Sarah Palin not often fact-checked in Texas

Nationally, Sarah Palin has been Truth-O-Meter’d nearly 60 times as you can see on her PolitiFact report card.

But PolitiFact Texas, where we focus on curious statements made by Texans or about Texas, has had the honor of verifying the former Alaska governor’s claims only three times — the latest just recently in connection with her Fox News commentary critical of the indictments of Gov. Rick Perry.

Palin misfired when she said the office of Democratic district attorney of Travis County, Rosemary Lehmberg, convened the special grand jury that handed down Perry’s felony indictments in connection with Perry’s alleged actions leading up to his 2013 veto of state support for the part of the DA’s office that investigates state officials. We rated this Palin claim False; Early on, Lehmberg’s office recused itself from handling the complaint that eventually resulted in the grand jury whose secret deliberations culminated in Perry’s charges. A senior district judge from San Antonio, chosen by a judge based in Williamson County, impaneled the grand jury. The San Antonio judge picked a San Antonio lawyer to prosecute the case.

We rated True Palin’s claim in the commentary that Lehmberg purchased 72 bottles of vodka in a little over a year. This was mostly supported by liquor store receipts submitted in a civil proceeding over whether Lehmberg could remain in her office after her drunken driving conviction and jail term.

Our only previous foray into reviewing a Palin claim: In July 2012, we rated True her statement that 1 in 7 American families was on food stamps. At the time, that was even a slight understatement.

See these Palin fact checks to the right along with some of our other articles that mentioned Palin.

Back to Texans? You betcha, most of the time.