Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Harris County DA Race: Republicans should re-elect Pat Lykos

by

Pat Lykos

It is time to make a choice. Early voting starts Monday, here are the locations and times.  If you have not made up your mind about the Harris County District Attorney, perhaps I can help. I’m voting for Judge Pat Lykos and here is why.

Justice. First and foremost, that is the word that pushed, pulled, and shoved me from my position as an observer of the race to a fierce supporter of Judge Pat Lykos. Justice is more than allowing our law enforcement officers to arrest anyone at any time for any reason and locking them up and throwing away the key. I’m convinced, and the record supports me, that Judge Lykos understands what justice is and how, as the chief policy maker on justice in Harris County, she can affect how justice is achieved.

Her opponents disagree with me. Notice I said opponents because although only one person is on the ballot, former Judge Mike Anderson, most of her opponents are not supporters of Judge Anderson – they are haters of Judge Lykos. This second group is loud and vicious and they do not accept facts. They never gave her a chance in her first term, even as she made positive change after positive change. They would much rather throw back a six pack on duty, then head downstairs to fire off a few rounds at the gun range than they would acknowledge that the courthouse should not be a frathouse.

Judge Lykos has made many, many positive changes to make certain that a citizen in Harris County has a chance at justice. Her policy of not prosecuting “trace” evidence cases means that a defendant has an opportunity to have the evidence against her tested, while at the same time lowering the cost to taxpayers of incarcerating non-violent offenders. Judge Lykos’ innovative DIVERT program holds promise at reducing recidivism in DWI cases and lowering the death rate. Against much criticism from the crowd that wants to be back in control of the DA’s office, she is finding criminals that other administrations gave up on and bringing them to justice. She is partnering with other agencies around the county, establishing databases that reduce gang activity. She cleaned up a known gang infested, crime infested apartment complex that her predecessors allowed to run wild.

In short, she is keeping her campaign promises. When was the last time you saw an elected politician do that?

Her ballot opponent, Judge Mike Anderson, has not run an honorable race. I don’t know why that is because, as I said earlier, he seems to be a stand up guy. He has a good track record and was by all accounts a good prosecutor. The only reason that I can think of for his dishonorable campaign is his choice of campaign consultant but even then, he must accept responsibility for that low-life because he chose him. Even today, I heard radio ads designed to make it look like the DA’s office is currently a cesspool of corruption – a smear job not supported by ANY facts. Judge Anderson takes shots at the DIVERT program even as his friend, Judge Bill Harmon, allows his own friends to enter it but not ordinary citizens. In fact, rather than forcing people to take responsibility for their actions, Judge Harmon DISMISSES DWI cases and puts people back on the street because of his dislike for Judge Pat Lykos. And Judge Anderson publicly supports this.  I wonder what he will say when the word starts making the rounds about his role in the Hugh Foreman case?

And that dishonorable campaign goes to the heart of the matter. I truly believe that Judge Anderson believes that if you are investigated, you are guilty – how could I not believe that given his record in this race? That mentality is not what I want anywhere close to the courthouse. We are innocent until proven guilty – I truly do not think that Judge Anderson believes that, given his record.

The biggest charge against Judge Lykos is that the morale at the office is low. This circles right back to the fact that she broke the grip of the frathouse on the courthouse. Hey, you’d be mad too if you were used to three hour, three martini lunches and all of a sudden the new boss says no mas. Sucks to be you, I guess. But great to be a taxpayer, knowing that someone is watching out for your interests.

Here is what I have to say about the morale of these coddled juveniles we call ADAs (and ex-ADAs). Grow up. Take charge of your life. Stop acting like you are in seventh grade and stop following the crowd. It can only help you. As a taxpayer, I don’t give a rat’s rear end that you are sad because Judge Lykos took your beer bong away.

I hope you will join me in voting to re-elect Judge Pat Lykos as the Harris County District Attorney. Your life and the lives of your children may, quite literally, depend upon it.

Harris County DA Pat Lykos' DIVERT program works – so why the fuss?

by

Pat Lykos

Here’s what I don’t get about one of the few issues in the primary race on the Republican side for Harris County DA – if a program works for the betterment of society (and the county) what is the problem? In this case, I’m talking about the DIVERT program, you know, the one that saves money, saves lives, saves people’s futures – but challenger Mike Anderson says it is illegal. Who am I to argue? All’s I know is that the facts are the facts – it works.

