The 174th District Court Judicial Race

The race for the 174th is the one race in this year's round of Judicial Elections that doesn't have an incumbent involved. Judge George Godwin is retiring from the bench after a long and distinguished career. If you've read this blog for awhile, you know I'm a big fan of Judge Godwin's, and whoever ends up taking the bench will have some mighty big shoes to fill, in my opinion.

The Republican candidate for the 174th is Assistant District Attorney Bill Moore, a 20 year veteran of the D.A.'s Office, and the current District Court Chief of the 232nd District Court (Judge Mary Lou Keel). Bill spent a large amount of his career in the elite Special Crimes Division of the Office before returning to the Trial Bureau a few years ago. Bill won the Republican nomination out of a field of four other Assistant D.A.'s who were vying for the job.

I have to admit that I don't know Bill very well on a personal level, but I've always considered him to be an extremely outgoing and nice man. His credentials as an ADA certainly give him a good basis of knowledge that would be required of a Judge, having tried over 100 felony cases, including murders and capital murders.

Bill has also taken the unusual step of refusing to take any campaign donations from anyone who might potentially be practicing in front of him, which is, obviously, a very admirable position.

Personally, I think he would make an excellent judge.

The Democratic candidate for the 174th is former-Judge Ruben Guerrero (thanks to JAGJO for providing the website link. Also, Charles Kuffner over at Off the Kuff posted this brief interview with Ruben awhile back).

Ruben comes from a very politically active background. He was appointed by former-Governor Ann Richards to the 263rd District Court where he served a term before being defeated by Judge Jim Wallace, who still holds the Bench. He was also very active in the Democratic Party, being appointed to be the administrator for the Small Business Administration for the Southwestern States of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and New Mexico.

He is a trial lawyer, although I've never seen him in trial. I do see him around the CJC quite a bit, but I've never personally dealt with him on any cases. His time on the Bench of the 263rd were before my time, so I'm going to have to rely on some of my older commenters to fill in some gaps here. He currently offices with my friend, Pat McCann, who speaks very highly of Ruben, and he has always been very nice to me.

In this particular race, I don't know enough about Ruben's experience in criminal law to fully analyze his candidacy. I do know Bill Moore, though, and I personally think he would make an excellent Judge.

Let me know your thoughts . . .

The 174th Republican Primary

Per JAGJO's Request:

Although I've been focusing most of attention on the runoff race for D.A. between Kelly Siegler and Pat Lykos, there is another runoff going on that is of great importance to those of us at the CJC.

Assistant District Attorneys Bill Moore and Kevin Keating will be facing each other in the April 8th election to see who will be the Republican candidate for the 174th District Court, currently held by Judge George Godwin, who is retiring at the end of his term. The winner of the Republican primary will face Democratic candidate and former judge Ruben Guerrero (who knocked off Lloyd "God knows I'll run for anything" Oliver in the Dem primary).

As I've said before (and JAGJO understands), I think very highly of Bill and Kevin, just as I think very highly of John Jocher and Terrance Windham, who didn't make the runoff. Therefore, I won't publicly pick sides on the issue.

I would like to congratulate Bill, Kevin, John and Terrance on all running a clean race and seeming to manage to stay friends through it all.

NOTE: Since Mark Bennett endorsed either Terrance or John, I would imagine that Kevin and Bill will be seeking out Mark and asking him to please not endorse them, as he may be the kiss of death. Just kidding, Mark.

Okay, JAGJO, my friend, the comments board is now open for discussion!

Four prosecutors walk into a judicial race . . .

It kind of sounds like the start of a bad bar joke, but, believe it or not, there are some other interesting things going on at the courthouse besides stories of Chuck Rosenthal scandals.

The Honorable George Godwin has chosen not to run for re-election in the 174th District Court, leaving an open field of contenders to replace him. I've got to admit a personal bias here. I'm a huge fan of Judge Godwin, and whoever does get the bench has got some pretty big shoes to fill. In my opinion, he's one of the last great judges who gave Harris County some of the character that we are famous or infamous for.

On the Democratic side, former-judge Ruben Guerrero is running against perpetual candidate Lloyd Oliver. Lloyd seems to run for something every election, usually targeting the most junior of judges as his opponent. Thus far, he's done about as well as Dick DeGuerin trying a case against Kelly Siegler (sorry, couldn't help one last jab that with analogy). The only thing more appetizing to Lloyd than a rookie incumbent is wide-open field, obviously. Breathe easy, Judge Bridgewater. Breathe easy.

But on the Republican side, four assistant District Attorneys are all competing against each other for the nomination (in alphabetical order so that it doesn't appear that I'm picking favorites):

John Jocher - Chief of the 209th District Court, and an all around nice guy. He's got the temperament to be a very formidable opponent in any election.
Kevin Keating - Appellate prosecutor who is highly respected by his peers for his intelligence and knowledge of the law. He's the guy the trial lawyers call when they have a question about the law.
Bill Moore - Chief of the 232nd District Court, and also a very nice guy. Bill spent a lot of time in the Special Crimes division before returning to the trial division a few years back.
Terrance Windham - Chief of the 314th District Court, which is a Juvenile District Court. Terrance, I believe is the only candidate to have ever run for higher office before. He's a former military man who does a good job of inspiring loyalty in the "troops" he supervises.

All of the prosecutors that I've talked to genuinely like all four of the candidates, and appear a little torn at the moment about who to support for the position. Look for the A.D.A.'s to remain awkwardly quiet about this race until after the primary has settled the issue for them.

Gee, if only the D.A.'s office had something to distract them from this race to help alleviate the awkwardness . . . .

UPDATE: Marky Mark Bennett on his website has made his official endorsement.