Daily Archives: March 2, 2004

Primary races for state judgeships

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Texas’ system of judicial elections is not a good way to choose judges. For over 20 years, I have been supporting a new system for appointing judges in the Texas state courts similar to the appointment process that is used in the federal judicial system. That process has produced a superior federal judiciary.
Although a growing number of Texans agree that elections are not the best way to choose judges, the tendency in Texas politics is for the party in control of the statehouse to support the current system because most of the elected judges are from that party. Inasmuch as the Republicans are now solidly in control of Texas state government, the GOP state leaders are in no hurry to change a flawed system that nevertheless produces judges mainly from their party.
That is unfortunate. Virtually no Texas citizen knows all of the best candidates for the various judicial positions. For example, even though I have an active civil trial practice in both Harris and Montgomery Counties, I rely on the opinions of friends who practice criminal law to advise me regarding the best candidates for the criminal judgeships because I do not practice much in the criminal courts. Moreover, most lawyers are not trial lawyers, so even they have no experience on which to base an informed judgment about the best judicial candidates. Generally, lay people do not have the foggiest notion of who to select in Texas judicial races. Most folks simply look for a familiar name or two, sigh, and just make the best guess possible under the circumstances. Not exactly a sterling example of democracy at work.
As a result of the foregoing, family members, friends, and clients often ask me for my recommendation on the best candidates in the various state and county judicial races. Most of these races will be decided in the upcoming Republican Primary because of the paucity of Democratic Party candidates for these positions in the fall election. Accordingly, the following are my recommendations in the upcoming Republican Primary races:

Statewide:
Supreme Court of Texas, Place 5: Paul Green.
Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 2: Guy James Gray.
Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 5:Patricia Noble.
Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 6:Michael E. Keasler.
Harris County
14th Court of Appeals: Eva Guzman.
281st District Court: David Bernal.
334th District Court: Reece Rondon.
Appointed incumbents running for election for the first time, both of these judges are young and smart, and both possessed solid experience in private practice before taking the bench. We are fortunate to have young lawyers of this caliber on the bench.
177th Criminal District Court:: Adam Brown.
228th Criminal District Court: Clint Greenwood.
Montgomery County
1st Court of Appeals: Charles Kreger
410th District Court: Michael Mayes
This race is a good example of the flawed Texas judicial election system. Judge Mayes is a first rate trial judge, puts cases to trial, and thus promotes prompt resolution of cases in his court. Texas needs to be supporting good lawyers who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to be a judge, not requiring them to incur the cost of a re-election campaign.

Early voting is going on right now, so get out and cast your vote!

WorldCom’s Ebbers indicted, CFO Sullivan plea bargains

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Bernie J. Ebbers, the former CEO and and co-founder of WorldCom Inc., was indicted today on three criminal charges that accuse him of directing and participating in one of the biggest frauds in the history of American business. Although Scott D. Sullivan, WorldCom’s former CFO, was named with Mr. Ebbers in the indictment, Mr. Sullivan pleaded guilty to the charges earlier in the day and said he was cooperating with federal prosecutors. Here is the indictment.

Hogan’s secret

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Ben Hogan was one of the greatest golfers of all-time, and may have been the best pure ball-striker of all time. During his life, Mr. Hogan wrote a classic book about the golf swing — “Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf” — and then, at the peak of his popularity fifty years ago, he supposedly disclosed the key secret of his swing in a Life magazine article. Nevertheless, many golf swing analysts over the years did not believe that the notoriously competitive Hogan had fully disclosed his “secret” because he did not want his competitors to benefit from it, and Mr. Hogan did nothing to dissuade them from that belief. Accordingly, a virtual cottage industry has developed from various golf swing analysts speculating as to the true nature of Hogan’s swing secret. Mr. Hogan died in 1997 without ever fully disclosing his secret.
This NY Times article tells about a new Hogan memoir, “Afternoons with Mr. Hogan” (Gotham Books, 2004) by Jody Vasquez, a Texas oil-and-gas executive, who contends that Mr. Hogan disclosed the secret to Mr. Vazquez in 1967 while Mr. Vazquez had a job shagging range balls for Mr. Hogan. Mr. Vazquez’s short version of the secret is as follows:

“The Secret is the correct functioning of the right leg, with emphasis on maintaining the angle of the right knee on the back and forward swings. Combined with a slight cupping of the left wrist, it produces optimum balance and control, and allows you to apply as much speed and power as you wish.”