So anyways, I’m putting this info up because, as mentioned earlier, tomorrow night there is a candidate forum with DA Lykos and challenger Anderson over at Bay Oaks Country Club, which isn’t far from the trailer park. I tried to tell ’em to have it here in the ‘hood but you know how them Repubs are, fancy, shmancy and all. Oh well, I’ll take the John Deere and scoot over there to see if Mr. Anderson makes a dent in DA Lykos’ armor on this issue. I don’t see how he could but that is why they have these forums! Now, I expect all you haters to get up off the couch and get over there to support your guy! Oh, that’s right, he really ain’t your guy, you just don’t much like the lady. Got it.

Oh well, here is something that I got way back when I did a PIA – one of several BTW. You know, doin’ the work that the anti-Lykos crowd refuses to do. For your reading pleasure:

DIVERT Overview

Harris County DA race: ADA retention – UPDATED

by

Mike Anderson

In case you haven’t heard, the Harris County District Attorney, Pat Lykos, is being challenged in the Republican primary by Mike Anderson. One of Mr. Anderson’s claims is that the DA’s office is losing Assistant District Attorneys at an alarming rate. A second part of the same claim is that the losses represent a loss of experience such that the county hasn’t seen before. The campaign website for DA Lykos refuted the first part of that charge with a matrix of data that claims to show that attrition in the office is normal. Although I trust campaigns to put forth correct data, I decided to use the Ronald Reagan philosophy of trust but verify. So I filed a PIA with the DA’s office asking for the same data that the Lykos campaign proffered but adding a request for average experience. And to prevent further claims that I’m involved in some sort of conspiracy with the DA’s office, I copied a blogger that accused me of that, the campaign consultant for Mr. Anderson, and several other people. Ask them – if they tell you otherwise, you’ll know that you can’t trust them.

In terms of timing for PIA requests, I received this one relatively fast – I filed it on Thursday, 2/9 and received a response today, Wednesday, 2/15. Not bad. It pretty much matches the Lykos website, plus one here, minus one there. I have forwarded the raw data to all those copied – again, if they tell you otherwise, you’ll know that you can’t trust them.

Here is my summary of the raw data:

Harris County ADA Departure Experience

And a chart of the same:

Harris County ADA Departure Experience

Obviously Mr. Anderson is incorrect on the first part of his charge, especially when you consider that the DA’s office has grown through the years: i.e., losing 40 ADA’s in 1994 had a much greater impact than losing 40 ADA’s in 2011. So let’s just toss that claim into the garbage bin with most other campaign charges.

But that second part, the part about experience, looks to be true. Do not consider 2008 – remember, DA Lykos did not take office until 2009. A lot of long term ADA’s quit or were asked to leave both before and after DA Lykos won the election in November 2008 but before she took office. Regardless of what you think about her, she can’t be blamed for people leaving the office before she started. Yes, I know that some folks were terminated in anticipation of her taking the helm, but the issue is people leaving the office because of her management style, not because they opposed her in the election.

The data shows that the ADAs that left the office in 2009 and 2010, under DA Lykos’ management, did have more experience than the historical average. In 2009, about 52{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} more than the historical average, in 2010, about 40{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} more. The data shows that 2011 returned to “average” in that the experience was roughly at the average.

So there you go. Does Anderson have a real issue here? Perhaps. As you can see from the chart, there have been spikes like this in the past. So this could be a real issue but you’ll have to decide that.

At any rate, if I were running one of those “Politifact” sites, I’d give Mr. Anderson’s charge in this one a “half-true” rating.

UPDATED 2/18/12 9:30 PM: As you can tell by the comments, some people think that total years of experience lost is important. After thinking about that, they are probably correct. So, I added that information to the stats and charted it. Here is the revised table and chart:

This look at the data shows that in her three years at the helm (2009-11), there has been an unusually large exodus of experience. Again, I discount 2008 because the issue is supposed to be about DA Lykos’ management style and if she wasn’t there, how could she be held accountable for that?

Harris County DA race: Mike Anderson receives HPOU endorsement

by

No surprise here:

For Immediate Release:                          Contact:  Allen Blakemore
Tuesday, February 14, 2012                 713-526-3399

 Anderson gains HPOU endorsement and releases video

 Houston – Mike Anderson, conservative Republican candidate for Harris County District Attorney, announced that he has gained the endorsement of the Houston Police Officers’ Union.

“I am particularly pleased to announce this endorsement.  The HPOU represents more than 5,000 Houston Police Officers,” Anderson said.  “When elected, I will restore a strong working relationship between local law enforcement and the District Attorney’s Office.”

Ray Hunt, President of the Houston Police Officers’ Union said, “The current District Attorney has turned her back on the citizens and the entire law enforcement community.  She has put politics above the public’s safety.  It’s time for a change.  We recommend a vote for Mike Anderson.”

