Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

King Street Patriots Judicial Open House

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Wow, what a great turnout for the King Street Patriots Judicial Open House. Here is a list of the candidates that came out – click on their name to go to their website and find out more about them and then pick one or two to volunteer for.

Jane Bland (R) Justice 1st Court of Appeals Place 2
Harvey Brown (R) Justice 1st Court of Appeals Place 6
Michael C. Massengale (R) Justice 1st Court of Appeals Place 8
Brett Busby (R) Justice 14th Court of Appeals Place 3
Jeff Brown (R) Justice 14th Court of Appeals Place 4
Martha Hill Jamison (R) Justice 14th Court of Appeals Place 5
John Donovan (R) Justice 14th Court of Appeals Place 8
Bruce Bain (R) District Judge, 11th District
Jeff Hastings (R) District Judge, 61st District
Richard Risinger (R) District Judge, 80th District
John Coselli (R) District Judge, 125th District
Russell Lloyd (R) District Judge, 127th District
Michael Landrum District Judge, 129th District
Don Self (R) District Judge, 152nd District
Bud Wiesedeppe (R) District Judge, 164th District
Robert Summerlin (R) District Judge, 174th District – Criminal
Stacey Bond (R) District Judge, 176th District – Criminal
Ryan Patrick (R) District Judge, 177th District – Criminal
Roger Bridgewater (R) District Judge, 178th District – Criminal
Kristin M. Guiney (R) District Judge, 179th District – Criminal
Ken Shortreed (R) District Judge, 215th District
Elaine H. Palmer (D) District Judge, 215th District
Joseph “Tad” Halbach (R) District Judge, 333rd District
Ken Wise (R) District Judge, 334th District
Renee’ Magee (R) District Judge, 337th District – Criminal
Brock Thomas (R) District Judge, 338th District – Criminal
Brad Hart (R) District Judge, 339th District – Criminal
Debra Ibarra Mayfield (R) County Civil Court at Law #1
Theresa Chang (R) County Civil Court at Law #2

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These candidates are the cream of the crop. I wish that more candidates from other parties had come but realistically, the Republican slate is so strong that it probably intimidated most of the others. Too bad because they missed an opportunity to talk to plenty of real life voters – people that don’t care what party you belong to, they just want to vote for the best person.

I owe special thanks to Michael Landrum, candidate for the 129th Civil District Court. We needed someone to kick off the meeting by educating us on the various levels of courts in Texas and I drafted him with about 30 seconds to prepare! So here is a free plug for his fundraiser/reception to be held next Monday, October 8th, from 5:30 – 7:00 pm at the Black Walnut Cafe located at 5512 Memorial Drive. Contact him for more information by clicking here.

One of the coolest pieces of campaign literature that I’ve seen was Justice Michael Massengale’s booklet of The Texas Bill of Rights – I’ve never seen one like it. You can put it in your pocket alongside your copy of the Constitution and then you are prepared for most anything. Here is a link to The Texas Bill of Rights in case you haven’t heard of it. Justice Massengale is also available to speak to your club on the Texas Constitution – you can contact him by clicking here.

Obviously, many thanks to Catherine Engelbrecht and Mark Antill and all of the King Street volunteers for hosting this event. They continue to set the bar for “tea party” groups and political clubs in general. Please consider making a donation to them by clicking here.

Someone asked how they could find a sample ballot specific to them – just click here to go to HarrisVotes.org if you live in Harris County. If you live in other counties, contact your County Clerk.

A few pictures:

 

179th District Criminal Court: Kristin Guiney is the only choice

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Kristin Guiney

Here I go again, stepping into a race down at the Harris County Courthouse. But when you block out all the noise in the race for Judge of the 179th District Criminal Court, Kristin Guiney stands head and shoulders above her opponent.

This is a nasty race for two reasons. One is the passion that comes from the people that work at the Harris County Courthouse and can’t imagine that anyone would disagree with them on anything. The second is that Kristin’s opponent in this race, Lana Shadwick, is a long time participant in Republican Party circles. And the people in those circles are just as passionate as those that work in the courthouse in that if you haven’t been working side by side with them to get Republicans elected, you shouldn’t be running for office.

