As mentioned in the comments section of my last post, there was a lot of excitement generated on Wednesday by the announcement of Division Chief Don Smyth's candidacy for Judge of County Court at Law # 13.
Don is currently the Division Chief of Division A in the Trial Bureau of the District Attorney's Office, and he has been a prosecutor with the Office for over 32 years. He has held pretty much every position that the Office has to offer, from Misdemeanor Three all the way to Bureau Chief. He was the former Division Chief of the Civil Rights Division, before becoming the Bureau Chief of the Governmental Affairs Bureau (which encompassed the Civil Rights and Public Integrity Divisions). He served as a Bureau Chief for 8 years. During his tenure as an Assistant District Attorney, he also served as the Division Chief of the Misdemeanor Division.
Don is a graduate of the University of Texas Law School, and also got his undergraduate degree from UT, as well. He has been married to his wife Lydia for 25 years, and they have 3 grown children. He has been active in the Boy Scouts since 1986, serving as a Scout Master and Scout Master Emeritus. He is also a long-time volunteer with the Emergency Aid Coalition, which he works on through his church.
Don is currently working on getting his petitions together for the race, and is trying to organize a get-together some time next week after work.
Anyone interested in helping out with Don's campaign, especially with the Petition Drive (they are due on January 4th), should contact Don's wife, Lydia, at l_smyth@att.net.
25 comments:
Good luck Don!
Don is a great guy and is the man for the job. Don vs Farb Folly
Thank god for Don! I was really concerned with the possibility of Rachel Palmer being the only Republican candidate. If she would make decisions based on the actual law, it would be ok. However I have concerns with her knowledge of the law and her ability to be professional. Don will be good all around.
Well the good thing is after he turns his petitions in, assuming he does, we can get an idea who anonymous is? I think these are defendants because real men or when of character who have nothing to hide would never post anonymously especially with no facts to back up any of their statements. Now get your lazy buts out their and Mr. Smith some signatures so I can kick some "folk but". Let the fun begin and please bring it! A little 527 is in order for all "folk" candidates.
FYI-the person posting as "Don" is clearly not Don Smyth, but appears to have hit the egg nog pretty early. I'm pretty sure I know who he is. I wish him a Merry Christmas with no disputes with his neighbors.
Don Smyth will bring integrity to the judiciary. To me, and to many others who have worked with hundreds of judges over the years, judicial temperament (the right kind of judicial temperament) will increase respect for the courts.
I wish him a Merry Christmas with no dispute with anyone else on the road. Of coure, if he gets stopped now, he may be armed with a badge!
Don will be excellent. Dont worry ,he has friends in high places to compete with the other candidate.He can win if all show support.
This guy made a specialty out of getting peace officers indicted.
Don't look for any police union endorsements.
No thanks......
What did the comment that was deleted have to do with?
That comment was another non-sensical rambling by the person known as "Don", and he deleted it himself. I didn't. As a matter of fact, I'll reprint it for him so you can see the special brand of moron that we're dealing with here. See below.
Are we talking about a n Alec Baldwin type Boy Scout or a guy who was directed out in his last misdemeanor case? Are we talking Murray Newman Kevin Fine type of friends in high places? Can some of these legal geniuses run down his court victories? Please start with Police prosecutions because these no doubt will garner the support of LEO unions. Also, I say its not Murray Newman in infamous Kelly video but could it be Don, Marc Brown, help me here its a little grainy?
Anon 9:18 p.m.,
Don Smyth's job as the head of the Civil Rights and the Public Integrity Divison was to prosecute corrupt public servants -- police officers and otherwise.
As much as we all hate to admit it, there are always going to be some people that abuse the authority entrusted to them by the government. They are a very small minority, but they do exist, and deserve to be prosecuted. Although Don's position did not make him popular with the police (any more than a Internal Affairs officer is popular with his fellow officers), the position is one that needs to exist and needs somebody with incredible integrity has to run it. Being good at your job doesn't always mean being popular, but hopefully at the end of the day you've got to realize that a crooked official does much more harm to reputations than the person who prosecutes them.
Don must be Don Hooper, Palmer's fiance.
Anon 10:26,
My thoughts exactly! After the "incident" at the Hooper / Palmer residence, it wouldn't surprise me one bit that he would post such an alochol induced post.
Don Smyth has worked here for a long time and is a well respected man! I know Murray can speak more about his character as he has known him longer, but PLEASE get the word out to your friends and family that Don is, BY FAR, the more qualified man for this position.
Handling a position like public integrity, where the people you deal with all the time are the same witnesses we rely on for trial is a thankless job, but Don has handled it with more integrity than someone like Palmer has ever aspired to have. His temperment and professionalism are probably his two best qualities. I wish him well and there are alot of us here rooting for him!!
houstonvoter
Dirt Road Don
Let's hope "The Don" has sobered up. What a loser.
More stuff from the Ink Man.
http://outraged-commomsense.blogspot.com/
"we can get an idea who anonymous is? I think these are defendants because real men or women of character who have nothing to hide would never post anonymously especially with no facts to back up any of their statements."
This person ought to visit Grits sometime and read all the anonymous whining, insults and trolling by cops, prosecutors and other such "real men or women of character"! Cowardice, immaturity and a lack of character are by no means the exclusive province of "defendants."
BTW, Murray, is Smyth running as a Republican or Dem? Seems like he'd have a better chance as the latter given last go-round's judicial election results.
And what do you think about the statement above that the police union will oppose Smyth because he prosecuted cops?
Hey Grits,
Good to hear from you. I wouldn't give too much creedence to that poster you were quoting. Most people seem to believe that is the opposing candidate's fiancee, and he was pretty incomprehensible.
Don is running as a Republican. Most around Harris County are thinking that the Dem sweep of 2008 won't be in play on a non-presidential election year. What are your thoughts on that?
And yes, there may be a small bit of backlash at Don since he was head of Public Integrity/Civil Rights for so long. That's a shame, because he is truly a Boy Scout in every sense of the word. Not a lot of guys could hold onto the position as long as he did.
Grits for Breakfast said "And what do you think about the statement above that the police union will oppose Smyth because he prosecuted cops?"
To even the match someone needs to ask Terisa Taylor how many hours she has spent defending cops from non-sensical ramblings (aka legal threats) made by Palmer's fiance
"Most around Harris County are thinking that the Dem sweep of 2008 won't be in play on a non-presidential election year"
I wouldn't agree with that personally. When you look at the '06 returns in Harris things were already trending that way. Also, Dallas' initial "sweep" was during the '06 mid-terms.
Having lived in both Harris and the DFW area, I would say that the 2008 sweep was a fluke that won't happen again 'cause the Obama reality has sunken in and the Dems won't come out to vote in a non-presidential year. Dallas had many more problems and a much larger minority voting pool that actually gets out and votes. The Republicans all fled to Collin and Denton and Rockwall counties. Tarrant has remained Republican,albeit barely.
Best of luck, Don !!
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