The Anderson campaign released an endorsement video featuring HPOU President, Ray Hunt.  It can be viewed here. 

Mike Anderson is the conservative Republican candidate who is ready to return credible leadership to the office of Harris County District Attorney.  Mike spent 16 years as an assistant district attorney and 12 years as judge of the 262nd Criminal District Court, including two years as the criminal district court administrative judge.  He is married to Devon Anderson, a respected former prosecutor and district judge.  More information is available on the web at www.AndersonDA.com.

Remember, incumbent DA Pat Lykos says that she did not seek the endorsement of any of the union bosses. Now, if you can prove otherwise…

Harris County DA race: Lykos interview, Anderson radio ad

by

Do yourself a favor. Head over to Charles Kuffner’s Off the Kuff and listen to the full 44 minutes of his interview with Harris County DA Pat Lykos. Kuff is the big dog of local blogging for a reason – he’s pretty good at it when he sets his mind to it. And I think that he must have set his mind to this one because it gives the listener some very good insight into DA Lykos and her motivations.

I had to laugh several times when she interrupted him to keep talking about forensics and justice. She  did the same thing to me. Her exhuberance exuberance for justice and truth shines through. Just take a listen.

Kuff notes that he’s already interview Mike Anderson and will publish that shortly. I’m looking forward to that one as well, to see if his passion for rehabilitation and victim’s rights comes through. As I said earlier, if his team can find a way to communicate that passion to primary voters, it will improve his chances of winning.

Unfortunately for those of us that would like to see a race on the issues, the Anderson campaign is fully aware that in Harris County Republican primaries, issues take a back seat to negative campaigning. They issued a press release yesterday that they are going on the air (if you call KSEV radio’s miniscule listenership “on the air”):

For Immediate Release:Contact:  Allen Blakemore
Monday, February 13, 2012713-526-3399

 Anderson Begins Radio Campaign Houston – Mike Anderson, conservative Republican candidate for Harris County District Attorney, began airing his first radio ads today.  The ads are airing on KSEV Radio. 

“While uncertainty still exists about the exact date of the 2012 Republican Party Primary Election,” said Mike Anderson “our campaign is fully engaged and on a path to victory.

“News reports continue to deliver bad news to the people of Harris County that the incumbent District Attorney is leading the office on a destructive course.  Public trust and confidence erodes with the passing of each day.

“This lack of leadership cannot be allowed to continue,” Anderson concluded.

The radio ads are also available at www.AndersonDa.com.

Sigh. No substance, just a bunch of sensationalist headlines pulled from attack media pieces. Oh well, we all know this stuff works because most primary voters don’t take the time to think for themselves and study the candidates. And I’m not saying that if they did, they’d vote for DA Lykos – perhaps they would but it is just as likely that they would vote for Anderson because his reputation and background is very solid. I’d bet that DA Lykos’ team will not counter this but will instead focus on the reform and positive change that she’s brought to the office, asking voters if they really want to return to the “hang ’em and ask questions later” days that Anderson seems to be pining for in this ad.

Anyways, that’s is your DA update for today. Do listen to the Kuff interview – you’ll thank me.

Harris County DA Pat Lykos to Rangers: Come on in and sit a spell!

by

Harris County DA Pat Lykos

As reported this past Friday, Harris County DA Pat Lykos has invited the Texas Rangers to come down and do a real investigation surrounding the activities of her office and the runaway grand jury from the 185th District Court. This morning, she notified her staff:

 

 

From: Salazar, Angela On Behalf Of Lykos, Patricia R.
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 8:46 AM
To: All DA Employees
Subject:
I have invited the Texas Rangers to conduct an investigation.

Subsequent to the “report” of the 185th Grand Jury foreman alleging an
“investigation” by this office, we have been the subject of
inflammatory attacks.  This has resulted in a frivolous motion being
filed in a capital murder case.  More can be anticipated.  This
disruption of the orderly administration of justice cannot be
tolerated.

I know you will continue to serve justice and protect the people of
Harris County, and not be distracted in carrying out our mission.

We will lend the Rangers every assistance.

Patricia R. Lykos
Harris County District Attorney

Lots of people are speculating as to why she would do this since the Rangers were already “investigating”. Well, for one, as I noted already, they weren’t “investigating”, they were following up on a complaint. Now they will be investigating and guess what? The investigation isn’t a limited one – I’d guess that they might want to step back, look at the big picture here, and then follow wherever the trail leads.

Remember all those leaks from the grand jury? Hmm? You know you do, especially those of you that received them. Or maybe someone might have filed a false complaint? Ya think?

Heh.