Lessons in Leadership

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Ryan Patrick was formally sworn in during his investiture ceremony yesterday.  The Houston Chronicle's Gabrielle Banks wrote this article describing the ceremony, which I noted was a little different from the original article she wrote about the event yesterday.  I tried to find the original article online because it had some interesting quotes from some of the Assistant U.S. Attorneys that work for Patrick, as well as some quotes from Federal judges and defense attorneys.  Unfortunately, the original version seems to be unavailable.

This quote from Chief U.S. District Court Judge Lee Rosenthal did make it into the final version of the article:

"He comes from a political family but his current focus is not on politics, it's on policy," Rosenthal said. "And that is how it should be as he faces intensely tactical problems of running this large and complicated office in our large and very complicated district . . . at a large and complicated time."

In the original article, Banks quoted a few others, including Mark Donnelly,  Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney, who noted that Patrick's approach to leading is dictating the policies of the Office and then relying on his experienced AUSAs to do their jobs effectively.  Apparently, this is causing a high boost in morale within the U.S. Attorneys Office and, lo and behold, the Office seems to be running well.  The original article quoted defense attorney Charles Flood, who was also highly complimentary of the way the Office is being run by Patrick.

The original article was striking because it described an office of prosecutors that seemed to run on a philosophy that is the polar opposite of the Harris County District Attorney's Office under D.A. Kim Ogg.  In the earlier article on Patrick, it described his desire to stay away from micro-management, in favor of relying on professional prosecutors who were doing the job and doing it well before he took office.

By contrast, Kim Ogg has . . .  well, Kim Ogg has JoAnne Musick.

While Ryan Patrick is getting lauded for running an office where prosecutors are enjoying their jobs and their office's clearly stated principles, Musick continues to run through low level disposed cases with a microscope.  While Patrick treats the prosecutors who held their jobs long before he arrived with the respect they earned, Musick continues to talk to prosecutors (with far more prosecutorial experience than her) as if they were children.

Just a side note here, let's not forget that JoAnne originally left the D.A.'s Office as a relatively new Felony Two.  She never got close to earning the stripes of Felony Chief, but that still doesn't keep her from dressing down far more senior prosecutors.  I've mentioned this twice before.  The first time was back in February.  The second time was less than a month ago.

In the four weeks since I wrote that last post, two more senior Felony Chiefs have declared their intention to leave the Harris County District Attorney's Office and head to work for the U.S. Attorney's Office under the leadership of Ryan Patrick.

Who could blame them?  If one were given the choice of working for an Office with a clear vision statement that comes with being treated with respect versus an Office guided solely by public opinion where senior prosecutors are treated like dim-witted children, it really isn't much of a contest, is it?

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas is thriving while the Harris County District Attorney's Office is a sad shell of what it used to be.

Kim Ogg should learn a lesson in leadership from Ryan Patrick.

Ryan Patrick Swearing In

Happy belated New Year, everyone.  I'm glad to be starting the New Year with some good news.

Former 177th District Court Judge Ryan Patrick is being sworn in tomorrow, Monday, January 8th as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.  Although a ceremonial investiture will be taking place in February or March, he will formally begin his job by being sworn in tomorrow at 8:45 a.m.

He is being sworn in in the courtroom of Chief Judge Lee H. Rosenthal (in the Federal Courthouse at 515 Rusk, Courtroom 11B) and all are invited to attend.

Ryan was a great prosecutor during his time at Harris County and a great judge.  I know he'll do well in his new position, and I'm proud to call him my friend.

Ryan Patrick Named US Attorney

Huge congratulations to former 177th District Court Judge Ryan Patrick on being appointed US Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.

As readers of this blog know, Judge Patrick is someone who I think very highly of.  When he was elected to the 177th bench, there were some who were worried that he was not old enough and didn't have enough experience for the job.  He was undaunted by the grumblings and quietly went about proving all to all the skeptics that he was a thoughtful, intelligent, and compassionate jurist.  He did a great job.

I have no doubt that he will do the same as U.S. Attorney, and I look forward to him doing great things with the Office.

Judge Ryan Patrick's Investiture

The Investiture Ceremony for Judge Ryan Patrick of the 177th District Court will be held this Friday, March 1st at 12:00 p.m. in the Ceremonial Courtroom on the 20th Floor of the CJC.

A reception will follow in the 177th Courtroom.

All are invited to attend!

The Final Field & A Potential Departure

As I pointed out a few posts ago, the primary for Texas is Tuesday, May 29th.  When the powers that be set that date, it temporarily re-opened the field for any aspiring candidates that wanted to run for public office.  That temporary re-opening ended yesterday at 6 p.m. with only one addition to the races involving the CJC.  Someone named Antonio Benavides added his name as a Republican candidate for the 177th District Court, facing off against Assistant District Attorney Ryan Patrick.

Given the fact that Ryan has been running a polished campaign from the very beginning and nobody seems to know who the late-arriving Mr. Benavides is, I don't know that this race will be too hotly contested.

None of the other judicial fields landed any additional candidates, which I'm sure leaves that lovable lunatic and grammar rock star, Don Hooper, furious.  He's been waging a private war against his ever-growing list of enemies that pretty much consists of him generating on-line discussions with himself and butchering the English language in the process.

The big news coming out of the end of filing time is that no third person spoiler entered the race for District Attorney, leaving it a head-to-head match-up between Pat Lykos and Mike Anderson.  I'm not a political science major, but Lykos has got to be a little uneasy knowing that there won't be a runoff like the one that got her into office in 2008.  It will be interesting to see how it shakes out without Jim Leitner to play the spoiler.

Speaking of Leitner, my e-mail and phone started blowing up yesterday afternoon with reports that Leitner had turned in his letter of resignation effective June 1st (which is coincidentally the first Friday after the primary.)  Obviously Jim and I don't have our nightly chats anymore so I cannot absolutely confirm that, but it sure was coming from multiple sources that have been credible in the past.  It was also very specific.

Things are getting curiouser and curiouser.