Prosecutor and new Mom, Carvana Cloud turned in her letter of resignation this morning.
Given the way Pat Lykos and the Gang treated her during the past several months, it is no surprise that she decided to leave a place where she was no longer appreciated. Given that Lykos campaigned on diversity, common sense would have seemed to dictate that she and her minions should do everything in their power to have talked Carvana into staying. Unfortunately, common sense isn't something the Office possesses any longer.
I wish Carvana my sincere congratulations -- first (and most importantly) on the New Baby!
But second on escaping an office that is going down the tubes and never appreciated all you did for it.
Best of luck, Carvana!
34 comments:
C'mon Murray, why the disbelief in Lykos not caring about or fulfilling campaign promises. Please name one campaign promise Lykos has lived up to.
What a joke those that argue Lykos is ridding the office of Rosenthal corruption are.....look who has left and see who has replaced them. Corruption, good old boy bullshit and incompetence have risen to new heights under Judge Pat and her Brownshirts.
Those of us that know Carvana know how lucky the office was to have her, her brains, and her talent as a member. She's truly another huge loss to our community. Vana- your friends wish you and your family the best of luck.
Congratulations on the new baby and best of luck on your new venture. This is another loss to the citizens of Harris County and a gain for Carvana. I know you will be happier away from the Lykos DA office.
Carvana is an extremely talented trial attorney. She was an immense asset to the office, not only for her trial ability but her brains. Her resume is impeccable. She clearly suffered a political blow. This after Lykos and The Gang in 2008 called everyone in that office a racist and claimed not enough minorities were at the top. Well, look how many minorities are in supervisory positions now. Lykos and The Gang are a disgrace and should be ashamed of themselves. Misruss Cloud, I wish you the best of luck. You are someone I truly admire and was honored to work with!!
We are all sorry to see her leave and more of us will be joining her. Moving on 4
Dear lord is she going to Galveston?
Murray,thanks for your inspiration. Three more of us are leaving next month to start a law practice . we have reached the breaking point.This is rediculous. Nothing makes sense any more. Leaving on 5
Good luck to all of you prosecutors who will be leaving. It is a shame that you will be leaving the profession.
I'll stress again that there are many DA's offices in very nice parts of the state that would welcome you with open arms. Your experience from Harris County is like a LLM in prosecution for some of these areas, who are just now confronting larger amounts of "big city crime".
You have to look, but sometimes these small DA's can find extra money for someone who can do the heavy lifting in the courtroom against "big city lawyers" in more rural areas.
Trust me when I say I know that you can vastly improve your quality of life in many ways in smaller counties in Texas.
For those of you who don't want to leave prosecution and would consider leaving Houston, there are options beyond Montgomery or Galveston.
Go to TDCAA functions, on your own dime if necessary and make it a point to meet some of these DA's and their employees. I promise, it works.
The AG's office often hires experienced prosecutors for it's various specialized divisions, and it's interesting work if you don't mind the travel and being based in Austin.
There is nothing wrong with going into practice but if you feel the calling of your prosecutorial profession, there are options.
Tex
First off: Congrats Carvana! You and Willy should be so happy for your new addition and new found life. I couldn't be more happy for you.
You are so lucky to have left the office. It is a relief you will never be able to describe. Leaving a dying ship is like winning the lottery on the Titanic life boats. Feel that? Its so wonderful isn't it?
To the rest of you: Follow the the "Leaving on 5". They are the next to figure out the ship is sinking from the bow.
Anyone remember Lykos campaign slogan? .... Make this the best DA's office in the country." Well, Lykos, Leitner, Bridgewater, Vollman, McNulty you did it. Oh, sorry. You made the best DA's office in the area first. Right behind the City Municipal Court prosecutors. Way to GO!
Jump! We Voters screwed up and deserve the next 3 years of freedom for criminals.
Leaving on 5. The grass looks greener on the other side ,but there are sacrifices. Give them a chance. 6 months is not long enough.
They had their chance and we are leaving before getting fired. Being locked out like Donna was the last straw. She was part of our inspiration. You can not believe what is going on here.People with no experience are telling us what to do and we are constantly watched and criticized by the gang.Defense lawyers help us more than our own superiors.Still Leaving ASAP
Anon 10:56,
Not only is the grass greener on the other side but all that's growing at 1201 Franklin is poison ivy and I'm out of Benadryl.
