Harris County DA Kim Ogg pushes back after 'admonishment' by Democratic Party
Harris County DA Kim Ogg speaks after admonishment
The reelection prospects of District Attorney Kim Ogg have taken a significant hit after local Democratic Precinct chairs voted to admonish Harris County's top prosecutor. Less than 24 hours after being admonished, Ogg is pushing back - hard. FOX 26 Political Reporter Greg Groogan has closely followed the controversy and spoke with DA Ogg one-on-one.
HOUSTON - By a vote of 129 to 61, the first Harris County Democratic District Attorney in decades drew the public scorn of her local party.
The admonishment comes just ten weeks before Kim Ogg faces voters in the March primary and according to insiders, was largely fueled by the DA's high-profile "bid rigging" prosecution of three senior aids serving fellow Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, a fellow Democrat.
Progressive activist Daniel Cohen led the attack.
"She has weaponized her office. Out of step with Democratic values. Put her finger on the scale in favor of Republican policies both in elections and legislative sessions as well," said Cohen.
RELATED: Executive Committee of Harris County Democratic Party votes to 'admonish' District Attorney Kim Ogg
Longtime Democrats called the successful sanction largely unprecedented and amounts to the party giving a leg-up to Ogg's primary opponent Sean Teare, who has also drawn Hidalgo's vocal support.
Ogg supporter and former party chair Lane Lewis spoke in opposition to the Party picking sides before rank-and-file Democrats have cast a single ballot.
"We take an oath to support the candidates on the ballot, not to put our thumb on the scale of the primary," said Lewis.
Well-known Houston attorney and FOX 26 contributor Charles Adams calls the party sanction aimed at Ogg "repugnant."
"What Kim Ogg has done is said, if I see malfeasance, I'm going after it whether it Republicans or Democrats, and Democrats are incredibly, brazenly saying that we are upset because she is doing things to members of the party and we see it as hindering the party, but the truth is a crime is a crime," said Adams.
Less than 24 hours after being "admonished", Ogg was pushing back hard telling FOX 26 that when it comes to public corruption she will never look the other way, even when the alleged perpetrator is a member of her political party.
"I think last night what you heard from a few was that they prefer party over my oath to the law and I have no choice. I am an officer of the court and I swear to God to uphold and protect the laws and the constitution and that's exactly what I do. I think this type of political pressure on a prosecutor is common these days," Ogg said. "We see it at the federal level. We see it at the state level and we see it at the local level and prosecutors have a job to do. We are the hard stop on public corruption. There is no one else to take these cases and sometimes that puts us at odds with people in the same party."
Ogg will face Teare in the upcoming March Democratic primary.
Teare has been endorsed by Hidalgo who has openly said she will urge him, if elected, to drop the charges against her three aides as well as the ongoing investigation of the alleged $11 million corruption scheme in which she has been implicated, but not prosecuted.