The Collin County Observer

The Collin County Observer, in a collaboration with the Frisco DWI Lawyer's Blog recently sent all four District Attorney candidates a 10 question form designed to give the voters an insight both into the plans each candidate has for operating the DAs office and their approach to criminal justice.

The Collin County District Attorney is responsible for prosecution of all criminal cases in the county. The DA runs a large operation, divided into ten divisions. These divisions are: Intake/Grand Jury, Misdemeanor Trial, Felony Trial, Family Justice (crimes against children section, domestic violence section), Special Crimes, Appellate, Hot Checks, Investigations, Operations and Victim/Witness Assistance. The DA also may represent the County in civil cases.

The DA's office has 116 employees and its 2010 budget is $10,775,827.

The questionnaire contained 10 questions. The first 5 involved the organization and operation of the department:

1. What do you think about the current structure/staffing of the ADAs? Would you shift attorneys around?

2. What do you think about the criminal special crimes section? Would you make changes in that section, and if so, specifically how?

3. Will you get in the courtroom and actually try cases? Why or Why Not?

4. In general, what changes would you be making if you became District Attorney?

5. Right now, only three people in the District Attorney’s office have authority to dismiss a case. The misdemeanor division chief for misdemeanor cases, the first assistant for felony cases, and of course, the elected District Attorney. What do you think of this policy? Would you allow misdemeanor court chiefs and or felony court chiefs to dismiss cases they feel should be dismissed?

The next question addressed the recent attempt by DA John Roach to arm a "Rapid Response Team" with automatic weapons and riot gear:

6. Current DA John Roach recently proposed using funds to purchase weapons and body armor for the Investigators in the office. What do you plan on doing with these weapons, and will your investigators continue to train to be a emergency security staff for the court?

And the last 4 questions with policies affecting the administration of justice:

7. Do you have any plans to expand or develop alternative/deferred sentencing programs? What programs have you seen or heard of that you would implement?

8. What lessons should the Collin County District Attorney learn (if any) from Dallas County’s experience with their Innocence Commission?

9. Do you believe our indigents are well served and fairly treated in our “Indigent Defense Plans”? What changes to the plans might you recommend to the Board of Judges?

10. Would you bar defendants from open pleas before a judge if a plea agreement can not be reached, or would you reserve the right to object if you thought the judge might be more lenient than your plea offer was? Which level of prosecutors in the office would be allowed to make this decision?

As of the deadline at midnight on Sunday 3 of the candidates had returned their completed questionnaires:

James Angelino's responses are here

Jeff Bray's responses are here

Raphael de la Garza's responses are here

Greg Willis' responses are here

The questions are specific and so the responses are long. The Observer offers this in-depth look at each of these candidates in the hope that the discerning voter will gain valuable insight into the plans and philosophy of each of these well qualified candidates.

The Observer thanks each of these gentlemen for taking the time to submit thoughtful answers to our questions. Our readers can look forward to further analysis and discussion of these issues in both The Collin County Observer and the Frisco DWI Lawyer's Blog.

Bill

UPDATE (2/15/10) I received Mr. De La Garza's response and posted it.

David Melton, who has written often in The Dallas Morning News Voices columns, has authored an interesting piece on the ongoing City of McKinney review of the McKinney Performing Arts Center.

The McKinney Performing Arts Center (MPAC) is housed in the old Collin County Courthouse on the downtown square in McKinney. It is an imposing and historically valuable asset, but and expensive one to keep up, and always seeming to be in need of renovations.

I have been to several productions and one banquet at MPAC. I love the building, and it seems to be a wonderful venue for small productions. But it is underutilized and the size limitations of any artistic productions limit its ability to generate enough revenue to sustain it.

I hope this article spurs a vigorous debate, and The Collin County Observer is willing to publish a responsible reply from an opposing point of view.

Bill

Link to city of McKinney public input form on the future use of The McKinney Performing Arts Center

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David Melton of McKinney: Solutions needed for McKinney arts center

Sunday, February 14, 2010
The Dallas Morning News Local Voices / Opinions

In recent months, there has been a lot of serious debate within the McKinney City Council about what to do with the McKinney Performing Arts Center, the old courthouse in the middle of downtown.

Several years ago, there was a major push for the McKinney Community Development Corp. to spend $9 million rehabbing this structure. The money was spent, and what the city ended up with was a structure that probably needed another $10 million to be spent.

Windows need to be replaced, and it would help to replace the roof. All of this money spent was projected to make the place presentable so it would be a major tourist attraction and arts center.

Years went by, and the arts center never lived up to potential. The MCDC was told that it would have to pay for the deficit each year to the tune of over $500,000 per year.

For the first couple of years, I sat on the MCDC board, and we were not even consulted about the cost. It was just added to our budget by the city, with the result being over $41,000 per month allocated to MPAC to keep it going.

Today, with the city running short on operating funds – struggling with cutting jobs and overhead, and delaying major projects – I often pause for thought about the millions of dollars that have been spent on MPAC.