The combination of these two passionate camps leads to one of those races that you really want to steer clear of if you aren’t in either camp. But, as luck would have it, we do have a vote and we must make a choice because there are only two people in the race, one from each camp. And as I said above, if you can block out the noise coming from the two camps and just review their qualifications, it is clear that Kristin Guiney is the right choice.

So then, what are their qualifications? Here is a table of their education and work history:

But, many say, Kristin Guiney has spent most of her career with one employer, the Harris County District Attorney’s office, while Lana Shadwick has had a variety of jobs. Shouldn’t a judge have a broad range of experience?

Well, only if all things were equal. This is a criminal court and Lana Shadwick simply doesn’t have the experience necessary to judge criminal cases. She has never prosecuted a criminal case and has only has a handful of criminal cases in which she was the defense attorney. That is a far cry from Kristin Guiney’s experience in the criminal justice system. Let’s look at Kristin Guiney’s career at the HCDAO:

  • Supervise and train prosecutors assigned to court
  • Responsible for the handling of all capital cases
  • Appointed by First Assistant to Committee on Discovery Procedures
  • Prepare arrest and search warrants
  • Prepare and present cases to be taken directly to Grand Jury
  • Present probable cause to magistrate on felony and misdemeanor cases
  • Prosecuted cases involving physical and sexual abuse of children.
  • Worked closely with the law enforcement personnel and therapists from the Children’s Assessment Center
  • Tried over 80 jury trial cases including four non death capital cases
  • Spearheaded committee and prepared presentations for Proposals to Commissioners Court requesting additional personnel and salary increases

Her opponent simply cannot match that in her career. Those first two are especially important because it shows that Kristin Guiney was well respected by her peers and her supervisors.

For this voter, it is important that a criminal court judge understand capital murder and the death penalty. Although I wish that Kristen hadn’t given Terry Lowry $11,075 this cycle, the least I can do is point you to her interviews with Terry on capital punishment. I don’t like a lot of what Terry does (okay, most) but the truth is that he is a pretty decent interviewer of candidates for judicial positions. He asks the right questions and gets out of the way so that the candidate has free rein to answer them So I urge you to listen to Kristin Guiney talk about capital punishment.

Her opponent lists a capital murder appeal on her website that she claims to have handled, but I cannot find any supporting documents for that claim. Criminal District Court judges exercise daily discretion in serious cases that directly impact public safety. The discretion extends from setting bonds to approving plea bargains, supervising probationers, conducting jury trials, and assessing punishment. Because she has never handled a criminal case in a trial court, she has no experience with bail, reviewing search warrants or any knowldege of probation programs.  How can she possibly be expected to handle hundreds of cases a month? The position of judge should not be a learning on the job experience.

Look, I like Lana, I really do. She is funny, smart, and has a smile bigger than Texas. If she were running for a family court judge position, I’d support her in a heartbeat. But she isn’t running for a family court bench.

For this criminal district court bench, it is clear to me that Kristin Guiney is the clear choice. I hope you take the time to study the two candidates in this race because if you do, and can block out the noise, I think you’ll agree with me.

Harris County Sheriff candidate Louis Guthrie wins appeal

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Louis Guthrie

I told you earlier that it had been a good week for Louis Guthrie. In addition to winning the poll taken after the Harris County DA Debate this past Thursday, Mr. Guthrie finally sees a light at the end of the dark tunnel that current Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia put him in for the past three years. Judge Caroline Baker (a great person, btw) overturned the decision of the Civil Service Commission that upheld Guthrie’s politically motivated firing.

 

Press release from Louis Guthrie:

Following a bench trial in District Court, Louis Guthrie was vindicated, and the Sheriff’s Civil Service Commission’s decision to uphold his firing was set aside and the case remanded for proceedings consistent with the Court’s Order. What does that mean? It means that after the Court found the Civil Service Commission, and vis-à-vis the Sheriff, had violated the Texas Government Code, the decision in violation of State Law was set aside. Louis should get his job back along with back pay and benefits.

