Interview with Jacqueline Lucci Smith for Harris County Attorney

Jacqueline Lucci Smith was kind enough to spend over an hour discussing both her race and the status of both Harris County and the practice of law in general.  The interview was very enlightening as to why the County Attorney is an important race in November, and how if she is elected, she intends to use the office as a way to help society.

When most individuals think of the County Attorney office they probably think of the Toll Roads and Taxes.  While these are probably the largest footprints of the County Attorney office, the office is far more expensive than the two areas and has a significant impact on the smooth functioning of Harris County.  Other important aspects of the office include:

The County Attorney represents all law enforcement in the County – Sherriff, Constable, etc. The County Attorney is the prosecution arm of CPS for the County. The office also has entanglement with Public Information Act requests. It ultimately is the attorney for the Hospital District. The office has the responsibility to advise and, if necessary, defend the County and elected officials.

While each of the above can, and does, have their own attorneys (other than Harris County itself), the final responsibility falls upon the County Attorney’s office.

Why Run?

Perhaps the most important question to be asked of any political candidate is why are they running for office?  Is it a deep-seated desire to serve the community? A steppingstone for further political ambitions?  An opportunity to social engineer to advance ideological beliefs?

The last category – social engineering and advancing ideological beliefs – succinctly describes our present County Attorney.  The County Attorney’s duty is to the County.  Ms. Smith related that the County and the plaintiffs in Coats et al v Harris County 2012-55551 had reached a settlement agreement.  Our current County Attorney was elected and voided the agreement for the purpose of seeing that the plaintiff received a larger amount of compensation.  That’s the direct anthesis of what the County Attorney should be doing.  Rather than protecting the County, the elected County Attorney decided to place the County in jeopardy in order to promote the benefit of the plaintiff.  This is just one example of the current County Attorney (and the overall county government) acting to promote their ideological beliefs rather than the good of Harris County.

In contrast to the incumbent’s action, Ms. Smith indicated she is running to bring the County Attorney’s office back to its intended purpose – defending Harris County and ensuring that elected officials follow the law.  This is consistent with her 13-year history of working in various offices that are directly involved in the major aspects of the County Attorney office responsibilities.  Her candidacy seems to be an outgrowth of her history of public service.

Taxes and Tolls

The revenue collection aspect of the Office is the largest footprint and is what comes to mind for the general population when they think of the County Attorney Office.  This is where running the office in a way to help society comes into play.  She indicated that her intention is to manage the office in a way that is proactive with the collection of amounts owed, but at the same time gives individuals the opportunity to minimize any extra costs associated with the collection.

She will be proactive in reaching out to individuals who are not current with their balance and educate them on the options they have to catch up without having to incur extra penalties and fees.  This serves to protect the fiscal responsibility of the County while at the same time minimizing impact on the individuals who need to meet their responsibilities.  It’s a kinder and gentler fiscally responsible course of action.

Experience

Ms. Smith has a vast wealth of experience in working with county legal affairs.  She has been an attorney for over 30 years and worked in the office starting in 1998.  She worked her way up through the ranks in the office until she was elected to Civil County Court at Law 2 in 2007.  This gives her practical experience from both sides of the bench in dealing with the issues the Office handles.  That vast depth of experience is greater than what the current officeholder has and will serve the County well when dealing with the inevitable contentious issues that arise.

CPS

Outside of the Taxes and Tolls she will run the office in a manner that helps to minimize friction between the entities she ultimately defends and the public.  CPS is hated by a wide range of groups.  This goes from the Criminal Defense Bar – a decidedly liberal grouping of people – to the homeschool population – decidedly conservative.  It’s her intent to make sure CPS works in an open and honest manner.  While the subject matter of CPS’ work means some degree of discretion is necessary, she intends to have more checks and balances on their operations so that CPS’ lack of accountability is not abused.

Hospital District

The Hospital District is also an area that places the County in jeopardy, and an area where slight improvement can make a significant positive impact on the County.  She intends to listen to the concerns of individuals who interact with the hospital district on a regular basis and take steps to address repeated concerns.  This ranges from the mundane of improving medical records request response timeliness to the underlying goal of reaching out and facilitating with other groups who offer similar services to see where cooperation can happen to improve overall healthcare in the County.

Civility and Professionalism

While not directly linked to the race, her commitment to civility and professionalism showed throughout the interview.  Simple things like lamenting how petty and bitter the practice of law has become to concrete steps to show young attorneys how to act in a civil and professional manner were stressed.  That’s a testament to character and stressing the importance of civility and professionalism is a stark contrast to some areas of the current county governance.  Just as virtue is its own reward, civility and professionalism take rook and spread making society better.

 Endorsements

Notable endorsements include:

Houston Police Officers Union

Constable Ted Heap

Paul Bettencourt