Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Perry Will Tap Campaign Account to Pay Attorneys

Governor Rick Perry speaks to the press and supporters outside the Travis County Criminal Justice Complex on August 19, 2014.
Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon/KUT News
Governor Rick Perry speaks to the press and supporters outside the Travis County Criminal Justice Complex on August 19, 2014.

Gov. Rick Perry, who has been using taxpayer dollars to pay his defense lawyers, will tap campaign funds from now on to compensate the attorneys who are fighting his felony indictments, his spokesman said Wednesday night.

Perry spokesman Felix Browne said the governor, who has blasted the indictments as a "farce," did not want to saddle taxpayers with the cost of a wrongful prosecution.

"This is an assault on the Constitution," Browne said. "We don't want it to be an assault on the taxpayers as well."

Perry will use funds in his state campaign account, he said. As of June 30, the account had more than $4 million in it. 

State records show taxpayers have spent about $80,000 so far to represent Perry as he faced criminal investigation. He was indicted last week on two felony counts stemming for allegedly abusing his office with a threat to veto funds destined for the state's public integrity unit, which oversees public corruption cases.

Copyright 2014 KUT 90.5