Political candidates receive support for various reasons. Some supporters are friends of the candidate. Others share a common belief or cause. In Harris County, most political consultants employ political operatives to support their candidates and take down the opposition – no matter the cost. In some cases, these operatives serve as precinct and SREC chairs – leaders in the Harris County Republican Party. These folks use their positions to spread (mis)information about their slate of candidates and the opposition without disclosing the true reason for their support. Instead of justice, it is all about money, power, and cliques.
There is one recent example to illustrate this point. In January, when Belinda Hill resigned as judge of the 230th Criminal District Court to accept the First Assistant position at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, a vacancy was created. Very quickly, Brad Hart was appointed to complete the remainder of Hill’s term in the 230th. In November 2012, Hart was the Republican nominee for the 339th Criminal District Court and was one of three Republicans to lose in the criminal court races. Hart, a former Harris County prosecutor, worked in the Special Crimes Division at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office with Ryan Patrick, son of Dan Patrick and judge of the 177th Criminal District Court.
Prior to the vacancy in the 230th Criminal District Court, Joan Campbell, the longtime judge in the 248th Criminal District Court announced that she would resign her bench effective January 2013. Soon thereafter, Roger Bridgwater, a former criminal court judge, bureau chief at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, and deacon at First Baptist Church, was asked to introduce Rick Scarborough at the Texas Tea Party Republican Women’s November 2012 meeting. At the event, Kay Smith introduced Roger and announced that he was submitting his application to the Governor for the vacancy in the 248th Criminal District Court. During the crowd’s applause, Valoree Swanson, an SREC chair, stood up and shouted that she was supporting Brad Hart for that vacancy.
For Valoree, this is a family business. She worked with Mary Jane Smith for years to support Smith’s candidates through the election process. During the 2010 Republican Primary, Valoree strongly supported Marc Brown, husband of Susan Brown, infamous judge of the 185th Criminal District Court. This support included wearing her official SREC badge while accosting voters at the Humble early voting location. While there, she told the opposing candidate’s wife that she was going to “wipe that smile off her face.” Classy lady.
Now that Smith is out of the political consulting business, Valoree is working with Jessica Colon. As you may have guessed, Hart is a Colon client. As I said, this is a family business for Valoree. And, you may have heard of Valoree’s aunt, Norma Jeter, the communications director for the Texas Tea Party Republican Women and another employee of Colon. At Texas Tea, Norma informs all of the membership and visitors with information about Colon’s clients.
When the 230th became vacant, not surprisingly, Hart also received support from Dan Patrick, Valoree’s State Senator in Senate District Seven. Colon, famous for supporting red light cameras and Prop1 (Rain Tax), worked with this group to promote Hart for the 230th.
As an aside, Colon has been on the wrong side of many local issues. During the Prop1 “Rain Tax” fight, Colon worked with Houston City Councilman Stephen Costello to propose a resolution to the Harris County Republican Executive Committee to support the new rain tax. While the resolution overwhelmingly failed, the rain tax passed in the city of Houston. How is that rain tax working for you? Our streets have never been in worse shape, very irritating.
You likely saw the news about a recent capital murder at Denny’s. On August 26, 2013, Robert Placette was murdered as he dined at the Denny’s near Memorial Park. Three men entered the restaurant, demanding money from the patrons and employees at gunpoint. Placette, a 64 year-old business owner, was shielding small children when his life was taken. One of the defendants, Kenya Jackson, was on bond for involvement in another murder when he committed this senseless capital murder.
On January 31, 2013, Jackson was charged with tampering with evidence in the 230th in relation to the murder of Chase Walker, a 20 year-old young man who was found lying on the side of the road after being shot in the head. Jackson’s bond was set at $100,000 on January 31, 2013. On February 26, 2013, Brad Hart, judge of the 230th, lowered Jackson’s bond to $5,000, which Jackson made on February 27, 2013. Jackson was placed on pre-trial supervision, which meant that he was monitored by pre-trial services. On April 16, 2013, Jackson reportedly violated his bond due to a curfew violation.
Again, on May 7, 2013, Jackson had another curfew violation.
Despite these reports of non-compliance, Hart continued to allow Jackson to be on bond. Last week, Jackson surrendered to law enforcement after an intense manhunt. Thanks to the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force for keeping us safe from these criminals even when the criminal judiciary has failed.
Senator Patrick’s connection to this group began when Ryan worked as a prosecutor in Susan Brown’s court. You will remember that Brown is the judge who allowed a grand jury to be used for a political purpose. She also filed a completely bogus contempt charge against two prosecutors with impeccable credentials. Ryan’s dad, joined the gang to support Marc Brown in his campaign for judge. And, Dan stepped in to support Hart for the 230th.
About twelve hours before the capital murder, Corey Hilton, another of the four defendants and a felon, appeared in County Criminal Court 5 where the judge is Margaret Harris, another Brown friend. That morning, Hilton received time served on a criminal trespass case. In November 2011, Hilton was placed on probation in the 262nd District Court for possessing a short barrel shotgun.
A few months later, he was sentenced to the minimum punishment, two years in prison.
