding for a county district attorneys office, allegedly for political reasons. perry says he street toted the funding pause the head county district attorney did not step down after she was charged with a dui. the governor insists what

he did was legal, and that this is just politics as usual. >> i am here today pause i did the right thing. i am going to enter this courthouse with my head held high, knowing the actions that i took were not only lawful and legal, but right. uh importanter house majority leader sympathized he was charged with money raisering and fund conspiracy in 2002, by the same d.a.'s office. delay told fox news, this is the partisan warfare, and the office is in a democrat part of the state. for nine years i have been warning the republicans that if they don't reform this unit, and put it on a statewide basis, with the attorney general, that they could be next, and here we go. rick perry was next. representative delay also said these people for 30

years have been doing this, to their enemies. ^t more line between politics and crime is not unique to texas. bobirginia former mcdonald and his wife are on trial for allegedly accepted $165,000 worth of gifts from a businessman seeking political favors. the couple faces 14 federal corruption charges. >> it's just a sad day, for the entire mcdonald family, thank you. >> the question is when does politics as usual, cross the line into crime. there's no question some politician abuse their offices. former connecticut governor john roland went to prison in 2005, for essentially putting his office up for sale, for over $100,000. also in 2005, california republican randy duke cunningham, pled guilty to tax evasion, conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud, he spent more than seven years in jail. but some observers

believe governor perry's case has more to do with texas politics than with laws that may or may not have been broken. former opam ma campaign advisor, hardly rah supporter of texas republicans, tweeted that to him, the charges felt "sketchy." if perry and others are being pursued for essentially political reasons, can any office hold core the job properly, without having to con can standly look over their shoulders? you will hear again and again, that criminal charges against politician and political activists are just partisan witch hunts. cases of rivals and opponentses out to get them. is there anything to that? have laws to limit official corruption pulled so tight around public offices, that it's harder to play the game, bare knuckled and tough as kit be, without running afoul of some broad interpretation? joining us for a look at politics and

prosecutions, in washington, melanie sloan. executive director of citizens for responsibility and ethics in w, from dallas texas, paul cog ban as former u.s. attorney for north texas and also joining froes the inside story studio, terry c ordero, add jundt professor of law. welcome to the everybody. we didn't put in the laws without the precedent of having politician do bad things in office. >> right, so public corruption cases are very important. i think the dish about the perry case is this is a state charge verses federal public corruption, which is one of the major priorities, it is the top criminal priority of the fbi. so it isn't that public cases are new, or anything like that, it is really just that this

case is someone unusual. a lot of otimes these cases have to do with the influence of the office. and elected officials are influential, and one of the things they can do is deliver. whether it's public funding for projects or support for various kinds of commercial concerns, is that an example of how we have criminalized politics? just taking the nature of what we expect elected officials to do, and making it into a crime? >> one thing when you think about it is you mentioned the statutes are often broad, and they are. so it takes a lot. what is politics the name of the game polices. be uh the truth is to get any kind of jury appeal, in a public case, you need to have something secret, something co can

vert going on. money under the table, some secret ownership and property. this guy passed legislation to help supporters, you can can basically like if every politician in the country if that's a crime. >> but in the case of texas in particular, this is the office, the funding question, had to do with an office that investigates malfeasance while in office. even if it's not in black and white law, that it is against the law, isn't there antic factor in a powerful state official trying to defund an office they are looks into the business of powerful state officials. >> no question, you can see governor perry as a bully, you can say this is a dumb political move, he should never have done that, but i look at the fact that what he did was as transparent as it could be, you said basically i don't trust this woman to run this office.

i don't trust her as a steward of seven preponderate $5 million as long as she is there,ly do everything i can can do to block that $7.5 million of state funding going to her. so you know, argue it politically, but i don't think that rising to the level of public corruption. melanie sloan, fair enough, he didn't hide his hand, or what he was trying to accomplish, by robbing -- taking away the funding from this office. >> he may not have are hidden it, but that doesn't mean it is not a crime. islamicdy agree with the theory are that it has to be secret to be a crime. here it is governor perry wanted to get rid of this woman, but interestingly enough, he didn't try to get rid of two other district attorneys in texas who also had drunk driving convictions, one of them had two con can viceses.

>> including a major donor to merry himself. so it looks line when he was trying to get rid of the funding was trying to end the investigation, into the texas cancer prevention and research institute. do you share the concern about the openness as opposed to one prosecutor as opposed to another. >>s that's another good point, here oa special prosecute canser the one that indicted governor perry with use uhing a grand jury, it ises not the distribute attorney, who governor perry was trying to get rid of, it was a guy named mike mccrumb, who was appointed by republican judge, republican are state judge, and mccrumb himself, had previously had the support of united states senators when he had put his hand in the ring, so this doesn't look like the same kind of political persecution, governor perry is trying to claim it is. >> professor, is there problems with the way

some of these laws are drafted that we only find out about once they are in court? >> as a general matner a corruption case, you need at least two pacic things one is there needs some sort of quid pro quo, there has to be something that the public official is doing in in their official quality, and then they have to get something. in return. and so based on the facts that have been disclose canned so far, it doesn't seem to appear what the governor had to gain in terms of any kind of a personal gain, or even professional gain, from whatever was the pressure that he was supposedly putting on the district attorney. the second thing is they have to show intend. so under these statutes that the governor has been chanced with, they have to show that he knowingly, was misusing his authority. and they have to show an

idea of intent. >> i am interested in the idea that there was a quid pro quo. this official was an elected official, not someone that serves at the pleasure of the governor, not someone he could fire. so he was using the power of his office to sort of do an end run are on the voters of travis county, wasn't he. >> well, so con can travis that when we think about traditional kid pro go, getting something giving something to get something, a notorious case, would be the illinois governor. so here is is the case where you can have this extensive investigation, wiretaps, huge investigation, run by the u.s. attorney there, and they had tapes of the former governor saying i have this thing of value, which at the time was barack obama senate seat, and i am -- paraphrasing of course. but i am not giving it up, i am not giving it up for nothing, so that was this substantial evidence, and so in this case, in the perry cases, i think what people will be looking for is was

this really a legitimate investigation? are there credible witnesses, is there some evidence that the governor was misusing his authority and had the went to do so? >> we will be back after a short break, when inside story returns we will continue our look at politician and the law, can can partisan motivation and the plain language of the law in the hands of a prosecutor become a weapon for settling political scores. stay with uses.

>> hundreds of days in detention. >> al jazeera rejects all the charges and demands immediate release. >> thousands calling for their freedom. >> it's a clear violation of their human rights. >> we have strongly urged the government to release those journalists. >> journalism is not a crime.

>> these young people deserve justice >> anatomy of a protest... >> ...the police look like they're getting ready to come down the street >> with militarized police departments >> forces their message... >> they're actually firing canisters of gas... >> a fractured community demands answers >> what do we want? >> justice! >> when do we want it? >> now! >> faul lines, al jazeera america's hard hitting... >> there blocking the door... >> ground breaking... >> truth seeking... >> we have to get out of here... award winning investigative documentary series... special episode ferguson: city under siege only on al jazeera america

>> americans are uncomfortable talking about death and dying, but social media is normalizing the conversation and making it surprisingly hopeful. don't miss the stream the stream, on al jazeera america

welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john henry smith. here are the stories we are following for you at this hour. evaluating the threat from the islamic state group, as the united states measures its response. >> hamas retaliation against alleged israeli contributors. and another night of calm in ferguson, as the community prepares for the burial of michael brown. ♪