The trial was confined to the record of the Commission’s hearing on May 12, 2010. In that trial, all the Sheriff’s Office’s warts were revealed; Major Silvio admitting one of Guthrie’s alleged violations of policy was in fact the accepted policy and practice of the Department, (This was the same Major Silvio who had previously testified in another hearing that he could not name any violations of policy by Louis Guthrie), the misrepresentations of law by the County Attorney to the Commission, and unbelievably, the concealing of evidence.

The concealing of evidence was probably the most disturbing thing the Court heard. Not only were audio interviews of witnesses hidden, but video recovered from the scene was not even mentioned in the report. When asked why he hid evidence in this matter, the handpicked Internal Affairs Investigator testified under oath, “There wasn’t anything on there that would indicate that Mr. Guthrie did anything wrong.” Translation: The decision to fire him has been made and we don’t want to present evidence that shows he did nothing wrong. Had this concealing of evidence occurred in a criminal case, the investigator could be charged with a 3rd degree felony.

After showing repeated violations by the Sheriff’s Office and the Civil Service Commission of their own rules, state law, and the U.S. Constitution, Guthrie’s attorney John Denholm told the Court, at some point the law has to mean something.

Because the Commission’s decision was to uphold the Sheriff’s illegal firing of Guthrie was clearly in violation of the law, the case returns to the Civil Service Commission, which should order Louis Guthrie’s reinstatement with back pay and benefits. That is if they follow the law….

If they follow the law. I don’t know if the Civil Service Commission members are the same as last time or not. But if they are, I have no doubt that Martha Wong will do the right thing and reinstate Mr. Guthrie with full back pay. I’d venture to say that if the Sheriff’s department hadn’t withheld evidence the first time, Martha would have ruled in Mr. Guthrie’s favor. This witch-hunt has hurt the Guthrie family financially and emotionally – while the emotions will take time to heal, there should be no delay in restoring his family financially. Plus, giving him his job back now would give him a leg up when he moves to the big office after booting Garcia in November.

Hopefully, Judge Baker’s ruling will stop Mr. Guthrie’s opponents from using his bogus firing against him: they have been using it throughout the primary season. We will get a chance to see their true character – will they spread the word of his vindication? Or will they act the same as the media and ignore Judge Baker’s ruling?

Website: LouisGuthrie.com

Facebook: VoteGuthrie

 

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

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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.

Ted Cruz speaks at the RHCIA monthly meeting

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Bob Borochoff with Ted Cruz

I’ll say this for the Republican Hispanic Citizens in Action group and their founder/cheerleader Bernadette McLeroy – they sure have grown since they moved their monthly meetings from the inner loop Casa Grande to the outer loop Cafe Adobe. This was my first visit since they moved locations and the upstairs room was packed. I’ll also say this: the food at Cafe Adobe is a heckuva lot better than Casa Grande. Casa Grande certainly has a more “authentic” feel to it but better food is better food, you know?

There were tons of candidates on hand, way too many for me to note them all. It was good to see Donna Detamore again, she has decided to run for Harris County Civil Court at Law 2. And my friend Leif Olson, who is the “clear, consistent, conservative choice” in the race for the 151st Civil District court. Kristin Guiney was out trying to convince people that she is the best choice for the 179th Criminal District Court. And it was the second night in a row for me to see candidate for DA Mike Anderson, so all of his supporters can relax because he’s out doing the job you refuse to do, campaigning. And Don Sumners was there – actually, he was the reason I made the 40 mile drive in the first place, I wanted to get clued in on the Tax Assessor/Collector race. And a whole bunch of other folks were out campaigning. If you like politics, this is your time of year.

Like I said, I went to see Don but when I saw Ted Cruz being handed the microphone, I figured that I’d have to catch Don some other time. Ted does like the stage, I’ll give him that. But really, it was okay because his staff has stopped responding to my inquires, so this is all you get now, recaps of the same old stump speeches we’ve been hearing for about 33 years now while he runs for office. Yeah, that was just a wee bit sarcastic but it is true that his staff has stopped responding to me and it is true that he has been running forever for the Senate. I was going to raise my hand and ask him if the rumors about his staff not getting paid at the end of the year so that they could report more cash on hand were true but decided to be civil.