I raised the ire of a good number of people when I suggested that the city hire four bulldozers and put one on each side of this building and let them go to work and meet in the middle of the rubble. The arts people went wild over the idea and suggested that I was out to destroy downtown McKinney.

I still believe that a large pavilion could be erected where MPAC now stands and it would enhance the overall image of our town and be a much better way to spend our tax dollars.

I am happy that the City Council is looking at MPAC seriously and trying to come with some solution that will work better for all concerned. I realize that the building has been registered as a historical site and that their options are limited.

But it's time the city do something to stop throwing good money after bad.

David Melton is a semi-retired insurance executive who lives in McKinney.

link to Mr. Melton's article at The Dallas Morning News....

Candidates for West Plano seat in Texas House digging deep into their own pockets for campaign funds

Sunday, February 14, 2010
By THEODORE KIM / The Dallas Morning News

Contenders for West Plano's seat in the Texas House of Representatives are pouring lots of their own money into the fight.

With several weeks to go before the March 2 Republican primary, Mabrie Jackson and Van Taylor have between them invested more than $300,000 in the race, campaign finance reports show.

Fundraising records also have raised questions about the political ties of the third candidate, Wayne Richard, who has gained momentum among Tea Party activists.

The House District 66 seat opened in November when incumbent Brian McCall? said he would not seek re-election. No Democrats filed to run.

Money, of course, has always played a central role in politics. But with few differences separating the three candidates on the biggest issues – all have portrayed themselves as conservatives and said they support low tax rates and fewer state regulations – fundraising has emerged as perhaps the biggest point of contention.

Experts also say the campaign reports provide the latest evidence of how spending in Texas politics continues to escalate, driven largely by the growing role and cost of technology in campaigns.

"Certainly television matters and still has the most significant impact," said Brian Roberts, a professor of American politics at the University of Texas at Austin. "But look what else is going on: You have social media, Web ads. This is opening up a whole new avenue of expense."

The total money raised for state legislative races alone has almost doubled to $95 million since 2004, according to Texans for Public Justice, a nonprofit group that tracks money in state politics.

"The cost of elections continues to trend up, up, up," said Andrew Wheat, the group's research director.

That, in turn, has put even more pressure on candidates to dip into their own wallets.

Van Taylor

Taylor, who works in real estate, has bankrolled his campaign with $230,000 in personal loans, putting most of that money toward television ads and mailings.

He has collected far less, $21,700, from campaign supporters. A $10,000 check from Taylor's father constitutes nearly half that total, records show.

Of the rest, $6,450 represents contributions from Plano addresses.

Taylor has spent large sums on campaigns before. He put more than $300,000 of his own money into an unsuccessful 2006 bid for Congress in the Waco area.

Taylor said he has local donations "coming in every day" and has a Plano fundraiser scheduled this week.

"I'm getting a great response and running a hard-hitting, grass-roots campaign," he said.

Mabrie Jackson

Jackson, a former Plano City Council member and Microsoft account manager, has invested $80,000 in her campaign. She has supplemented that with help from supporters and from interests ranging from real estate to liquor, records show.

Including her cash, Jackson had raised more than $148,000 through late January.

That total takes into account more than $16,000 from at least 20 political action committees that, in the past, had supported McCall?. Among them: the Texas Association of Realtors ($2,500), the Texas Energy Association ($2,500) and the Licensed Beverage Distributors ($1,000).

Jackson made no apologies for receiving PAC money.

"These associations represent industries that create jobs," she said. "They have confidence in my abilities to represent House District 66."

The biggest individual donors so far in the race include construction materials magnate John V. Lattimore, Jr., who donated $5,000 each to Taylor and Jackson; and Fehmi Karahan, the developer behind The Shops at Legacy, who gave $2,500 to Jackson.

Wayne Richard

Financial reports reveal that Richard, who runs a small Web company, had raised less than $10,000 in cash through January.

More significantly, the records raise questions about his political ties.

Richard has leaned heavily on campaign help from Peter Morrison, a local school board member in Lumberton, Texas.

Records show that Morrison has donated tens of thousands of dollars' worth of signs, mailers, supplies and time to Richard's campaign.

In posts on Facebook, Morrison argues that Texas schools teach a "radical left-wing agenda" and that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is a "radical racist."

Another lengthy post blames "immigration from Third World countries" for the mass shootings at Fort Hood in November.

"The Fort Hood massacre was the predictable result of decades of massive immigration from third world countries, affirmative action, enforcement of political correctness and 'celebration' of diversity and multiculturalism," Morrison wrote Nov. 17.

When asked about his aide's Fort Hood essay, Richard said, "Commanders would agree it was a political correctness situation that allowed the mass shooting to take place."

Asked whether he thinks schools should encourage diversity, Richard said, "I don't believe there's enough American history and positive representations of democracy and liberty that our country provides our citizens in our schools."

link to article at The Dallas Morning News, including candidate profile data....