Okay, so that is a lame headline but headlines are hard to write and I’m just a hayseed from Pasadena, so that is what you get. Today’s fun regarding the Harris County DA’s race comes once again from one of the protagonists (in my opinion) of the runaway grand jury, attorney Chip Lewis. You’ll recall that last week I highlighted one of his emails; today we’ll look at another one:
From: [email protected]
Date: February 7, 2012 11:57:59 AM CST
To: [email protected]
Subject: Your SupportIf you received this email, you will understand why I chose to include you. You are someone I care about and you should care about this matter.
Each day that Patsy Lykos remains the District Attorney of Harris County is a more dangerous day. She has single-handedly set back public safety more than you could fathom. She has run off almost all of the talented prosecutors and the most experienced investigators. The office is devoid of prosecutors who can really try a lawsuit. There is a vacuum of experience to handle the successful prosecution of murders, rapes and complex cases. The younger prosecutors lack the necessary mentors or training to properly protect the public. Anyone who lives, works or visits Harris County should be aware that her continued presence threatens all of us.
I could not care less about her personal shortcomings or the politics involved. To borrow a phrase from Johnny Holmes: “If the communist party were supporting the only candidate against her, I would back the commie.” If the voting public does not get the message and Mike Anderson fails to win the primary, I will be supporting Zack Fertitta in the general election. This is not about politics. This is about our safety.
Please take this message to heart, spread the word and join me in supporting Mike Anderson for District Attorney.
You can learn more about Mike and the ways to support him at www.andersonda.com
Thank you.
Chip B. Lewis
2120 Welch
Houston, Texas 77019
713-523-7878
713-523-7887 Fax
Whew, a lot to digest in such a short email. Is this relevant to the runaway grand jury and now FBI/Ranger probe? I think so but you’ll have to decide that.
What really bothers me about this is that it is a classic case of “it’s my ball and I’m taking it home if I can’t be in charge”. I warned people a year ago that this is exactly what would happen if there was a contested primary. It is one thing for those that don’t like Pat Lykos to vote against her and support a Democrat. It is quite another for them to tear the party apart first, which does nothing but help the Democrats as a whole on the November ticket. I’ve met many of the candidates for judge and some of them have borrowed large sums of money or mortgaged their homes. All of them are spending an enormous amount of time away from their families. They are the ones that will really be affected by this battle. I wish that Mr. Anderson would ask his supporters to back away from this type of “campaigning”.
As for the email’s content, really, no one is left to prosecute criminals? I’m betting that the ADA’s working their tails off every day to protect Harris County might take offense to that. I wonder how many cases that Mr. Lewis has with criminals walking out the door because he is a superior lawyer? I also wonder about those ADA’s I meet at campaign events where they tout their experience and credentials – Mr. Lewis just called them all liars.
I was curious about the actual crime statistics, wanting to know if we really are in more danger because of DA Lykos so I went to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports page and here is what I came up with:
- FBI Harris County Crime Statistics
You’ll have to decide. Looks to me that violent crime is relatively flat and that women should really be happy. These charts do not account for population growth or number of crimes per thousand residents. They are just raw numbers and DA Lykos was the DA only in the years 2009 and 2010. The FBI’s numbers for 2011 are incomplete and not published yet. The property crimes are definitely up, I have no idea why, Again, you’ll have to decide. I suspect that it is a combination of the legislature making more things crimes and population growth but that is a pretty sharp increase. Perhaps Mr. Anderson could use that as a real issue instead of these personality attacks. Wishful thinking? I don’t know, he seems like a standup guy to me; it is the anti-Lykos folks that spread most of this stuff, not the pro-Anderson crowd.
As far as the issue of experienced ADA’s leaving, I’m trying to get to the bottom of that. The Lykos campaign put out a document that refutes that notion but rather than accept their numbers, I’m in the process of filing a PIA request to verify them. I’m also trying to get the years of service for each one of them, hoping to get some clarity on the lack of experience charge. I’ll let you know if I’m successful later.
I’ll say it again: this type of anti-Lykos activity hurts all Republicans that will be on the ballot in November. Remember, Bill White beat Rick Perry in our county. And never forget the 2008 wave that gave us completely unqualified Democratic Party judges. Don’t think it can’t happen again.
Mr. Jennings, did you follow up with the fine Republicans I suggested?
One down, one to go.
In regards to the turnover rate you have to consider a few things:
1. How many people in the office currently have over 15-20 years experience compared to years past?
2. How do these numbers compare when you consider that people were flying out of the office during a hiring/pay-raise freeze and not being replaced?
3. With so many people leaving and not being replaced (a media consultant doesn’t count as a replacement for an ADA), how understaffed is the HCDAO considering the way higher docket numbers (more cases per prosecutor) and population growth?
4. How many prosecutors does HCDAO employ now compared to 2007?
5. How do the per-capita figures (# of prosecutors per active case) of HCDAO compare to the other 24 largest jurisdictions – and how does this figure compare to the last time this study was done and approx. 50 more ADA spots were approved (prior to lykos)?