Murray, is it true that PTD will be offered on all 1st time non Capital offenses by Christmas? Secondly, who will be in charge when Judge Pat starts campaigning for AG, Roger or Little Jimmy?
Do you think anyone outside our courthouse world has a clue how badly Pat and her crew are decimating the DA's office? I bet the outsiders don't have any idea!
It's hard to care anymore. Who would have thought it could get this bad this fast.
By early next year there will only be cowards and incompetents left....how sad is that?
Anon 8:23 AM. I take issue with the incompetent and coward comment. If I were a young prosecutor who did not have much stake in the office, I would leave, if I had the points to retire, I would retire but there is that group who are close to retirement and have invested their time, education and sacrificed personal gain for the citizens of Harris County. They are stuck. However, when they get their points, I expect to see them leave and then the office will be left the the Lykos crowd.
If Obama wants to say someone in law enforcement acted stupidly he need look no further than Harris County DA Pat Lykos, not the Cambridge Police department.
An Open Letter To The Citizens of Harris County
From the Desk of Pat Lykos (which doubles as Ewok Jimmy's nappin' cave)
Dear Citizens,
Thank you so much for your vote last year. I appreciate the opportunity you have given me to further my own political ambitions at your expense. You can rest assured that I will NEVER pass up an opportunity to screw you, the taxpayers, to make myself look good.
During my campaign, I made some promises to you. Most of them were just "ass-speak". I had no idea what I was saying or promising, but it all sounded good, and, most importantly, IT WORKED!!!
After being reminded about those whacky promises by people who actually expect me to do something other than sit on my wrinkley butt and chain smoke, I have decided to take action. Here's how:
1. I will make the office more transparent. I will do this by replacing the opaque windows on the reception area of the 6th floor with glass.
2. I will slowly weed out the untalented prosecutors. By untalented, I mean unable to kiss my ass and try a case with their hands tied behind their backs at the same time.
3. I will adhere to the rule of law. I will rule, and whatever I say is law.
These, and some of the other promises I made during the campaign (except for those made after consuming jack and coke) will slowly come to pass as I become more familiar with the office.
On a side note, in a break from previous administrations, I am changing the admonition in DIMS from "How to Keep a perp from needlessly getting out of jail" to "I am a Queen, worship me".
Thank you for your support.
Love and kissess,
The Honorable Patricia Lykos, BA JD DA GOD
Anon 9:31,
ADA's have many rewards that come with the job that cannot be measured by a simple paycheck stub. If financial reward is the sin qua non, the trial experience garnered by ADAs paves the way for big paychecks if an experienced prosecutor with the adequate skills and work ethic enters private practice. Unless you are an inadequate ADA, any lost pecuniary benefits complained of by premature retirement at HCDA, forced or otherwise, can more than be made up for in short order through the private sector.
As for the great sacrifice ADAs make, name a job that does not have sacrifice associated with it. AND no one forced us to be ADAs in the first place. Cops, nurses, social workers, soldiers, firefighters, doctors, fighter pilots, teachers etc. all make sacrifices for others and more often than not are more than satisfied with the intangible rewards for helping those less fortunate and/or in greater need.
A human being is often apprehensive about his future but should not be timid nor act with disgraceful fear, lest he be reduced to a coward.
anon 9:31:
Speak for yourself. The rock star component of prosecutors that fit in your excuse making personal niche has either resigned, plans on resigning shortly or has been terminated before exercising either option.
Don't be a pussy all your life.
I really commend those who have made the decision that they have had enough. But think of who they are. Are they no.2's or young chiefs who have no families and have invested less than 15 years with the office? Thinking of 15 more years before they are retirement eligible and living through hell makes quiting pretty attractive. They undoubtedly have better oportunities for better pay and happiness outside.
However, there are a number of people with young kids and a spouse and have invested 20 plus years and have 5 more or so to vest. Blowing that off, along with health care and the possiblility of a smaller salary isn't so attractive. They certainly aren't pussies, more like trapped rats.
If they do not like the new D A ,then they need to quit the job and join the world of private practice. Whining and excuses do not work. If they are such great lawyers, then let them get going. Maybe they can get another job and live off the government somewhere else.
