Word is that the purges have begun over at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
Some of the lawyers fired so far are very good trial lawyers of high character. They’re the greatest loss to the State, and will, if they can be successfully reeducated, likely make excellent criminal defense lawyers. (Welcome to HCCLA!)
Eliminating political opponents upon accession to power is the correct move in the game of tyranny, but I have to wonder what the reactions of those who are not fired will be to the new DA’s firing of fine prosecutors for reasons unrelated to their performance as prosecutors.
If being talented, hardworking, and dedicated doesn’t guarantee one job security, why bother being talented, hardworking, and dedicated?
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This entry was posted by Mark Bennett
on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Murray Newman, politics.
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About The Author
Mark Bennett got his letter of marque from the Supreme Court of Texas in May 1995. He is famous for having no sense of humor when it comes to totalitarianism.
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First of all, why is Leitner taking a likely substantial paycut at this juncture in his career? And second, isn’t he smart enough to inform his new boss that morale is critical in a public service job where people are over-worked and underpaid as it is? Not sure who all they fired today, but if they fired good lawyers, they are off on the wrong foot. I suspect she’ll be a one-termer.
When your opponent is distracted, disorganized and walking on eggshells — that is the time to attack. While many fine lawyers are losing/will lose their jobs, that is the price you pay when you sign up to work for an elected official.
So is it your position that C.O. Bradford should have kept all those same “fine prosecutors” if he were elected? I doubt it.
New officeholders — especially those who run on a platform of change — should be expected to do precisely what Lykos has done. Lykos has every right and obligation to put her own team in place.
Rhymes,
Not all of them. I confess to a frisson of joy (for which I will undoubtedly do penance later) when learning of some of the firings. But a couple of the prosecutors fired were fired for political reasons. And some bad prosecutors have (so far) been retained.
Lykos sent “a letter [to] all District Attorney employees after the Republican primary run-off where she told [them] all that as long as [they] didn’t campaign for Bradford that their jobs would be okay.”
How many prosecutors have to be fired for political reasons to make it a political hatchet job? Just one.
Right and obligation? Only if “right” includes “lying to the troops.”
I know that I’m late to this post, but, on April 10th, 2008, the Chronicle quoted Lykos as saying that “prosecutors who are passionate, ethical and work hard don’t have to worry if she is elected”. Murray is, without a doubt, all of those things and it was clearly a hatchet job.
Natalie, good catch. (Well-supported substantive comments like this are always welcome.) It gives me an idea for another post.
Incidentally, I’m no longer holding my breath for those promised copies of offense reports, nor for any other reforms other than window dressing.