Killing the Messenger

The most shocking thing about the indictment of 10 people in last summer's McAllen vote buying scandal (other than the fact that any indictments came down at all) has to be the fact that the man who hand-delivered the case to authorities gets hit with a charge himself.

The Texas Rangers asked Othal Brand Jr. to videotape the men offering to sell votes to his father's campaign. The younger Brand did so, handing the Rangers a slam-dunk case. Now he gets hit with a charge of unlawful buying and selling of balloting materials. He tells Action 4 news:

"I find it hard to believe that I've been indicted since I brought this issue to the court's attention. However, I feel the court system will prove my innocence."

No doubt, Brand Jr. is anxious to have his day in court, but it shouldn't have gone this far. There's the old saw that a district attorney can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich if he wants to, and you have to wonder whether the DA's office is "thanking" Brand for stirring up trouble with a high-profile videotape that even Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra couldn't ignore.

Texas Ranger Israel Pacheco told The Monitor his investigation never showed that Brand Jr. did anything wrong.

"It’s kind of setting a bad precedent when you indict the person that brought you the information and started this whole investigation in the first place."

Maybe that's the idea.