Let’s see. Ted told his Dad’s story and for Bob Garrett’s sake, he did include the year 1957 but he did not mention that his dad was fighting alongside of Fidel Castro. He talked about the momentum of his campaign and the great awakening of conservatives across Texas and the nation. He reiterated that voters want two things, a strong conservative and a fighter, and that he is the only “major” candidate in the race that fits that bill. I put major in quotes because he is now using that term to say that he was won every straw poll in Texas that involved “major” candidates – that way he doesn’t have to say that Glenn Addison beat him a few times.

After mentioning his 12 point plan for job growth, Cruz listed three things for which he would take immediate action if he is elected: (1) Repeal Obamacare, (2) Overturn the moratorium on drilling offshore, and (3) make himself a fine pair of boots out of the endangered species of lizard that is causing havoc in West Texas. And another thing about that lizard, Congress doesn’t have authority to regulate any toad that doesn’t cross state lines. Take that EPA.

Obviously he attacked Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, listing these three things as problems that must be overcome to defeat him: (1) 90{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}+ name id among Texas Republican Primary voters, (2) unlimited personal cash, and (3) as a sitting Lt. Gov., every lobbyist in the state has been reminded of that and coerced into donating. I thought it was interesting that he made fun of Dewhurst for being rich, saying that even John Kerry would point to Dewhurst and say “that guy’s rich”. Interesting because just a few moments earlier he had pointed to Bob Borochoff, the owner of Cafe Adobe, and praised him for his success. Perhaps there should be a limit to riches?

If you’ve seen one of Ted’s stump speeches, you know most of this already. But he did say something when attacking/contrasting Dewhurst that made me uneasy. He asked why Texas would want to elect a 67 year old moderate with a decade of compromising under his belt. Now, it is one thing to say that Dewhurst is a moderate – he isn’t but at least that is a political attack. But his age? I wouldn’t go there if I were Ted. Not only because the majority of Republican Primary voters are not so young and so it isn’t a great political strategy, but because it is a display of arrogance. So what if Dewhurst is 67? He isn’t exactly some invalid waiting out the end of his days in a nursing home. It just didn’t sit well with me.

And I had to laugh when he criticized Dewhurst for forming a “Super PAC” – this coming from a guy that is on record hundreds of times saying that three out of state Super PAC’s are going to help him win this race. The aforementioned Bob Garrett wrote about this same issue today. It’s enough to make you shake your head.

It was getting pretty late and Ted was still answering questions, so I decided to cut my losses and catch up with Mr. Sumners another time. Bernadette and her club officers should be very happy with the growth of that club. Here are a few pictures from the evening:

Created with flickr slideshow.

Harris County Judicial Education Meeting

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From Alvin Walker (HarrisCountyConservativePolitics.com):

This is a meeting I’m putting together to help educate the public about how our judicial system works. My goal is that the meeting will be 90{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} educational and 10{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} political. It’s not about who to vote for but about what different courts do. If you know of anyone that might like to come please send this to them.  

Harris County Conservative Politics is proud to present a judicial education meeting about how the legal system works in Harris County and Texas. We will show you how the different courts get their names. Why are they called District Courts when they are a County wide bench? What is the difference between the many civil courts? We will show how a murder case is handled from the arrest to the penalty phase.

Joining us will be legal experts in both Civil and Criminal fields. Some of the experts who have been invited are running for a Judge position and some are currently serving as Judges. We have a 19 year prosecutor and a criminal defense lawyer, plus others. They will show us why it is important for the accused to have good representation. Hear how the Bonds are set; don’t believe everything you’ve heard on TV. We are going to explain how the system works. Allowing plenty of time for questions and answers.

When: Jan. 31, 2012 

Time: 5:30 to 8:00 PM Meeting will start about 6:00 PM

Where: Clays Restaurant at 17717 Clay Rd. Houston 77084

 http://www.claysrestaurant.com/