Abbott isn’t the savior, and Luther isn’t a victim

Lisa Falkenberg says the governor is trying to cast blame on others for the Dallas salon owner’s jailing in violation of his own order.

Oh, governor.

You were supposed to be the grown-up. While Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was out singing “Live and Let Die” to unsuspecting 70-somethings during this global pandemic, Gov. Greg Abbott was the one statewide leader at least giving lip service to doctors and data and common sense.

Alas, when leadership got hard, the leader got to backtracking.

Let’s be clear about something: Shelley Luther, the Dallas-area salon ownerturned-folk hero, wound up in jail this week because of her very public, very theatrical refusal to follow Abbott’s very own order.

Abbott’s executive order, which preempted local orders, delayed the reopening of salons as part of a phased-in approach to restart the Texas economy responsibly.

And like Abbott’s other orders issued during this outbreak, it specified stiff consequences for noncompliance: A fine not to exceed $1,000, up to 180 days in jail, or both.

So why, as soon as Luther’s case got widespread attention, did he begin to condemn local authorities who enforced it?

“Throwing Texans in jail who have had their businesses shut down through no fault of their own is nonsensical, and I will not allow it to happen,” Abbott said in a statement.

Allow it? Technically, he ordered it. Even Northeast Tarrant Tea Party leader Julie White McCarty saw through Abbott’s hypocrisy: “Governor Abbott gave orders putting severe limitations in place,” she wrote on Facebook. “Governor Abbott is now condemning the enforcement as if he’s innocent.”

Reasonable minds can disagree over whether Luther deserved to go to jail, especially when we’re trying to reduce jail populations to stop coronavirus’ spread.

Many of us can empathize with Luther’s frustration at the arbitrariness of declaring some businesses essential and others seemingly expendable. She’s a working mother, and I understand her desire to provide for her family. While COVID-19 can be brutal, loss of livelihood — even for a month — presents its own kind of hell.

But Luther held court for days in front of TV cameras. She didn’t just violate an order to close her salon — she tore it up. When a veteran, 65-year-old Dallas judge gave her an easy out if she’d just apologize and follow the law, she scoffed in defiance. So, he did what judges do: found her in contempt in court.

She could have taken the deal and gone home to her kids and waited until she could open legally on Friday.

Clearly, Luther and her legions of admirers had turned her into a cause. That’s why she went to jail — to draw attention to what she believes is a violation of her rights. And that’s the point of civil disobedience. While others have advanced noble causes such as suffrage and equality, Luther did it to defend her right to work even if doing so puts her workers, neighbors and customers at risk amid a deadly pandemic.

But hey, if she wants to be the hero, a rebel with a cause, the patron saint of social distancing scofflaws, she can’t play the victim, too.

Nor can Abbott play her defender. When it came to his emergency order, Abbott promptly retreated by removing jail time as a punishment for its violation. He made the tweak retroactive and claimed that’s why Luther was released, though in reality that took the intervention not of the governor, but of the Texas Supreme Court .

Abbott was so busy taking credit for her release, he forgot to take responsibility for his role in putting Luther in jail in the first place. He went on Fox News and deftly squirmed out of a question from Sean Hannity, who asked why salons following safety protocols couldn’t be allowed to reopen.

Texas would be opening them soon, Abbott said — before steering the conversation to one of his favorite punching bags, Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot, a Democrat.

Hannity tried to return to Luther’s jailing: “That’s not the Texas I know,” he said.

Abbott agreed, it was “so outrageous,” then quickly deflected again, this time pointing the finger at Houston and a policy by first-term County Judge Lina Hidalgo, another Democrat.

“In Houston, they were issuing fines and potential jail time for anybody who refused to wear a mask,” Abbott told Hannity. “Wearing a mask is the best practice; however, no one should forfeit their liberty and be sent to jail for not wearing a mask.”

No one faced jail time as a result of Hidalgo’s order to mask up — and Abbott knows that. Even the fine was largely symbolic.

Abbott’s performance here is so disappointing after weeks of showing the caution and maturity Texas needed.

Meanwhile, Judge Eric Moyé up in Dallas is reportedly getting death threats. His sin? Enforcing Abbott’s law after Luther refused his offer of leniency.

Sounds like the “law and order” Abbott and others in his base always say they support.

But maybe that’s just lip service, as well.