I’m going to go hit a bucket of balls over the lunch hour and try this. ;^)
By the way, the best book on the complex and talented Mr. Hogan is Curt Sampson‘s “Hogan.”

Does the NY Times read Clear Thinkers?

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This NY Times article addresses the government’s questionable accounting for its future Medicare and Social Security obligations, an issue addressed in this prior post here over this past weekend.

Higher fuel costs concern Continental

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Houston-based Continental Airlines — one of the Houston area’s largest employers — announced today that the airline’s stated financial goal for break-even results in 2004 is “at great risk” due to the high price of jet fuel and oil.

Houston Bowl attempts to go BCS

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This Houston Chronicle story reports on the intent of Houston Bowl officials to bid on being the host for a fifth Bowl Championship Series college football game to be added after the 2006 season.
This is a new initiative for Houston, which has never had much of a college football bowl heritage. The old Bluebonnet Bowl had a rather uneventful run from 1959-1987 and always struggled for sponsorship support and attendance. The newer Houston Bowl has been around for the past several years, but has paid the minimum amount to the participant teams, so it has not moved above the lowest tier of bowl games. However, with the wide array of new facilities that Houston recently used in successfully hosting Super Bowl XXXVIII, Houston now has proven that it has the capability of hosting major events such as a BCS Bowl game. Given Texas’ rich history and tradition in college football, Houston would be a logical choice for hosting one of college football’s premier bowl games.

Change at the top of the Enron Task Force

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This Houston Chronicle article reports that Andrew Weissmann, the lead trial lawyer in the Enron Task Force‘s Arthur Andersen obstruction of justice prosecution, is replacing Leslie Caldwell as lead lawyer for the task force. Ms. Caldwell will soon leave the Department of Justice to enter private practice.
The Chronicle piece fawns over the accomplishments of the Enron Task Force, but my sense is that the Task Force has been much more heavy handed than successful to date. Although over two years old now, the Task Force has tried precisely one case. In that case, it obtained a controversial conviction of Arthur Andersen on obstruction of justice charges, and that conviction is currently under review by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Task Force has entered into nine plea bargains with various ex-Enron employees, but all of those have come after multiple count indictments that left those defendants with a Hobsen’s Choice of either risking trial and the prospect of what amounts to a lifetime prison sentence or copping a plea for a relatively light sentence. As noted in this prior post, this Task Force approach to the Enron criminal cases is troubling — the government’s job is to indict and convict wrongdoers, not to sledgehammer citizens into plea bargains out of fear of unreasonably long prison sentences.

The new Breakfast of Champions

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This San Francisco Chronicle article follows this earlier post here and reports that federal investigators have been told that San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, New York Yankees stars Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield and three other major-league baseball players received steroids from a Burlingame nutritional supplement lab.

Houston real estate

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The Allen Brothers, who founded Houston in 1836, were real estate speculators. Almost since that time, Houston has been a hotbed of real estate development that has attracted a colorful collection of real estate speculators over the years.
No zoning laws and nominal barriers to entry into the real estate market are attributes that have traditionally made Houston an attractive venue for real estate development. On the other hand, Houston’s flat, sea level terrain has made development of Houston real estate challenging, particularly given its tendency to flood during Gulf Coast rainstorms.
As a result, one of the most eagerly anticipated events in Houston real estate circles is the Harris County Flood Control District‘s release of new flood plain maps for Houston real estate. On Monday, the Flood Control District will release preliminary new flood plain maps for five watersheds, including the Brays Bayou drainage area, which includes the flood-prone area around the Texas Medical Center. The flood plain designations have major impact on real estate development decisions and on plotting better ways to protect Houston from catastrophic flooding similar to what occurred in 2001 during Tropical Storm Allison. Within the so-called 100-year flood plain — the area with a theoretical risk of flooding once every 100 years — flood insurance is mandatory and the City of Houston imposes development requirements such as elevating buildings or digging detention ponds. These measures can substantially increase the cost of development.
The information to be released Monday is essentially an unofficial, draft version of the Federal Emergency Management Agency‘s Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps, which are expected to be released in late spring. An appeals process will follow over the next several months before those maps become final. You can rest assured that many Houston real estate owners will be lobbying hard during that process regarding whether their property should be included within the flood plain.