After a relative was arrested for allegedly shoplifting at a grocery store, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst personally called the Allen Police Department to ask how to get her out of jail, referring to himself as the “No. 1 pick of all the law enforcement agencies within Texas,” reports the Texas Tribune. He told a police sergeant that his step-sister’s daughter-in-law, Ellen Bevers, is a schoolteacher and “the sweetest woman in the world,” and says he’s sure she has been incarcerated on a “mistaken charge.” The woman was not released until the next day, Aug. 4, reports the Dallas Morning News
Dewhurst, who is running for re-election with multiple GOP primary opponents in 2014, has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the incident. State Sen. Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican who is among Dewhurst’s primary challengers, saidhe was “saddened and disappointed” to hear that the lieutenant governor “attempted to use his power and influence to get a family member out of jail [ ] The fact that David Dewhurst believes he and his family are above the law is the height of arrogance and recklessness.”