From now on, whenever Valoree, Norma, Jessica, or Dan asks for your support or vote, remember who and what they have already supported. Nepotism should have no place at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center. When Ryan Patrick was appointed to fill Kevin Fine’s vacancy, I had to see if he was even eligible to serve as a district court judge because he only had a few years of experience. You now see how arrogant political power by Senator Patrick and his cronies directly affects the criminal justice system here in Harris County. Senator Patrick’s desire to involve himself, once again, in courthouse politics has made a negative impact on our community. The criminal courthouse has fallen victim to nepotism and patronage. Sadly, movements like the right to life have become lost in the vetting process, which is now purely political and consultant-based. Gang justice cannot be allowed to continue.
This is exactly what must end. No more " family business" Politics is a dirty game, but only because we allow too much to happen in the dark. Thank you Don.
The Republicans are heading for a real butt whipping in 2014 in Harris County. They are all vying for a party position like that’s the “key to the city” however that’s nothing to compare or compete with Battleground Texas. The “Kevin Fine” Mentality that is presented by a lot of the Family Court Judges is disgusting and down right deplorable and will be the downfall of the Republican reign in Harris County. Just watch. The Political Prostitutes that parade around as volunteers are the number one menace to our remaining in power, as they are supporting the idiots like the Judge in the Denny’s case that also has a big zipper problem, not to mention the endless list of other like the one that gave deferred adjudication to the gal that set out to kill her husband……..How about the family court judge that makes a ton of appointments to an attorney that doesn’t even have certification in Family Law. Well lets add on a big pile, because it’s growing.
$5,000 is the standard bail for a third-degree felony, which was the charge against Kenya Jackson. If the State opposed the reduction in bail, then its opposition doesn’t appear in the court records. Similarly, Jackson wasn’t set for a revocation hearing when he arrived home at 6:05 pm instead of 5:00 pm, but he WAS set for a revocation hearing when he had an unexplained half-hour absence from home at 1:30 am. That revocation hearing was reset several times at Jackson’s lawyer’s request; again, if the State opposed those requests, that opposition doesn’t appear in the court records.
On Hilton’s charge for possessing an illegal weapon: Both his sentence of probation and his revocation and sentence to a two-year term were due to plea bargains — the prosecutor representing the State agreed to the probation and the two-year sentence of incarceration. On his criminal-trespass charge: Again, the sentence of time served was the result of a plea bargain.
I’m not sure what Ryan Patrick, Dan Patrick, Valoree Swanson, Norma Jeter, or Jessica Colon have to do with any of this, other than their support of Brad Hart’s and Marc Carter’s candidacies. If there are reasons to question their endorsements, then these examples don’t furnish it.
One more reason why I cannot support any of the Dan-ocrats — besides the fact that Dan Patrick is noted for playing fast and loose with the truth time after time, including as a part of his decision to make or withhold endorsements.
It should be fairly well known that I am no ally of Sen. Dan Patrick. I find the attack on Judge Ryan Patrick misplaced, though. My observation is that he has the right temperament, and strong credentials to serve as judge. Yes, he was young going onto the bench, and I always worry that young former prosecutors see the world in black and white, and lack the leavening of time, but all reports are that Judge Patrick is doing an excellent job.
Norma Jeter and Valorie Swanson also actively promoted the recent campaign of John Devine, whose biggest financial support ($100,000 funneled through a PAC) came from Lisa Blue – one of Barack Obama’s biggest supporters, who also funded hundreds of thousands of dollars to support (cover up) the mistress and illegitimate child of Democrat V.P candidate John Edwards. Something is rotten in Harris County!
This is why I am not running for a higher office! Can you use an animated hand drawing marketing video to explain that tangled web so I can wrap my head around it all! LOL
Some people can connect the dots, even when they are touching in a straight line……..Duh!
So Don, is your point that in order to avoid crimes being committed by anyone on bond for another case, we should do away with the constitutional provisions requiring reasonable bail and the presumption of innocence? Or should we empower the police to shoot all suspects on sight and let God sort them out?
I know you don’t practice at the courthouse, so you don’t realize how common “time served” pleas are in misdemeanor courts. But in her 15 years on the bench, Susan Brown has had several dozen prosecutors assigned there on a rotating basis. They do not have a secret ritual where they must swear loyalty to her, her spouse and any friends that she has.
Nor do the judges have get-togethers where they agree to “let” people out of jail so they can pillage the countryside in roving packs.
Other than the alleged crooks, the late Mr. Placette and Rick Scarborough, I know every person you mentioned in your article, many of them for 20 years or more. I believe it to be public record that I supported Emily Munoz in the race for the 180th when Debbie Stricklin retired, supported Danny Dexter in the runoff, and supported Marc Brown when he was the nominee.
I have agreed with Valoree, Norma and Jessica on numerous races and disagreed with them on many others. That will continue in the future, but I have never heard cross words from any of them.
You may want to drop the sensationalism. It hurts your credibility.
I’m Tom Zakes and I approve this message.
Tom,
My article was about nepotism and patronage? I believe in the bail system and Judges certainly do make choices about bail. Judges can go with standard bail recommendations or follow higher bail recommendations from prosecutors. This is called Judgement and if somehow you got the impression I encouraged someone to shoot somebody and let God sort them out you are mistaken. I in no way would want to hurt my credibility. I am also betting I know far more about the relationship between the Senator and Browns than you. http://lifeattheharriscountycriminaljusticecenter.com/uncategorized/hitler-otherwise-unavailable
I will be writing about this real soon.
Yep, here it is as listed on the TEC website for the year 2012. Employer = Jessica Colon
http://www.ethics.state.tx.us/php/fsearchSimple.php