Trapped rats is a good description of some of the people there. Trapped rats leave a sinking ship.
"Maybe they can get another job and live off the government somewhere else."
You can suck it, moron. The people I know at the DA's office do it for more than a paycheck. It's a shame you could never understand a concept like that.
9:51 your summation is on the mark.
Jigmeister, your suggestion that a veteran prosecutor must endure a compromise of integrity and principle for pure financial gain and further suggestion that a veteran prosecutor could not possibly be financially solvent or successful outside the once hallowed halls of CJC is offensive and not accurate.
9:31,
Change presents opportunity. When preparation meets opportunity some people call the resultant success luck. So you shouldn't fear change, rather you should fear mediocrity and complacency.
CORRECTION to my earlier post that was incomplete at 8:02:
Anon 951 you are partially correct. No doubt those ADAs that are sufficiently disgruntled with the current administration's poor leadership should have a backbone and leave. To imply, however, that ADAs are only able to exist as government dependents is unfounded and overreaching. Ironically living off the government tit accurately describes the career of your friend Judge Pat.
Anon 8:02
Jigmeister, since Lykos' reign of incompetent terror became self evident, there have been a number of ADAs with 20+ years of experience with spouses and kids who have stood up for principle and left on their own volition. How would you classify them? As for those hypocrites that remain, I don't buy your trapped rat theory as a valid excuse for cowardly behavior.
Anon 10:06 on July 28;
I thought Little Jimmy Leitner was the Eunuch while Hannah Chow was Ewok? The Troll is obviously the Troll but I can't remember Roger's pet name....geeze what a friggin zoo we work at.
Figure it this way, Man up, people like Luci and Kelly left in their late 40’s having put in 20 years give or take. They put $150,000 in retirement and were eligible to retire in 3 to 5 years. Leaving before eligibility gave them what they put into retirement, but no retirement check. Those who left, like me, Ted, Lynn, Ed, Donna in their mid 50’s, after 25 years get all their medical covered for life and get a large percentage of their yearly salary for life. Now how many people are in the position Kelly and Luci were in? Maybe 25-30? They are the senior chiefs and division chiefs who can’t stomach what’s going on, but lose far too much to go. I won’t name names for obvious reasons. Believe me when I say that those folks can make a living elsewhere, but kick themselves in the balls by leaving. You can call them tit suckers if you like, but for those 20 years they did something they loved and believed in. Don’t they deserve what they earned? On the other hand, I agree that there are some in that category who have drunk the Kool-Aid and want nothing more than to see the rest of them bail and get out of the way. To them, I say, beware the ides of August, Brutus is near.
Jigmeister,
I'm not able to follow your reasoning.
Didn't Kelly and Luci also do something they each loved and believed in for over 20 years?
Do Kelly and Luci not "deserve" what they earned as well?
Wouldn't leaving before eligibility also give your "trapped rats" what they put into retirement or do they "deserve" more than Kelly and Luci?
Are you really saying that Kelly and Luci should have sold out like your "trapped rats" and stayed a few more years for money over principle and integrity?
I applaud Kelly and Luci for holding true to the courage of their convictions and not whimpering like a band of cowards.
How dare you disgrace their sacrifice in defense of such weakness.
My comment (Anon 9:31) on the reason why certain prosecutors are stuck was not meant to be a treatise on the motivation for persons to become prosecutors nor was it directed to other public servants. It was solely an observation that competent prosecutors will still be at the office for a few more years. These individuals are neither cowards nor are they incompetent (contrary to statements of the currently elected District Attorney and some commentators). These prosecutors are putting their families first and are willing to suffer through the current administration for that future. This is not the conduct of a coward. Following the suggestions of certain commentators the following would be a conversation between a financial planner and those prosecutors. FP: Let me make sure I have the facts, bad new administration but if you stay (your pick 3,4,5 or 6 years) you can retire with medical insurance and guaranteed income for the rest of your life and as long as you live modestly you may never have to work again, clearly you are a coward and are incompetent. You need to quit immediately and make a statement, in fact, I suggest you go to the front of the courthouse and douse yourself with gas and then...... no no no that was done by the Buddhist monk in Vietnam.... but surely there is a better statement than just ignoring the needs and future of your family. Prosecutor: I am paying for this advice?
