Jeff Cason, Smith's challenger in Tuesday's Republican primary, is a liar.See? Rep Todd Smith filed a bill that passed the House 131-12 and 30-0 in the Senate concerning sex offenders. This bill, as 161 of our elected officials realized was needed and compassionate.
The bill applied only to one-time offenders whose crime was to have sex with someone who was at least 14 and was less than four years younger than the offender.
The bill did not save the offenders, usually young men, from punishment. It just allowed judges to hold a hearing and exempt them from being listed for life on the sex offender registry if they met certain requirements.
The sex had to have been consensual and the only factor that made it a crime was the age of the victim. The judge had to make a finding that the public would not be endangered, and that the exemption was in the best interest of the victim and of justice.
So what does Jeff Cason do? He lied:
So Smith was hardly shocked when Cason, a former Bedford city councilman, sent out a sensationalistic mailer featuring the battered-looking face of a young girl next to large type blaring that “Todd Smith authored a bill allowing sexual predators to live in our neighborhoods without registering on a sexual predators list.”
But, as Casey states, Cason is not the only cowardly liar in the bunch. Governor Rick Perry vetoed the bill stating:
His reason, according to his veto statement, was also false. He said the bill would make offenders “eligible to petition a court for an exemption from sex offender registration, regardless of the age of the victim.”
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
NOTE: Back in 2006 Representative Todd Smith asked the Texas Comptroller, Carole Keaton Rylander Strayhorn Cougar Mellencamp, to investigate the Texas Residential Construction Commission. Her conclusion after a 6 month detailed investigation was to abolish the agency. Three years later, it was.
And that aint no lie.
