Overall, I think the debate went well, and I think it really separated the pretenders from the contenders. The format of it was good and well-organized. The substantive answers won out over the political B.S.
I thought (as mentioned below) that Perry was out of his league.
I thought that Pat Lykos seemed like she was barely keeping a lid on her anger, which she was feeling for some reason. Her cheap shots at Kelly were petty and stupid. Not to mention that they've been overplayed at this point. And I think Kelly checkmated Lykos when she said that she (Kelly) acknowledged and apologized for her mistakes. (That reminds me, Bernstein, it's our three week anniversary!) To her credit, Lykos only said the meaningless phrase "rule of law" twice.
She was still all fluff, and no substance, and she radiated the genuine warmth of a rattlesnake sunning itself on a rock.
I know I'm a Kelly fan, but I have to admit that I thought Jim Leitner really shined tonight. He had good substantive answers, and I thought his candor in admitting the "no peremptories" rule being a mistake went over well with the audience.
I thought Kelly did great too, especially considering how the entire design of the debate was bashing the past sins of the D.A.'s office. Almost every question dealt with a failing from the Rosenthal administration, and by implication, the questions very much appeared to be attacking Kelly.
Throughout it all, I think Kelly did an excellent job of responding to the questions without getting hostile at them being asked. She kept on message that she is the most qualified of the candidates, regardless of Chuck's sins. I also think the fact that none of the other candidates posed any questions to her spoke volumes.
If the voters can get past the taint that Rosenthal has put on the D.A.'s Office, Kelly would be the no-brainer winner. The job ahead of her is tougher, but it is made tougher through Chuck's actions.
Aside from Lykos' snide remarks, the debate stayed on the issues.
6 comments:
A few things stuck out in my mind from tonight’s debate.
First, does Judge Lykos have any idea how much it would cost to store every email ever received by any ADA? And does she really mean to store all emails? Even the “Honey I’m gonna be late again tonight because I have a ton of crack pipe cases to screen for tomorrow.” or the “Increase your copulation organ” emails? Of course the cost of email storage would be a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of her “New Regional Crime Lab”. And these fiscally conservative ideas are being brought to you by the letters G, O, and P. The only position the Harris County Republican Party should be supporting her on is County RINO of the year.
The second thing that got me worked up tonight was when all four candidates said that they would support providing defense BFLs with copies of the case files. How about instead of sticking the taxpayers with the cost of Xerox toner and paper and the wage of the poor secretary that would have to make these copies, we provide Kinkos with some space to lease in that big ass court building and let the defendants pay for their own !@#$%^& copies.
To conclude tonight’s rant, it’s bad enough that Harris County conservatives don’t have a candidate to vote for in the Presidential race, we can’t even find one for DA.
Lykos was probably angry because she was having a megalomaniacal fit about anyone challenging her.
It's funny but she's the only candidate I feel strongly about in that race. Strongly negative, that is.
Ron, you're right on target, yet again.
To be petty for a moment, and I'm a Kelly fan, but she needs to cut her bangs so we can see her face (it's horribly distracting), and her body language at the debate said she'd rather be anywhere but there (which may be true, but she needs to fake it).
Brew95: "To conclude tonight’s rant, it’s bad enough that Harris County conservatives don’t have a candidate to vote for in the Presidential race, we can’t even find one for DA."
Considering the polarized electorate, betting strongly on a staunch conservative candidate is a poor bet. Lykos is the GOP hack and Jim would probably be a better candidate on the Democratic ticket, but Siegler is less about the politics and more about the position. This is her downfall for those that want the office more political and another reason why she's a better choice than the others.
"Almost every question dealt with a failing from the Rosenthal administration, and by implication, the questions very much appeared to be attacking Kelly."
This is the point I was making earlier about the general election. If Siegler is the nominee, the election will be about Chuck Rosenthal. If it's somebody else, the criticisms will be focused on C.O. Bradford.
And FWIW, Brew95, the cost of email storage is de minimus. Computer memory is REALLY cheap these days. Also, a better idea than copying files is just putting them online. When they did that in Tarrant County to implement an "open file" policy, it not only benefitted the defense bar but created unexpected new efficiencies at the DA's office, too. IMO that's the direction DAs need to go on that issue.
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