Finally, an elected official shows some backbone and stands up to a juvenile attempt to muck rake. As a former not so much fan of Harris County DA Lykos, I can say that she’s growing on me. If you’ve paid any attention to the news, you know she’s taken on some tough issues, issues that heretofore have gone unaddressed, and come up with some good solutions to them. In spite of that, or perhaps because of it, her critics launched an all out assault on not just DA Lykos but the entire Harris County District Attorney’s office by using a runaway grand jury headed up by a Wyatt Earp wanna be named Trisha Pollard. Despite the plain fact that the runaway grand jury couldn’t find diddly squat wrong with the actions of the HCDAO, Ms. Pollard issued a weak attempt designed to embarrass the office and in particular ADA Rachel Palmer. It didn’t work, and in fact only serves to remind us that not all grand juries are created equal. Here is the attempt to embarrass the office and ADA Palmer:

185th Grand Jury Statement 1-31-2012

The Wyatt Earp wannbe comes across as bat guano crazy. Seriously, some members were walking back from lunch and were photographed by an “unknown person”? In what “appeared to be a government issued vehicle”? Whoa, did they see black helicopters too? Nothing about this grand jury was secret primarily because Ms. Earp desired so much publicity. Why on earth would “the government” need to send black ops helicopters and cars on a secret mission to photograph the members of the grand jury when IN THE SAME FREAKING LETTER Ms. Earp says that an “investigator” was stationed outside the door of the grand jury? And people take this woman seriously? Goodness. If you weren’t convinced of the bat guano political craziness of this bunch of hooligans this statement should remove all doubt. What in Sam Hill was Judge Susan Brown thinking when she appointed this woman to head up a grand jury?

Now, to the statement from DA Lykos:

Harris County District Attorney Responds to Runaway Grand Jury Statement

I especially like this line

The entanglements of certain participants are well known and documented, as are their relationships with the Old Regime and with my previous and current opponents.

because it is so true. The people leading this bogus witch hunt are blinded by their hatred of DA Lykos, so much so that they didn’t care that they were impugning the entire office. Even Ms. Earp had to finally say that “There was no evidence of a crime,”. None, nada, zip, zilch. Just as I said at the beginning of this witch hunt. No, don’t start with your “but, but, ADA Palmer took the Fifth”. Yes, she did, and she was absolutely right to do so. After this farce of a “report” there is no question that the DA’s office handled this affair properly, that the “whistleblower” and her attorney tried to obfuscate her own culpability, and that, after reading thousands of pages of emails and other evidence, it is abundantly clear that the only reason Ms. Earp wanted to ask ADA Palmer questions was in the hope that she would make a mistake and that they could charge her with something, anything, to make this witch hunt seem legitimate.

It didn’t work. Fools.

Perhaps now that this is over, we can get on with the DA’s race. DA Lykos does have some things to answer for. I don’t know if it means anything to voters or not, but it is clear to me, after talking to a couple dozen ADA’s, that she is not well liked by the rank and file. That is an issue for Judge Anderson only if he can make it one. As well, I’ve talked to two union reps that insist that she did in fact ask them for their endorsement, a claim that DA Lykos is on record as having denied. I’ve talked to the Lykos campaign spokesperson and asked for a response but haven’t received one. Who is telling the truth? Yet another potential issue.

But honestly, after this fiasco by the anti-Lykos crowd, those potential issues seem like small potatoes. Judge Anderson has his work cut out for him. He could still win this race but not with shenanigans like this runaway grand jury.

You know what I want to see come out of this farce of a grand jury investigation? That no judge ever again appoint Trisha “Wyatt Earp” Pollard to a grand jury. Ever again. Never, never ever. Use the jury pool – you know, like the other grand jury investigating the HCDAO. No complaints, no leaks, exactly as it should be.

I’ll quote myself (is that sorta like talking in third person?) and give some advice to the anti-Lykos crowd:

Smearing the office and the good prosecutors that remain, many of whom you worked with, is juvenile. Maybe it is time to grow up and move on.