Author Topic: A Firestorm Over Civil Assets Forfeiture  (Read 931 times)

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Offline Elderberry

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A Firestorm Over Civil Assets Forfeiture
« on: February 22, 2017, 02:19:08 am »
The East Texan

Travis Hairgrove, Editor • February 20, 2017

Three months left to go, and the 85th Texas State Legislative Session has already proven to be an especially heated one.

The issue of civil asset forfeiture reform went from being a sideline issue to a crusade for some lawmakers after a Feb. 7 meeting at the White House between a delegation from the National Sheriffs’ Association and President Donald J. Trump. A meeting in which a brief exchange between Rockwall County Sheriff Harold Eavenson and President Trump went thusly:

“There’s a state senator in Texas that was talking about legislation to require conviction before we could receive that forfeiture money,” Eavenson said to the president.

Trump then muttered, “Can you believe that?”

“And I told him that the cartel would build a monument to him in Mexico if he could get that legislation passed,” Eavenson continued.

To which Trump offered with a grin, “Who is the state senator? Do you want to give his name? We’ll destroy his career.”

“When the President of the United States threatens any member of the Texas Senate, it must be considered a threat to all Texas Senators, as well as a threat to the civility and decorum that are essential to a functioning democracy,” a resolution circulated by Texas Senate Democrats scolded, concluding with “Therefore, be it resolved, that the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby encourage the President of the United States to refrain from threatening elected officials.”

Meanwhile, Texas State Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa of District 20 (Brooks, Jim Wells, Nueces and Hidalgo Counties), who co-authored Senate Bill 380 with Burton, doesn’t believe that he was the target of Eavenson’s comment, and that he isn’t particularly worried about what Trump may or may not do.

“I don’t know the sheriff,” he said. “Quite frankly, I don’t pay much attention to what Trump says anymore.”

http://tamuceasttexan.com/3408/news/a-firestorm-over-civil-assets-forfeiture/