When I was in public school and the first separation was being made based on class choice as well as level of class, I often had discussions with those students who were taking woodworking, basket weaving and auto shop. When I engaged those students in discussions of current events, politics or school policy I found when they had nothing I was referred to as a p**** or idiot. When I came out against the Vietnam War, their argument for the war was that I was a coward. I was never called incompetent. I want to thank the commentators who have resorted to name calling, it brings back memories but it serves no purpose and has no value.
I am a prosecutor. I go to the courthouse every day to prosecute criminals. Nothing more, nothing less. Having an elected figurehead that is disliked by many doesn't affect my job, most of the time. I have a job to do, and an oath to fulfill, and just because there are some people in the administration that do things I may or may not like doesn't mean I am a coward or a rat or anything else. I am a prosecutor.
I don't do it for money, or security--in case you haven't noticed, there isn't a lot of either. I don't do it to be popular--everyone from the victims to the cops to the crooks to the citizens bitch all the time about the job that we do, that none of them do. I am a prosecutor, and I do it because I am doing what I think is right, and I do it as best I can every single day, no matter which way the wind is blowing.
I am a prosecutor. That's what I do, and that's what I intend to keep doing, no matter what.
Man up, why do you insist on infighting. I have been warning about Lykos since she filed and forcast the consequences, having spent 18 months in her court. I certainly did not and would not besmerch the reputation of two close friends and work mates of more than 15 years. I was crestfallen when Kelly lost and am beholden to Luci for events that occurred before you started law school. Your insults of me carry no weight with those that know me. Further, I think you insult many others that haven't left, but have felt the sting of this incompetent regime, by being demoted, moved from positions for nepositic reasons, and generally labelled as unethical. If you really think that they don't want out, your nuts. I quite understand that you will have to get in the last insulting comments, but I don't consider them worthy of further comment by me.
9:31, 8:35 and Jigmeister,
My point in all this was apparently not presented well.
1. Chuck Rosenthal's festering lifestyle blew up fast and without much warning. Under those circumstances professional political campaigner, Pat Lykos, was well positioned to dismantle the office beyond imagination. Jim Leitner snookered many senior prosecutors as well as the defense bar. Their collusion should have been obvious. Instead, too many prosecutors were afraid to man up when it counted. It's easy to jump on the bandwagon with the winner but it takes courage to openly support the candidate during the process like Luci did. Those that openly supported Kelly or even Brad were ultimately demoted or terminated. They knew the risk when they ponied up but they took it anyway because they had the courage to openly and without reservation stand for what they believed in.
Kelly really had no choice but to resign after losing the runoff. If you recall, during her campaign she laid it all on the line stating that if she were not successful in her bid for DA she would step down. As another blogger posted awhile back, all the political pundits were of the opinion that no active prosecutor could shed the disgraceful taint of Rosenthal except MAYBE Kelly. If you know Kelly as well as you say, Jigmeister, you would also know that Special Crimes was her dream job, NOT being the DA. But Kelly knew Lykos' reputation well enough to KNOW that she could never compromise to the degree necessary to work for that woman, so she stepped up to the plate. Had she hit a home run she'd have had a bunch of new best friend hanger'ons, but when the long ball was snagged at the wall she came to realize who her true friends were and the meaning of sacrifice.
2. When Lykos was elected DA that in and of itself was not reason for everyone to jump ship with reckless abandon. However, if working under Lykos would cause you to sacrifice your principles, integrity or ethics in the pursuit of justice, then I submit to you that your honor should prevail. The bar is set higher for a prosecutor...as it should be. It is time to stand up not stand down. But then again, valor is not for everyone.
3. Have you ever wondered what happened to the original signers of the United States Declaration of Independence? They gave up a hell of a lot more than a government retirement account to openly support our freedom.
The boys and girls in the armed forces today give up a lot more as well.
4. I quit a little while ago and am obviously bitter. I always expected to work until retirement at what used to be the greatest job in the world.....we allowed Lykos to change all that and it just pisses me off.
Having an elected figurehead that is disliked by many doesn't affect my job, most of the time.
Wait. Are you talking about Lykos, or Rosenthal?
Just sayin'
Rage
Rage,
I finally can agree with one of your posts.
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